Ether (ETH), the cryptocurrency that powers the smart-contract-enabled Ethereum blockchain, fell under $1,500 and hit its lowest level in nearly a month in the $1460s on Monday. At current levels in the $1,480s, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was last trading about 2.0% lower on the day, with losses from earlier monthly highs in the $1,700s now over 13%. That still leaves the cryptocurrency up around 25% on the year, though gains such as these can quickly be given back in crypto markets.
The cryptocurrency market continues to suffer from fears about aggressive US regulatory action. Reports surfaced over the weekend that the US SEC is going to sue US-based BUSD stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust Co. for breaking investor protection laws over offering stablecoins unregistered securities. The move has drawn significant criticism from the crypto community, given scepticism regarding how investors can have an “expectation of profit” when buying a stablecoin like BUSD, which is designed to be stable in price.
This comes after Kraken came to a settlement with the SEC and shuttered its crypto staking programme, which the SEC had also labelled as an unregistered security. Since the Ethereum blockchain’s switch to a proof-of-stake mechanism in September 2022, US regulatory action against staking services in the US is creating uncertainty for Ethereum network validators.
Head of business development for the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that managed Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol Lido Finance Jacob Blish recently said the move by the SEC to crack down on staking might have uncertain consequences for Decentralized Finance. Lido Finance is the largest decentralized finance protocol
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