BREAKDOWN: BlockFi’s Lead Investor Bows Out Amid Regulatory Uncertainty

Investors are becoming wary as Vermont becomes the fourth state to scrutinize BlockFi. This episode is sponsored by NYDIG. Today on the Brief: Robinhood's underperforming IPO and settlement battles MicroStrategy’s continued faith in bitcoin Proposed sweeping crypto legislation Robinhood’s underperforming initial public offering came amid settlement after settlement, with the latest coming with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Next on the Brief, MicroStrategy’s second-quarter earnings report lays out the company’s intention to buy more bitcoin. Alongside these crypto ups and downs, the regulatory narrative continues: proposed legislation on digital assets covers everything from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority over digital securities to U.S. Treasury authority over stablecoins. In the main discussion, NLW covers BlockFi’s tumultuous run-ins with regulatory bodies in New Jersey, Alabama and Texas, and most recently, Vermont. BlockFi has been making simultaneous appeals to regulators to address their concerns and to their existing customer base to affirm their accounts will not be affected. An unconfirmed report last night, first shared by Eric Newcomer and not able to be confirmed by CoinDesk, claims that a major Wall Street investor has pulled their funding in the midst of the regulatory onslaught. Will BlockFi be the first victim of shifting regulatory winds? - NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for Bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW. - The Breakdown is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Razor Red” by Sam Barsh. Image credit: screenshot of BlockFi website. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.