SCOTUS might halt financial regulation

The US Supreme Court ruled last week against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), limiting its powers to interpret or enforce laws without explicit Congressional authority. Two top Republican lawmakers told the Financial Times that the ruling will soon affect financial regulators as well.

Why should we care?
According to Senator Pat Toomey, the most senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, “The SEC should consider itself to have been put on notice.” Congressman Patrick McHenry, who holds a similar role to Toomey on the House Financial Services Committee, echoed Toomey’s sentiments, but suggested that crypto in particular will be affected by SCOTUS’s judgment. The ruling is “a warning to the Biden administration—and the regulatory state in general—that they cannot circumvent lawmakers,” he said. “This is especially true when it comes to determining the rules of the road for the digital asset ecosystem.” With a bipartisan Senate bill on crypto regulation failing to move forward, it seems the crypto space may soon face far less governmental oversight than it already does. Libertarian pockets of the crypto space might celebrate this “freedom” in the short run; the accelerated crypto crash the ruling promises in the long run may make them feel otherwise. And, with crypto rendered even more volatile, retail investors are certain to feel the effects of this potential regulatory pivot most severely.