Crypto Goes Bonkers! 🤪 SEC Says “Maybe”?

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What to know:

  • DeFi tokens UNI, AAVE, and SKY, bless their little cotton socks, decided to surge over 20%. Apparently, someone at the SEC said something vaguely encouraging. Make of that what you will.
  • This Atkins chap, the SEC Chair, suggested maybe, just maybe, they could find some regulatory loopholes for DeFi firms. Which is a bit like suggesting the Grim Reaper might take a day off.
  • Ethereum (ETH), the digital equivalent of a bustling marketplace for these DeFi whatsits, also perked up, gaining 8%. Outperforming bitcoin, no less! The CoinDesk 20 Index is probably still trying to figure out what happened.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens UNI, AAVE and SKY, names that sound like they were pulled from a hat at a wizard’s convention, all rose by more than 20% following optimistic noises from SEC Chair Paul Atkins at a Monday roundtable discussion. One imagines the roundtable was, in fact, rectangular. And possibly made of wood.

Atkins, in a move that surprised even the office tea lady, instructed the regulator to explore exemptions to let decentralized finance (DeFi) firms conduct operations without quite so many rules and regulations. Because nothing says “innovation” like a complete lack of oversight. 😇

“The right to have self-custody of one’s private property is a foundational American value,” he said. Which is all well and good until someone loses the key to their digital vault and then comes crying to the government. 🤷

The comments are a stark contrast to those made by the previous commission led by Gary Gensler, who was rumored to have a framed picture of red tape on his desk. They were criticized for stifling innovation by imposing restrictive guidance on crypto firms. Probably used a very stern voice, too.

“Can you imagine a starker contrast with the previous SEC’s approach?,” said Noelle Acheson, analyst and author of Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter. One can only assume she said this while raising a quizzical eyebrow and sipping a cup of something strong.

“We expected Atkins to say some nice words around the potential for innovation to unleash new financial efficiencies,” she wrote. “We didn’t expect his support to be quite so emphatic.” It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it? 🤫

Industry members heralded the event as a symbolic milestone the event ,

June 9th “will be remembered as DeFi day,” Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, founder of Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume posted on X. Or, as normal people call it, Twitter. 🤔

“The DeFi Renaissance continues,” said Arthur Cheong, founder and CEO of crypto investment firm DeFiance Capital. One hopes they’ve got a good accountant. And maybe a dragon. Every renaissance needs a dragon.🐉

DeFi-related tokens well outperformed an already upbeat crypto market with bitcoin bouncing to near record prices. Ethereum’s ether , a key hub for DeFi applications, also jumped over 8%. Because numbers going up is always a good thing, right? Right?

The broad-market crypto benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index was 4.7% up over the past 24 hours, while BTC gained 1.5% in the same period. So, everyone’s making money, except possibly the people who aren’t. But let’s not dwell on that. 🎉

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2025-06-10 19:34