Regulation

Dan Berkovitz, one of three commissioners currently serving at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will be joining the Securities and Exchange Commission as general counsel following his departure in October. In a Sept. 28 announcement, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, said Berkovitz would assume the role of general counsel starting on Nov.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against two Robinhood users over an alleged wash-trading-based arbitrage scheme that utilized meme stocks. According to a Sept. 27 complaint, defendants Suyun Gu and Yong Lee took advantage of differing trading fee schedules offered by different retail brokers and exchanges to extract arbitrage while wash-trading.

In the wake of yet another iteration of China’s enduring crackdown on cryptocurrency, a particularly influential narrative on Crypto Twitter suggests that by banning Bitcoin (BTC), China has definitively put itself on the dark side of the struggle, while the collective West must now resolutely throw its weight on the opposite side by embracing crypto.

The uncertainties sparked by China’s blanket ban on crypto trading have taken a downturn as homegrown crypto exchanges such as Houbi take proactive measures to protect and return existing investments residing on the mainland.  Speaking to Cointelegraph in this regard, Du Jun, co-founder of Huobi Group, said that the crypto exchange wants to ensure the

The legal status of cryptocurrencies remains a mixed bag of regulatory positions, depending on the jurisdiction being considered. While some countries move toward blanket prohibitions or stringent regulations, others elect to go with a more open approach to crypto. For Ukraine, the latter path appears to be the case, with the government encouraging legalized crypto

Governments are tasked with bringing fair and efficient services to the public. Unfortunately, providing transparency and accountability often results in a reduction in efficiency and effectiveness or vice versa. Governments are usually forced to choose to improve one at the cost of the other. On rare occasions, technology comes along that enables governments to improve

The price of Bitcoin fell 8% today following “breaking” (read: weeks old) news that the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC, had declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal. With that in mind, let’s take a nostalgic look at the last 12 years of FUD out of China, and see if we can spot any patterns. China

Hold onto your hats, boys and girls! It’s a new world — a financial system without intermediaries, that anyone can access 24 hours a day with only a mobile phone and a wallet! As Julien Bouteloup said to me:  “In DeFi, what we are building is fully decentralised technology, fully transparent, run by mathematics. No

On September 17, a group of officials led by U.S. attorney Tracy Wilkinson have filed a civil complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California claiming that they have identified four digital wallets holding more than 9.8 million Tether (USDT) that was involved in wire fraud, computer fraud and money

Acting head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Michael Hsu has warned that the exotic financial products developed in some quarters of crypto and DeFi were reminiscent of those that precipitated the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Speaking before the Blockchain Association on Sept. 21, Hsu warned that “innovation for

Stablecoins have emerged as significant players in the crypto market this year, driven by user demand for flexible liquidity in fiat currency times. These currencies are defined as a type of digital currency that can be pegged to underlying real-world assets or backed by them. These assets can be anything from fiat money, commodities like

A new survey has revealed bleak insights into the apparent willingness of retail investors to follow digital asset advice from the social media accounts of celebrities and influencers. According to a Morning Consultant survey of 2,200 U.S. adults, 45% of crypto-holding respondents indicated they would be likely to seek exposure to a digital asset if

Crypto companies from the United States filed two registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking permission to sell exchange-traded funds (ETF) in relation to Bitcoin (BTC) and decentralized finance (DeFi). An Atlanta-based investment company, Invesco joined New York’s Galaxy Digital Funds to file and register Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, a trust with

Dan Berkovitz, one of three commissioners currently serving at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said while the agency is suited to futures contracts, swaps, and options trading, it would need additional resources to handle the cash market for crypto assets. Speaking at the Managed Funds Association Digital Assets Conference on Tuesday, Berkovitz said the

U.S. Securities and Commission, or SEC, chair Gary Gensler has doubled down on his “Wild West” analogy for cryptocurrencies, calling stablecoins instruments for gambling at old-timey casinos.  Speaking to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on Tuesday, Gensler said most projects in the crypto space dealt with securities that fall under the regulatory purview of the

Recent dialogue between MakerDAO developers and the office of anti-crypto Senator Elizabeth Warren’s has revealed a concerning lack of familiarity with the current decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. On Sept. 20, a screenshot began circulating on social media appearing to show dialogue between members of the MakerDAO community discussing the conclusions from a recent meeting between

The Boston Blockchain Association, or BBA, together with Boston-based media house Media Shower and the Chamber of Digital Commerce are working to lobby for favorable crypto regulations in Massachusetts. According to a release issued on Monday, the BBA in collaboration with Media Shower and the Chamber of Digital Commerce has released a crypto regulatory toolkit

Leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has secured a contract to develop tech for the Department of Homeland Security worth as much as $1.36 million. Under the agreement, Coinbase has been contracted to deliver “application development software as a service” for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division (ICE). The contract took effect on Sept. 16

Some U.S. Senators are ramping up the anti-crypto rhetoric again, urging federal agencies to take action against the illicit use of digital assets. Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan is the latest to raise concerns about the use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment for ransomware attacks. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member

South Korean crypto exchange Gopax, which is backed by Digital Currency Group, is facing potential closure ahead of the country’s fast-approaching deadline for platforms to submit their requests for an official operating license. To be eligible for a license, all crypto exchanges must show evidence that they are operating using real-name accounts at South Korean