Former Republican Representative George Nethercutt championed cryptocurrency, but took aim at United States regulators’ approach to it in an article for political news outlet The Hill Jan. 14. Nethercutt — who represented the U.S. state of Washington for ten years from 1995 — now serves as founder and chairman of Nethercutt Consulting LLC and of his nonprofit, the Nethercutt Civics Foundation. Reviewing U.S. policy at home and abroad in his recent op-ed, Nethercutt drew a stark contrast between actions of the State Department to protect U.S. intellectual property and those of regulators. “While diplomats at the State Department are negotiating …

United States congressman Darren Soto has said that most cryptocurrencies should not be regulated under the country’s securities regulator. Soto made his comments in an interview with financial news channel Cheddar on Jan. 10. According to Soto, crypto should be overseen by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — rather than classed as securities under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s charge. Soto, a Democrat, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 9th District of Florida, and spearheaded a bipartisan effort together with congressman Ted Budd this winter to promote …

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced an update on the launch of the Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Futures Contract in an official notice Dec. 31. The document from ICE — the operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and creator of digital assets platform Bakkt — states that “[f]ollowing consultation with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], ICE Futures U.S., Inc. expects to provide an updated launch timeline in early 2019 for the trading, clearing and warehousing” of Bakkt’s Bitcoin (BTC) futures contract. The document reiterated that previously the firm had been targeting Jan. 24, 2019 as a launch date, …

Digital assets platform Bakkt — created by the operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — has announced the completion of its first funding round in a blog post today, Dec. 31. The institutional investor-focused cryptocurrency platform from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has officially raised $182.5 million from 12 partners and investors, according to the post. The partners and investors reportedly include major names in both traditional finance and crypto-oriented investing, including ICE, Boston Consulting Group, Galaxy Digital, Goldfinch Partners, Alan Howard, Horizons Ventures, Microsoft’s venture capital arm and Pantera Capital. Bakkt also noted in the announcement that the …

Analysts from global investment bank JPMorgan Chase believe that the protracted crypto bear market is driving away institutional investors, Bloomberg reports on Tuesday, Dec. 18. Analysts from JPMorgan, along with global market strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, have reportedly stated that involvement of institutional investors in Bitcoin (BTC) “appears to be fading.” In a jointly released research note, analysts have concluded that “key flow metrics have downshifted dramatically,” including a decline in the Bitcoin futures market. The experts reportedly noted the decreasing index of open interest (OI) — the amount of open contracts on Bitcoin futures — on the Chicago Board Options …

Individual US states seem to be in competition for the title of the most crypto-friendly in the Union – Ohio’s recent announcement of imminent crypto tax payments being the latest example. Meanwhile, federal authorities remain in disarray with regard to how to define, let alone consistently regulate digital assets. It is not just stakeholders and crypto buffs who bemoan the disorderly state of federal policies: their usual talking points have been recently validated by academics. In an article forthcoming in a Journal of Financial Transformation, University of Arkansas Law School professor Carol Goforth weighed in with an opinion that essentially …

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking public comments and guidance on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, according to an official press release published Dec. 11. In order to improve the commission’s understanding of Ethereum and its underlying technology, the CFTC has announced its intention to publish a respective Request for Information (RFI) with the Federal Register. In the upcoming RFI, the commission will request public comments on a wide range of questions such as Ethereum-related “technology, opportunities, risks, mechanics,” its market features, as well as use cases of Ethereum network applications. Moreover, the CFTC has expressed the …

United States’ cryptocurrency regulations are creating a problematic image for the country as an innovator and it needs a “more nuanced approach.” Two university professors have made this claim in an article Friday, Dec. 7, referring to a paper originally published Nov. 16. Discussing the current regulatory setup governing cryptocurrency, Carol Goforth of Oxford University and Arkansas School of Law’s Clayton N. Little blamed the “overlapping” authority of various regulators as hindering progress. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and more all attempt to govern cryptocurrency, the professors say, but …

United States Rep. Warren Davidson (R) has announced plans to introduce legislation that would clearly regulate cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), local Ohio news agency Cleveland.com reports Dec. 3. According to Cleveland.com, Davidson announced his intention to introduce new legislation at the Blockchain Solutions conference. The bill would create an “asset class” for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, which “would prevent them from being classified as securities, but would also allow the federal government to regulate initial coin offerings more effectively.” This development would bring clarity to U.S. crypto regulation. Currently, state regulatory agencies classify tokens differently, in ways that …

The world’s second largest stock exchange Nasdaq and U.S. investment firm VanEck have announced a partnership to jointly launch a set of “transparent, regulated and surveilled” digital assets products. VanEck’s director of digital asset strategy Gabor Gurbacs tweeted the news Nov. 27. Gurbacs revealed the partnership at the Consensus:Invest crypto conference in New York City. The announcement echoes yesterday’s report from Bloomberg, citing “two people familiar with the matter,” that Nasdaq would be rolling out a Bitcoin (BTC) futures contract as early as Q1 ‘19. Gurbacs indicated in his tweet that the new products would harness Nasdaq’s SMARTS Market Surveillance …

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s fintech innovation hub LabCFTC has issued a Primer on Smart Contracts, according to an official announcement Nov. 27. The primer is LabCFTC’s second fintech-educational publication, the first being its October 2017 primer on virtual currencies. As outlined by the lab’s director Daniel Gorfine, the new primer engages with blockchain-enabled smart contract technology, which he notes “[Is] being used to drive further automation in our markets and may have an impact across a range of economic activities.” LabCFTC’s primer opens with a definition of smart contracts as “a set of coded computer functions” that …

The Bakkt digital assets platform, which was created by the operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), announced in a Medium post today, Nov. 24, that they are now “targeting” Jan. 24, 2019 as a launch date. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), operator of 23 leading global exchanges including the NYSE, announced the creation of Bakkt in August of this year. Today’s Medium post notes that “given the volume of interest in Bakkt and work required to get all of the pieces in place,” the company has settled on the Jan. 24, 2019 start date in order to “ensure that …