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Congress needs digital assets
On the World of DaaS podcast, former Undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker discusses crypto’s transformative potential and crypto rule-making challenges in the U.S. government today.
Mandelker believes a hurdle for effective crypto legislation is the inability for members of government to own and interact with crypto technology due to current laws. She says, “[In] order to make smart rules about this particular set of problems, people in the government need to understand what the h*ll this is. And there are massive restrictions today that are ethical restrictions that completely block the ability of the people who have to make the decisions to actually interact with the technology. It’s crazy.”
Mandelker continues, “If you’re in any kind of policy role overseeing crypto, you can’t actually go online and see what Solana is, you can’t send Bitcoin, you can’t have Bitcoin. (…) The rules are massively onerous. (…) People in the government today who are making policy/regulatory decisions about crypto can’t own it/access it.” She worries that this will lead to the United States “disadvantaging itself globally.” Hear more.
Mandelker is a part of Ribbit Capital, a fintech and crypto investment firm.
digital assets help
Bermuda publication The Royal Gazette reports that Bermuda Premier David Burt “used his first official visit to Washington DC since before the Covid pandemic to discuss Bermuda’s digital asset industry ambitions.”
Members of Congress with whom he met include “Rep. Warren Davidson (R, OH), chair of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance Subcommittee and vice-chairman of the Digital Assets Subcommittee, and Democratic Rep. Bill Foster (D, IL), the co-chairman of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus and ranking member of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy.” Read more.
stablecoin dominance
A new think piece from Crypto Council of Innovation’s Kristy Lam describes that new non-USD stablecoins are on the rise – chiefly, China’s digital yuan. And in spite of the US dollars roughly $130 billion position today, “the dominance of the dollar in the stablecoins market so far is not something that US policymakers should take for granted.” Euro-denominated stablecoins are on the move, too. Read more. She argues that a U.S. crackdown on crypto will ultimately undermine the dollar’s “hegemony.”
the Canada blockchain
LayerZero Labs, a Web3 messaging protocol, announced a $120 million round of investment and tripling its valuation to $3 billion. “Unlike Web 2.0 messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, this messaging protocol lets users send different types of messages between blockchains, like cross-chain interactions, eliminating the need for intermediaries,” explains TechCrunch. Investors include a16z crypto, Circle Ventures, OpenSea, Samsung Next and Christie’s among others.
According to CB Insights, the company is based in Vancouver, Canada and founded in 2021.
more tips:
LayerZero Labs – website
LayerZero Labs whitepaper (PDF) – download
british choke point
There may be a Choke Point scenario taking place for crypto companies in the United Kingdom reports Bloomberg. HSBC and NatWest had already put limits on how much could be transferred to crypto exchanges in February. “Now, crypto firms say they’re running into new banking difficulties, such as rejected applications to excess paperwork, leading the companies to petition the government for help,” says Pymnts.com. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak may have changed plans from his optimistic outlook on crypto when he took office last October – just prior to FTX’s implosion. Read more.
EU crypto banking news
In a press release, digital assets infrastructure provider announced that Liechtenstein-based VP Bank has contracted with the company for its digital asset custody services. The new tech will allow VP Bank to support “tokenized financial assets or minting, burning and storage of tokens.” Read more. VP Bank says it has over $13 billion USD in total assets. Read more about Metaco’s expansion in the European Union on CoinTelegraph.
NFT industry
NFT marketplace OpenSea rolled out its new “Pro” platform as it looks to take on an increasingly competitive set which includes no-fee marketplace Blur. Block research analyst Brad Kay thinks it may be too late for OpenSea given how quickly the overall non-fungible trading market has moved. Read more.
more tips
The future, one year later – Politico’s Digital Future Daily
Euler Finance Exploiter Returns All ‘Recoverable Funds’ From $200M Hack – Decrypt
Chainalysis, Halborn Join Forces To Tackle Crypto Fraud – Blockworks
Tether Gained Access to U.S. Financial System Using Signature Bank: Bloomberg – CoinDesk
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