Crypto Regulation News: World governments agree on importance of crypto regulation at G-7 meeting, France to roll out strict regulations for all crypto transactions, Sweden considering wide scale tran
Tags: Bitcoin, SEC, Regulation, Cryptocurrency, Crypto

TL;DR

Crypto assets discussed during G7 meeting, says U.S. Treasury Department.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced it is spinning out its Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) into a standalone office.

The CFTC’s tech team is trying to figure out what to do about DeFi.

FinCEN encourages banks to share customer information with each other.

Group of US Lawmakers unite against rumored bitcoin and crypto regulations from Treasury department.

SEC’s Peirce calls for an ‘embrace’ of the personal liberty ethos that underlies crypto.

Rep. Waters calls on Biden to reverse policies that let banks custody cryptocurrencies and stablecoin reserves.

OCC chief economist pens working paper defending the issuance of charters to fintech, stablecoin firms.

Congressman Davidson, in particular, sees potential Treasury action as a bad idea for everybody involved.

CFTC chairman Heath Tarbert announces plan to depart ‘early next year’.

US Congress is inching closer to approving a multi-billion dollar defense spending authorization bill which, according to lawmaker statements, will include several elements related to cryptocurrency and blockchain.

SEC Enforcement Division director Stephanie Avakian will leave her post at the end of the year, according to an announcement from the agency.

The United States Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Facebook Inc., where it alleges that the corporation has been engaging in anti-competitive practices ever since acquiring a dominant global position at the turn of the 2010s.

Bitcoin payments giant BitPay aims to form a national trust bank, based on its recent filing with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Paxos files an application with the U.S regulator to obtain a national bank charter.

Banks rally against Figure’s ‘precedent-shattering’ charter bid.

The French Ministry of Finance has formally unveiled stringent know-your-customer requirements for crypto transactions.

Sweden’s minister for financial markets Per Bolund announced that a study exploring the prospects of the country using digital currency is underway and it will likely be completed in November 2022.

Vitalik Buterin expects lots of ways to exchange CBDCs for crypto.

US gov is Bitcoin’s last remaining adversary, says Messari founder.

Fiat Freeway: Digital Assets Face Backlash from Capitol Hill.

China’s central bank plans digital yuan pilot for payments to Hong Kong.

Thai tax collectors to streamline revenues with blockchain tech in 2021.

Mexican authorities struggle to keep up as cartels embrace crypto.

Venezuela ramps up Bitcoin payments for imports from Iran and Turkey

Vladimir Putin signs order requiring Russian public officials to disclose crypto holdings.

19-year-old Ukrainian politician reports crypto holdings of $24M in Monero.

Indian banks have started doing business with select cryptocurrency exchanges and their customers.

One of Pakistan’s four provinces urges federal govt to legalize crypto.

And more!

Reports

Crypto assets discussed during G7 meeting, says U.S. Treasury Department: Central bank officials and finance minister from the Group of 7 nations discussed crypto assets during a meeting, the Treasury Department said last Monday. According to a readout from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the conversation primarily focused on the coronavirus pandemic but touched on other topics, including crypto assets.

As the statement noted:

“They also discussed ongoing responses to the evolving landscape of crypto assets and other digital assets and national authorities’ work to prevent their use for malign purposes and illicit activities. There is strong support across the G7 on the need to regulate digital currencies. Ministers and Governors reiterated support for the G7 joint statement on digital payments issued in October.”

Fiat Freeway: Digital Assets Face Backlash from Capitol Hill: Last week, ‘Fiat Freeway’ examined China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DC/EP) progress in the second half of 2020. They’ve also previously covered the ECB’s ‘digital euro’ initiative, the Fed’s classification of CBDC literature, Norges Bank’s study on CBDC ‘Safe Asset’ Funding, an ECB Board Member’s stablecoin speech in Frankfurt, Circle’s blog post on using stablecoins.

Opinions

Congresspeople speak out against Tlaib’s anti-stablecoin bill: But the bill is unlikely to become law any time soon.

SEC’s Peirce calls for an ‘embrace’ of the personal liberty ethos that underlies crypto: If a new speech is any indication, SEC commissioner Hester Peirce believes crypto is a battleground for the conversation surrounding government power and personal liberty. In a speech today to the Federalist Society, Peirce — a dissenting voice against the SEC’s past rejections of proposed bitcoin exchange-traded funds — said crypto poses new challenges to regulators, but that agencies “should figure out a way to embrace the personal liberty principles undergirding it.”

DeFi and Eth2 are whole new convos for regulators, says SEC’s Hester Peirce: United States SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce wants to focus on new guidance for DeFi and future Ethereum projects.

