10 people to watch in the crypto showdown of 2023 | News

Crypto Winter turned into a devastating blizzard. And most industry watchers agree: Regulations are coming.

The great crypto crash of 2022, triggered by back-to-back scandals highlighted by the FTX meltdown, has led to a stronger push for new and stricter rules for the fast-growing, but controversial, industry.

Major proposals introduced in 2022 included the bipartisan Responsible Financial Innovations Act from Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York. Efforts to pass new laws are likely to gain momentum in 2023. And it wont just be in Washington. States, led by California and New York, will be key battlegrounds for crypto and the crypto lobby.

Then there are the ongoing legal brawls. The year will likely kick off with the much-anticipated decision in the Securities and Exchange Commissions lawsuit against Ripple.

A big crypto showdown over regulations is coming in 2023. Meet 10 people who will play an important role:



Brian Armstrong, CEO, Coinbase




Brian Armstrong, CEO, Coinbase

Coinbase, which launched in 2012, was outpaced by newer, faster and off-shore rivals like Binance and FTX. But with the collapse of FTX and growing questions about Binance, Coinbase is positioning itself as the major crypto exchange that plays by the rules, mainly because of where it is located.

Sometimes, it felt like we’re actually at a disadvantage, and it’s caused us to move more slowly than foreign competitors, Armstrong said on the companys earnings call in November. But I think it’s the right long-term bet, and it’s going to allow us to prevail as a company that stands the test of time globally. Regulators don’t always act quickly, but they do eventually act.



Paul Grewal

Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer, Coinbase




Paul Grewal, chief legal officer, Coinbase

Grewal is Coinbases pointman on the regulatory front, where the crypto powerhouse has shown a willingness to pitch bold, if unconventional ideas. Coinbases proposal for the government to appoint a separate designated regulator for crypto has been called impractical by industry leaders. It is now Grewals job to take the lead in pitching Coinbases push for clearer rules for centralized exchanges.

A former U.S. magistrate judge and deputy counsel at Facebook, Grewal is known to have a combative streak and to enjoy hitting back at the SEC for what crypto has denounced as a heavy emphasis on enforcement with little clarity. I’ve decided not to set any curfew for my teenager, he wrote recently on LinkedIn. I’ll just ground her if she comes home later than I’d like. Regulation by enforcement.



Brad Garlinghouse

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO, Ripple


Brad Garlinghouse, CEO, Ripple

Garlinghouse faces a make-or-break year in 2023 when a federal judge is expected to issue a ruling that could decide the fate of Ripple. The SEC sued the San Francisco company in 2020, accusing Ripple of violating securities laws. If Ripple wins, it would be a huge victory for the crypto industry and a big slap in the face of the SEC.

But if the SEC prevails, it could set a game-changing precedent that would force crypto companies to register digital assets as securities, dramatically changing the way they operate.

Garlinghouse has said that if they lose, Ripple will leave the U.S. We still have an immense business to build, he said in an interview in July. Why do it in a regulatory jurisdiction thats not going to be friendly towards us?



Stuart Alderoty

Stuart Alderoty, general counsel, Ripple


Stu Alderoty, general counsel, Ripple

Alderoty spent nearly two decades in traditional finance before joining what he described as the strange new world of crypto as Ripples top lawyer in 2019. He has played the role of chief legal brawler in Ripples battle with the SEC, especially on Crypto Twitter. He accused the SEC of tyranny in a 2021 tweet. (It has been deleted.) “Why would you poke the bear if you’re trying to get the bear to cooperate?” he said in a November 2021 interview. “It’s clear that the bear has no interest in cooperating.



Cloey Hewlett

Cloey Hewlett, commissioner, California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation


Cloey Hewlett, commissioner, California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation

California, home to cryptos most important companies, has focused increasingly on the fast-growing industrys impact on consumers and investors. The crypto crisis has kept the DFPI under Hewlett busy.

