SEC’s determination: Memecoin is not a security, investors must bear their own risks
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s Division of Corporate Finance Regulation has issued guidance on memecoins, stating that memecoins generally do not meet the definition of securities laws and are not subject to federal securities laws. The SEC believes that memecoins are mainly used for entertainment, social and cultural purposes, and their value is driven by market demand and speculation, similar to collectibles, and generally lack practical use or functionality. Therefore, the purchase and sale of memecoins does not involve the issuance or sale of securities under the Securities Act, and no registration or registration exemption is required.
The SEC cited the Howey test standard and pointed out that Meme coin transactions do not involve investment in enterprises, nor is there a reasonable expectation of profiting from the management efforts of others. The price of Meme coins is mainly determined by market speculation, not the management or operating activities of the issuer. However, the SEC warned that if some Meme coins actually constitute securities or involve fraud, they may face enforcement actions under other federal or state laws.
Hester M. Peirce, a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), issued a statement saying that the SEC has officially withdrawn its civil enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase and said that it will not take further action on the case. Peirce made it clear that she never supported the case and criticized the SEC's previous practice of relying on enforcement actions to regulate the crypto industry, believing that this harmed the American public interest, hindered the development of the industry, and hindered the normal functions of the SEC's professional policy team.
Peirce pointed out that the SEC's widespread application of the Howey test has led to unclear regulation, making it difficult for compliant companies to operate, while criminals have taken advantage of regulatory gray areas to evade legal responsibility. In addition, due to the lack of a clear regulatory framework, many crypto companies are forced to spend a lot of resources on legal responses rather than product innovation. She believes that the SEC's previous practice of formulating policies through law enforcement not only misled the industry, but also prevented the policy team from effectively participating in the formulation of industry rules.
She emphasized that the SEC has established a "Crypto Task Force" to give the policy team leadership and work with the public to develop a regulatory framework for the crypto industry. The withdrawal of the lawsuit does not mean that the SEC has given up on law enforcement, but rather that future regulation will focus on policy making rather than relying solely on law enforcement actions.
SEC to drop enforcement case against ConsenSys and MetaMask
According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to withdraw its enforcement lawsuit against MetaMask, a wallet tool owned by ConsenSys. ConsenSys CEO Joe Lubin said on the X platform that the case needs to be approved by SEC commissioners, but the company welcomes this decision and emphasizes that it has been prepared for a long-term fight.
The SEC sued ConsenSys in June 2024, accusing MetaMask of being an unregistered securities broker and illegally providing securities trading services. Prior to this, the SEC had ended its investigation into Ethereum 2.0. The withdrawal of the lawsuit is the latest move by the SEC to adjust its crypto regulatory strategy under the leadership of new acting chairman Mark Uyeda. It has previously withdrawn cases against Coinbase, Gemini, Robinhood Crypto, Uniswap Labs and OpenSea, and suspended lawsuits against Binance and Tron Foundation.
OpenAI releases GPT-4.5 to improve knowledge breadth and natural interaction
According to OpenAI's announcement, GPT-4.5 has been officially released. The first batch has been opened to ChatGPT Pro users, and will cover Plus and Team users next week, and then Enterprise and Edu users. The model has improved knowledge breadth, comprehension ability, and user interaction experience compared to the previous generation, and reduced the "hallucination" phenomenon.
GPT-4.5 uses larger-scale unsupervised learning to enhance pattern recognition, logical connection, and creative generation capabilities, but does not have reasoning capabilities. Its improvements include stronger emotional intelligence (EQ), a more natural conversation experience, and enhancements in writing, programming, and automation of complex tasks. In addition, the model supports file and image input, but does not currently support voice mode, video, and screen sharing. OpenAI said that it will optimize the user experience in the future to make AI more intuitive and easy to use.
OpenAI GPT-4.5 API is now available
Sam Altman hints that OpenAI may launch a social app in response to Meta AI competition
According to CoinDesk, crypto and AI company Olas has launched Mech Marketplace, a decentralized platform that enables AI agents to autonomously hire other AI agents to complete specific tasks and improve collaboration efficiency. Olas has been running on multiple blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, among which transactions on Gnosis Chain are the most active. Currently, nearly 2,000 AI agents have been deployed in the Olas ecosystem, with about 500 active daily. Olas recently raised $13.8 million in funding and plans to launch Pearl, an AI agent app store, allowing users to own and manage their own AI agents.
Olas co-founder David Minarsch said that currently AI agents cannot complete all tasks independently, so they need to be specialized and divided into different groups, and transactions between AI agents should be realized through market mechanisms. There have been more than 4 million transactions in the Olas ecosystem, more than half of which are interactions between agents. Mech Marketplace allows AI agents to freely match their needs without having to preset specific interaction objects.
Uniswap integrates Robinhood, MoonPay, and Transak, launching fiat currency withdrawal function
Uniswap Labs has launched a native fiat currency withdrawal (off-ramp) feature that allows users to convert crypto assets into fiat currency directly in the Uniswap wallet and deposit it into a bank account. This feature is achieved through integration with Robinhood, MoonPay and Transak, and will be expanded to the Uniswap browser plug-in and official website in the future. Users can exchange supported ERC-20 tokens for stablecoins such as USDC and ETH, and then quickly withdraw them to their accounts. Uniswap Labs said that this feature has covered more than 180 countries, greatly improving the liquidity between crypto assets and fiat currencies.
According to CoinDesk, Blackbird, a restaurant loyalty platform, announced that its Flynet mainnet has been officially launched, introducing restaurant payment and membership reward systems to the blockchain. Flynet is a Layer-3 blockchain based on the Coinbase Base chain, which aims to reduce transaction costs, remove middlemen, and provide an innovative restaurant reward model.
Blackbird previously launched a payment platform that allows users to pay for meals through $FLY tokens, which can be consumed at restaurants or purchased with USDC. After Flynet goes online, $FLY is still used for payment, but restaurants can also use the token to pay platform fees. In addition, Blackbird has also launched a new token $F2, which is used for network gas fees, and plans to airdrop 13% of the supply to early users and restaurants.
Blackbird has received $85 million in financing from investors including a16z, Coinbase, Spark Capital and American Express. Currently, the platform has landed in New York, San Francisco and Charleston, working with about 500 restaurants to promote the blockchain development of the catering industry.
Coinbase and NEAR form an open AI alliance to promote decentralized AI services
U.S. stocks closed: Nasdaq fell 2.7%, Nvidia fell more than 8%
According to Spot On Chain monitoring, Bybit hackers have laundered more than 50% of the stolen ETH within a week after the attack. In the past 5.5 days, a total of 266,309 ETH (about 614 million US dollars) was transferred, accounting for 53.3% of the total 499,000 ETH stolen. The hacker mainly used THORChain to exchange BTC, transferring an average of 48,420 ETH per day. There are still 233,086 ETH left. If the current speed is maintained, it is expected that the remaining funds can be completely cleaned within 5 days.
THORChain core developers warn of compliance risks, key team members exit
Chainalysis: Cryptocurrency crime could exceed $51 billion by 2024
The 2025 "Crypto Crime Report" released by Chainalysis shows that crypto crime has entered a professional era dominated by AI-driven scams, stablecoin money laundering, and efficient network groups, with illegal transactions reaching $51 billion in the past year, breaking previous records. Preliminary estimates show that crypto crime will decline in 2024. But a deeper analysis shows that this is not the case: criminals have adopted advanced money laundering techniques, relying on stablecoins, DeFi, and AI-driven deception, creating the illusion of reduced crime.
Immunefi: Nine hacking incidents in the crypto industry in February caused $1.53 billion in losses
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