blockchain tipsheet

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Coinbase – stand with crypto

Digital assets platform Coinbase, which is currently embroiled in a dispute (or three) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is planning on a national campaign to defend itself. Politico reports, “The push includes: four FTN (Face The Nation) spots featuring Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, a blanketing of advertising on Wall Street, a New York ‘State of Crypto’ summit in June and a national ‘Stand with Crypto’ day in Washington July 19.”  Read a bit more.

Coinbase – political impact

The Coinbase blog provides a clip of what’s to come as well as more details on the “Stand with Crypto” day in DC in July. See the post.

If Coinbase is successful with this marketing campaign beyond the beltway and with even a small part of the electorate, this could be of concern to Democrats in the lead-up to the general election in November 2024. Dems have largely embraced an anti-crypto position and seem to see it as a winning view as they seek to return President Biden to the White House for his second term.

Given the recently-developed partisan divide around digital assets, Coinbase’s public relations push in some ways is the equivalent of Republican campaign funding. Coinbase will no doubt try and align with pro-crypto Dems in an effort to diffuse a partisan “look.” Continue reading “Coinbase Begins Marketing Push Aimed At Policy; Apple Pay Integrates NFTs”

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state regulators – Torres

On Friday, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D, NY) reiterated his support of the digital assets regulatory regime in his state and its regulator the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

Torres tweeted Friday, “The evidence is crystal clear — state regulators like @NYDFS have been far more effective at regulating cryptocurrencies than federal regulators. Watch my questioning during yesterday’s @FSCDems hearing aimed at developing a framework for stablecoin regulation and legislation.” See his Q&A (video) at last week’s stablecoin hearing.

Torres isn’t necessarily aligned with his Democratic caucus, which appears to prefer some form of Federal oversight when it comes to digital assets and stablecoins. Republicans, on the other hand, have embraced the “states rights” view.

state regulators – event

Meanwhile, the battle between NY Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which recently introduced its “CRPTO” legislation, and NYDFS and Superintendent Adrienne Harris who are caretaker’s of the New York BitLicense, may be heating up.

Harris and NY Assistant AG Kenneth Polite could shed more light on the battle, or lack thereof, this Wednesday at the “White Collar Crime Institute” event by the New York City Bar. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero will appear on Tuesday night. Continue reading “Rep. Torres Wants To Protect State Regulation; President Biden Denounces MAGA Crypto”

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stablecoin hearing

Two differing themes emerged from lawmakers at yesterday’s House Financial Services (HFS) Digital Assets Subcommittee stablecoin hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building. On the Republican side, states rights were a legislative focus whereas Democrats see the need for the involvement of the Federal Reserve. From a tone point-of-view, the Republicans led by Subcommittee Chair Rep. French Hill (R, AR) continue to position with an air of bipartisanship (read his opening remarks) while Democrats led by HFS Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D, CA) are generally more combative and remain dissatisfied with the majority’s views.

Digital Assets Subcommittee Ranking Member Steven Lynch put it bluntly saying state regulation for stablecoins feeds into crypto companies propensity for seeking out the least restrictive jurisdictions – “a race to the bottom,”  he said. Read more in The Block.

See the hearing video.

CoinDesk’s Jesse Hamilton notes the bright side in all this: “…this and other committees are showing that the stablecoin topic – and crypto more broadly – is important enough to have already warranted several congressional hearings in recent weeks. Most members in both the House and Senate seem to be advocating action, and if they can agree on a stablecoin compromise, it would be a major first step toward U.S. oversight of the industry.” Read more on CoinDesk.

Fox Business Eleanor Terrett commented on Twitter about her view of the hearing, “Seemed to be an overwhelming consensus that stablecoins are not securities and should not be regulated by the SEC, but possibly regulated at the state level.” Continue reading “Stablecoin Legislation Discussion Takes Step Forward; Emmer And Soto Want Clarity”

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stable Bitcoin

The issuers of the stablecoin Tether (Tether International Limited) announced a change in the way the company will manage their reserves going forward. Yesterday, the company elaborated on the Tether blog, “Starting this month, Tether will regularly allocate up to 15% of its net realized operating profits towards purchasing Bitcoin (BTC).” Read the post.

The company said it would self-custody all of its Bitcoin as a reflection of their belief in “not your keys, not your coins.”  Unspoken may be the potential for government censorship of the company and its stablecoin -hence the move  to Bitcoin and self-custody.

