Everything is bigger in Texas, which is why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Lone Star state is making moves to become America’s next Bitcoin (BTC) hotspot. Most recently, Texas implemented two laws to ensure that cryptocurrencies are recognized under state commercial law. Texas House Bills 4474 and 1576 both took effect on Sept. 1, after being signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott this past June. While H.B. 1576 established a blockchain working group in Texas, H.B. 4474 provides a complete framework to demonstrate that virtual currency has a place under Texas law. Specifically speaking, H.B. 4474 …

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange CrossTower is expanding operations to India despite the ongoing legal uncertainty over local crypto regulation. CrossTower has set up a local division in India and launched a cryptocurrency trading platform to capture the growing multi-billion-dollar market, Reuters reported Monday. CrossTower India has already onboarded 35 employees and is looking to expand its team to 100 people in the next six to nine months. With $7.6 million in daily trading at the time of writing, CrossTower expects its Indian exchange to contribute to its plans to expand further across the world. “India will play a pivotal role …

Australian buy now pay later (BNPL) giant Afterpay — now part of Jack Dorsey's Square — has said that it is likely to pursue cryptocurrency services once the regulatory framework is clear. Following Afterpay’s submission to the Senate inquiry into “Australia as a Technology and Financial Center,” which posited that merchants could slash payment costs by utilizing cryptocurrencies, representatives spoke to the inquiry on Sept. 8. Afterpay’s vice president for public policy and communications Damian Kassabgi said that “this idea of being able to exchange currencies from person to person or to a merchant without going through the traditional rails …

Crypto-related companies and figures have provided evidence about being de-banked by Australian financial institutions to a Senate inquiry. Crypto investment firm Aus Merchant, global remittance provider Nium and small peer-to-peer crypto brokerage platform Bitcoin Babe were speaking on a panel as part of the Senate inquiry into “Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre” on Wednesday. All three are registered with financial intelligence regulator AUSTRAC and are subject to reporting requirements; however, they all echoed similar sentiments of being de-banked without a concrete explanation as to why. Michaela Juric, the founder of the peer-to-peer trading business dubbed after her nickname …

Following El Salvador’s historic adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender on Tuesday, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson predicted that a lot more countries will eventually follow in the Latin American nation’s footsteps. El Salvador’s Bitcoin acceptance further legitimizes the belief that people should be in control of their money, Hoskinson said in his “Congratulations Bitcoin” YouTube video on Tuesday. The Cardano founder expressed confidence that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are the future of money as the younger generation will inevitably trigger mass adoption of crypto. “The majority of people under the age of 25 have a positive view on cryptocurrencies, and …

Australian buy now pay later (BNPL) firm Afterpay believes that local merchants can slash payment costs by utilizing cryptocurrencies. In a submission to the Senate inquiry into “Australia as a Technology and Financial Center,” Afterpay stated that the use of blockchain-based transactions could cut the fees associated with traditional payment methods, including card issuer, network operator and banking fees: “Merchants stand to benefit considerably from the cryptocurrency model, as card network fees are entirely removed from the equation and the customer/payer bears the transaction costs.” Under the crypto model, the customer would front the cost of validating the payment on …

After four years of development, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to roll out its digital currency project. The launch will reportedly happen on the occasion of the country’s 61st Independence Day celebration on Oct. 1. Nigeria’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project comes amid significant anti-crypto policies from the CBN and negative cryptocurrency sentiments from several government officials. The digital naira is also coming at a time when its fiat counterpart has plunged to new lows, with the central bank enacting even tighter forex restrictions. Details of the eNaira project circulated across commercial banks in the country …

It is Sept. 7, and El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law has officially come into effect three months after its parliament passed the historic vote. The Central American nation is now the first country to recognize Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. Tweeting earlier in the day, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele remarked “3 minutos para hacer historia — In 3 minutes, we make history.” However, day one of El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment has been somewhat marred by server capacity errors suffered by the state-issued Chivo wallet. Addressing the situation, President Bukele remarked: “For a few moments it won’t work @chivowallet, we have …

Amid El Salvador officially accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender on Tuesday, Sept. 7, the Russian government has reiterated its negative stance to a scenario where BTC could be accepted as an official currency. Dmitry Peskov, the official representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Russia has no reason to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, local news agency RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday. The Kremlin representative argued that putting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in line with traditional money instruments would bring nothing but detriments to the country’s financial and economic system. “Clearly, Russia is not ready for such moves,” Peskov …

The cryptocurrency mining market in Vietnam is reportedly reviving amid the renewed crypto rally, where Bitcoin (BTC) has surged above $51,000 for the first time since May. Crypto-related entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in Vietnam have witnessed a significant uptick in demand for crypto mining rigs in the country, local news agency VnExpress reported on Monday. Quang Thuan, owner of a chain store selling cryptocurrency miners across Ho Chi Minh City, said that the company’s sales have tripled in early September over the previous month. He noted that the mining rig market in Vietnam was down before Bitcoin surged back above $50,000 …

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the most vocal cryptocurrency skeptics in the U.S. government, has called the cryptocurrency industry the “new shadow bank.” In a Sunday interview with the New York Times, Warren said that the cryptocurrency industry offers “many of the same services” as shadow banks but still lacks “consumer protections or financial stability that back up the traditional system.” Warren expressed concerns over the rapidly growing market for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value can be pegged to that of other assets, including fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, the euro or commodities like gold. …

Not Legal Advice... is a monthly column from Zachary Kelman, Cointelegraph’s general counsel. He is a New York-licensed attorney specializing in political, legal and regulatory issues surrounding Bitcoin, digital currencies and blockchain technology. For two decades, United States presidents kept the American military in Afghanistan to back the fragile local government, tasked with keeping the Taliban at bay. Earlier this month, the U.S. military left, and the Afghan government that the U.S. armed forces supported collapsed like a pitched tent whose pole had been removed. It was obvious to all observers that fundamental change in Afghanistan was always impossible, and …