CRYPTO CUSTODY ON WALL STREET

SEC has been actively investigating crypto custody on wall street for months. According to Reuters, the SEC's investigation has accelerated every even FTX and Alameda Research collapsed in November. Analysts believe that the SEC is trying to find any wall streets that are holding any crypto it considers to be securities on behalf of its customers. If I understand correctly, a securities designation will require such cryptos to be stored with a specific custodian. Consider that most cryptocurrency exchanges have standalone crypto custody services. Also, consider that sometimes these custody services hold cryptocurrencies that the affiliated can't list because they are too similar to securities.

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An exchanges custody arm adding support for coins or tokens is often considered to be a precursor to an exchange listing. The SEC's crypto custody investigation could cause trouble for them and it's not just exchanges either. SEC chairman has said that some stablecoins are securities. This makes zero sense because an asset is a security when there is an expectation of profit coming from an identifiable party and they are no expectations of profit with stablecoins.

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In any case, credit rating service Moody's has taken it upon itself to create a scoring system for a stablecoin. Moody's scoring system is reportedly in its early development and it will tell investors which stablecoins are the most and least legit. I have a feeling that stablecoins with a close connection to wall street such as circle USDC will be ranked very high. On the other hand, stablecoins with less connection to wall streets such as Tether USDT and any decentralized stablecoin will be ranked very low.

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Many have taken Moody's stablecoin scoring system as a sign that aggressive regulations aren't very far behind. This wouldn't be surprising considering that stablecoins are direct competitors to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). A crackdown on any of the largest stablecoins would do serious damage to the crypto market. Tether is objectively the most at risk of a crackdown because it is not based in the US and they have long been concerned about the quality and quantity of its reserves. Although Tether has proven over time that it can rapidly cash out billion of dollars USDT, the scrutiny remains.