Weekly Roundup

Meta Publicizes AI Code: Tech giant Meta publicly released its latest AI technology, LLaMA, so that people can build their own chatbots. Conversely, Google and OpenAI have taken steps to safeguard their technology. There are critics on both sides, as AI can be used to spread disinformation, hate speech, and other problematic material. Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun responded to the criticism, asking, “Do you want every AI system to be under the control of a couple of powerful American companies?”

Crypto Clarity:  It was reported that a bipartisan group of Members of Congress are working on draft legislation to bring jurisdictional clarity to the crypto market structure.

Short Selling: Short sellers significantly profited from the US banking crisis, gaining $1.2 billion in just the first two days of May. Critics have expressed concern over this type of short selling. Despite recent chatter about a potential short selling ban, SEC Chair Gensler stated these types of bans have not worked in the past and the SEC is not considering implementing restrictions on short selling.

Stock Buybacks: The US Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Association of Business, and the Longview Chamber of Commerce sued the SEC to attempt to block new proposed rules requiring public companies to disclose more information about their stock buybacks. The US Chamber stated that the lawsuit “seeks to protect returns for investors as well as the ability of companies to make decisions free from government micromanagement.”

Stablecoin Market Manipulation: Court filings of the SEC allege that Jump Trading made a deal with Terraform Labsregarding the price of stablecoin TerraUSD, with several agreements revolving around Terra’s LUNA tokens.

EU Crypto Regulation: On Tuesday, the European Union approved the world’s first comprehensive set of rules to regulate crypto. The rules will require all firms that want to issue, trade, and safeguard crypto assets, tokenized assets, and stablecoins within the EU to obtain a license. The rules are expected to come into play in 2024.

In the Mix: This Week’s Top FinTech Thought Leader

  • Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, testified before members of a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday about AI regulation. Altman agreed that AI needs to be regulated, stating, “I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong. And we want to be vocal about that. We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening.”

  • Eun Young Choi, Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), told the Financial Timesthat the Department of Justice is targeting crypto exchanges and “mixers and tumblers” in the crypto space. After significant growth in crypto crime in the past four years, the DOJ is targeting both companies that commit crimes themselves and companies that allow crimes to happen, such as enabling money laundering