blockchain tipsheet

digital assets taxonomy

Yesterday’s meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC) led by Commissioner Caroline Pham revealed the current work of its new Digital Assets Market Subcommittee (DAMS).

Caroline Butler, who is the CEO of Digital Assets at BNY Mellon and heads up the subcommittee with Franklin Templeton SVP Sandy Kaul, explained at the meeting about five (5) work streams currently in motion among the 36 subcommittee members who represent traditional finance and digital asset companies. The works streams include: nomenclature and creating a taxonomy; pre-trade and post-trade requirements across digital assets; governance and risk control frameworks; NFTs and utility tokens; and, digital asset infrastructure. See a slide breaking it all down (JPEG).

what you should know: Considering its ambitious goals, DAMS’ work would appear to be a resource that Congress, CFTC and industry will covet. Meeting video is here.

AML provisions

With the stablecoin and digital asset market structure bills still waiting to reach the House Floor, Blockchain Association’s policy executive Ron Hammond provided his point-of-view on Congress and digital assets legislation momentum yesterday. Hammond said, “At this stage for any of the bills to move forward this Congress, there is a strong push for inclusion of [Anti-Money Laundering (AML)] provisions. It was something that came up multiple times when [House Financial Services (HFS) Committee] voted on the stablecoins and market structure but the Hamas narrative has escalated this.” Read the whole thread. Continue reading “CFTC Committee Sets Ambitious Digital Asset Goals; UK Moves To Stablecoin Stage”

WSJ editorial board

Inspired by the conclusion of the trial of former FTX co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the Wall Street Journal editorial board unleashed an Op-Ed late Friday suggesting new digital assets regulation isn’t needed from Congress when it comes to fraud. The board accuses Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler of overlooking FTX and says, “Note to Chairman Gary Gensler: The [SEC] doesn’t need to regulate crypto markets to police malfeasance.” Read the whole magilla.

what you should know: Chair Gensler and his SEC agenda has been known for its overreach among critics. Here, it’s underreach. The right-leaning publication’s editorial board has been a consistent critic of Chair Gensler, a Democrat.

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quick tip – Plenty of public speaking this week in DC with FinTech Week and SIFMA‘s Annual Meeting among highlights.

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Dem lobbyist weighs in

Also in the wake of Bankman-Fried’s conviction on Thursday, Better Markets Dennis Kelleher (a member of Biden 2020 transition team along with SEC Chair Gary Gensler) tells the Associated Press, “There is no need for any special interest crypto legislation which would only legitimize an industry that is used by speculators, financial predators, and criminals.” Read more. The article argues that Congress has not been eager to regulate crypto.

what you should know: A more accurate description could be that Democratic leadership (including Kelleher and Better Markets) along with the The White House do not have interest in digital assets regulation that brings it within the umbrella of the U.S. financial system. Continue reading “WSJ Editorial Board Urges SEC To Police Fraud; Decentralization For Policymakers”

enforcement action

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed another enforcement action against a cryptocurrency company – this time it’s Safemoon and accused it of “perpetrating a massive fraudulent scheme through the unregistered sale of the crypto asset security, SafeMoon” and adding that the executive team “withdrew crypto assets worth more than $200 million.”   See the SEC’s press release.

SEC Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit Enforcement Chief David Hirsch projects skepticism about DeFi, in general, in the announcement, too: “Decentralized finance claims to deliver transparency and predictable outcomes, but unregistered offerings lack the disclosures and accountability that the law demands, and they attract scammers…”

In a Department of Justice press release, the DoJ announced the arrest of the CEO and CTO of SafeMoon, and said it’s still seeking Safemoon’s creator Kyle Nagy.  U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said about the fraud, “…the defendants deliberately misled investors and diverted millions of dollars to fuel their greedy scheme and enrich themselves by purchasing a custom Porsche sports car, other luxury vehicles and real estate.” Read more in CoinDesk.

what you should know: The Safemoon X account, with 1.2 million followers, gives no indication of the lawsuit. But, many commenting on the company’s Halloween tweet – it’s final tweet? – apparently did see it coming.

AML legislation momentum

Yesterday, momentum may be slowed, for now, for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) legislation on digital assets in the Senate as other priorities take over. Politico reports, “After a hearing last week ‘on crypto’s involvement, we’re looking at that — [and] we’re looking at potentially more sanctions on non-state actors, and we’re looking at Iran and Russia,’ [Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D, OH)] said when asked about legislative developments. He said he didn’t yet know when the next hearing on the topic would be.” Read it. Continue reading “SEC And DOJ Carry Out Enforcement Action Against Safemoon; Today’s Hearing”

Treasury threatens crypto

Last Friday, a speech to be delivered by U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo at foreign-policy think tank Royal United Services Institute in London warned “cryptocurrency firms against allowing their platforms to be used to finance terrorist organizations, as scrutiny mounts of how Hamas may have used digital currency to fund its attack on Israel,” reported The Washington Post.

