A new bill demanding a congressional notification prior to payments of the United States Department of State (DOS) rewards using cryptocurrencies surfaced as the U.S. Congress raised concerns about the evasion of sanctions. The Rewards for Justice Program, a counterterrorism rewards program run by the Secretary of State, offers rewards for information that prevents international terrorism. Citing examples of Russia and Belarus as previously sanctioned regimes that have used cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions, the bill H. R. 7338 demands that: “The Secretary of State shall notify the appropriate congressional committees not later than 15 days before paying out a reward …

Australian Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has released a new draft bill aimed at clamping down on digital asset exchanges, stablecoins, and China’s central bank digital currency, the e-Yuan. In a statement on Sept. 18, Senator Bragg stated that “Australia must keep pace with the global race for regulation on digital assets” as “it is essential that the parliament drives law reform” on the matter. The new draft bill, titled Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2022, calls for the introduction of licenses for digital asset exchanges, digital asset custody services, stablecoin issuers, as well as disclosure requirements for facilitators of the …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware and hosting company Compass Mining has lost one of its Maine-based hosting facilities after the owner, Dynamics Mining, terminated the hosting agreement between the two, claiming Compass failed to pay the required bills. Late on Sunday, Dynamics tweeted a letter on Twitter it sent to Compass Mining which stated as of June 14th, the hosting contract between the two was terminated. Dynamics alleged Compass has six late payments and three non-payments related to utility bills and hosting fees. Effective June 14th @compass_mining facility hosting agreement in Maine was terminated by @dynamics2k for failure to pay power …

Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo has partially vetoed Bill No. 697, dubbed the “crypto bill,” saying it requires more work to better fit Panama’s financial regulations. President Cortizo previously warned in May he wouldn’t sign the bill unless it included additional Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules after Panama’s National Assembly passed the crypto bill in late April 2022. Local media outlet La Prenda obtained a copy of the 32-page veto, reporting the president wrote it’s “imperative” the cryptocurrency laws conform to new regulations recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) outlining “fiscal transparency and prevention of money laundering.” President Cortizo has …

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said he’s worried that a proposed bill to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies could weaken investor protections in the traditional financial market. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network Summit on Tuesday, Gensler was asked his thoughts regarding a recent bill introduced on June 7 by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). He responded, saying “we don't want to undermine the protections we have in a $100 trillion capital market,” adding: “We don’t want our current stock exchanges, mutual funds, or public companies to, sort of …

United States Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis believe that most altcoins would likely be considered securities under their proposed new legislation, but they confirmed that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) will be classified as commodities. Lummis and Gillibrand both agreed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s assessment that most cryptocurrencies are securities under the Howey Test, with Gillibrand stating: “Most cryptocurrencies go to the SEC [...] Bitcoin and Ether would be certainly commodities, and that's agreed upon. That’s agreed with Chairman Gensler as well as the chairman of the CFTC.” Gillibrand pushed back on reports characterizing …

United Kingdom’s Department of Treasury, or Her Majesty's Treasury, has reportedly decided to go ahead with legalizing stablecoins as a form of payment. While welcomed by the crypto community, the decision comes as a shocker due to its proximity to the recent fall of the popular algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST). A local report from The Telegraph highlighted the Treasury’s intent to regulate stablecoins across Britain, which was revealed during the Queen’s Speech. During the speech, Prince Charles announced the introductions of new legislation across various sectors, including measures to drive economic growth to improve living standards in the region, adding: …

United States Senator Cynthia Lummis appeared on a livestream hosted by Axios on Tuesday to tease the highly awaited bill on cryptocurrency she is authoring. The Wyoming Republican said the bill will be introduced as “one big piece so people can see the big picture” and be broken down into five or six components for consideration by the appropriate congressional committees. The bill, which Lummis is expected to introduce along with New York Democrat Kristin Gillibrand, is designed “so that it works within the traditional framework for managing and regulating traditional assets,” Lummis said. It will divide cryptocurrency oversight between …

Two committees of the Hawaii State Legislature — Commerce and Consumer Protection (CPN) and Ways and Means (WAM) — unanimously approved the launch of a specialized task force to explore the use and regulation of the crypto ecosystem. In a letter addressed to the President of the Hawaii State Senate, Ron Kouchi, legislative members Donovan Dela Cruz and Roz Baker wrote in support of creating a “Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Task Force” that was first proposed in bill SB2695. SB2695, titled “A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRYPTOCURRENCY,” sought to establish a task force within the Department of Budget and …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is changing how people interact with money in a way that makes the financial realm more accessible and secure. Under the traditional model, users can find themselves subject to rules implemented on short notice, which at times have erased millions or billions of dollars from their fortunes. For this reason, the next major technology revolution is being led by a move away from large tech players toward a community-led alternative. Supporting this revolution is ApeSwap, a platform positioned as being among the most connected DeFi hubs available today. Recently, ApeSwap has added a new NFT-based financial product …

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington, D.C., introduced an updated bill on Thursday to regulate cryptocurrency developers, dealers, exchanges and stablecoin providers, bringing them under the regulatory control of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2022 (DCEA) was re-introduced to Congress by Republican Representatives Glenn Thompson and Tom Emmer with support from Democrat co-sponsors Darren Soto and Ro Khanna. The updated version includes a section covering stablecoin providers, who can register as a “fixed-value digital commodity operator.” These operators would be obligated to share how the stablecoin operates, retaining records for …

The New York State Assembly passed a bill late on Tuesday that would place a two-year ban on all new proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining facilities in the state that use a carbon-based fuel to power their operations. The bill, sponsored by Anna Kelles, would not only impose a two-year hold on approval of any new Bitcoin mines, but the proposed moratorium would also prevent the renewal of permits issued to existing PoW cryptocurrency miners using carbon sourced energy if they seek to increase the amount of electricity consumed. Thrilled that my bill with Senate champion @kevinparkernyc A7389C/S6486D just passed in …