Latest news with #DonWilson
National Geographic
11-03-2025
- National Geographic
A first look at the Great American Rail-Trail—and which section to cycle in 2025
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). It takes but a minute to put wheels in motion for one of the greatest adventures you can have in America, yet nearly three months to experience it in full. Running from Washington State to Washington, DC, the 3,700-mile Great American Rail-Trail moves from Pacific waves and old-growth forests at its western end to the White House and the Capitol in the east. Its east-west spine is made up of abandoned rail corridors that morph into urban greenways. Along the way, riders will get to experience national parks, forested canyons and prairie lands. The last stretch will run past the Lincoln Memorial to the United States Capitol — a fitting end, considering this portion of the route is based on Abe's 1860s transcontinental railroad. Due for completion in 2028, the Rail-Trail is still a work in progress, with a little over half currently ready for cyclists. With its varied terrain, Washington — forecast to have around 400 miles of cyclable track completed in 2025 — offers an epic taster. (This grand trail will one day connect Washington, D.C., to Washington State.) Natural highs: Olympic Discovery Trail The most memorable place to begin your adventure is on this 135-mile trail. From the get-go, the cycleway enters pine-shrouded Bigfoot territory, plunging into the temperate rainforests of Olympic National Park beneath the glacial caps of Mount Olympus. The trail then waltzes along the Strait of Juan de Fuca shoreline to Port Townsend, famed for its 19th-century buildings, with campground rest stops along the way. To travel this section is also a journey into the historic lands of the Klallam, Ho, Makah and other Native American tribes that put down roots long before the railroad came along. Fishermen's Terminal port in Seattle guards boats known from the reality TV show Deadliest Catch. Photograph by Don Wilson, Port Seattle City life: Burke-Gilman Trail The real Seattle can be found on this 20-mile path, which begins amid the shimmering wetlands of Golden Gardens Park before rolling to the north end of Lake Washington. In between, the neighbourhoods of Nordic-influenced Ballard, trendy Fremont and the University District pass by in a slow-mo blur. A salvo of coffee shops, bike fitters and craft breweries right on the cycleway will prompt the squeal of brakes, then you'll pass the Fishermen's Terminal dock, home to some of the crab boats featured in reality TV show Deadliest Catch. Finish up at Gas Works Park, watching seaplanes take off and land. Snoqualmie Falls was made famous by David Lynch's Twin Peaks, as were the surrounding towns where the cult 1990s TV series was filmed. Cyclists can explore the area via the forested, 31-mile Snoqualmie Valley Trail, which takes in filming locations including Salish Lodge & Spa, in Sanoqualmie; The Roadhouse Restaurant & Inn, in Fall City; and North Bend's Twede's Cafe — stop for cherry pie. Further east, the relentless beauty of the Cascade Range takes over. Some parts of the Great American Rail-Trail require a mountain bike. Photograph by Silvrshootr, Getty Images Into the wild: Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail This epic 236-mile trail runs from electric-blue Rattlesnake Lake over Snoqualmie Pass (2,600ft) and all the way to the Idaho border. Currently, this stretch is one of the country's longest rail trail conversions — thanks to the well-maintained Milwaukee Road, a former railway line that closed in 1986. It crosses steel railroad trestles, bridges and dozens of canyons on gravel tracks, so a mountain bike is essential. National Geographic Traveller (UK). To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click Published in the USA guide, available with the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of(UK).To subscribe to(UK) magazine click here . (Available in select countries only). Inspiring exploration for over 130 years Subscribe now a get a free tote SUBSCRIBE
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SEC Agrees to Drop Enforcement Suit Against Cumberland DRW, Firm Says
