1. Home
  2. United States

United States

Vitalik Buterin says crypto regulations have created ‘anarcho-tyranny’

The Ethereum co-founder says we’d all be better off with either anarchy or tyranny but not both.

Ethereum’s outspoken co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, recently expressed his frustration over the current state of cryptocurrency regulation and offered up a surefire solution to the problem.

Responding to a user on Warpcast, a social media platform built on the Farcaster protocol, Buterin described a situation where current regulatory efforts have essentially painted good-faith cryptocurrency developers into a corner:

On the anarchy side of things, there appears to be no end to the glut of bad actors, scammers, and baseless hypesters proliferating on social media and sharing platforms.

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

IRS reveals final regulations for crypto broker rules

The Internal Revenue Service did not include decentralized exchanges or self-custodial wallets under its broker reporting requirements.

The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed its final draft of the new crypto broker reporting requirements on June 28, and clarified the scope of industry participants affected by the new rule changes.

According to the IRS' new reporting guidelines, decentralized exchanges and self-custody wallets will not be subject to the new reporting rules. In the recent update, the IRS explained that it reviewed the widespread comments and complaints from industry respondents, ultimately deciding it needed "more time to consider the nuances" of completely decentralized networks.

Moreover, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets were not exempt from the government agency's new reporting requirements and will be treated the same as other digital assets.

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

Democratic incumbent targeted by crypto Super PAC ads loses primary

Millions of dollars from political action committees may have contributed to challenger George Latimer’s defeat of incumbent Jamaal Bowman in a June 25 Democratic primary.

Update (June 26 at 6:07 pm UTC): An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Shomari Figures won a primary in the state of California. It has been corrected to a primary in Alabama.

Jamaal Bowman, a House Representative for New York’s 16th Congressional District, has lost the Democratic primary, which could have allowed him to keep his seat in 2025.

According to a June 26 projection from NBC News, Democratic challenger George Latimer will defeat Bowman by roughly 58%–42%, with 84% of the vote reporting at the time of publication. The Fairshake political action committee (PAC) spent more than $2 million on a media campaign opposing Bowman’s reelection — not attacking his record on voting against pro-crypto bills, but claims of “pushing dangerous conspiracy theories.”

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

US politicians who may be spinning the news with crypto

Donald Trump seems to have doubled down on digital assets after he was convicted of 34 felony counts in New York.

Though it is an election year in the United States, politicians are not new to using topical issues to divert attention away from less-than-favorable media coverage. Cryptocurrency seems to be one of the latest methods some U.S. lawmakers employ to ‘wag the dog’ on information that could potentially harm them when voters go to the ballot boxes in November. 

For members of the Republican Party, this could mean making a popular statement against issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or equating cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) with financial freedom. Some Democrats might choose to associate crypto transactions with the financing of terrorism or break ranks with many party members and come out in support of digital assets.

On June 18, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics announced that it would be investigating Florida Representative Matt Gaetz for obstruction related to allegations of “sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.” Gaetz has previously backed legislation favoring crypto regulation, including the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act. However, he has rarely made public statements suggesting digital assets were central to his position as a lawmaker.

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

DARPA release highlights difficulty in developing quantum finance solutions

Quantum computing for finance is proving to be one of the harder problems for scientists in the field.

Researchers from a number of prestigious laboratories throughout the United States, including MIT’s Lincoln laboratory, NASA, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, recently collaborated with a government program to identify and benchmark key areas for quantum computing researchers to focus on. 

The U.S. government’s military think tank, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) led the research. Its purported purpose was to provide an overview of current and future quantum computing capabilities in areas such as chemistry and material science. But, in the field most related to future finance and fintech applications, the team wasn’t able to determine if quantum computing could provide a clear advantage.

Scientists believe quantum computing will one day demonstrate a clear advantage (called “quantum advantage” or “quantum supremacy”) over classical, binary computers in a variety of different computations.

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

Ether and altcoin price outlook positive after SEC drops investigation

The SEC has withdrawn the case to prove Ethereum is a security. Now that the waters have been cleared, what is ahead for Ether’s price?

