As the 2021-2022 United Kingdom tax year finished on April 5, 2022, Her Majesty's Treasury announced they were paving the way for the U.K. to become a global crypto asset technology hub. This could mean that the previously not particularly crypto-friendly U.K. is changing its strategy and trying its hand at making crypto investments more attractive. But what are the potential scenarios at play? The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a financial regulatory body in the U.K., in its “Cryptoasset consumer research 2021” report, shows that approximately 2.3. million adult U.K. citizens held crypto in 2021, a 21% rise year-over-year. It …

Major crypto exchange Binance challenged the accuracy of a report, which stated one of its regional heads agreed to supply Russia's financial intelligence unit with customer data potentially related to donations for anti-corruption and anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny. Reuters reported on Friday that Binance's head of Eastern Europe and Russia Gleb Kostarev met with officials from Russia's Rosfinmonitoring, a financial monitoring service linked to the country's Federal Security Service, or FSB, in April 2021. Kostarev reportedly agreed to a request from the government body to turn over certain user data — including names and addresses — later telling an associate …

United States House of Representatives member Jared Huffman and 22 other lawmakers have requested the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, assess crypto mining firms potentially violating environmental statutes. In a letter addressed to EPA administrator Michael Regan on Wednesday, Huffman said he and other Democratic House members had “serious concerns” around crypto firms in the United States reportedly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and not operating in accordance with either the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act. The lawmakers identified efforts to “re-open closed gas and coal facilities” as a means to produce energy for crypto mining operations …

Residents of the archipelago nation, the Bahamas, may soon be able to use digital assets including the world’s first central bank digital currency, or CBDC, to pay for taxes. In a white paper on the future of digital assets released on Wednesday, the Bahamas’ Office of the Prime Minister said the government will begin to “enable payment of taxes using digital assets” by working with the country’s central bank as well as the private sector. In addition, the government plans to work on giving citizens access to crypto with the Bahamian dollar and encourage greater use of the country’s CBDC, …

Web3 has given rise to a number of innovative business models. In particular, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have started gaining traction as Web3 and the creator economy comes to fruition. Natalie Salemink, CEO and founder of Prismatic — a tooling and treasury management platform for DAOs — told Cointelegraph that DAOs are internet-native organizations that utilize smart contracts to facilitate coordination and governance in pursuit of a common goal. When it comes to traditional businesses, though, one of the most interesting aspects a DAO structure can provide is leadership based on computer-generated code rather than individual authority. The idea of …

Australian financial compliance enforcement agency AUSTRAC has released two new guides to help entities spot when customers are using crypto for illicit means or when they are being forced to pay the creators of ransomware. But, it warned that debanking customers merely on suspicion of such activity was a harmful practice with serious negative effects. In an announcement posted earlier today, AUSTRAC noted that the growing acceptance, value and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology has been accompanied by an increase in cybercrime. “Cyber-enabled crime is an increasing threat to Australians. According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), 500 …

The United States Treasury Department has added Russia-based crypto mining services provider BitRiver and several subsidiaries as firms facilitating the evasion of sanctions. In a Wednesday announcement, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, said it was taking action against BitRiver AG, as well as 10 of its Russia-based subsidiaries, naming the companies as “Specially Designated Nationals.” Firms and individuals listed as such by OFAC have their assets blocked and “U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.” According to the U.S. Treasury, the actions against BitRiver and its subsidiaries were based on them allegedly facilitating …

Protect Our Future, a political action committee set up in January, with backers including FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, has spent more than $9 million to support candidates running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. According to expenditures reported to the U.S. Federal Election Commission, as of April 14, Protect Our Future has used $9,024,317 toward supporting the campaigns of Carrick Flynn, Lucia McBath, Shontel Brown and Jasmine Crockett to represent separate districts in Oregon, Georgia, Ohio and Texas, respectively. McBath and Brown are incumbent candidates, while Crockett currently represents Texas’ 100th District in the state’s House of Representatives. …

The Iranian government will increase the penalties for the use of subsidized energy in crypto mining. The move marks another step in tightening mining regulation in the country, which had faced energy shortages in recent years. Citing the country’s Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission company, the Tehran Times reported that the government plans to drastically increase the rates of fines for mining operators who use subsidized electricity on Saturday. The company's representative Mohammad Khodadadi Bohlouli specified: “Any use of subsidized electricity, intended for households, industrial, agricultural and commercial subscribers, for mining cryptocurrency is prohibited.” According to Bohlouli, the fines for …

The Ministry of Finance (MinFin) of Russia finalized a draft bill named “On Digital Currency” and has sent it to the Russian government for approval to be passed as law. The draft of the federal law clarifies regulations related to the trading and mining of cryptocurrencies. On Apr. 8, Russia’s finance ministry announced the amendment and finalization of an impending crypto bill, which provides regulatory clarity related to the circulation, issuance, trading, mining and other activities within the crypto market. While unconfirmed reports of Russia legalizing cryptocurrency surfaced early Apr 16, the thriving crypto community on Twitter welcomed the announcement …

The feeling in the crypto and decentralized finance space has been shifting and evolving. The industry is also becoming more scrutinized and, inevitably, more organized. Some weeks ago, United States President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order to expedite and focus regulatory oversight of the $3-trillion industry. The order will spur the government to examine the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies, with a particular focus on consumer protection, financial stability, illicit activity, U.S. competitiveness, financial inclusion and responsible innovation. While the results of this order have yet to unfold, this moment helps to set the table for more clarity, predictability, …

Lawmakers in Australia want to regulate decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). In this three-part series, Oleksii Konashevych discusses the risks of stifling the emerging phenomenon of DAOs and possible solutions. Crypto anarchy is unlikely to be the future that the majority of people support. Company regulation, in its essence, has a lot of positive aspects or at least, a good intention, albeit one often embodied in a red tape that stifles business. Nevertheless, nowadays, corporation rules and regulations are formalized to the extent that they could be put in the machine code. So, the role of the government is to establish …