The CEO and co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, believes that banning retail crypto staking in the United States would be a ‘terrible’ move by the country's regulators. Armstrong made the comments in a Feb. 9 Twitter thread which has already been viewed over 2.2 million times, after noting they've heard “rumors” that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission “would like to get rid of crypto staking” for retail customers. “I hope that's not the case as I believe it would be a terrible path for the U.S. if that was allowed to happen.” Armstrong did not share where …

Nepal’s telecommunications regulator has ordered the country's internet service providers (ISPs) to block all cryptocurrency trading websites, threatening legal action against those that fail to comply. In a Jan. 8 notice, the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) ordered ISPs and email service providers to prevent access to “websites, apps or online networks” related to crypto. It stated that virtual currency transactions “are increasing in recent days [translated]” and reiterated that crypto transactions in the country are illegal. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the country’s central bank, declared crypto trading and mining illegal in a Sept. 2021 notice. “Encouraging” others to use crypto …

Fabio Panetta, an executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), proposed banning crypto assets with a significant environmental impact as part of efforts to address risks. In written remarks for the Insight Summit at the London Business School on Dec. 7, Panetta said harmonizing taxation around crypto between global jurisdictions could address some of the energy and environment costs around mining and validation. He added that tokens “deemed to have an excessive ecological footprint should also be banned,” referring to proof-of-work assets in a citation. Panetta added crypto markets were often at risk due to their “incredibly high …

The website of crypto exchange OKX was blocked in Russia by the state media monitoring service Roskomnadzor on Oct. 4. The agency told the TASS news agency that the website was blocked “the request of the Prosecutor General's Office for the dissemination of unreliable socially significant information of a financial nature.” Roskomnadzor told local news outlet RBC that OKX had “published information related to the activities of financial pyramids, as well as information on the provision of financial services by persons who do not have the right to provide them” under Russian law. Although the website is blocked in Russia, …

Major Chinese cryptocurrency miner manufacturer Canaan appears to have no issues with the local ban on crypto, as the company’s overall performance has continued to grow in 2022. Canaan officially announced financial results for the second quarter of 2022 on Thursday, reporting a 117% increase in gross profit from the same period of 2021. According to the firm, the Q2 profits amounted to 930 million renminbi (RMB), or nearly $139 million. The company’s Q2 net income was 608 million RMB, or $91 million, or a 149% increase from 425 million RMB in the same period last year. Canaan noted that …

The email marketing platform Mailchimp appears to have suspended its services to crypto content creators. Platforms associated with crypto news, content, or related-services started to have issues logging into accounts, followed by notices of service interruptions which began surfacing this week. Crypto-associated accounts such as the Edge wallet, a provider of self-custody crypto holding services, and Messari, a crypto research company, were among some of the affected. Early this morning, Sam Richards, at the Ethereum Foundation Tweeted that the Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Support Program is likewise facing suspension. Add @Ethereum Foundation's @EF_ESP to the list of customers @Mailchimp has rugged. …

Tornado Cash (TORN) has lost almost half its market valuation two days after being slapped with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department. The department accused Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer platform, of laundering more than $7 billion in cryptocurrencies, including a stash of $455 million allegedly stolen by North Korea-based hackers. Immediate reactions were followed by U.S.-based crypto companies, including Circle and Coinbase. In a controversial move, the popular crypto firms blocked the movements of their jointly-issued stablecoin USDC tied to Tornado Cash's blacklisted smart contracts. TORN price drops 45% The news prompted traders to limit their exposure to TORN, …

A bill that had been introduced a week ago to the State Duma, the lower chamber of Russian Parliament, made a swift passing through first reading. Should it become a law, it would prohibit using “digital financial actives” (DFA) to pay for goods or services. As reported by local media on Tuesday, the bill, sponsored by the head of the Financial Markets Committee of the State Duma Anatoly Aksakov, passed with a reservation. Albeit the document suggests an obligation for DFA exchange managers to withhold any deals implicating the usage of tokens as a monetary surrogate, the prohibition could be …

The China state-owned media outlet, the Economic Daily, has signaled that the Chinese government may introduce even tighter regulations on cryptocurrencies and stablecoins due to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. In an article published May 31, the outlet detailed the collapse of TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA, explaining the workings of the algorithmic stablecoin. It used the so-called black swan event to praise the Chinese government’s decision to ban cryptocurrency. “My country has been cracking down on virtual currency trading speculation and a large number of trading platforms,” reporter Li Hualin wrote before adding, “this has effectively blocked the transmission …

Last week, New York dominated crypto media headlines in very different ways. In New York State, the local Assembly voted in favor of the bill that would ban for two years any new mining operations that rely on proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanisms and use fossil fuel-generated energy. A temporary moratorium, which could be extended after the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation provides its assessments of the industry’s carbon footprint, marks the first major legislative attack on PoW mining on environmental grounds in the United States. The push mobilized the community — after digital asset advocacy groups rang the alarm on …

On April 26, the State of New York put itself at the forefront of the regulatory struggle with crypto, as its Assembly voted for a two-year moratorium on crypto mining operations that use energy generated by fossil-fuel power plants. Depending on how one looks at it, this development could either signal a new alarming legislative trend or a trigger that would accelerate the digital asset industry’s movement toward a more sustainable path. Moratorium with further evaluation The lower chamber of the NY state legislature, the Assembly, passed a bill that would put a two-year hold on any new mining operations …

New York's legislature might ban proof-of-work (PoW) crypto mining in the state for at least two years, citing environmental concerns. Over the past weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, several crypto advocacy groups — including the Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation — rang the alarm over the upcoming vote in the New York Assembly. The state Senate's official webpage did not indicate a specific date for the vote. 1/ New York’s proposed moratorium on proof-of-work (S6486D/A7389C) mining has an unintended consequence - it puts innovation on the back burner. It would have significant implications for the security of major …