Stephen Peepels, chief legal officer at MANTRA, expressed concerns about the inconsistent state regulations in the United States, which he said create a challenging environment for blockchain businesses. "Not a very good situation," Peepels remarked during his speech at the State of Crypto Regulations panel at Binance Blockchain Week.
"You have the tension between the US federal regulator and each individual state," said Peepels. "So you have states like Wyoming, which are attempting to be a very forward-looking jurisdiction to encourage crypto companies to move into the US, and then you have states like New York, which are pretty much doing the opposite. So collectively, it's not a very good situation for those of us that would like to operate crypto or blockchain financial services business in the United States."
According to a report by Social Capital Markets, fines imposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the cryptocurrency industry surged by 3018% in 2024. The penalties increased from $150.26 million in 2023 to $4.68 billion.
Social Capital Markets further reports that since 2013, the SEC has levied over $7.42 billion in fines against crypto firms and individuals, with 63% of this total occurring in 2024.
Peepels leads discussions on regulatory issues and market trends at MANTRA, drawing on over 15 years of experience in cross-border capital transactions, private equity, and compliance. His expertise includes advising corporations on regulatory challenges within blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors and guiding multinational companies on trade regulations, sanctions, and compliance programs.
MANTRA is described as a blockchain platform that tokenizes real-world assets while complying with regulatory requirements. It supports developers and users through low-cost transactions, identity verification, and Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/AML) compliance. Additionally, MANTRA facilitates secure cross-chain transactions, decentralized identity (DID), and governance.
Binance Blockchain Week is an event that gathers innovators, founders, investors, regulators, and officials to discuss the future of blockchain technology and Web3. This year's conference theme is "Momentum," emphasizing how momentum drives the industry through challenges towards significant achievements.
