Smart Traders Are Switching Out of Bitcoin and into....

A new SEC Chair, a DeFi ruling, and derivatives markets indicate that...

Author

Markus Thielen
November 27, 2024

Bitget offers exclusive benefits for 10x Research members, including reduced trading fees and a BTC/USDT trading position voucher. Given these perks, we believe highlighting this opportunity for our community is worth highlighting.

Sign up here

👇1-13) A U.S. appeals court has deemed the Treasury Department’s sanctions against the crypto mixer Tornado Cash unlawful, citing overreach of authority. In 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash—an Ethereum-based tool enabling users to anonymize crypto transactions—alleging it facilitated North Korean agents laundering stolen funds. Since then, its developers have faced extensive legal battles and the threat of imprisonment.

👇2-13) However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, led by Judge Don Willett, ruled that OFAC misinterpreted the definition of “property” in its statute. The court stated that Tornado Cash, as an entity, does not own the immutable smart contracts it employs, nor do these contracts independently constitute property apart from their functionality.

👇3-13) While the ruling does not endorse money laundering, it establishes a precedent allowing programmers to develop and release smart contract protocols without fear of sanction, provided they do not charge fees. As Ethereum remains the leading blockchain for DeFi, this decision is viewed positively for the broader DeFi ecosystem and other protocols, particularly on the Ethereum network. This could have enormous implications.

Bitcoin (LHS) vs. Ethereum (RHS)

Market Updates

Become a paying subscriber of Market Updates to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

Most comprehensive, unbiased digital asset research for traders and institutions:

  • • Receive 2-4 concise, informative Market Updates reports per week.
  • • We cover everything that impacts the price of Bitcoin and other major cryptos, from on-chain data to macro and market structure (funding rates, money flows, etc.). Our insights are trusted by some of the largest hedge funds and traders in the industry.
  • • You'll gain full access to our in-depth 'Market Update' analysis, informed by our experience at leading investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan, as well as managing hedge fund capital at Millennium.
  • • We rigorously backtest our insights and are unafraid to call bullish or bearish market conditions. Our research is unique and grounded in solid financial analysis, offering perspectives you won't find anywhere else.
  • • --------------
  • • Our clients include hedge funds, traders, liquidity providers, exchanges, family offices, proprietary traders, institutions, high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), CEOs of major listed Bitcoin mining companies, executives from crypto service providers, TradeFi portfolio managers, etc.