A few days after PayPal NASDAQ:PYPL launched its cryptocurrency stablecoin (PYUSD), we started to see some criticism from lawmakers in Congress of the move from the payment processor.
We have seen criticism from a member of the Financial Services Committee in the US House of Representatives, Maxine Waters, who expressed her fears about PayPal’s inability to protect consumers and ensure financial stability, with the absence of a legal framework at the federal level to monitor and regulate this type of assets.
Waters is especially worried because of PayPal’s ability to reach more than 400 million users around the world.
PayPal announces launch of own cryptocurrency
Earlier this week, PayPal announced the launch of its own cryptocurrency using the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20). While it was widely welcomed by the digital currency audience, there were some concerns about the possibility of banning and freezing crypto wallets, as stated in the guidelines announced by the company.
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Also in the US, this week we saw talk about the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) planning to appeal against a court decision in favor of Ripple Labs. The court had ruled that ongoing sales of XRP tokens to retail customers were only in the form of securities, and therefore the company did not issue unregistered investment instruments.
“This appeal, if filed, would prolong the years-long legal struggle between the authority and Ripple Labs and may constitute more obstacles to further adoption of cryptocurrency technology,” commented Samr Hasn, part of the research team at broker XS.com. “On the positive side, however, we have seen the cryptocurrency exchange, Gemini, relist XRP tokens on their platform while offering the ability to deposit and trade to their clients.”
Also, in the cryptocurrency market, Binance has informed its clients that it will stop issuing futures contracts for Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (MATIC) coins, without providing further explanations on the reasons.
This comes days after Bitstamp delisted of a number of cryptocurrencies, most notably Solana (SOL) and Polygon (MATIC), to comply with SEC publications against offering any cryptocurrencies that may be believed to be securities. This has echoes of two months ago when we saw Robinhood [NasdaqGS:HOOD] delist a number of cryptocurrencies due to regulatory concerns following lawsuits against US arm Binance and Coinbase [NasdaqGS:COIN].
Market waits on Ark Invest Bitcoin approval
Today, the cryptocurrency markets are awaiting the SEC’s decision on whether to approve or torpedo the launch of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, the spot bitcoin ETF backed by Cathy Wood’s Ark Invest. As the deadline for the SEC’s decision is on August 13, the decision is expected to be issued near the end of the day Friday in the US. On the other hand, lawmakers still have the ability to delay this decision for a period of up to 240 days.
“The approval of the launch of this ETF, given the many funds that have been applied for to be launched from major asset managers in the United States, would provide more recognition, especially from institutional investors and regulators, of the importance of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a trustworthy investment asset,” Hasn said.
