Regulation

The former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and current U.K. Member of Parliament (MP) Matt Hancock urged the House of Commons to make England the “home” of crypto. Hancock has served as an MP for West Suffolk since 2010 but stood down from his role as the Health Secretary in mid-2021 following

A bipartisan group of members from the U.S. House of Representatives called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to clarify the language in the infrastructure bill signed into law in November around the definition of “broker”. In a Wednesday letter, House Financial Services Committee ranking member Patrick McHenry and ten other representatives urged Yellen to reference

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly reviewing some of the high-yield crypto lending products offered by Gemini, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital. According to a report published in Bloomberg, the SEC is conducting an inquiry into digital asset lending services. The main focus of the inquiry is reportedly around whether the

A top special agent from the Internal Revenue Service has told a conference that NFTs and crypto are the “future” but highlighted that fraud and manipulation is still rampant in the space. Ryan Korner from the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles field office made the comments virtual event held on Tuesday by the USC Gould

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has extended its window to approve the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin exchange-traded fund originally proposed in July 2021. According to a Tuesday filing from the SEC, the regulatory body will push the deadline for approving or disapproving the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF from Feb. 2 for an additional 60 days,

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and ruling Ak Party officials met earlier this week to discuss the metaverse, with the president calling for comprehensive research on the subject. Erdoğan has reportedly urged the Ak Party to study the metaverse, cryptocurrencies, and how transactions are made using them, according to a Daily Sabah report. At a

Members of the executive board at the International Monetary Fund are urging lawmakers in El Salvador to no longer recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. The IMF reported on Tuesday that though digital payments had the potential to increase financial inclusion in the Central American nation, the use of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender carried “large

In a letter to the leadership of the United States House Financial Services Committee, ranking member Patrick McHenry took a jab at “inconsistent treatment and jurisdictional uncertainty” inherent in U.S. crypto regulation and called for the Committee to take on its critical issues. McHenry, a Republican representing North Carolina, opened by mentioning that the Committee’s

Indonesia’s financial watchdog the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) warned financial institutions in the country against offering or facilitating crypto-asset sales. On Tuesday, the official Instagram account for OJK posted a warning against the growing number of crypto Ponzi schemes and risks of crypto investments owing to the market’s volatility. The official post also quoted the

Congresspeople currently HODLing or actively trading in crypto may have to stop doing so while in office if recent pushes to ban lawmakers from investing in stocks gain enough support. In a Monday letter addressed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, 27 members of the U.S. House of Representatives called for action

Last week, two central banks dropped public reports that can have a sizable impact on the crypto landscape in their respective countries and beyond. The U.S. Federal Reserve published a discussion paper entitled “Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation,” which summarizes years of the Fed’s research on CBDCs. Meanwhile,

The Bank of Korea has successfully completed the first phase of its central bank digital currency mock testing started in August 2021.  The South Korean central bank said that the first phase of its CBDC mock testing was completed in December while the second phase is currently underway, reported YNA news. The first phase of

Last week, Pakistan’s Sindh High Court held a hearing on the legal status of digital currencies that might lead an outright ban of cryptocurrency trading combined with penalties against crypto exchanges. Several days later, the Central Bank of Russia called for a ban on both crypto trading and mining operations. Both countries could join the growing ranks

On Jan. 20, the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the U.S. Congress House Energy and Commerce Committee convened a hearing to investigate the environmental effects of cryptocurrency mining. Despite the narrow focus, the conversation that ensued – which many industry experts appraised as a meaningful educational experience for the lawmakers – touched upon a range

The year 2022 is here, and banks and the traditional banking system remain alive despite decades of threatening predictions made by crypto enthusiasts. The only endgame that happened— a new Ethereum 2.0 roadmap that Vitalik Buterin posted at the end of last year.  Even though with this roadmap the crypto industry would change for the

Decentralized finance, known as DeFi, is a new use of blockchain technology that is growing rapidly, with over $237 billion in value locked up in DeFi projects as of January 2022. Regulators are aware of this phenomenon and are beginning to act to regulate it. In this article, we briefly review the fundamentals and risks