Blockchain Australia, an association representing the local crypto industry, has warned that the country has fallen behind on the regulatory front due to the undue persistence of a dismissive “wild west” narrative. The association has been proactive in its engagement with the state in recent months as the government continues to review the future of blockchain and fintech and regulation in the country. Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre last week, Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas said that the association strongly resists the notion that the crypto space remains “a bit of …

Cryptocurrency is a new technology that has entered the common discourse, setting the stage for a complete upheaval of our long-established financial systems. Of course, some skepticism is unavoidable. Crypto’s association with criminality adds to this shared sense of skepticism. There is no denying that cryptocurrency has and continues to be used for illicit activities across the globe. Having said this, with the use and applicability of crypto becoming increasingly commonplace, the narrative that its creation has facilitated mass criminality needs to be addressed. First impressions count Bitcoin (BTC) was introduced as a bartering tool on Silk Road, a notorious …

With more than one amendment proposed to the United States infrastructure plan that would modify a provision on cryptocurrencies, some figures in the space are going against the one with White House support. Digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future said today it would not support the amendment crafted by Senators Mark Warner, Rob Portman and Kyrsten Sinema to address the issue of clarifying the language used concerning crypto in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. According to the group, the proposed amendment gets “a resounding no” as a possible solution to the bill which “fundamentally misunderstands how cryptocurrency and decentralization …

On Wednesday, several United States senators proposed an amendment to an infrastructure bill that would clarify language concerning crypto. Even though that proposal seemingly has the support of the White House, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has reportedly come out against the measure. According to a Friday report from the Washington Post, Yellen raised objections to the proposed amendment with lawmakers on Thursday. She lobbied Senator Ron Wyden regarding the changes which, if added to the bill, would exclude certain crypto companies from the reporting requirements for brokers. Wyden is one of three senators behind the amendment with Cynthia Lummis …

A new cryptocurrency-related bill in Ukraine will allow payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) despite not recognizing crypto as legal tender, a government official claimed. Deputy minister of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov is confident that it would be “quite legal to pay with cryptocurrencies” in Ukraine through payment intermediaries that enable crypto-to-fiat conversions. The official said in a Friday interview with local financial publication Minfin that Ukraine’s draft bill on virtual assets “clearly states” that cryptocurrencies do not constitute legal tender in the country, only allowing crypto purchases. However, the bill stipulates that local payment processors would …

Following Beijing’s crackdown on energy-sapping Bitcoin (BTC) mining, Guizhou province has become the country’s first to make use of its freed-up power capacity to advance a climate-conscious agenda. The hydroelectric-rich southern province has recently announced a plan to build at least 4,500 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in 2021. This will ramp up to 5,000 in 2022 and 5,500 the following year. As the South China Morning Post reported, Beijing’s pressure on Bitcoin miners has freed up over 50 terawatt-hours of electricity — enough to sustain an industrialized city with a population of 1 million for 33 years or to …

Senator Rob Portman, one of the lead Republican voices for negotiations over an infrastructure bill in the United States Senate, said he supports an amendment clarifying the intent of a cryptocurrency provision. In a tweet today, Portman encouraged his colleagues in the Senate to vote on an amendment proposed this week by Ron Wyden, Cynthia Lummis and Pat Toomey that suggests striking the definition of brokers in the infrastructure bill to no longer include developers, miners or blockchain firms in the crypto space. I agree with Senators Wyden, Toomey, Lummis that we can do more to clarify the intent of …

Amid the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s expanding the scope of oversight of the cryptocurrency industry, a commissioner with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission argued that crypto regulation doesn’t fall under the SEC’s jurisdiction. CFTC commissioner Brian Quintenz took to Twitter on Wednesday to declare that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) should be regulated by the CFTC rather than the SEC. Quintenz stressed that cryptocurrencies are commodities and thus fall under the CFTC’s jurisdiction, as opposed to securities that are regulated by the SEC, stating: “Just so we’re all clear here, the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or …

Lawmakers have written an amendment to an infrastructure bill in the United States Senate which proposes excluding certain crypto companies from the reporting requirements for brokers. In an amendment from Oregon Senator Ron Wyden on behalf of himself and Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, with the support of Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, the U.S. lawmakers suggested that some of the provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure deal shouldn't apply to developers, miners, or blockchain firms in the crypto space. Specifically, the amendment proposes that the definition of a broker does not include anyone in the business of “validating distributed ledger transactions,” “developing …

Federal authorities in Russia are moving forward with a plan to closely monitor cryptocurrency activity for illicit transactions and deanonymize crypto users’ identities. The Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service, also known as Rosfinmonitoring, has selected a contractor for developing a platform for tracking cryptocurrency activity. According to data from Russia’s state procurement website, the country will allocate 14.7 million rubles ($200,000 USD) from its budget to create a “module for monitoring and analyzing cryptocurrency transactions” using Bitcoin (BTC). According to the official data, the procurement contract was granted to a company referred to as RCO, which is reportedly indirectly backed …

Amid the chorus of stringent crypto regulations among several United States leaders, proponents such as Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz look to counter anti-cryptocurrency sentiments circulating in Washington. Tweeting on Tuesday, Novogratz described crypto as the “future of our financial systems” while adding politicians and regulators ought to do their homework before devising policies to regulate the industry. Novogratz’s tweet was in response to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s remarks where the Senator from Massachusetts once again espoused anti-crypto sentiments, calling cryptocurrency “the wild west” of the U.S. financial system. Senator Warren has been a vocal proponent of more stringent crypto regulatory …

Spanish lawmakers are backing a new legal initiative to legitimize the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry by proposing a new bill on digital transformation. The new draft bill was introduced by Spanish political party the People’s Party (PP). It aims to drive innovation in multiple industries through regulating emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). As part of the draft bill, the PP proposed to legalize the usage of cryptocurrency and blockchain tech for mortgage and insurance purposes. Specifically, the proposal aims to allow property owners to pay mortgages with crypto and authorize the real …