New US Law: $10K+ Purchases Must KYC 🪪

GM. This is Degen Scoop. It’s Monday, here’s the scoop:

• New US Law: $10K+ Purchases Must KYC 🪪

• Mashinsky, Celsius Founder, Faces Fraud Lawsuit 👨‍⚖️

• Tether, The 11st Largest Holder of Bitcoin 💰

• Whale Moves 🐋

• Threads You CAN’T Miss 🧵

New Law in US Would Require Businesses to KYC $10K+ Crypto Purchases

Beginning January 1st, 2024, businesses will need to obtain the name, address, and government ID of those that make a purchase greater than $10K using crypto. Coin Center’s original lawsuit against the Treasury Department and Janet Yellen was thrown out but has since appealed the decision arguing that this is “unconstitutional financial surveillance."

Seeing as this is ~5 months away from impacting Americans, time is of the utmost importance. Naturally, the government will lean towards the option that favors tax compliance. We think ubiquitous crypto payments are still far off, but this development will not be taken positively amongst the crypto-natives.

Founder of Celsius, Alex Mashinsky, To Face Fraud Lawsuit in NY State

It was about three weeks ago when Alex Mashinsky was arrested by the police and taken into custody. The lawsuit accuses Mashinsky of conducting civil fraud by defrauding investors by posturing as a sort of crypto bank. Considering that investing with Celsius was risky in actuality, the founder had misrepresented the ‘opportunity’ to investors.

Alongside this fraud lawsuit from NY state, Mashinsky is also dealing with lawsuits from the SEC, CFTC, and FTC. It’s a positive development that the villains of previous cycles are being punished by the full strength of the law. Crypto has a stigma of being scammy which won’t be shaken anytime soon, but when actors like Mashinsky face consequences it makes for a cleaner industry.

Tether Reinvests Profits into Bitcoin, Now 11st Largest Holder

Tether has had a wonderful year despite the bear market woes. The stablecoin reached a new high in market cap, that it has since surpassed, and enjoyed a profit of $850M for Q2. Naturally, some of these profits have to be weaponized and a good chunk has gone into purchases of Bitcoin.

This on-chain digging revealed that Tether is now in possession of the 11th largest stack of Bitcoin in the world. If there’s another cycle as we assume there will be, Tether will be more than ready to take advantage of new highs. This could be perceived as concerning, but Tether normally keeps cash reserves for redemptions so we don’t necessarily see this as a systemic risk.

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Notable Threads You May Have Missed:

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Conclusion

Touch grass, hit the gym, and don’t forget about what’s really important outside of magical internet coins.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter does not constitute financial advice. This is strictly educational and should not be used to make any financial decisions. Be responsible and do proper due diligence before aping.