The Post published an excerpt from Adeyemo’s Friday speech the day before: “There are those in the digital asset space who wish to innovate without regard to consequences instead of doing so responsibly, including protecting against illicit financing. (…) Let me be clear: We will use every tool available to go after any person or platform that is facilitating the movement of resources for terrorists.” The theme speaks to an October 19 rulemaking proposal by Treasury’s FinCEN around mixers which has implications for decentralized finance (DeFi).  Read more.

what you should know: The fact the speech was shared by the Administration ahead of time with WaPo is telling. The speech feels like a new level as the speech increases the pressure on the digital assets industry while also showing clear support for legislative efforts in Congress which seek tough or draconian efforts to shut down cryptocurrency, in particular, in the United States. Adeyemo also spoke to CNN on the same day as the speech with a similar tone about crypto and illicit financing.

• • Correction: The above story has been updated to reflect that the speech happened on October 27 rather than Friday, November 3.

It’s not about one report

Chair Sherrod Brown (D, OH) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D, MA) of the Senate Banking Committee are not impressed with the digital assets industry’s efforts to dispute the connection between crypto and illicit financing portrayed by an October 10 article in The Wall Street Journal.

Punchbowl News Brendan Pedersen provides an overview of the latest and quotes Sen. Warren who says, “It’s not about one report… It’s about the whole structure of crypto that attracts some of the worst people around the world to move value around in a way that they cannot do through the ordinary banking system.” Fellow Banking Committee member Senator Cynthia Lummis (R, WY) chimes in and expresses concern about the damage done by the WSJ article. Read more. Continue reading “Treasury Warns Crypto Firms In Speech; SAB 121 Smacked Down By GAO”

tax comments skyrocket

The digital assets industry is keeping up the drumbeat on a request for comments by Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service regarding a tax rules for digital assets proposal. The deadline is November 13. A hearing is scheduled next week on November 7 with another, potentially, the next day according to the Federal Register. Some are already touting their appearance.

IRS’s director of digital assets Julie Foerster said just last week that the agency is expecting 8 billion “information returns” related to crypto. That’s 200 returns for each of the 40 million crypto buyers and sellers in the United States, she said. Read more.

Blockchain Association Senior Counsel Marisa Tashman Coppel tweeted on X yesterday: “Over 25,000 comments have been received by the IRS regarding their broker rulemaking proposal. Over 12,000 posted to the docket on regulations.gov. Clearly a sign something is wrong with the proposal.” See the comments.

what you should know: Another reason for so many potential forms is that ANY crypto transaction would need to be reported according to the proposed rule. There still is no di minimis exemption, for example. You buy an NFT or a cup of coffee with Bitcoin, your service provider needs to report it, potentially. Continue reading “Thousands Of Comments Pile Up For IRS; NYDFS Supports Parallel Stablecoin Regulation”

article correction

It wasn’t a retraction of the story run on October 10 connecting crypto to terrorist financing in the Wall Street Journal, but there was confirmation by the reporting team that interpretation of the data was incorrect.

A new correction posted Friday begins: “Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah may have exchanged up to $12 million in crypto since 2021, according to crypto-research firm Elliptic. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said PIJ had sent more than $12 million in crypto to Hezbollah since 2021, citing Elliptic’s research.”

Scroll to the bottom of the article for the “Corrections and Amplifications” section.

article correction – reaction

Crypto venture capitalist Nic Carter observed the change in a tweet thread on X, “…while it’s great that WSJ acknowledged they’d made mistakes, the correction is still very weak.” Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal weighed in on X, “[The WSJ’s] lede still maintains that the funding supported Hamas attacks hinged on ‘One answer: cryptocurrency.’ There’s no evidence of that, and WSJ knows it.” Read that thread.

Given the fire the article started in Congress as shown by elements of terrorist financing hearings in the House and Senate last week, the stakes remain high regarding the actual data.

Meanwhile, the “crypto and terrorist financing” narrative has continued to propagate in the media. In an interview on CNN with Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo last week, the lower-third graphic for the interview reads, “U.S. Warns Crypto Firms Against Financing Hamas, Terror Groups.” See it. Continue reading “Correction Issued On Crypto And Terrorist Financing Article; SEC’s Peirce Derides LBRY Decision”