The SEC's record before the courts in defending its regulatory actions raises reasonable questions as to the agency's respect for the limits of its statutory authority, its compliance with administrative procedures and its equitable treatment of those who are regulated. Even were the SEC to appeal the court's decision and win as to its statutory authority—which would seem an uphill battle given the unanimous decision against it—the SEC would still have to defend the Private Fund Advisers…

Perhaps it is coincidence, but the Salt Lake Regional Office housed two lawyers that were recently  by the US District Court for the District of Utah for misconduct in an enforcement action against a crypto firm. The attrition, to which the SEC press release refers, may be an oblique reference to the departure of the lawyers involved in that case.  

The updated memorandum includes new analysis on the application of the registration requirement to multi strategy firms, and recommendations on compliance strategy. It also includes a discussion of the two legal challenges that have been filed since the adoption of the final rule, as well as recent statements by SEC Chair Gensler in defense of the new rules.

The digital asset market continues to develop despite every weapon that the US federal regulators throw at it. Further, Commissioner Peirce continues to offer constructive approaches to promote and facilitate that market, despite the SEC's utter failure to develop any credible roadmap for how digitized securities and cryptocurrencies should be regulated. The SEC ignored Commissioner Peirce's original proposal to develop a regulatory scheme that might work for cryptocurrencies. Having…