I haven’t written much in this space lately for a couple reasons. First, I’ve been able to take my foot off the marketing accelerator because I’m blessed with enough business to adequately fund the household while maintaining my work-life balance. Second, I now have a life to balance out the work. I could be blogging, or I could be curled up with the most beautiful woman in Manhattan. Tough choice.

But something has come up that I wanted to share with you:

Please join me, my guests Nikhilesh De and Joseph Hall, and the New York Financial Writers’​ Association for a panel on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s suit against Ripple. Tuesday at 7 p.m. via Zoom. RSVP is required via  contact@nyfwa.org, and the login credentials will be provided at that time. Sadly, NYFWA — like many other organizations — has been Zoom-bombed over the past year, so we’re very cautious about that now. But don’t worry — Jeffrey Toobin is not a NYFWA member. (I don’t know why The New Yorker fired him, though. Almost a century ago, Peter Arno and Lois Long were caught in flagrante delicto on Harold Ross’s couch and they both had long subsequent careers under Eustace Tilley’s monocle.)

Hope to see you there! Here’s the whole Megillah:

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February 23, 2021 – The Ripple Effect: How and Why the SEC Targeted One Specific Cryptocurrency 

Join the New York Financial Writers’ Association for a panel discussion on cryptocurrency and the ins and outs of how and why The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission labeled XRP a security -something it has not done for any other widely traded cryptocurrency. Panelists will discuss the importance of the SEC’s actions regarding XRP taking place at a time when leadership of the SEC is changing and when cryptocurrency is surging to new heights. 

Other topics that will be touched on include:

• Why were regulators focused on XRP instead of bigger fish such as Bitcoin or Ethereum?

• Are cryptocurrencies actually securities, currencies or an entirely new asset class?

• Is SEC Chair-designee Greg Gensler, who is known to be more crypto-friendly, likely to drop the suit?

Panelists:

Nikhilesh De is a business reporter at CoinDesk with a focus on regulators, lawmakers and institutions. His work has been featured in The Nation and referenced by The Washington Post, ZDNet, Gizmodo, NJ Advance Media and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He owns less than $20 in BTC and has no other crypto holdings.

Joseph Hall, Esq., is a partner with Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Corporate Department and co-head of the firm’s ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) Group. His advisory practice includes working with blockchain and crypto-asset companies and sponsors on federal securities law matters. Between 2003 and 2005 he served at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, ultimately as Managing Executive for Policy under Chairman William H. Donaldson, where he assisted in directing the Commission’s policy-making and enforcement activities.

The panel will be moderated by NYFWA board member William Freedman, a freelance finance and technology writer whose work has appeared in Global Finance, AlphaSense, Investor’s Business Daily, The Industry Spread, Newsday, The Palm Beach Post and many other business and general readership outlets. Freedman writes frequently on cryptocurrency and other blockchain-adjacent topics for confidential clients. He owns less than $5,000 in crypto, including less than $100 in XRP.

When: Tuesday, February 23rd @ 7 p.m. (EST)

RSVPs Mandatory to: contact@nyfwa.org

*Zoom Link & meeting password provided at time of RSVP