Regulation

Regulators in the United States have been piling on the pressure on the crypto space over the last year, even more so in light of the FTX demise and collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Now, according to a job posting on the official government website, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to

Presidential hopefuls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) and Ron DeSantis are rallying against the Federal Reserve’s FedNow payments system claiming it would pave the way for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). In an April 11 Twitter thread, Democrat RFK Jr. — the nephew of former president John F. Kennedy Jr. — once again

The new R&D law has overly broad language that states “any and all” software development must be amortized over five years if the development took place in the United States, or over 15 years if the work was done overseas. The change doesn’t sound so bad on its surface; some argue it might even create

New York Times’s latest report on Bitcoin (BTC) mining, titled “The Real-World Costs of the Digital Race for Bitcoin,” has irked many BTC proponents. A number of Bitcoin proponents took to Twitter to call out certain aspects of the report calling it “cheery picking data.” The NYT article calls Bitcoin mining a “voracious” appetite and claims

Japan has shown support for OpenAI amid a sea of bans by different countries and uncertainties for the artificial intelligence (AI) company. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno stated on Monday, April 10, that Japan would contemplate incorporating AI technology into government systems, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, provided privacy and cybersecurity issues are addressed. Following

FTX was run by three inexperienced people “not long out of college,” who relied on “a hodgepodge” of online shared documents and communications across a series of different apps to manage the multi-billion dollar empire according to FTX CEO John Ray III. In an April 9 court filing in a Delaware Bankruptcy Court, John J

Two Texas lawmakers have introduced identical bills for creating a state-based digital currency backed by gold, a move that comes despite objections from several United States lawmakers against introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Senator Bryan Hughes introduced Senate Bill 2334 on March 10, with Representative Mark Dorazio introducing House Bill 4903 on the same day,

Japan-based decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) Sushi’s head chef Jared Grey and his counsel stated that as far as they know, no one associated with Sushi has violated U.S. federal security laws, while providing reassurance that he is cooperating with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subpoena. In an April 8 statement, Grey answered the

A bill seeking to regulate Bitcoin mining activity in the State of Arkansas has passed in both the House of Representatives and Senate, moving now to the governor’s office for approval. According to the bill, the Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023 intends to regulate the Bitcoin mining industry in the American state, creating guidelines

Crypto-friendly Congressman Tom Emmer has slammed U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler for his approach to cryptocurrency regulation, labeling him as a “bad faith regulator.” Great interview by @laurashin with @GOPMajorityWhip! Congress is working in their districts this week and next, but expect a VERY busy last 2 weeks of April for

The Pheu Thai Party, a political party in opposition to the current Thailand prime minister’s, has reportedly proposed giving nearly every citizen of the country roughly $300 in digital currency should it win the next election. According to an April 7 report from the Bangkok Post, the Pheu Thai Party announced at an April 5

On March 15, the European Parliament voted 418 to 103 (with 24 abstentions) in favor of negotiating a mandate for talks with the European Union member states about revising the new European Digital Identity (eID) framework and creating the “European Digital Identity Wallet,” also known as EUDI Wallet or EU wallet.  Citizen’s IDs, health cards,

South Korean prosecutors have identified 414.5 billion won ($314.2 million) in illicit assets associated with Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon and his associates. Out of the $314 million identified illicit assets, prosecutors have linked about 91.4 billion won ($69 million) of the specified amount to Kwon. Although Kwon amassed millions, none of the assets tied

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) will launch a consultation for its regulation report on crypto assets in Q2 2023. The final recommendations from the organization are planned to be published by the end of 2023.  The dates are scheduled in IOSCO’s work program for 2023–24. Two major workflows are dedicated to decentralized assets

A widely shared video of European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde admitting that a Digital Euro will be used in a “limited” way to control the payments people can make was taken from the three week old prank video. The video was highlighted by breaking news account Watcher Guru on April 6 and generated

Swedish crypto tax firm Divly has released a new report that estimates that only 0.53% of crypto investors globally paid tax on their crypto in 2022 — however tax experts have cast doubt on the figures and methodology.  The Divly report published on April 5 came up with the estimate after analyzing the relationship between

The financial and advertising regulators of the United Kingdom have teamed up to send a warning to social media “finfluencers” telling them to stop promoting illegal “get rich quick” schemes or face law enforcement. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Advertising Standards Authority (ACA) made reference to cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in its

The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) has issued a consumer protection alert addressing the “alleged cryptocurrency exchange” known as Eucoinotrade.  At least one person may have fallen victim to what appears to be “advanced fee fraud,” per the report. This is a confidence scheme that involves soliciting large sum payments for fees under

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Blowing up a Singaporean crypto hedge fund worth an estimated $10 billion at its peak was, by all means, a life-changing event for its co-founders Kyle Davies and Zhu Su. It appears that the trauma from the incident had been so

Arguing over the prudence and implications of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States has seemingly become one of Washington’s favorite icebreakers. As Congress considers the question, it is critical that Americans clearly understand and soberly consider the immense power a CBDC could grant governments as well as the unacceptable risk