Two major crypto bills were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. One aims to establish which cryptocurrencies are securities. The other looks to put regulation of exchanges in the hands of the country's commodities regulator. The securities bill The Securities Clarity Act, from the office of Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) establishes a new distinction in securities law between an investment contract and the "an asset sold pursuant to an investment 22 contract, whether tangible or intangible (including an 23 asset in digital form)." The new bill is basically a direct response to recent controversy over the Simple …

On Wednesday, the Chamber of Digital Commerce announced the addition of Visa, Goldman Sachs and Six Digital Exchange (SDX) to its executive committee. Mick Mulvaney, a former White House Chief of Staff and a co-founder of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus will also be joining the chamber’s board of advisors. Mulvaney left the White House in March. On the board, he will be joining a number of figures familiar to Cointelegraph’s readers, including Don Tapscott of the Blockchain Research Institute and former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, who is now with the Digital Dollar Project. Regarding the lineup of the advisory board, …

The United States Senate rejected the new stimulus proposal on Sep.10, which did not include a new round of $1,200 checks. However, this boosts the chances of a new proposal with individual checks getting approved, and could serve as a catalyst for Bitcoin (BTC). Why was the stimulus proposal rejected, and why could it be a good thing? The new proposal, dubbed a “skinny” stimulus bill, was rejected with a 52-47 Senate vote. Republican Senator Rand Paul, along with Senate Democrats, blocked the new package that did not include $300 billion for stimulus checks. Both Republicans and Democrats rallied for …

The Committee on Energy and Commerce has just approved two pieces of legislation to spur more in-depth analysis of blockchain technology in government, clearing the way for their vote in the House of Representatives. In an online debate moderated by Chamber of Digital Commerce founder Perianne Boring on Sept. 9, Democratic Representative of Florida’s 9th District Darren Soto announced that after “nearly two years of pushing,” the Committee on Energy and Commerce had passed the Digital Taxonomy Act. In addition, the committee approved the American COMPETE Act. Both pieces of legislation will now go to the main floor of the …

A trio of United States House Representatives — two Democrats and a Republican — have officially introduced a new bill to spur more in-depth analysis of blockchain technology in Congress. On Sept. 1, Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL), Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced a new bill to the House, which was subsequently referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The bill proposes to direct the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “to conduct a study and submit to Congress a report on the state of the blockchain technology and …

On Aug. 20, Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) held the first ever Cryptocurrency Town Hall, bringing together a number of leaders from the Blockchain space. Conducted in collaboration with the Chamber of Digital Commerce PAC, the event featured major crypto figures like Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, eToro’s Guy Hirsch, BitPay’s CEO Stephen Pair, and Paxos’ Chad Cascarilla. Ripple CEO Garlinghouse outlined that the biggest challenge faced by Ripple so far is the lack of clarity around the regulatory status of XRP. “The biggest challenge Ripple has faced and anyone developing in the XRP community has faced is …

While being a relatively young correction to energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) network validation, proof-of-stake has existed in theory since 2012. However, rising market cap of PoS tokens like Cardano (ADA) and Tezos (XTZ) over the past two years and Ethereum’s much-hyped but much-delayed shift from PoW to PoS have brought the subject to the forefront. Alongside an overall increase in regulatory attention on crypto generally, PoS protocols are an area of much debate. One question highlighted by a recent letter from several Congresspeople to the IRS is taxes. Specifically, the letter voiced worries about overtaxing staking rewards. Unfortunately, the IRS is …

“I remember watching the hearings before the Energy and Commerce Committee with Mark Zuckerberg, and it was clear that a lot of my colleagues didn't really know a lot about technology,” recalls U.S. Representative Darren Soto. When Soto (D-FL) speaks about technology, it sounds personal. He references space launches at Cape Canaveral, which lies adjacent to his district, Florida’s 9th. It is, he mentions, also home to Disney World and Universal, which have made it a major hub for virtual reality as well as vacationers. A co-chairman of the Blockchain Caucus and sponsor of several closely pieces of blockchain legislation, …

On Aug. 4, four U.S. congressional representatives wrote to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) asking the tax authority not to overtax rewards from Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Explaining the difference in energy consumption between PoS and Proof-of-Work blockchains like Bitcoin’s, Representatives Tom Emmer (R-MN), Darren Soto (D-FL), David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Bill Foster (D-IL) wrote that the IRS may be overestimating gains: “We believe that taxpayers' true gains from these tokens should indeed be taxed. However, it is possible the taxation of 'staking' rewards as income may overstate taxpayers' actual gains from participating in this new technology.” Industry response and clarity on …

The largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), is not going away once the ongoing financial crisis subsides, United States Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) believes. A known industry advocate, Emmer says that Bitcoin will only be getting stronger after the world eventually emerges from the economic chaos caused by the coronavirus. Bitcoin and blockchain will continue to become more important “As we come out of the crisis, Bitcoin ain’t going away, it’s gonna get stronger,” the Congressman saod during an Aug. 3 interview with co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Anthony Pompliano. According to Emmer, both Bitcoin and its underlying technology of blockchain will …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note The concept of monopoly will reign in today’s Law Decoded. As a fundamental principle, blockchain technology is about distributing both inputs and outputs of information securely. In its still very young lifecycle, the technology has proven to have boundless applications on the basis of this fairly simple principle. A secondary principle is decentralization, and in this way, blockchain technology seems inherently opposed to monopolies. The big challenge of Bitcoin’s white paper was finding a way to move value across …

Facing rising accusations of running monopolies, the CEOs of four of the world’s biggest tech firms are testifying before the Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee today, July 29. The hearing was originally scheduled for July 27 and was moved to 12PM EST today. It is seeing further delays today and as of 12:25 had not been called to order. Global monopolies The hearing is entitled “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.” It continues a lengthy series of investigations into the role these giant companies play. All of these firms except for …