In a public statement on Thursday, Chairman Heath Tarbert announced that he will be leaving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission early next year. In listing accomplishments over the course of his term, Tarbert included that "We have promoted responsible fintech innovation and declared Ether a commodity." This tracks with Tarbert's broader interest in the crypto markets and earlier statements affirming that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) should not face regulation as securities. Tarbert, who joined the CFTC in 2019, has been a noted voice for sound crypto regulation at the federal level. He joins a laundry list of appointed regulators …

Bitcoin (BTC) payments giant BitPay aims to form a national trust bank, based on its recent filing with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. “We confirm BitPay has filed an application with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish BitPay National Trust Bank,” BitPay general counsel and chief compliance officer, Eden Doniger, told Cointelegraph. “A national trust bank is a limited purpose national bank that engages in trust activities.” A representative for the OCC told Cointelegraph that the office received BitPay's application on Dec. 7. With its limited operations, a …

Ryan Selkis, co-founder of data and research company Messari, recently released his 2021 crypto sector thesis, examining the state of the industry as well as forecasting what lies ahead. Selkis explains in this report that the U.S. government is one remaining adversary he feels BTC must win over. “The ‘final boss’ to beat is the state,” Selkis wrote in his report, released on Tuesday. “For the U.S., bitcoin presents a tool to undermine international sanctions, and 80% of mining capacity now sits behind enemy lines in China, Russia, and Iran,” he noted. “Will a Biden administration like BTC? TBD.” Bitcoin …

Digital-asset regulation has been a hot topic in 2020 and shows no signs of cooling. A recent G7 meeting concluded that the sector faces an ongoing need for regulation. In addition to talking about COVID-19 and economic issues, the group “also discussed ongoing responses to the evolving landscape of crypto assets and other digital assets and national authorities’ work to prevent their use for malign purposes and illicit activities,” according to a public statement from the United States Department of the Treasury on Monday: “There is strong support across the G7 on the need to regulate digital currencies. Ministers and …

Brian Brooks, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said regulators are not looking to “kill” Bitcoin (BTC) but instead ensure its smooth integration into the financial system. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Friday, Brooks said: “We're very focused on getting this right. We are very focused on not killing this, and it is equally important that we develop the networks behind Bitcoin and other cryptos as it is that we prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.” The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is the bureau of the Treasury Department that …

As Cointelegraph reported two weeks ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission put out a rare no-action letter in defense of IMVU’s new blockchain-based VCOIN. VCOIN is only the third digital token to get such legal protection from the U.S. securities regulator, which makes it an exciting development. The SEC has been extremely active in punishing initial coin offerings that it views as unregistered securities offerings, but it has been more reluctant to define what does not count as a security — a problem that Commissioner Hester Peirce noted just last night. A no-action letter is, however, not the same as …

A new bill introduced to the United States Congress on Wednesday could enforce blanket regulation on all stablecoins. If passed, any service provided in relation to these types of cryptocurrencies would become illegal without first receiving approval by multiple government bodies: “It shall be unlawful for any person to issue a stablecoin or stablecoin-related product, to provide any stablecoin-related service, or otherwise engage in any stablecoin-related commercial activity, including activity involving stablecoins issued by other persons, without obtaining written approval in advance, and on an ongoing basis, from the appropriate Federal banking agency, the Corporation, and the Board of Governors …

With 55 days until his inauguration as President of the United States, Joe Biden is reportedly considering the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for a permanent position in his administration. According to a Nov. 25 report from CNBC, the president-elect is floating Gary Gensler for a position as Deputy Treasury Secretary starting in 2021. The report states that “people familiar with the matter” have mentioned Gensler as a likely candidate for the role. He would be working under former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whom Biden is reportedly planning to nominate as Secretary of the Treasury. Yellen …

As President-Elect Biden continues to round out his roster of appointees, he has tapped an Obama-era chair of the Federal Reserve to lead his administration's economic policy. According to a Wall Street Journal exclusive published on Nov. 23, the Biden team plans to nominate Janet Yellen to serve as Treasury Secretary. Obama originally appointed Yellen to the Fed in 2014, where she remained until early 2018. In a term that lined up with a massive expansion of public knowledge of cryptocurrencies and ended right after Bitcoin's dramatic 2017 bull run, Yellen was consistently critical of the space, calling Bitcoin "anything …

In early October, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed its Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework, a report laying bare the government’s vision for emerging threats and enforcement strategies in the cryptocurrency space. The document is an important source of insight into how the laws governing digital finance will be soon implemented on the ground. One of the fundamental principles that the government asserts in the document is its broad extraterritorial jurisdiction over foreign-based actors who use virtual assets in ways that harm U.S. residents or businesses. The guidance sets an extremely low bar for perpetrators of cross-border crime to clear before they …

Editor's note Amid a political news cycle that has been stuck in a nauseating loop, covering crypto is often refreshing. Partisan forces have yet to dig out the trenches. A lot of the current task is just getting working definitions in play. Meanwhile, the technology advances at a mind-boggling rate, and there are still enough outrageous scams, absurd tomfoolery and indeed general skullduggery to keep everything from getting dull. Speaking of skulduggery, I will begin this week with a comment on a challenge to journalism in the crypto industry that has wide-spanning implications. Not many people think about the relationship …

Per an announcement on Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, is looking for public comments on rule-making that would stop banks from denying services to businesses based on sector. In the words of Comptroller Brian Brooks, “Blanket boycotts of entire industry sectors have to stop.” The OCC’s announcement points to political hot-button issues that banks have systematically denied services to, including oil and gas companies in Alaska as well as Planned Parenthood. Speaking to the media, Brooks noted the bipartisan nature of many of these bans: “These things are not politically partisan, but there are …