Does this mean Tether is moving away from other reserve types such as short-term U.S. Treasuries?

more tips:

Tether’s Latest Q1 2023 Assurance Report Shows Reserves Surplus At All-Time High of $2.44B, up $1.48B in Net Profit; New Categories for Additional Transparency Reveals Bitcoin and Gold Allocations – Tether, May 10

today’s hearing

Putting the ‘Stable’ in ‘Stablecoins:’ How Legislation Will Help Stablecoins Achieve Their Promise
9:00 AM in 2128 Rayburn House Office Building
House Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion
Committee Memo | Live Webcast Continue reading “Tether Stablecoin Seeking Bitcoin Reserves Not Treasuries; Today’s Stablecoin Hearing”

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EU – MiCA regulation

In a vote of 27-0, the European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council, which is comprised of the member states’ finance ministers, unanimously approved the continent’s ground-breaking Markets in Crypto-Assets legislation.

A statement fro the Council reads: “The new rules cover issuers of utility tokens, asset referenced tokens and so-called ‘stablecoins’. It also covers service providers such as trading venues and the wallets where crypto-assets are held. This regulatory framework aims to protect investors, preserve financial stability, while allowing innovation and fostering the attractiveness of the crypto-asset sector.” Read it all.

It’s hard to imagine the United States this far along.

The next and final step is for the bill to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Thereafter, MiCA will take effect in the middle of next year. Read more on the bill’s implications from Cointelegraph.

more tips:

Landmark crypto rules make exchanges liable for customer losses in EU – Ars Technica

EU – crypto taxes

Building on the MiCA legislation, the finance ministers also approved new legislation aimed at transparency in taxation of crypto assets beginning in 2026. “The Directive will improve Member States’ ability to detect and counter tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance, by requiring all crypto-asset providers based in the EU – irrespective of their size – to report transactions of clients residing in the EU. Moreover, the updated Directive has been extended in scope to include reporting obligations of financial institutions regarding e-money and central bank digital currencies and the automatic exchange of information on advance cross-border rulings used by natural persons,” says a statement on the European Commission’s website. Read it.

Politico notes the other side of the crypto tax law – the EU wants to identify crypto users: “The new disclosure framework will help regulators understand where and whose money is circulating throughout the crypto market, as well as make it harder for Europeans to hide tax assets in said market.” Read more.

Continue reading “EU Powers Ahead With MiCA Regulation Approval; Congress Toils With Stablecoins”

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bank failure hearing

Today’s Senate Banking Hearing at 10 a.m., “Examining the Failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank,” will include top executives from both banks and among the questions to be explored: “Did crypto cause the bank failures?” – a narrative pursued by some Congressional Democrats including House Financial Services (HFS) Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D, CA) at last month’s stablecoin hearing with New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris.

At today’s hearing, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Gregory Becker (see prepared testimony),  former Chairman And Co-Founder of Signature Bank Scott Shay (see it) and Former President Signature Bank Eric Howell (see it) are schedule to appear. See the hearing page.

SVB’s Becker is the only bank executive to make explicit reference to crypto in his prepared testimony and he’s emphatic about crypto not being the cause of his bank’s demise. He writes, “SVB and Silvergate were very different banks, as Silvergate was a nearly 100 percent crypto focused bank while SVB only had around 3 percent of its deposits from crypto clients.” Silvergate was a U.S. bank holding company which provided crypto/fiat rails to crypto companies and which decided to “wind down” operations in early March after a bank run of its own.

The flip side to the “crypto causing bank failures” coin is Choke Point 2.0, where many Republicans – such as Senate Banking Committee member Senator Bill Hagerty (TN) – would argue that government has overreached and unfairly targeted crypto including federally-chartered banks facilitating crypto business.

mandamus shrugged

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) responded late yesterday to Coinbase’s “petition for a writ of mandamus — asking the court to require the SEC to respond just yes or no to whether it will undertake rulemaking for our industry,” tweeted the company’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, who termed it a “maybe.” Read his thread. Grewal added Coinbase will deliver a formal response next week. Continue reading “Narratives Meet At Senate Banking Hearing: Choke Point 2.0 Versus Crypto-Causes-Bank-Failures”

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stablecoin hearing

Chair French Hill’s (R, AR) Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion reconvenes on Thursday with a hearing titled, “Putting the ‘Stable’ in ‘Stablecoins:’ How Legislation Will Help Stablecoins Achieve Their Promise.” See the hearing page – it’s a 9 a.m. start. Bring your coffee and pastry with you!

This Thursday’s gathering will be a follow-up to last month’s hearing and judging from the hearing’s title, it would seem Chair Hill is focusing on making a clear case for stablecoin legislation with Democrats and whomever else will listen.

stablecoin hearing – Democrats

Putting Democrats in a position of “Why wouldn’t you?” could be difficult, though, considering the Dems nearly united unwillingness at the April hearing to consider a bill they had nearly blessed in the last Congress – let alone House Financial Services (HFS) Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D, CA) had expressed support of the bill in March. Continue reading “Another Stablecoin Hearing Coming Thursday; Toomey, Maloney Join Coinbase Council”