Financial incentives to resign or retire from the agency amid an ongoing wave of staffing changes from the regulator have been offered to the eligible employees by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Here are the updates from the crypto world
Financial incentives to resign or retire from the agency amid an ongoing wave of staffing changes from the regulator have been offered to the eligible employees by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to a March 4 Bloomberg report citing an email it reviewed, the US securities regulator is reportedly offering staff $50,000 to resign or retire by April 4.
The email described the offer as a “voluntary separation incentive” or “voluntary early retirement program,” was sent on Feb. 28 reportedly by the SEC chief operating officer Ken Johnson to all employees.
The incentive deadline is March 21, and the employees must have been on the agency's payroll before Jan. 24. They must also leave voluntarily through resignation, transfer to another agency, or retire.
Under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, the moves come as the Trump administration seeks to slash federal government staff.
Crypto exchanges CEOs of Coinbase and Gemini argue that Bitcoin may be the only cryptocurrency that meets the criteria for being a US reserve asset.
Gemini’s Tyler Winklevoss said in a March 3 X post after US President Donald Trump announced plans to establish a Crypto Strategic Reserve, that “Only one digital asset in the world right now meets the bar and that digital asset is Bitcoin.”
As per Trump, the Crypto Strategic Reserve would include Solana SOL $137.01, Cardano ADA $0.8109 and XRP XRP $2.32 in addition to Bitcoin BTC $83,521 and Ether ETH $2,084.
Winklevoss said while he has nothing against many of these coins, he doesn’t believe they’re suitable to be a US reserve asset.
“Many of these assets are listed for trading on Gemini and meet our rigorous listing policy criteria, but with respect to a Strategic Reserve, it is another standard. An asset needs to be hard money that is a proven store of value like gold.”
Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong agreed, stating, “Just Bitcoin would probably be the best option,” pointing to it being the simplest cryptocurrency and a clear successor to gold.
The shares of Strategy (MSTR), formerly the MicroStrategy, opened sharply higher on March 3 as investors reacted to a weekend Bitcoin rally that was fueled by US President Donald Trump’s crypto reserve plans.
According to Yahoo Finance data, MSTR rose by as much as 15% to trade at $295.10. Before March 3, MSTR stock was mired in a two-week downtrend that saw it lose more than 24%.
Since Strategy began accumulating Bitcoin BTC $83,761 in 2020, it has largely traded as a Bitcoin proxy stock.
The company has since amassed a whopping 499,096 BTC, making it the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder. The company said Strategy did not buy the Bitcoin dip last week, despite its aggressive buying spree in recent months.
The company is now among the best performing on Wall Street thanks to Strategy's Bitcoin strategy. MSTR has profited almost 1,800% since purchasing its first Bitcoin in August 2020, and its stock has increased by 156% in the last year.
Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani said, “In our view, a big beneficiary of the Bitcoin reserve (Bitcoin will still be the lion’s share of the reserve) is MSTR.”