The financial watchdog has sent clear signals that any company flouting the states financial regulations will become a target. This became clear when the crypto industry scored a major win in California.



Gary Gensler

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)




Gary Gensler, chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission

Genslers appointment in 2021 as chair of the SEC was greeted with cheers from the crypto industry, which welcomed a regulator who actually knows what crypto is all about. Gensler, who also served as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commision, taught a course on crypto and blockchain at MIT.

But it didnt take long for Gensler to morph into public enemy No. 1 in the crypto industrys eyes. Gensler has consistently argued that most cryptocurrencies should be regulated as securities. He is expected to take an even more aggressive approach to crypto in the wake of the FTX collapse.



Jeremy Allaire

Jeremy Allaire, CEO, Circle


Jeremy Allaire, CEO, Circle

Allaire leads the company that issues USDC, cryptos second largest stablecoin. Hes also been one of cryptos leading advocates in Washington, though telling that story in 2022 has been tough. When the terra luna ecosystem collapsed, Allaire acknowledged that he was shocked by just simply how fast the death spiral happened and how violent of a value destruction it was. He believes the FTX meltdown will hasten the push for regulations.

Allaire has emerged as an important voice in the push for a U.S.-issued central bank digital currency, in which he believes the private sector including stablecoin companies like Circle, can play a key role.



Adrienne Harris

Adrienne Harris, superintendent, New York Department of Financial Services


Adrienne Harris, superintendent, New York Department of Financial Services

Harris has been called cryptos most powerful regulator, as head of the financial watchdog in an important crypto hub that is also home to Wall Street. New York has been criticized for a bitcoin licensing regulation that sparked an exodus of crypto startups because it was seen as being too restrictive. One of them, San Francisco crypto exchange Kraken, called the New York law a creature so foul, so cruel that not even Kraken possesses the courage or strength to face its nasty, big, pointy teeth. It got so bad that there was a running joke that crypto services are generally not available in Iran, North Korea and New York.

But Harris has defended the regulation, telling New York Magazine, having the imprimatur of Have you passed regulatory muster with a stringent regulatory regime? I think the good actors see that as a good thing.

In the wake of the FTX collapse, the NYDFS issued new guidance for information financial institutions must submit before commencing virtual currency-related activity. Harris also argued recently that the New York licensing system should be adopted nationally saying, there should be a framework nationally that looks like what New York has, because I think its proving itself to be a very robust and sustainable regime.



Hester Peirce

Hester Peirce, commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission


Hester Peirce, commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission

Peirce is viewed by the crypto industry as an important ally at the SEC. Industry leaders and supporters even call her crypto mom, a moniker Peirce frowns upon because she doesnt think people should think of government in parental terms. (Plus she doesnt have children.)

But Peirce generally agrees with the crypto industrys complaint that the SEC under Gensler has focused too much on enforcement instead of engaging with the crypto industry and other parties in a meaningful conversation on how digital assets should be regulated based on existing law.

The crisis triggered by the FTX collapse will likely lead to regulation of centralized points of the crypto industry, including the exchanges, she said recently.

I think we could try to turn some difficult and bad events into a positive push forward on reasonable regulation that really does seek to achieve legitimate objectives while also preserving peoples ability to engage in transactions that they choose to engage in, but also making sure they get information and protections they need.



Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, center, is escorted from the Magistrate Court in Nassau, Bahamas, on Dec. 21. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)




Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former CEO, FTX

Yeah, hes a disgraced crypto executive who is out on $250 million bail and is holing up in his parents home at Stanford awaiting trial. Its probably a safe bet that SBF will not likely be running any company soon for his alleged role in whats been called the biggest financial fraud case in history.

But Bankman-Fried was once a prominent, big-spending industry stalwart, a well-connected insider in a high-flying industry. If the former FTX CEOs case goes to trial, imagine the juicy insights and earthshaking revelations about the inner workings of crypto that could come out of that.

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