Acting chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, Rostin Behnam has likened the government agency’s enforcement of the digital asset space to a beat cop on duty. At an Oct. 27 hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to assume his position on a permanent basis, Behnam said to chairperson Debbie Stabenow the CFTC has been “aggressively pursuing enforcement cases” in the crypto space for some time, including its $100 million case against crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX and the $42.5 million in fines it levied against Tether and Bitfinex. However, he asked that the …

The stablecoin market has grown exponentially over the last few months due to the numerous advantages blockchain-based versions of fiat currencies have. But, when Facebook launched its cryptocurrency wallet Novi using Paxos’ stablecoin, some United States senators were quick to oppose it. Are they concerned about user data or monetary sovereignty? The social media giant which, according to its Q2 2021 report, has 2.9 billion monthly active users across all of its platforms, tapped Coinbase and Paxos for its Novi digital wallet project that kicked off its testing phase in the U.S. and Guatemala on Oct. 19. The pilot program …

The United States territory of Puerto Rico is seeing a resurgence of interest among crypto investors attracted by the fact it doesn’t charge federal income tax and eligible investors can pay zero taxes on their crypto gains. Under local law Act 22, those who live in Puerto Rico for at least half of the year are exempt from taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains — meaning they can keep most or all of the profits from crypto or other investments without having to renounce U.S. residency. The popularity of the territory as crypto tax haven was highlighted when news …

Jelena McWilliams, the chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, has said the agency is working with other regulators in the United States to explore “under what circumstances banks can engage in activities involving crypto assets.” In a speech at the Money20/20 fintech conference on Oct. 25, McWilliams said the FDIC, in coordination with the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is looking to provide regulatory clarity for banks handling crypto assets including stablecoins. The chairperson said the FDIC planned to issue “a series of policy statements” in the coming months on guidance …

Electric services provider Ameren Corporation announced Monday that it has successfully mined upward of 20 Bitcoin (BTC) using excess energy generated by one of its coal-based power plants — the Sioux Energy Center in West Alton, Missouri. While the company set up the data center used to mine the coins back in April, it did not publicly announce the addition until Monday. Its half-megawatt mining facility taps into the Sioux Energy Energy Center’s 972 MW generation capacity to complete the necessary proof-of-work-based mining activities. Ameren’s goals in launching the operation appear to have been to stop a decline in the …

Eight years in the making, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) silent approval of a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) last week elicited a wave of exuberance in the crypto space and sent the price of the key digital currency to a new all-time high. Despite some analysts and industry participants having reservations regarding the nature of the approved product — ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) being futures-based rather than tracking Bitcoin’s spot price — the development has been overwhelmingly hailed as a breakthrough moment in crypto history. Ahead of BITO’s momentous …

Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, revealed that her refuge in Puerto Rico is currently being supported by an auspiciously timed cryptocurrency investment. Haugen worked as a Facebook product manager before accusing the company of spreading controversial and insensitive misinformation. She allegedly possesses numerous confidential research documents, which, according to her, shows that “Facebook prioritizes profit over the well-being of children and all users.” Previously, Facebook has been accused of influencing the 2016 United States presidential election with the help of Russian agencies. In a follow-up interview with The New York Times, Haugen was asked about her financial …

New York-based decentralized prediction market Polymarket has come under investigations from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). According to an Oct. 23 report from Bloomberg citing anonymous sources, the CFTC is investigating whether Polymarket is allowing its customers to trade binary options and swaps that should be registered with the financial regulator. The CFTC is yet to confirm whether it is investigating Polymarket. A spokesperson for the platform stated: “Polymarket is firmly committed to complying with applicable laws and regulations and to providing information to regulators that will assist them with any inquiry.” The report claims that the …

In her monthly Expert Take column, Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA, covers the intersection between emerging technologies and sustainability, and provides the latest developments around taxes, AML/CFT regulations and legal issues affecting crypto and blockchain. Lately, news headlines are focused on regulators’ concerns over the lack of investor protections in the cryptocurrency market, which has ballooned to more than $2 trillion, and the possible risks to financial stability. National security agencies across the administration of United States President Joe Biden are grappling with high-profile cases of cryptocurrencies playing a role in ransomware attacks, intellectual property espionage, sanctions …

A new report shared by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) highlights an ongoing phishing campaign against YouTube creators, typically resulting in the compromise and sale of channels for broadcasting cryptocurrency scams. The TAG attributes the attacks to a group of hackers recruited in a Russian-speaking forum that hacks the creator’s channel by offering fake collaboration opportunities. Once hijacked, the YouTube channels are either sold to the highest bidder or used to broadcast cryptocurrency scams: “A large number of hijacked channels were rebranded for cryptocurrency scam live-streaming. On account-trading markets, hijacked channels ranged from $3 USD to $4,000 USD depending on …

On the opening day of Messari Mainnet 2021, New York City’s long-awaited first crypto conference since the start of COVID-19, reports came blazing in via a viral tweet that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had served a subpoena to an event panelist at the top of an escalator in broad daylight. While it’s still not entirely clear who was served (or why), this isn’t the first time the SEC has encroached upon the crypto industry in full view of the public. Let’s go back a mere two months. On July 20, 2021, SEC Chair Gary Gensler issued his …

With regulatory bodies rumored to soon accept a pure Bitcoin (BTC)-backed exchange-traded fund, it is important to understand the journey of some of the first crypto-based ETFs that have recently been approved by government agencies. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved a Bitcoin-adjacent ETF, giving investors the opportunity to gain exposure to Bitcoin through the stock markets, and the most recent acceptance was that of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which started trading on NYSE Arca on Oct. 19. It's important to note that the aforementioned exchange-traded funds are not pure-crypto ETFs and merely track either crypto-related company …