In response to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ‘s increasing regulatory scrutiny of the cryptocurrency industry, a small group of community members launched a decentralized anti-SEC memecoin called NotWifGary (NWG) on May 16.
The memecoin project will take an anti-SEC and pro-Ethereum stance, rallying support for open-source developers and the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
We’re so tired of this regulatory uncertainty that prevents #Ethereum to fly high, it’s time to take our steps in this journey and be vocal.
We dream a community that will be so loud that politicians can’t ignore us anymore.
— Marco Monaco #ETHforAll (@marcomonaco83) May 15, 2024
Heightened Regulatory Scrutiny Birthed The Anti-SEC Memecoin
The creation of NWG comes amid heightened regulatory focus on crypto by figures such as SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The anti-SEC memecoin is part of a movement to counter what its creators see as unjust regulatory pressure.
Marco Monaco, a member of the NWG initiative, clarified that, despite his involvement with the zkEVM ecosystem Linea, the project is entirely separate from Linea and Consensys.
“My involvement in this project is 100% at a personal level, and I’m not doing this in my official @LineaBuild role,” Monaco said. “This project is not tied at all to Linea or @Consensys, even if $NWG will stand with similar companies and support them during their journey against the SEC.”
The official NWG account posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the project will “stand against Gary Gensler and the SEC, who are unlawfully threatening digital property by attacking Ethereum and open-source developers.”
GM Crypto!
Let us introduce NotWifGary, a new community in the space that wants to emerge and go live to stand our ground against Gary Gensler and the SEC, who are unlawfully threatening digital property by attacking Ethereum and open-source developers. pic.twitter.com/nI25CReFeE
— NotWifGary – $NWG (@NotWifGary) May 15, 2024
NWG will be categorized explicitly as a CultureCoin. It will be launched in a highly decentralized manner with a fair launch strategy. The 12 original project supporters, who are all publicly known, plan to deploy 100% of the token allocation in a liquidity pool.
According to the project’s website, NWG will be launched on Linea as an ERC20 token, managed through a multi-sig wallet involving the original project supporters. The liquidity pool for NWG will be bootstrapped through community donations to ensure sufficient decentralization and fairness. Importantly, donations will not entitle contributors to NWG tokens but will earn them the “$NWG Launch Team” Soulbound Token (SBT).
SEC Already Cracking Down Themselves
Democratic Representative Wiley Nickel recently commented that the SEC’s actions are turning crypto into a “political football,” unnecessarily forcing President Biden to “choose sides” on the matter. Nickel’s comments came after the proposed Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 rule, requiring SEC-reporting entities to record custodial crypto as liabilities on their balance sheets.
According to government records, SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, known for her critical stance on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, may lose her position on June 5. Crenshaw, sworn in alongside Commissioner Hester M. Peirce in August 2020, has not been re-nominated, and recent White House statements suggest no immediate plans to fill her position.
This news comes amid rumors of SEC chairman Gary Gensler potentially resigning, although Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terret believes this is unlikely during an election year.
Also, concerning the strict SEC stance on crypto, Kraken recently urged the US court to dismiss the SEC’s claims that it operated an unregistered securities trading platform, arguing that such claims could significantly reorder the US financial regulatory structure.
Kraken believes that the SEC’s broad interpretation of its jurisdiction, mainly through the Howey test, would unnecessarily expand its authority beyond its intended limits, a matter that should be debated in Congress.