Regulators have backed off Ether (for now), which many observers say could give the asset room to grow.

On June 19, 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially closed its investigation into whether Ether (ETH) should be classified as a security.

Consensys lawyer Laura Brookover said that crypto markets will see “no more protestations from the SEC that ETH is a security.”

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

Crypto Super PAC raises $169M following $10M donation from Jump Crypto

A Fairshake spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the political action committee would “have the resources to affect races in 2024 and beyond.”

Fairshake, a political action committee (PAC) that has been backing attack ads against different United States lawmakers, announced that it had raised $169 million ahead of many primaries in the country.

In a June 19 notice to Cointelegraph, a Fairshake spokesperson said Jump Crypto, the digital asset arm of Jump Trading, had donated $10 million to the Super PAC, making its total donations roughly $169 million since its launch. The group has received millions in contributions from crypto firms including Coinbase and Ripple — and an earlier $5 million donation from Jump Crypto — as well as Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of crypto exchange Gemini.

Fairshake may have already impacted the outcome of certain key races in U.S. elections and continues to purchase media buys as Election Day approaches on Nov. 5. In the United States, money from Super PACs can be used to support specific candidates and political parties, but the groups are not supposed to coordinate with the campaigns.

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

Crypto Super PAC spends $2M on attack ad targeting NY lawmaker

Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman in New York’s 16th Congressional District has voted against three pro-crypto bills in the last 30 days.

The Fairshake group, a political action committee (PAC) backed by crypto firms including Ripple and Coinbase, has spent more than $2 million opposing the incumbent in the Democratic primary for New York’s 16th Congressional District.

According to United States Federal Election Commission data, Fairshake spent more than $2 million on a media campaign opposing Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman’s reelection. As of June 16, outside interest groups had contributed roughly $9 million opposing Bowman, who is facing off against Democrat George Latimer in a June 25 primary. 

The Fairshake attack ad, which does not specifically mention crypto or blockchain, claimed Rep. Bowman spent his career “pushing dangerous conspiracy theories.” In response to earlier opposition ads funded by a different Super PAC, high-profile Democratic lawmakers including Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backed Bowman’s reelection.

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

Terraform Labs to shut down after $4.5B SEC settlement: Law Decoded

Terraform Labs plans to sell key projects within the Terra ecosystem and give the community control of the Terra blockchain.

Terraform Labs has agreed to pay the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) roughly $4.47 billion as part of its settlement with the securities regulator. The duo settled after a jury found Terraform Labs and its co-founder liable for the Terra ecosystem collapse, which erased $40 billion in investor assets.

Chris Amani, CEO of Terraform Labs, has announced that the firm will cease operations following the settlement. The company plans to sell key projects within the Terra ecosystem and give the community control of the Terra blockchain.

In other news, lawyers for blockchain payments company Ripple have asked a court to consider an “appropriate” civil penalty in its case with the SEC following a settlement between the regulator and Terraform Labs. The SEC has requested that Ripple pay roughly $2 billion in disgorgement, prejudgement interest and civil penalties. Ripple has argued it should pay no more than a $10 million penalty.

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now

Mining execs establish organization to influence US crypto voters

A board member of the Bitcoin Voter Project described the group as nonpartisan and planned to take a different approach than initiatives like Stand With Crypto.

Three executives representing some of the largest cryptocurrency mining companies in the United States have helped launch a nonprofit organization to educate voters on Bitcoin (BTC). 

Jayson Browder, the senior vice president of government affairs at mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings, told Cointelegraph that he and two executives from Riot Platforms and CleanSpark formed the board members of the Bitcoin Voter Project. Browder said the group was registered as a 501(c)(4) in the United States.

In contrast to a political action committee (PAC), organizations registered under a 501(c)(4) cannot primarily support one candidate or political party. The launch of the voting project came less than 24 hours after different representatives from Marathon, CleanSpark, TeraWulf and Riot met with former U.S. President Donald Trump, which led to the recently convicted felon wanting “all the remaining Bitcoin mining to be made in the USA.”

Read more

Still Early: Taylor Swift Remains More Popular Than Bitcoin for Now