The former Department of Justice trial attorney has been with the New York State Department of Financial Services for eight years.
Debra Brookes’ new role with the New York State Department of Financial Services may suggest more of a focus on regulation through enforcement.
An attorney who has been working at New York’s Department of Financial Services, or NYDFS, since 2013, Brookes has served in key roles in the department’s Enforcement Division, Financial Frauds and Consumer Protection Division, and Consumer Protection and Financial Enforcement Division before becoming deputy virtual currency chief for its Research and Innovation Division in March. Prior to that, she worked as a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice for five years, leading and participating in “complex white-collar investigations.”
Though the former DOJ attorney’s views on crypto have not been widely reported, she did contribute to a NYDFS report about the July 2020 hack on Twitter, which resulted in many high-profile accounts sending tweets fraudulently promising followers that they would double Bitcoin (BTC) payments sent to a specific address. That report concluded that “cryptocurrency companies had robust programs around cybersecurity, fraud-prevention, and anti-money laundering programs.”
With regulatory authority over many crypto exchanges and firms, the NYDFS has approved Goldman Sachs-backed crypto custodian BitGo to operate as an independent custodian in New York. The regulator has also granted BitLicenses — digital currency licenses that allow firms to do business with customers and companies based in the state — to both global crypto payments processor BitPay and institutional cryptocurrency exchange Bakkt.
Brookes works under Jon Blattmachr, who has been the NYDFS’ virtual currency chief since October 2020.
Investment strategist Raoul Pal suggested traders should probably buy the Bitcoin dip as price crashes to two-month lows.
Raoul Pal wants Bitcoin (BTC) investors to mobilize their trades against Elon Musk. The macro investment strategist advised traders to either accumulate or preserve their Bitcoin holdings just as the flagship cryptocurrency suffered massive declines over the weekend and at the beginning of this week.
Bitcoin drops by 16.92% over the weekend and Monday. Source: Tradingview
In retrospect, bulls came under pressure after Elon Musk started rattling the cryptocurrency market. On May 12, the billionaire entrepreneur reversed his company Tesla’s decision to accept bitcoin payments for its electric vehicles, citing environmental issues related to the bitcoin mining industry.
Nevertheless, he noted that Tesla would keep holding more than a billion-dollar worth of bitcoins on its balance sheet. The company had revealed the said crypto investment in its securities filing in February 2021.
But during the weekend, Musk hinted at another U-turn. He engaged with an alleged cryptocurrency scammer on Twitter when the latter discussed the prospect of Tesla dumping its entire $1.5 billion Bitcoin stash on the market. Musk responded with an “indeed,” prompting traders to believe that he would indeed sell all the Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings.
But the damage was done. As the Bitcoin’s price fell, Musk’s comments lead to an out-and-out Twitter spat with the bitcoin community, prompting prominent crypto influencer Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano to call the Tesla CEO an “emotional billionaire.”
We were anticipating nation states and central banks, but instead got an emotional billionaire with a Twitter account.
On the other hand, Pal suggested Bitcoin traders ignore the “weekend FUD” and focus on the cryptocurrency’s strong technical setup that indicates a bullish breakout.
Pal:
“After the weekend FUD fest and s**t fighting, let’s get back to the important stuff. BTC is forming a wedge most likely…perfectly normal correction and healthy […] So, if you have dry powder, add. If you don’t. HODL.”
Anatomy of Pal’s Bitcoin Tweet
BTFD is a backronym for “Buy the F***ing Dip” — which influences traders to accumulate more assets as their prices go down. Meanwhile, Pal appeared very bullish on the latest Bitcoin correction after spotting a Falling Wedge pattern.
Falling Wedges are bullish reversal patterns. They appear when price trends lower inside a range defined by two downward sloping trendlines — as the reaction highs and reaction lows forming on them converge.
It typically leads to the price breaking above the upper trendline by the maximum Wedge length. The technical theory serves as the basis of Pal’s bullish bias on Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Wedge formation suggests a bullish breakout ahead. Source: Twitter
A mirrored image of Pal’s BTC trade setup from Tradingview shows that the BTC/USD exchange rate could rise by almost $14,000 on the next upside breakout move.
Meanwhile, fundamentals such as network hash rate and other metrics continue to flash bullish in the Bitcoin market. However, some macroeconomic factors may also provide a boost for Bitcoin, particularly as the dollar slumps.
Additionally, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its meeting in April on Wednesday, suggesting that the central bank will keep interest rates near zero, purchasing government bonds and mortgage-backed securities at the pace of $120 billion per month — at least until 2023.
“We expect the minutes … to reiterate that policymakers consider the pick up in inflation to be transitory,” commented Kim Mundy, a currency strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. Mundy also told Reuters:
“The upshot is that we do not expect the (Fed) to consider tapering its asset purchases soon. The dollar is expected to resume its downtrend this week after last week’s CPI-inspired boost.”
Twelve months earlier, the company recorded a comprehensive loss of $26.9 million.
Galaxy Digital Holdings, a cryptocurrency-focused investment manager, booked a stellar first quarter on the back of surging digital asset valuations.
The company’s net comprehensive income, which includes net income and unrealized income, surged to $860.2 million in the quarter ending March 31, 2021. In the first quarter of 2020, Galaxy Digital booked losses of $26.9 million.
Assets under management increased 58% during the quarter. Income from trading surged to $508.7 million from a $31.5 million loss in the first quarter of last year.
Galaxy Digital’s three Bitcoin funds returned 101.92% year-to-date through March 31.
“Beyond delivering dramatic organic growth, we announced we will acquire BitGo, which will establish Galaxy Digital as the first full-service digital asset financial platform for institutions and ensure our business is aligned with broader institutional adoption,” said CEO Michael Novogratz.
Galaxy Digital revealed earlier this month that it will acquire BitGo, a leading cryptocurrency custodian and service provider, for $1.2 billion in stock and cash. To finance the acquisition, Galaxy will use its balance sheet and defer the rest of the payment up to 12 months after the deal closes.
The Novogratz-led firm is one of several institutions vying to list the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Galaxy Digital submitted its application for a Bitcoin ETF with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Apr. 12.
Many crypto proponents believe that a Bitcoin ETF could streamline institutional adoption of digital assets in the United States. The SEC has yet to approve any Bitcoin ETF over volatility and price manipulation concerns.
