Goodbye BNB Chain!
I'm getting alerts on my phone that BEP2 will be no more and to transfer any assets off the platform before that happens. Unfortunately the cost of doing so is high right now (because everyone is doing it) and the fee to transfer my $2.50 worth of BNB is more than the total value. #dusted.
This should come as no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention to the Binance situation. That exchange seems to have been fully captured by the regulators at this point after being fined an absurd four BILLION dollars; a sum that would make even the biggest banks in the world blush. No to mention their previous fearless leader serving out a brief prison sentence (something the banks no nothing about). Welcome to the big leagues, boys.
BEP2 Binance Chain was basically just a centralized solution masquerading as a decentralized crypto asset. It's good to see it gone and BEP20, which is BNB Smart Chain EVM... will still continue to operate because it's just decentralized enough to continue operations, just like most of the other EVMs.
At the end of the day BEP2 didn't really have a whole lot of value and somehow I doubt that anyone will miss it too much. The fees were obviously dirt cheap due to the centralization but it's hard to see what the point of it is when compared to traditional counterparty risk of regular exchanges. It's all just a series of pinky promises and wrapped assets. End of an era.
https://x.com/Consensys/status/1803230653120659641
Onto the main event!
On the heels of the cyber division enforcement head up and quitting with no explanation we see that the SEC has conveniently decided to drop their investigation into ETH 2.0 via the switch to proof-of-stake. Wow, what interesting timing. Clearly there is a massive shakeup going on behind the scenes... proving once again that law and enforcement isn't decided by votes or democracy but rather in the shadows of powerful men pulling strings in the background. Crypto has reached a critical mass breaking point. Soon the system that was against it will be working for it. That will be quite the sight to behold.
This event has huge implications for all of crypto.
At the end of the day it was inevitable. Crypto can never be considered a "common enterprise" with associated owned IP like any other traditional security. Such is the nature of open-source tech by definition. This kind of capitulation is a huge victory in the battle of every entity currently actively engaged in a lawsuit with the SEC. Coinbase is going to absolutely slay them in court assuming the entire thing doesn't get randomly dropped just like this ETH 2.0 probe.
The victory here is two-fold. On the one hand ETH being officially declared "not a security" like this (basically just giving up) looks very good for anyone looking to stake ETH for yield. How can Coinbase being a custodian for this yield somehow be an investment contract when the actual on-chain smart-contract has already been deemed not that? It's comical that custodianship would somehow imply some kind of securities contract. This is not how finance works, nor can it... because then everything in the world would be a security. The SEC's ability to just use confusion to seize power is coming to an end.
https://x.com/BritishHodl/status/1803253736372052160
Maximalists in disbelief.
The SEC isn't the only one capitulating. All the hypocritical Bitcoin maxis are also in a state of cope. Rather than celebrate an obvious victory there needs to be all manner of mental gymnastics employed. Clearly regulatory wins like this are good for everyone, including Bitcoin. It's a shame the most fervent Bitcoiners love to lick the boots of their oppressors when they think it might make number go up. Disappointing but also business as usual.
Conclusion
Huge news. Huge huge huge news. And all people can do is ask why number isn't going up instantly on demand. Um because the market is offering everyone the most obvious opportunity of their entire lives. 2025 is going to be insane. For the first time in a long long time ETH seems like a good bet. BTC and ETH will lead the way. Count on it.