Friday, March 6, 'His Excellency' Settles With SEC for $10 Million

Traditional finance is moving into crypto infrastructure—NYSE, ICE, and banks invest while settlements and liquidity withdrawals reshape markets.

Key Takeaways

Traditional finance is moving into crypto infrastructure: ICE bought a ~$200M stake and board seat in OKX, NYSE invested, OKX valued at $25B, licensing spot prices and tokenizing stocks.
Banks and platforms integrate with payment rails and custody: Revolut filed for a US bank license (Fedwire/ACH), Kraken seeks Fed rails, Morgan Stanley filed a direct Bitcoin trust with Coinbase Custody and BNY Mellon.
SEC settled with Justin Sun's Rainberry—$10M fine with no admission and claims dismissed with prejudice; allegations included unregistered TRX sales and wash trading.
Concerns over settlement and liquidity: Sun invested ~$75M in Trump-family crypto, then withdrew ~$40M (~17–18% of USDC TVL), triggering a 10% LIT drop and questions about accountability.
Market signals and implications: Bitcoin ~70.4k, ETH ~$2,000, Polymarket predicts a down day; hosts warn users, not regulators, will ultimately bear the cost.