According to some United States lawmakers in the House Financial Services Committee, the lack of diversity in the financial technology space could be hurting many companies’ bottom lines. In a Thursday virtual hearing on “Combatting Tech Bro Culture,” U.S. lawmakers and witnesses discussed how women and people of color were underrepresented in leadership positions in the financial technology industry, including crypto firms. Massachusetts Representative Stephen Lynch cited data that only 2% of venture capital funding went to firms in which the founders were women, while only 1% went to those with Black founders and 1.8% for Latinx. According to Lynch …

Due to Celsius Network’s withdrawal suspension in mid-June, the very topic of crypto lending made its entryway to the acute issues list for the regulators. Last week, lawmakers and officials continued to raise the question of necessary action, with significant utterance belonging to one of the key European crypto skeptics, Christine Lagard. European Central Bank president got so impressed with the Celsius crisis that she coined the term "MiCa II," referring to the main regulatory package for crypto in the European Union. Lagarde believes the new MiCa should include separate crypto-asset staking and lending guidelines. It’s not necessary to be …

A group of 14 United States senators and House representatives have signed a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency extolling what they believe are the benefits of crypto mining. In a Thursday letter, many U.S. lawmakers including pro-Bitcoin Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Tom Emmer addressed EPA administrator Michael Regan, requesting the government agency analyze the potential impact of crypto mining in an effort to balance innovation with environmental concerns. The group of 14 senators and representatives claimed mining could have a “substantial stabilizing effect on energy grids” and cited examples of mining operations using flared gas and renewable energy …

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said he’s worried that a proposed bill to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies could weaken investor protections in the traditional financial market. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network Summit on Tuesday, Gensler was asked his thoughts regarding a recent bill introduced on June 7 by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). He responded, saying “we don't want to undermine the protections we have in a $100 trillion capital market,” adding: “We don’t want our current stock exchanges, mutual funds, or public companies to, sort of …

Human rights activists from 20 countries have submitted an open letter to the United States Congress in support of a “responsible crypto policy” and praising Bitcoin (BTC) and stablecoins as essential tools aiding democracy and freedom for tens of millions. The letter comes just a week after an anti-crypto open letter was sent to Congress, purporting to be from the scientific community but whose lead signatures included well-known crypto critics and authors from high-income, democratic countries. The group of 21 activists clapping back includes people from countries that have either seen recent conflict or have otherwise unstable economies such as …

A leaked copy of a United States draft bill concerning cryptocurrency started doing the rounds on Twitter earlier on Tuesday. The 600-page copy of the leaked bill highlights some of the key areas of concern for regulators including decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and crypto exchanges. here you go (plz RT) pic.twitter.com/UOVhIUiUBu — slam (@bot_slam) June 7, 2022 User protection seems to be the primary focus of regulators, with policies intended to require any crypto platform or service provider to legally register in the U.S, be it a DAO or DeFi protocol. This could highly curtail chances …

Retirement plans still largely remain at the periphery of both crypto adoption and the regulatory discussion. But last week, a major development emerged in this department. United States Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota became concerned about Fidelity’s recent announcement of adding Bitcoin (BTC) to its clients’ 401(k) retirement investment menu. In a letter to the company’s CEO Abigail Johnson, the lawmakers expressed their uneasiness over a “conflict of interests” and the “significant risks of fraud, theft and loss,” requesting from Fidelity a detailed outline of risk mitigation actions. Crypto 401(k) plans are still relatively rare, …

United States Senator Cynthia Lummis appeared on a livestream hosted by Axios on Tuesday to tease the highly awaited bill on cryptocurrency she is authoring. The Wyoming Republican said the bill will be introduced as “one big piece so people can see the big picture” and be broken down into five or six components for consideration by the appropriate congressional committees. The bill, which Lummis is expected to introduce along with New York Democrat Kristin Gillibrand, is designed “so that it works within the traditional framework for managing and regulating traditional assets,” Lummis said. It will divide cryptocurrency oversight between …

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington, D.C., introduced an updated bill on Thursday to regulate cryptocurrency developers, dealers, exchanges and stablecoin providers, bringing them under the regulatory control of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2022 (DCEA) was re-introduced to Congress by Republican Representatives Glenn Thompson and Tom Emmer with support from Democrat co-sponsors Darren Soto and Ro Khanna. The updated version includes a section covering stablecoin providers, who can register as a “fixed-value digital commodity operator.” These operators would be obligated to share how the stablecoin operates, retaining records for …

In terms of policy, Greg Tanaka calls himself a legislator for the digital age and possibly the most pro-crypto person running in this election cycle. A member of the Palo Alto City Council, he has set his sights on the United States House of Representatives seat for California’s 16th, the Silicon Valley district. In an interview with Cointelegraph, the self-described nerd exuded enthusiasm and spoke with an unwavering smile about crypto and the financial system. Legal DAOs and crypto tax holidays “It’s the first form of truly better money,” Tanaka said of crypto. “More benefit goes to the people creating …

Ranking member of the United States House Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets Bill Huizenga sent a letter on Monday to Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler. The letter expressed concerns about the proposed SEC amendments to the Exchange Act of 1934 that would expand the definition of an exchange and the phrase “as a part of regular business.” The congresspeople said the changes could stifle innovation in the digital asset ecosystem. Each said that they understand that communication protocol systems would be included in the definition …

The European Parliament continued to keep crypto users and advocates at the edge of their seats last week as yet another piece of potentially harmful legislation — this time, a set of demanding data disclosure requirements for digital asset service providers — was rushed to a vote mere days after a near miss on banning proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies. Unlike the relatively happy resolution of the Markets in Crypto Assets framework situation, the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering rules retained all the crypto-hostile language as they are going into the next round of consideration, the so-called trialogue negotiations. If the rules are enacted …