BitMEX is seeking to sell, US SEC: memes are not securities

Headlines

▌BitMEX is seeking to sell and has contacted investment bank Broadhaven Capital to assist in the transaction

Cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX is seeking to sell and has hired investment bank Broadhaven Capital Partners to assist in the transaction. BitMEX was founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes and others and was accused of failing to implement effective anti-money laundering measures. Hayes resigned as CEO after facing criminal charges in the United States.

▌US SEC characterization: memecoins are not securities, investors should bear their own risks

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Corporate Finance Supervision Division issued guidance on memecoins, saying that they are not securities, but similar to collectibles. The department believes that the transactions described in the guidance regarding memecoins do not involve the issuance and sale of securities under federal securities laws. Therefore, persons engaging in the offer and sale of memecoins are not required to register their transactions with the Commission under the Securities Act of 1933 or to qualify for an exemption from registration under the Securities Act. As a result, memecoin purchasers or holders are not protected by the federal securities laws.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $84,487.05, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.1%;

ETH's latest transaction price is $2,300.15, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.8%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $603.87, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.1%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 137.07 US dollars, and its intraday change is +0.6%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.2061 US dollars, and its intraday change is +1.0%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.19 US dollars, and its intraday change is -0.6%.

Policy

▌The U.S. SEC announced that it has lifted the civil enforcement action against Coinbase

According to market news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has lifted the civil enforcement action against Coinbase (COIN.O).  

The case dates back to June 2023 (two years after Coinbase went public), when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Coinbase, accusing Coinbase of violating U.S. securities laws by merging the three normally separate functions of brokers, exchanges, and clearing agencies.

▌SEC Commissioner: SEC's withdrawal of civil enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase does not mean that it has given up enforcement

Hester M. Peirce, a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), issued a statement saying that the SEC has officially withdrawn its civil enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase and said that it will not take further action on the case. Peirce made it clear that she had never supported the case and criticized the SEC's previous practice of relying on law enforcement actions to regulate the crypto industry, believing that this harmed the American public interest, hindered the development of the industry, and hindered the normal functions of the SEC's professional policy team. Peirce pointed out that the SEC's extensive application of the Howey test has led to unclear supervision, making it difficult for compliant companies to operate, while criminals have used regulatory gray areas to evade legal responsibility. In addition, due to the lack of a clear regulatory framework, many crypto companies are forced to spend a lot of resources on legal responses rather than product innovation. She believes that the SEC's previous practice of formulating policies through law enforcement not only misled the industry, but also prevented the policy team from effectively participating in the formulation of industry rules. She emphasized that the SEC has currently established a "Crypto Task Force" to give the policy team the leading power to work with the public to develop a regulatory framework applicable to the crypto industry. The withdrawal of the lawsuit does not mean that the SEC has given up law enforcement, but rather that future supervision will focus on policy formulation rather than relying solely on law enforcement actions.

▌Consensys founder: The US SEC has agreed in principle to dismiss the securities enforcement case against MetaMask

ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin announced on the X platform that Consensys has agreed in principle with the US SEC to dismiss the securities enforcement case against MetaMask, and the US SEC will submit an agreement to effectively close the case to the court. Joseph Lubin added that ConsenSys will now be able to invest 100% in resuming construction, and 2025 will be the best year so far for Ethereum and Consensys, and the paradigm shift to a more decentralized world is accelerating.

▌Lawyer: Any meme coin project involving fraud may still face legal prosecution at the federal or state level in the United States

Lawyer and head of regulation and policy at Bain Capital Crypto, Khurram Dara, posted on the X platform that the US SEC issued guidance on meme coins today, clearly stating that "meme coins" are not securities, but more like collectibles. As soon as this news came out, some market participants interpreted it as the SEC's "relaxed" regulatory attitude towards meme coins.  

However, Khurram Dara warned that the market should not over-interpret the SEC's "friendly" gesture. The SEC's statement only represents the opinions of its corporate financing regulatory department and is limited to the federal securities law level. More importantly, the SEC clearly emphasized at the end of the guidance that if the issuance and sale of meme coins involve fraud, they will still face enforcement and prosecution by other federal or state agencies.

Blockchain Applications

▌Coinbase and NEAR established the Open AI Alliance to promote decentralized AI services

Coinbase, NEAR AI and several blockchain and AI projects jointly established the Open Agents Alliance (OAA), aiming to use blockchain infrastructure to promote open artificial intelligence (AI) services. The alliance is committed to "ensuring secure, open source, economical and fair access to AI". Members will provide AI agent frameworks, cloud hosting and fiat/cryptocurrency conversion channels to support developers in building and deploying AI tools.