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to drop its enforcement case against Cumberland DRW, the crypto trading arm of Chicago-based trading firm DRW, according to a Tuesday announcement from the company. The SEC sued Cumberland DRW last October, accusing the firm of acting as an unregistered securities dealer and alleging it sold more than $2 billion in unregistered securities, naming tokens like Polygon (POL), Solana (SOL), Cosmos (ATOM), Algorand (ALGO) and Filecoin (FIL) as a 'non-exhaustive' list of tokens the agency considered to be securities. At the time the suit was filed, Cumberland DRW and its CEO Don Wilson pledged to fight the charges. In an interview with CoinDesk last October, Wilson said that his firm had tried and failed to register as a securities dealer with the SEC, and suggested that the lack of clarity for crypto companies under then-Chair Gary Gensler was a feature, not a bug of the agency's regulatory approach. Read more: Who's Afraid of Gary Gensler? Not Don Wilson, the Trader Who Beat the Regulator Once Before 'This dynamic put the SEC in a position where they could say everyone is breaking the rule, and we're just going to go after whoever we want to,' Wilson told CoinDesk. '[It] reminds me of 'Atlas Shrugged.' If everybody is breaking the law, they get to selectively harass whoever they want to.' Just five months later, under the new leadership of Acting Chair Mark Uyeda, the SEC has completely reversed course. The agency's decision to drop its suit against Cumberland DRW is the latest in a series of abandoned lawsuits: the SEC has also dropped its case against Coinbase, and agreed to drop its cases against ConsenSys and Kraken. It has also closed a multitude of probes into crypto companies, including Gemini, OpenSea, Robinhood Crypto and Yuga Labs. As with its ConsenSys and Kraken agreements, the SEC's agreement with Cumberland is pending approval from a majority of the three commissioners currently on the panel. The Commission voted to drop its Coinbase case last week. 'As a firm deeply committed to the principles of integrity and transparency, we look forward to continuing our dialogue with the SEC to help shape a future where technological advancements and regulatory clarity go hand in hand, ensuring tha the U.S. remains at the forefront of global financial innovation,' Cumberland said in its announcement. A representative for Cumberland DRW declined to comment beyond the firm's X post. The SEC did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As the SEC Continues Its Crypto Litigation Retreat, Here's What's Still Outstanding
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is undertaking a full-scale retreat from much of the major crypto litigation started under former Chair Gary Gensler, but not everyone is off the hook. At least four lawsuits against crypto companies — Ripple, Kraken, Cumberland DRW and Pulsechain — remain ongoing, and probes into another three firms — Unicoin, and Immutable — have not yet been closed. Following the publication of this article, Kraken announced that the SEC would be dropping its lawsuit against the exchange, pending commissioner approval. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, the leader of the agency's newly-created Crypto Task Force, has already made good on her promise earlier this month to 'disentangle' the SEC from various crypto-related litigation. The agency has agreed to drop its cases against Coinbase and ConsenSys, pending commissioner approval, and has put its cases against Binance and Tron on pause as the parties consider a 'potential resolution.' The unprecedented activity level at the SEC as it backs away from crypto actions illustrates "just how beyond the pale the last four years were," Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal in an interview with CoinDesk. "It is definitely something we've never seen before, but I think it's well warranted." Over the past two weeks, a number of companies who previously received Wells notices — essentially a heads-up from the regulator that it intends to file enforcement charges — got word from the SEC that the investigations into them had been closed, and enforcement charges would not be filed against them. That list includes Robinhood Crypto, decentralized protocol Uniswap, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea and crypto exchange Gemini. Though the SEC has retreated from its accusations that Coinbase operated as an unregistered securities broker and exchange, similar charges against Kraken have not yet been dropped. The SEC sued Kraken in November 2023, accusing the firm of commingling customer and corporate funds while operating as an unregistered securities broker, clearing agency and dealer. A representative for Kraken did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. Similarly, the SEC sued Cumberland DRW — the crypto trading arm of Chicago-based trading firm DRW — last year for allegedly operating as an unregistered securities dealer. Don Wilson, the founder of DRW, pledged to fight the suit at the time. A representative for DRW declined to comment, telling CoinDesk the firm currently has no updates to share. Read more: Who's Afraid of Gary Gensler? Not Don Wilson, the Trader