OCC leader Brian Brooks: ‘Nobody’s going to ban Bitcoin’: Forthcoming regulations are “going to be a lot less bad than people will worry about.”

Rep. Waters calls on Biden to reverse policies that let banks custody cryptocurrencies and stablecoin reserves: Congresswoman Maxine Waters has released a wide array of recommended policy changes and approaches to president-elect Joe Biden — a list that includes the rescinding of guidance from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency focused on banks, cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

Congresspeople tell Treasury to back off of rumored self-hosted wallet ban: Congressman Davidson, in particular, sees potential Treasury action as a bad idea for everybody involved. In a Dec. 9 letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, four members of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus wanted answers for rumored Treasury rulemaking that would restrict self-hosted wallet usage in the U.S. The authors — Warren Davidson, Tom Emmer, Ted Budd and Scott Perry — argue that such limitations:

“Would hinder American leadership and preclude meaningful participation in the technological innovation currently underway throughout the global financial system.”

Vitalik Buterin expects lots of ways to exchange CBDCs for crypto: The Ethereum co-founder believes that CBDCs are good for macroeconomics, but there are also certain challenges. Speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2020 on Dec. 9, Buterin said that he expects a lot of ways to exchange CBDCs to cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC) as well as other digital tokens:

“There’s a question of how these central bank [digital] currencies are going to interact with both crypto and digital currencies more generally. There’s going to be more digital assets of many different kinds coming over the next few decades. I expect that there will be a lot of opportunities to fairly exchange between different kinds of assets and move from one ecosystem to another.”

Circle CEO Says Stakes Are High for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency As Biden Administration Takes Over: Jeremy Allaire, CEO of digital currency firm Circle, says he believes the incoming Biden administration will be supportive of crypto and blockchain technology in the long run. In a new interview with CNBC, Allaire compares crypto technology to the early days of the internet.

Crypto players plead presidential pardon case for Ross Ulbricht: Many are calling for Donald Trump to grant clemency to the Silk Road founder before he leaves office on Jan. 20.

US gov is Bitcoin’s last remaining adversary, says Messari founder: Bitcoin may have experienced the perfect storm for success, but action by the United States government may remain a threat.

Future of money will be public-private effort, says ex-CFTC chairman: Chris Giancarlo, a former CFTC chairman and initiator of a blockchain-based digital dollar project, joined the Singapore Fintech Festival 2020 to discuss the future of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.

‘We should do whatever we can’ to legalize Bitcoin, says libertarian Ron Paul: The former congressman from Texas believes the government is “watching very closely” to see what happens with crypto.

‘Bitcoin never gets hacked’ — Crypto players respond to US Treasury breach: “Bitcoin means trusting a SHA256 algorithm more than the U.S Treasury,” quipped Blockfolio.

Blockstack’s CEO looks to build a new framework for crypto securities: Blockstack’s ecosystem has gone beyond the firm that gave it life, argues CEO.

USA

The SEC is spinning out its FinHub initiative into a standalone agency office: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced it is spinning out its Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) into a standalone office.

FinCEN Encourages Banks to Share Customer Information With Each Other : The guidance is apt to chafe privacy advocates, inside and outside the crypto space, who are already uneasy about the honeypot that FinCEN’s suspicious activity report database has become.

The CFTC’s tech team is trying to figure out what to do about DeFi: The Technology Advisory Committee heard a briefing on DeFi’s functionality, as well as the pros and cons of holding programmers legally liable for bad usage.

FTC sues Facebook in antitrust lawsuit as regulators mount offensive: The United States Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Facebook Inc., where it alleges that the corporation has been engaging in anti-competitive practices ever since acquiring a dominant global position at the turn of the 2010s.

Group of US Lawmakers Unite Against Rumored Bitcoin and Crypto Regulations from Treasury Department: A group of US lawmakers are coming together as they seek clarification from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin regarding rumors that his office is considering implementing regulations that would restrict the use of self-hosted wallets. In a letter signed by US Representatives Warren Davidson, Tom Emmer, Ted Budd and Scott Perry, the members of the congress highlight that a proposal requiring financial institutions to collect the identifying information of self-hosted wallet owners would not advance America’s interests in the digital asset space.

OCC chief economist pens working paper defending the issuance of charters to fintech, stablecoin firms: A working paper by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) top economist explores the implications of chartering stablecoin banks — and why doing so may provide some regulatory benefits. The paper by Charles Calomiris — entitled “Chartering the FinTech Future” — covers both so-called stable value coin banks as well as the broader fintech landscape with respect to what he terms shadow banks. In a broader sense, his paper aims to capture the technological march occurring in the financial technology sector and how that will shape the banking ecosystem over time.

