The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs recently approved a draft of its comprehensive Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, crypto regulation package. The new framework covers a wide range of crypto-related subjects, such as the status of all major currencies and stablecoins and the regulation of crypto mining and exchange platforms. Stefan Berger, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is the Parliament’s rapporteur for the upcoming MiCA regulation — the person appointed to report on proceedings related to the bill. In the associated negotiations, the German politician vehemently opposed, among other things, a ban on …

The bill regulating the cryptocurrency market in Brazil is expected to be approved by the National Congress in the first half of this year, according to Cointelegraph Brazil. The legislation, which has been debated in the Chamber of Deputies since 2015, has been approved in the first round of consideration. The Senate has attached it to another crypto-focused bill, which has already been approved by the Economic Affairs Committee of the Senate. Two legislators, Senator Irajá Abreu and Deputy Aureo Ribeiro, both rapporteurs of the aforementioned proposals in their respective legislative chambers, are drafting a unified text of the bill …

Last week, there was a lot of regulatory talk about crypto-related risks. While this is very common in itself, some angles and proposed solutions to such risks came across as novel. In the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a letter to commercial and savings banks under its purview, or all federally chartered banks, asking financial institutions to notify the FDIC about all ongoing and planned crypto-related activities. Apparently, standardized guidance for all banks would not fit the bill since the risks seem to be unique in each case. In Singapore, the local monetary authority became concerned …

Some analysts argue that Bitcoin (BTC) rallied too fast and too soon and the weakness that we see today is a result of that. Currently, a new Covid variant has caused the Chinese government to implement severe restrictions on Shanghai and other major cities and persistent regulatory concerns continue to weigh down on sentiment within the crypto sector. Another concerning development is the March 31 European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) vote to update the regulations in regards to exchange platforms’ ability to deal with noncustodial crypto wallets. Should the regulatory project make it to the legislative …

Speaking at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Samson Mow, former chief strategy officer of Blockstream, named three new jurisdictions that would be adopting or proposing to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. As told by Mow, the first is that of the Caribbean island Roatán, which is part of Honduras. Honduras Prospera Inc. is the organizer and promoter of the jurisdiction. The entity's president, Joel Bomgar, told the audience: "Bitcoin within Prospera operates as legal tender. That means no capital gains tax on BTC, you can transact freely using BTC, and you can pay taxes and fees to the …

Institutional investors rejoice, there is one more way to gain exposure to Bitcoin (BTC). The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced overnight the approval of a fourth Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). Fund group Teucrium is behind the most recently approved Bitcoin Futures ETF. The ETF joins a growing number of approved futures ETFs, complementing ProShares, Valkyrie, and VanEck Bitcoin Futures ETFs. Every Bitcoin spot ETF has been rejected to date, however, for one invested observer, the way in which the approval was made could be a boon for expectant spot investors. The plot thickens on the path …

United States President Joe Biden is reportedly planning to nominate two commissioners to the Securities and Exchange Commission with different political party affiliations. According to a Wednesday report from the Wall Street Journal, Biden is considering Democrat Jaime Lizárraga, a staffer for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Republican Mark Uyeda, counsel for the Senate Banking Committee on securities and capital markets, to fill seats left behind by SEC commissioners Allison Lee and Elad Roisman, respectively. Roisman left the regulatory body at the end of January, while Lee is expected to depart when her term expires in June. Lizárraga worked on …

Georgia, the country on the Black Sea, is preparing to regulate its cryptocurrency market. National Bank of Georgia Governor Koba Gvenetadze told The Financial on Monday that the central bank has already developed draft regulatory legislation in accordance with the requirements of international agencies. Gvenetadze said the size of the Georgian crypto market is unknown, due to the lack of regulation. However an estimate by Moneyval, the Council of Europe money laundering monitoring body, placed its monthly transaction volume at between 3.5 million and 5 million Georgian lari, or $1.09 million to $1.64 million USD, monthly as of September 2020. …

The European Parliament continued to keep crypto users and advocates at the edge of their seats last week as yet another piece of potentially harmful legislation — this time, a set of demanding data disclosure requirements for digital asset service providers — was rushed to a vote mere days after a near miss on banning proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies. Unlike the relatively happy resolution of the Markets in Crypto Assets framework situation, the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering rules retained all the crypto-hostile language as they are going into the next round of consideration, the so-called trialogue negotiations. If the rules are enacted …

The George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School National Security Institute hosted a webinar Wednesday, March 30, titled “Crypto and National Security: How to Validate American Innovation and Verify U.S. National Security.” Journalist Laura Shin moderated the discussion. CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation Sheila Warren, executive director of Coin Center Jerry Brito, and global managing partner and chief strategy officer of risk compliance and monitoring firm K2 Integrity Juan Zarate were participants. After opening comments, the first of three questions posed to the panel concerned American innovation. Brito expressed hope that crypto would be allowed to develop with …

In a July 2021 interview, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren likened crypto regulation to the drug regulation initiatives of a century ago, which she claimed put an end to the sale of “snake oil” and laid the basis for the creation of the modern drug industry. This reflected her earlier statements about the digital currency market resembling the “Wild West,” which makes it a poor investment as well as an “environmental disaster.” With her latest bill in the Senate pipeline targeting Russian actors’ potential use of crypto to circumvent United States sanctions, it is fair to ask: Is the military conflict …

The crypto industry has reacted strongly against a EU Parliament committee voting in favor of a regulatory package for tighter know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) rules for ”unhosted” private wallets. The new guidelines would require crypto service providers — most commonly exchanges — to verify the identity of every individual behind an unhosted wallet that interacts with them, while any transaction greater than 1,000 Euros ($1,100) would need to be reported to authorities. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong vented his frustrations against the move via Twitter, as he drew comparisons with fiat to highlight the absurdity of reporting and verifying …