Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.

It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big-picture power shifts remaking our world.

The breakdown is sponsored by Nidig and produced and distributed by CoinDesk.

What's going on, guys? It is Sunday, July 11th, and that means it's time for Long Reads Sunday.

Today I'm doing something a little bit different. I'm first going to read an excerpt of a note

sent by Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts to Gary Gensler, the chairman of the U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission, and I'm then going to read an essay from CoinDesk called

Elizabeth Warren's Bitcoin Blindspot. This has been a big picture week, and so we'll close it

out strong with another big picture episode. This note from Elizabeth Warren sent to Gary Gensler has the intended purpose, I think,

of figuring out what authority the SEC thinks it has versus what authority needs to be within

Congress and the Senate. There is a lot of fluff and bluster in the main parts of the letter

that can leave no doubt as to how Elizabeth Warren

feels about this. But the excerpt that I want to read are just her set of questions, because I believe

that those are the most pertinent pieces when it comes to what happens next. To end her letter,

she writes, as the cryptocurrency markets continue to grow and expand, a lack of regulation

to provide basic investor protections

is unsustainable. The SEC regulates national securities exchanges, and cryptocurrency exchanges that

operate in a similar manner should be subject to similar regulatory standards. To better

understand the SEC's existing authority to protect consumers and investors who participate in

cryptocurrency exchanges and the potential need for Congress to take additional action on these matters, I ask that you provide a response to the following

questions by no later than July 28, 2021.

1. Do you believe that cryptocurrency exchanges are currently operating in a fair, orderly,

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