CFTC chairman Heath Tarbert announces plan to depart ‘early next year’, confirms that Ether is a commodity: Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Heath Tarbert says he intends to resign his position early next year.

Lawmakers cheer crypto-related elements included in Congressional defense funding bill: Congress is inching closer to approving a multi-billion dollar defense spending authorization bill which, according to lawmaker statements, will include several elements related to cryptocurrency and blockchain. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia’s office put out a statement on December 3rd which noted that the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) text includes parts of the ILLICIT CASH Act, such as language “[e]nsuring the inclusion of current and future payment systems in the AML-CFT regime by updating the definition of “coins and currency” to include digital currency.”

The SEC’s Director of Enforcement will step down just months after her former co-director exited: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Division director Stephanie Avakian will leave her post at the end of the year, according to an announcement from the agency.

Senator-elect wants to spread Bitcoin awareness in the US government: Bitcoin will come to the rescue if the fiat system fails, says the incoming senator from Wyoming.

What are crypto ATMs doing in rural Georgia?: The number of crypto ATMs in the U.S. has skyrocketed this year. What’s behind the trend? That’s a bit of a mystery.

Paxos files application with U.S regulator to obtain a national bank charter: Crypto company Paxos is seeking a national bank trust charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top U.S. bank regulator.

Banks rally against Figure’s ‘precedent-shattering’ charter bid: An influential group of trade groups representing US banks has urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to postpone consideration of Figure’s bank charter application.

BitPay files with OCC to become national crypto-native trust bank: Bitcoin (BTC) payments giant BitPay aims to form a national trust bank, based on its recent filing with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

“We confirm BitPay has filed an application with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish BitPay National Trust Bank,” BitPay general counsel and chief compliance officer, Eden Doniger, told Cointelegraph. “A national trust bank is a limited purpose national bank that engages in trust activities.”

Following 2.0 launch, Blockstack’s STX may be free to trade in the US: Blockstack may have successfully transformed its STX token from securities registration to commodity status.

Europe

France imposes tougher KYC requirements for crypto, including peer-to-peer transactions: The French Ministry of Finance has formally unveiled stringent know-your-customer requirements for crypto transactions. According to a new document released by Minister Bruno Le Maire, virtual asset providers (VASPs) in France will now have to prohibit anonymous crypto accounts.

A source at French Finance Ministry confirms that stricter rules are coming for the crypto sector: A source at the French Finance Ministry, with knowledge of the development, has confirmed The Block’s reporting from yesterday that said stricter measures are coming for the country’s crypto industry.

Sweden Considering Widescale Transition to Digital Currency: Sweden, the world’s most cashless society, is now considering taking a leap into the world of digital currencies. According to a Bloomberg report, Sweden’s minister for financial markets Per Bolund announced that a study exploring the prospects of the country using digital currency is underway and it will likely be completed in November 2022.

German government unimpressed by Facebook stablecoin’s rebrand: German finance minister says “A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf.”

Paris court sentences Alexander Vinnik to five years in prison: Years after his initial arrest, Vinnik has finally been sentenced.

Asia

China’s central bank plans digital yuan pilot for payments to Hong Kong: Preliminary talks are underway to begin testing the e-CNY in the special administrative region of Hong Kong.

Thai tax collectors to streamline revenues with blockchain tech in 2021: Blockchain will reportedly make tax evasion more difficult in Thailand.

Rest of the World

Vladimir Putin signs order requiring Russian public officials to disclose crypto holdings: Russian public officials will now be required to declare their cryptocurrency holdings, according to a new order President Vladimir Putin signed last Thursday.

Russian crypto lobby group appeals to finance ministry to soften legislation: A crypto advocate group in Russia is lobbying for more friendly federal crypto law.

19-year-old Ukrainian politician reports crypto holdings of $24M in Monero: Ukrainian government officials are investing in cryptocurrency.

Venezuela ramps up Bitcoin payments for imports from Iran and Turkey: Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro claims the country will “use all the cryptocurrencies in the world” to bypass U.S. sanctions.

Mexican authorities struggle to keep up as cartels embrace crypto: The head of a major Mexcian financial intelligence unit has complained that local law enforcement has only a quarter of the staff it needs to respond to crypto laundering from cartels.

One of Pakistan’s four provinces urges federal govt to legalize crypto: The draft resolution reportedly notes that digital currencies are likely to replace paper currencies in the future.

India’s Banks Are Once More Serving Crypto Traders and Exchanges : Indian banks have started doing business with select cryptocurrency exchanges and their customers, CoinDesk has confirmed.

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Main sources

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