Last week, there was a lot of regulatory talk about crypto-related risks. While this is very common in itself, some angles and proposed solutions to such risks came across as novel. In the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a letter to commercial and savings banks under its purview, or all federally chartered banks, asking financial institutions to notify the FDIC about all ongoing and planned crypto-related activities. Apparently, standardized guidance for all banks would not fit the bill since the risks seem to be unique in each case. In Singapore, the local monetary authority became concerned …

The number of firms permitted to offer crypto services to U.K. residents under temporary registration status from the Financial Conduct Authority has dropped from 12 to 5. According to a Thursday update to its list of ‘Cryptoasset firms with Temporary Registration’, the United Kingdom’s financial regulator named CEX.IO, Revolut, Copper, Globalblock, and Moneybrain as companies in the crypto space allowed to operate in the country in addition to the 34 registered cryptoasset firms the FCA approved since August 2020. The FCA said on March 30 that it would be extending the temporary registration status for “a small number of firms …

The Council of the European Union has cut Russians off from certain cryptocurrency services as part of a package of restrictive measures against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brutal aggression against Ukraine and its people.” In a Friday announcement, the EU council said it would be closing potential loopholes in using digital assets for Russian entities and individuals to evade sanctions with a “prohibition on providing high-value crypto-asset services” to the country. The action was one of three financial measures the European Commission proposed alongside banning transactions and freezing assets connected to four Russian banks as well as a “prohibition on …

In an important precedent, a Supreme Court judge in New York state’s Yates County ruled in favor of cryptocurrency mining firm Greenidge Generation, dismissing a petition filed by a coalition of environmental activists. According to an Apr. 7 press release by Greenidge, judge Daniel Doyle dismissed a petition against the Greenidge Generation Holdings that a group of environmental organizations — Sierra Club, Seneca Lake Guardian, Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes, as well as a number of individuals — brought in an attempt to stop the mining operation at Seneca Lake. The petition also called to halt Greenidge’s plans to …

The Russian prime minister declared that the cryptocurrency holdings of Russians are worth billions of dollars but the government is yet to adopt a regulatory framework for the industry. Russians collectively hold more than 10 trillion rubles ($130 billion) in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin claimed at the annual report presentation of the Russian government on Thursday. The prime minister did not mention the source for this figure, noting that the amount is based on “various estimates,” stating: “We are well aware that we have more than 10 million young people having opened crypto wallets so …

United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listed stablecoins as one of the major policy concerns in the digital asset space for regulators, currently subject to “inconsistent and fragmented oversight.” Speaking to attendees at American University in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Yellen said the Treasury Department was working with Congress to advance legislation to help ensure that “stablecoins are resilient to risks” for consumers and the U.S. financial system. According to the Treasury Secretary, while stablecoins raised “policy concerns” and issues around the coins’ reserve assets, many parts of the digital asset space present potential risks that could exacerbate inequality. “Our …

Republican Senator Pat Toomey, the ranking member for the Senate Banking Committee, has drafted a bill proposing a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States. According to a draft released Wednesday, the ‘Stablecoin Transparency of Reserves and Uniform Safe Transactions Act’, otherwise known as the Stablecoin TRUST Act, proposed the digital assets be identified as “payment stablecoins” — a convertible virtual currency used as a medium of exchange that can be redeemed for fiat by the issuer. Critically, the bill proposed such offerings be exempt from securities regulations by amending existing laws to ensure the definition of "security" does …

The Swedish central bank’s digital currency project, a proposed CBDC known as the e-krona, has successfully finished its second phase of trials. According to Riksbank, the nation's central bank, the asset is now technically ready to be integrated into banking networks and to facilitate transactions. During the second phase of the e-krona pilot project — which began in February 2021 — the CBDC was investigated on the matter of its technical ability to function within the country’s existing digital banking infrastructure. Participating banks included Handelsbanken and Tietoevry. The report indicated that the e-krona could indeed be successfully exchanged for fiat …

Two members of the House of Representatives have introduced legislation aimed at mitigating the risks to the United States financial system due to El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal currency. In a Monday announcement, California Representative Norma Torres and Arkansas Representative Rick Crawford proposed legislation which would direct the State Department to create a plan mitigating the potential risks to the U.S. financial system based on an analysis of the risks to El Salvador’s “cybersecurity, economic stability, and democratic governance” following the country recognizing Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in September 2021. The Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador Act …

The Singaporean government has approved legislation that will give the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, additional power to respond to crypto firms doing business outside the country. Records from the Parliament of Singapore show the government passed the Financial Services and Markets Bill on Tuesday following a second reading on April 4. According to the MAS, the legislation will require virtual asset service providers doing business outside Singapore to be licensed and subject to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism requirements, or AML and CFT, respectively. “Digital token service providers could easily structure their businesses to evade …

When you think of a crypto-friendly U.S. state, Washington is hardly the first to come to mind. Yet, a lot has been happening on the ground in the Pacific Northwest lately. Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill, SB5544, into law on March 30. The new legislation creates a working group of seven state officials and eight trade association leaders to examine “various potential applications of and policies for blockchain technology” and report to the governor in December 2023. Republican state Senator Sharon Brown, one of the sponsors of the legislation, said, “By creating the Washington Blockchain Work Group, we …

The European Parliament continued to keep crypto users and advocates at the edge of their seats last week as yet another piece of potentially harmful legislation — this time, a set of demanding data disclosure requirements for digital asset service providers — was rushed to a vote mere days after a near miss on banning proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies. Unlike the relatively happy resolution of the Markets in Crypto Assets framework situation, the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering rules retained all the crypto-hostile language as they are going into the next round of consideration, the so-called trialogue negotiations. If the rules are enacted …