With Ether ETFs in the Works, How Else Might the SEC Pivot on Crypto?
Explore the SEC’s shifting stance on crypto, the political pressures, and what a new SEC chair could mean for the industry.
ABOUT
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
After some big wins for the crypto industry (and big losses for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), Jason Gottlieb, partner at Morrison Cohen, delves into how the upcoming US elections could reshape the SEC’s crypto agenda, the political pressures influencing SEC decisions, and the potential impact that a new SEC chair could have.
Gottlieb provides insights into ongoing court battles involving major crypto firms like Coinbase and explores the broader political implications of the Democrats' recent outreach to the crypto industry.
Show highlights:
- How the sea change in Congress, the White House, and the Biden campaign affects the SEC’s stance on crypto
- Whether the SEC's agenda on crypto has changed, following the sudden reversal on ETH ETFs
- Whether the SEC is being pressured politically about crypto and how that could affect its actions between now and the election
- How the ongoing legal crypto cases are affected by the SEC’s change of tune
- What the implications of a possible new SEC chair would be
- How the SEC’s credibility was damaged by the Debt Box case
- Why Jason thinks Democrats are in an “uncomfortable position” but also believes there’s a lot of common ground with the Republicans with regard to crypto
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Guest
Jason Gottlieb, partner at Morrison Cohen
Previous appearances on Unchained:
The Department of Justice Goes After Its First NFT Insider Trading Case
‘Is ETH a Security?’ Why Gary Gensler Couldn’t Give Congress a Straight Answer
Links
Previous coverage on Unchained of the recent shift in the US political landscape:
Why Many Democrats, Including the White House, Have Come Around on Crypto
Senator Cynthia Lummis on Why Crypto Now Has Bipartisan Support in Congress
Bits + Bips: Is US Politics Driving the ETH ETF Approval?
Why Spot Ether ETFs Are Now Likely to Be Approved on Thursday
Political turn and ongoing cases:
The Block: Biden campaign ramps up crypto industry outreach in surprising tone 'shift'
Unchained:
Ethereum ETFs Likely Protect Ether From the SEC. But What About Staked ETH?
Why the SEC May Not Be Done in Its Legal Battles Over Ethereum
SAB 121
Bloomberg: As Bitcoin Rallies, Banks Are Pushing US Regulators to Change Crypto Guidance
FIT21
Unchained: FIT21 Bill Heads to The Senate: Should We Really Be Excited?
Spot Ether ETFs
Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.
HOST
Laura Shin is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (Public Affairs, 2022). Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 15 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors from Stanford University and has a master of arts from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She lives in New York City.

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