Welcome to the TechMeme right home for Friday, November 15th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough. Today,

18 states are suing the SEC over crypto regulation. The FTC might be going after Microsoft,

but is this well-timed or terribly timed? ChatGPT on Windows just got more available. NASA has

created an AI co-pilot for Earth.

And of course, the week on long-rate suggestions. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

We've been speculating since the election how various markets and regulatory environments might change for tech

with the new administration. It's probably too soon to come to any firm conclusions about all that,

but one area where I think we know there's a new wind blowing is in crypto. Crypto is

ascendant, and crypto is ready to conquer any regulatory roadblocks they think they

still might be facing. Today's case in point, 18 U.S. states led by Kentucky are suing the

Securities and Exchange Commission and its commissioners, including Chairman Gary Gensler,

over its crackdown on the crypto industry. Quoting DeCript. Filed Thursday, the suit from 18 states and their respective

attorneys general, all Republicans, along with the Defi Education Fund, alleges that the regulator

violated the U.S. Constitution in its approach to regulating digital assets. Without congressional

authorization, the SEC has sought to unilaterally rest regulatory authority away from the states

through an ongoing series of enforcement actions targeting the digital asset industry. The lawsuit

filed in a federal court in Kentucky argues, the SEC's sweeping assertion of regulatory

jurisdiction is untenable, end quote. The suit further alleges that the SEC knowingly defied standard procedure under Gensler's

leadership when it came to crypto, and so the agency intentionally avoided releasing any new

crypto rules as a means to avoid the alleged issues with its, quote, regulatory land grab.

The 18 states party to today's lawsuit led by Kentucky have now asked a federal judge to grant

declaratory and injunctive relief, effectively to freeze the SEC's ability to sue crypto companies.

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