The long-awaited cryptocurrency regulation framework released by President Joe Biden’s Treasury Department this month attempted to outline a plan for managing the burgeoning crypto industry. Unfortunately, the department’s assessment failed to embody more substance than a mere mission statement. While Biden’s administration appears to be taking a “whole-of-government approach” toward overseeing the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector and its ripple effects on the traditional economy, they are focused predominantly on defending against negative events — such as financial crime — and failing to facilitate positive events, such as the wealth-building opportunities that crypto offers to Americans excluded from the traditional big-banking …

Australian crypto entrepreneur and investor Fred Schebesta has described the Australian government's prioritization of token mapping as “wonderful,” but warns that rushing it could lead to detrimental effects on the economy. Schebesta's comments come after Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers released a statement on Aug. 22 stating that the “treasury will prioritize token mapping work" in 2022 to show how “crypto assets and related services should be regulated.” Speaking to Cointelegraph, Schebesta believes Australia already has a “fledgling” crypto industry but needs to “align with the other major markets and their regulations.” Schebesta added that the "intricacies” of token mapping are …

As the world waits to see America’s take on cryptocurrency regulation, crypto enthusiasts should keep one thing in mind: The industry can trust Senator Cynthia Lummis. Her proposal with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, which we’ve all been waiting for action on, is bipartisan in nature. We’re still awaiting the final details, but things have slowed to a crawl with the November elections around the corner. United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has moved forward with commentary that suggests the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will take a major role in the oversight of Bitcoin (BTC), which, in and of …

$20,000 is no longer support. $100,000 didn’t happen. The Bitcoin halving is 562 days away. Bears simply refuse to release their vice grip on the market and the Federal Reserve’s policy of interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening is adding fuel to the fire. Despite these challenges, in a Sept. 15 Twitter Space hosted by Cointelegraph, Capriole Fund founder Charles Edwards explained why he is still bullish on Bitcoin. Edwards suggested that several on-chain metrics suggest that BTC is undervalued and he said: “I see incredible deep value and I kind of call it a trifecta and that we have …

On Sept. 8, Coinbase announced it was bankrolling a lawsuit against the United States Treasury Department. The cryptocurrency exchange is funding a lawsuit brought by six people that challenges the sanctions on Tornado Cash. And on Sept. 9, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler announced he was working hard with Congress to create legislation to increase cryptocurrency regulations. But these two stories are not mutually exclusive. And the sequence of events proves that governments are purely reactive rather than proactive when it comes to decentralized finance (DeFi). Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control …

There’s never a good time for a crypto winter, but it would be difficult to envision a worse time than right now. Even before 70% of Bitcoin’s (BTC) value evaporated seemingly overnight, things were not going great in the court of public opinion. Negative sentiment was everywhere; a Twitter account documenting crypto bros taking it on the chin racked up hundreds of thousands of followers. Now the biggest crypto exchanges in the world are laying off full-time employees by the thousands, and the self-proclaimed “Cryptoqueen” has landed a spot on the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Ten Most Wanted …

Disgraced cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network asked a court this month to return assets to its “custody clients,” but not to its “earn-and-borrow” customers. Wondering how to keep yourself in the former group when the crypto exchange you’re using goes under? Here’s a summary. What exactly is a “custody client?” It’s similar in principle to a savings account with a traditional bank — often repayable upon demand by the custodian. In this case, it’s Celsius that has a fiduciary responsibility. This type of account is kept separate from an “earn-and-borrow” account. It includes coins that can be transferred, swapped or used …

The United States has been the global financial leader since World War II when the U.S. dollar became the world reserve currency. Consequently, Americans have enjoyed benefits like greater buying power, easier access to capital and low-interest rates—including on our national debt. Unfortunately, we face a growing threat to that dominance, from our national debt on the one hand and China’s ascendance and their own digital currency on the other. If the U.S. dollar lost its position as the world reserve currency, it would mean higher U.S. interest payments, more expensive debt repayments and a skyrocketing deficit. The best time …

The past few years have seen crypto assets moved from being “niche products” to having more of a mainstream presence, prompting the need for more comprehensive regulation of the space, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a new report shared by the IMF on Sept. 5, director of IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department Aditya Narain and assistant director Marina Moretti said crypto has seen a shift from “niche products” to ones used for speculative investments, hedges against weak currencies, and payment instruments. The authors also argued that recent failures of crypto issuers, exchanges, and hedge funds have …

In a recent interview, United States congressman and a known crypto skeptic Brad Sherman claimed that banning cryptocurrencies is not an option at this point. In a statement to LA Times, the Northridge-area Democrat said that the crypto industry has become quite powerful over the years. He added that the high capital donations to the politicians and strong crypto lobbying make it impossible for them to impose a blanket ban. He explained: “We didn’t ban it at the beginning because we didn’t realize it was important, and we didn’t ban it now because there’s too much money and power behind …

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly pursuing changes in the country's legal framework with regard to its regulation of cryptocurrencies. According to local media, one major concern is that the bill in question does not appear to consider tokens as digital assets or securities — and they therefore wouldn't fall under SEC regulation. The updated position of the nation's SEC follows the appointment of a new board and the increased relevance of the crypto sector in the financial services in the country. Brazilian lawmakers have been working on regulations for cryptocurrencies since 2015, but the Senate only approved …

It took a few years, but government crackdowns on “insider trading” involving digital assets have finally arrived. It’s about time! Insider trading occurs often in our securities markets, so it was only a matter of time before crypto and other digital assets would be exploited improperly by miscreants for financial gain. On June 1, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York announced a criminal indictment against a former product manager of the OpenSea marketplace, Nathaniel Chastain. He is charged with using the confidential information about which nonfungible tokens were going to be featured on OpenSea’s homepage to …