Regulation
Crypto Tax Debate On Capitol Hill Signals Big Changes for DeFi
Taxing cryptocurrencies just picked up serious momentum, with potentially serious ramifications for DeFi. The U.S. Senate’s $1 trillion infrastructure package now under consideration includes a provision that would tax transactions involving Bitcoin and its ilk to raise around $28 billion in funding. That means swapping Ethereum and other DeFi tokens may have to be recorded…
Senate Committee Calls for Crypto Regulations, Labeling Decentralization "Phony"
Brace yourself Defiers: Government regulation in the U.S. is looking more and more like an inevitability. On July 27, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs conducted a hearing to explore potential regulation needs for the cryptocurrency sector. The hearing, titled “Cryptocurrencies: What are they good for?,” largely centered around whether or…
EU Regulators Propose Crypto Clampdown
European Defiers better buckle up, because regulators in the EU are attempting to tighten the rules on crypto transfers. On July 20, the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, announced a package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing (AML/CFT) rules. The legislative proposal moves to apply…
Freaked Out by DeFi? Swarm Markets Gets Licensed to Win Over Wary Investors
When Philipp Pieper and Timo Lehes co-founded Swarm Markets in 2017 in California and then moved to Berlin, they did a strange thing. They knocked on the door of Germany’s financial watchdog, known as BaFin, and said, please regulate us. That’s not supposed to happen in DeFi. The whole idea is to break free from…
The Davos Crowd Dives Into DeFi with Policy-Maker ‘Toolkit’
The World Economic Forum, a bastion of the global establishment and ultra-exclusive club for heads of state, billionaires, and policymakers, is embracing DeFi. Well, sort of. In another sign that decentralized finance has spurred serious study in influential think tanks, the Geneva-based WEF issued a “Policy-Maker Toolkit.” The 38-page white paper explores DeFi’s benefits and…
Uniswap Drafted to Lead DeFi Lobbying Push in Washington
DeFi is going to Washington. A group of influential Uniswap users are proposing the formation of a DeFi political defense fund to address government action aimed at cryptocurrencies. At the top of the list: the Biden administration’s 2020 budget proposal, which includes a potential expansion of cryptocurrency asset reporting requirements While many investors in the…
Fed of St. Louis Says DeFi Released Wave of Innovation
DeFi is getting an unexpected and huge new backer: The Federal Reserve of St. Louis. “DeFi offers exciting opportunities and has the potential to create a truly open, transparent, and immutable financial infrastructure,” reads the latest report from one of the 12 regional Reserve Banks. The report cites learnings from projects like Maker, Uniswap, Balancer,…
A Blockchain Expert Might be the New SEC Head
Joe Biden’s new SEC chair may be, if not an advocate, at least very knowledgeable on blockchain technology. President-elect Joe Biden will be appointing MIT professor Gary Gensler as chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Reuters reported. Gensler is a Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management at MIT’s Sloan School…
US Regulators Propose Stablecoin Crack Down With STABLE Act
A new bill by US lawmakers has DeFi up in arms after proposing that all stablecoin issuers need to obtain a bank charter, which would potentially make much of DeFi trading and even running an Ethereum node, illegal. “It shall be unlawful for any person to issue a stablecoin or stablecoin-related product, to provide any…
BitMEX Charges Highlight Case for Real DeFi
CFTC charges against BitMEX are bound to push more cryptocurrency projects towards decentralization — but that means actual* decentralization. The Commission today filed charges against BitMEX and its owners and operators including CEO Arthur Hayes for operating a trading platform without CFTC approval, and for failing to implement know-your-customer procedures, a customer information program, and…