▌Blockchain loyalty platform Blackbird launches Flynet mainnet based on Base chain

Blackbird is a restaurant loyalty platform founded by Resy and Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal. The company announced that its Flynet mainnet has been launched, which can transfer restaurant payment functions to the chain. Flynet is a third-layer blockchain based on Coinbase’s Base chain.

▌The number of new tokens listed on Pump.fun has fallen by more than 80% from its peak

The number of new tokens successfully listed on memecoin platform Pump.fun has fallen by more than 80% from its high in January, according to data from Dune Analytics. The number of tokens completing Pump.fun’s “bonding curve” each day has fallen from nearly 1,200 on January 23 and 24 to about 200 on February 26, the data showed.

Cryptocurrency

▌Stripe: Stablecoins are one of the most innovative areas of the 'internet economy'

Payments company Stripe, which will see total transaction volume reach $1.4 trillion in 2024, said in its annual letter released on Thursday that stablecoins are one of the most innovative areas of the "internet economy."  

Stripe spent $1.1 billion to acquire stablecoin startup Bridge in October last year. In the annual letter, the company's co-founders Patrick and John Collison pointed out that stablecoins represent an "improvement" in the "basic usability of money", just as paper money is an improvement over coins. The founder of Stripe wrote: "Compared with the status quo, stablecoins have four important characteristics. They make money flow cheaper, make money flow faster, they are decentralized and open (so they can be used globally from day one), and they are programmable."

▌Chainalysis: Crypto Crime in 2024 or Exceeds $51 Billion

The 2025 "Crypto Crime Report" released by Chainalysis shows that crypto crime has entered a professional era dominated by AI-driven scams, stablecoin money laundering, and efficient network groups. The amount of illegal transactions in the past year reached $51 billion, breaking the previous record. Preliminary estimates show that crypto crime has declined in 2024. But a deeper analysis suggests otherwise: criminals have adopted advanced money laundering techniques, relying on stablecoins, DeFi, and AI-driven deception to create the illusion of reduced crime.

▌Analyst: 25% pullback in bull market cycle is common, will continue to maintain a bullish stance

BRN analyst Valentin Fournier said, "Trump announced that he might impose a 25% tariff on European goods, which once again aroused investors' concerns, causing the cryptocurrency fear and greed index to fall to 10, which is in the extreme fear zone. Although some people are worried about the beginning of a bear market, history shows that a 25% pullback is common in bull market cycles. The United States' efforts to establish a national cryptocurrency reserve remain a major long-term catalyst, and the accumulation maintains a bullish stance. It is expected that the market will rebound before the end of this week, and it will remain neutral for BTC and ETH."

▌Standard Chartered Bank Analyst: Bitcoin may fall 10% to $80,000

Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at Standard Chartered, said that Bitcoin may fall 10% to $80,000, but a decline in Treasury yields may bring a rebound.

▌Over 121 million USDT transferred from unknown wallet to Binance

According to the on-chain data tracking service Whale Alert, 121,011,009 USDT were transferred from unknown wallets to Binance at around 8:03 am Beijing time.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌U.S. Treasury Secretary: Economic Framework Agreement with Ukraine Completed, No Further Negotiations Needed

U.S. Treasury Secretary Benson said on the 27th that the economic framework agreement with Ukraine has been completed, covering key minerals, oil and gas, and infrastructure assets. Benson said that Ukrainian President Zelensky and U.S. President Trump will sign the agreement on the 28th and will no longer negotiate on the issue. He said it was a win-win deal on strategic minerals, oil and gas, and infrastructure assets.

▌The probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 95.5%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 4.5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 73.2%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 25.8%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 1.1%.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is Fractal Bitcoin

Fractal Bitcoin is an innovative blockchain expansion solution based on recursive virtualization technology. It enhances the scalability of Bitcoin by creating a multi-layer network structure while maintaining a secure connection with the main network. The creation background of Fractal Bitcoin stems from the emergence of the Ordinals protocol and related applications in 2023. For security reasons, Bitcoin has imposed restrictions on opcodes and block storage space in its iterations. When the Bitcoin chain ecosystem develops rapidly, there are limitations in chain computing power and block space, so developers have proposed the concept of fractal Bitcoin, hoping to solve the shortcomings of the Bitcoin network.

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish a correct investment concept and be sure to increase risk awareness.