A Connecticut Jury has found that digital assets linked to cryptocurrencies are not securities in what a defense lawyer called a world-first verdict. GAW Miners investor Stuart Fraser was cleared of liability in a fraudulent operation co-opted by ZenMiner LLC on Nov. 1. "It's the first case that we know of where a jury addressed whether cryptocurrency products were securities," one of the defendant’s representatives, Daniel Weiner from Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, told Law360. The case against GAW Miners has been underway since 2017, when co-founder Homero Joshua Garza pled guilty to wire fraud. This left Frazer, a 41% …

Francis Suarez, who has served as the mayor of Miami since 2017, has said he’s going to take the next paycheck in Bitcoin. In a Nov. 2 Twitter post, Suarez said he aimed to be the first U.S. lawmaker at the state or federal level to accept part of his salary in Bitcoin (BTC). Public records show the Miami mayor’s salary was $97,000 annually between 2016 and 2017, meaning he would receive a monthly paycheck of more than $8,000 or 0.13 BTC at a price of $63,404 assuming residents did not vote to increase his compensation for public service. Suarez …

The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or PWG, has released a report suggesting that stablecoin issuers in the United States should be subject to “appropriate federal oversight” akin to that of banks. A Nov. 1 U.S. Treasury report from the group with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said Congress should “act promptly to ensure that payment stablecoins are subject to appropriate federal prudential oversight on a consistent and comprehensive basis.” The government agencies said stablecoin issuers should be held to the same standards as insured depository institutions including state and federally …

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com now tops the charts as the most downloaded app for the U.S. Google Play Store across all categories. According to the most recent list of Google Play Store’s top free apps, Crypto.com’s app has surged in number of downloads to jump to the 1st position ahead of TikTok. Coinbase’s app sits at 3rd ahead of Cash App, while Voyager Digital is 10th following the trading platform’s announcement it would be partnering with the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. Crypto.com’s rising popularity could be the result of the exchange releasing an ad campaign featuring actor Matt Damon, arguably one …

An average American taxpayer received three rounds of stimulus checks from the United States government as a means to reignite the economy by increasing consumers’ spending potential. For many, this meant an opportunity to invest in Bitcoin (BTC). A Cointelegraph report from Aug. 26 shows that 11% of the respondents between the ages of 18 to 34 reinvested a part of their stimulus checks into cryptocurrencies. Adult Americans that reinvested the first round of stimulus payments from April 2020 into Bitcoin have realized a net profit of roughly 442%, turning a $1,200 investment into $5,304 as of Oct. 31, 2021. …

Digital assets have recently become more and more prevalent in our daily lives — in the news, popular culture and our personal interactions. In the first quarter of 2021, the number of global daily Bitcoin (BTC) transactions hit 367,536. Bitcoin alone now accounts for around $20 billion of daily online transactions. Not only this, but those who are familiar with digital assets and cryptocurrencies trust them implicitly — Binance’s “Global Crypto User Index” for 2021 shows a 97% confidence in cryptocurrencies. Proportionally, members of Latinx communities in the United States have some of the highest rates of crypto adoption, with …

We have some great news coming out of the United States on the cryptocurrency industry this month with potentially more good news coming later this fall. On Oct. 6, Gary Gensler, head of the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), confirmed during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing that the regulator will not ban cryptocurrency, potentially blazing the path for the world’s largest economy to become the global leader in the development of decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain technologies. Gensler, who taught a class on cryptocurrency at MIT, also said that prohibiting cryptocurrency doesn’t fall under the SEC’s …

Crypto and taxes may not be a match made in heaven, but taxes seem inevitable, and the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made it clear it is going after people who don’t report. With IRS summonses to Coinbase, Kraken, Circle and Poloniex, plus other enforcement efforts, the IRS is on the hunt. The IRS sent 10,000 letters in different versions asking for compliance, but all were nudges to encourage taxpayers to be compliant. The IRS hunt for crypto has often been compared to the IRS hunt for foreign accounts more than a decade ago. Unfortunately, it is not …

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-VA), who was elected in 2020 to represent Tennessee after a stint as Ambassador to Japan, spoke to newly appointed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra regarding cryptocurrencies in a banking committee hearing, saying “I just want to make certain as you exercise those oversight responsibilities that we don't stifle innovation in this arena.” “Digital ledger technology offers a tremendous amount of promise in terms of financial innovation and inclusion. It’s an industry where I think the United States is leading, has led, and I’d like to see us continue to lead there. Especially when …

A number of states in the United States, including Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, Vermont, New Jersey and, most recently, New York have been cracking down on crypto lending. Depending on one’s perspective, these can amount to acts of collective desperation or a foretoken of things to come. Asked about the clampdown on crypto lending firms like BlockFi and Celsius, Firat Cengiz, senior lecturer in law at the University of Liverpool, told Cointelegraph: “The crypto regulatory space is getting increasingly heated, and not only in the U.S. but also in the rest of the world.” She added that a new regulatory approach …

Fund managers appear to be scrambling to match demand from investors as major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH) teeter around record price levels. According to a Bloomberg Terminal screenshot taken by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart, over 40 cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are now awaiting listing in the U.S. The source indicated that four have already been approved by the Securities Exchange Commission, or SEC. The most notable of which is the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, created in a joint effort by 21 Shares and ARK Invest. The latest fund applications came from AXS Investments on …

Crypto adoption scores another win with the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, but there’s a catch. The Wharton School, one of the premier business schools in the United States, will accept Bitcoin (BTC) and other forms of cryptocurrencies for tuition fees, Bloomberg reports. However, the adoption is limited to its new online blockchain and digital assets program scheduled to start in January. Titled Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets, the six-week program costs $3,800, and the university expects to attract thousands of students each year. The Wharton School will use Coinbase Commerce, the e-commerce platform of the United States-based crypto …