Who Beat the Regulator Once Before The SEC sued Ripple in 2020 and largely lost in 2023, when a New York judge ruled that XRP, when sold to retail investors, wasn't a security. The SEC subsequently appealed that ruling. Though both Ripple executives and outside experts have speculated that the agency will drop the appeal, the agency has not yet made any public statement about the case. A representative for Ripple told CoinDesk the company currently has no updates to share. Rebecca Fike, a Dallas-based partner at law firm Vinson & Elkins and a former SEC enforcement attorney, told CoinDesk she expects the SEC to drop any of its pending cases that are based on using the Howey test to charge a firm with offering unregistered securities, especially where there are no findings of fraud or other investor-protection related issues. 'As for why some have been dropped before others, it could be internal or court based timelines that are setting priorities,' Fike said. 'There is also a chance that some crypto-related cases that seem to fit the Howey framework AND that the SEC determines are based squarely in fraud — ie, a promoter or CEO saying one thing but doing another with investor funds — could continue under a traditional fraud framework.' The SEC brought fraud and registration allegations against Richard Schueler, better known as Richard Heart, Pulsechain, PulseX and Hex in July 2023. There was a hearing on the defendants' motion to dismiss last October, and the judge overseeing the case dismissed it last Friday, though she gave the SEC 20 days to amend it. Several of the SEC's probes — investigations that have not yet led to filed charges — into crypto companies also remain open. sued the SEC last October after it received a Wells notice. The firm voluntarily dropped its suit two months later, shortly after CEO Kris Marzalek met with then-President Elect Donald Trump. did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. Australian blockchain gaming and NFT company Immutable also received a Wells notice last year connected to the sale of its IMX token in 2021, and pledged to fight any ensuing enforcement charges. Neither the company nor the SEC has made any public statements about the status of the probe. Unicoin also received a Wells notice last year informing the firm that the SEC planned to bring charges alleging violations related to fraud, deceptive practices and the offer and sale of unregistered securities. Unicoin did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. The SEC's retreat, as well as the slashing of its crypto enforcement team, according to Fike, is an indication that the agency is moving away from the so-called 'regulation by enforcement' approach to the crypto industry undertaken by former Chair Gensler. 'I think the SEC is signaling through staffing that it means what it is now saying: that crypto regulation will come through statements and potential future rulemaking, not case-by-case enforcement actions,' Fike said. 'Their hope, and mine, is that a backing away from calling all crypto securities and assessing the crypto industry as a whole under Commissioner Peirce's new taskforce, will create some clarity around crypto regulation.' While the SEC is changing rapidly, not everyone is happy. Gemini president and co-founder Cameron Winkelvoss took to X earlier this week to demand retribution for the time and money the crypto exchange spent defending itself against the SEC's probe. He suggested that the SEC repay Gemini triple its legal costs and publicly fire all staff involved in the probe. According to Fike, this is probably a non-starter. 'I can't imagine the SEC would ever do that. It seems like it would be a difficult precedent to set for it and other agencies who try to regulate in new and emerging markets,' Fike said. 'It's important to note that new financial products can often be a source of fraud, and people/investors can be harmed by them. I do think the SEC was trying to be present and active in a billion-dollar market full of investors who may be fearful of 'missing out' but don't necessarily have the financial or technological savvy to parse through the real crypto opportunities from the potential frauds." Fike went on, adding: 'Many may disagree with the path they took, and Commissioners Peirce and Uyeda clearly do, but they are also benefitting from some maturation in the crypto universe. I think it is good that the SEC is taking a step back and looking to create a better regulatory structure for crypto and digital assets, but I don't think that means their earlier efforts were ill-intentioned or deserving of punishment.' UPDATE (March 3, 2025, 16:12 UTC): Adds Kraken announcing the SEC is dropping its suit against the exchange.
