This year, investors are watching for big spikes in biotech companies working with psychedelics, especially as the once-controversial compounds return to the spotlight touting mental health benefits — and uniting lawmakers at the United States Capitol across party lines. The category’s future could make big legal gains in 2023, but due to the American government’s built-in checks and balances, even a Congress in agreement can’t shape drug policy alone. In May 2022, New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker and Hawaii Democratic Senator Brian Schatz co-published a letter imploring the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) …

The hunt for the controversial founder of the now-collapsed Terra ecosystem, Do Kwon, has intensified with South Korean officials reportedly confirming they sent at least two people to Serbia to track him down. According to a Feb. 7 Bloomberg report, the prosecutor’s office in Seoul said the reports “aren’t false” regarding members of its team trekking out to the Balkan state to find Kwon. It appears at least two state officials went — one from the prosecutor's office and the other being a senior member of South Korea’s Justice Ministry. South Korean-based publication Chosun Media confirmed on Dec. 11 that …

Newly proposed advertising rules in the United Kingdom could potentially see executives of crypto firms face up to two years of prison for failing to meet certain requirements around promotion, according to the U.K. financial watchdog. In a Feb. 6 statement, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that if the proposed "Financial promotions regime" is approved by Parliament, all crypto firms in the country and overseas would have to follow certain requirements when advertising their crypto services to U.K. customers. “Cryptoasset businesses marketing to UK consumers, including firms based overseas, must get ready for this regime,” said the FCA. …

On Jan. 24, the dYdX Foundation, the entity responsible for the dYdX decentralized crypto exchange, announced “changes” to its tokenomics — the way it distributes tokens to early investors, employees and contractors, and, of course, the public. So, what’s uncommon about the situation? The project’s foundation, in agreement with dYdX Trading Inc. and its early investors, decided to amend the project's tokenomics and extend the period for which such investors’ initial batch of tokens would be locked, changing the date from Feb. 1 to Dec. 1, 2023. Whether this was a good or a bad thing depended on which side …

When the financial system or the economy as a whole undergoes a rapid and large decline, it is said to be in a financial crisis. Financial assets like stocks, bonds, and real estate often see a sharp and significant decline in value during financial crises. They can also be identified by a decline in credit availability and a loss of faith in financial institutions like banks. Related: DeFi vs. CeFi: Comparing decentralized to centralized finance Financial crises can be caused by a variety of factors, including: Overleveraging: When people, businesses, and governments take on excessive debt, they put themselves at …

2022 was tough for the crypto market. A recent report published by security services platform Immunefi found that the crypto industry lost a total of $3.9 billion in 2022. Detrimental losses such as these are often concerning for crypto investors, yet there may be a silver lining behind decreasing assets for investors reporting crypto on their taxes. Lisa Greene-Lewis, a certified public accountant at TurboTax, told Cointelegraph that while crypto investors made huge gains in 2021, this changed drastically in 2022. “We have seen a crypto winter occur, and TurboTax wants to help investors cope with their losses,” she said. …

Rostin Behnam, chair of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has said he will be continuing efforts for the agency to regulate non-security tokens. In remarks released for a Feb. 3 American Bar Association event, Behnam pointed to “bankruptcies, failures, and runs” as part of the justification for Congress to give the CFTC the authority to address regulation for cryptocurrencies. According to the CFTC chair, the commission was "well positioned" to address any regulatory gaps but deferred to U.S. lawmakers to pull the trigger on legislation. “Regulation is necessary to protect customers and to prevent failures which …

United States lawmakers with the Senate Banking Committee have scheduled a second hearing exploring the impact of a crypto market crash. In a Feb. 3 announcement, Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown said senators would convene on Feb. 14 in a hearing titled ‘Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets’. The hearing will come two months after lawmakers met and discussed the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in a Dec. 14 hearing. As the second hearing scheduled for the Senate Banking Committee following the start of the 118th session of Congress, there will be some changes. …

The Australian government is bolstering its market regulator's digital asset team as part of a “multi-stage approach” aimed at clamping down on crypto and ensuring proper risk disclosures from crypto firms. A Feb. 2 joint statement by Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones explained that the new measures are aimed at protecting consumers dealing with cryptocurrency. The treasurers said the multi-stage approach would involve three elements, including strengthening enforcement, bolstering consumer protection, and establishing a framework for its token mapping reform. This is why we're taking action on crypto. pic.twitter.com/17HG5nhsTz — Stephen Jones MP (@StephenJonesMP) February 2, …

Finnish company Membrane Finance has released a fully-reserved stablecoin backed by the euro, according to a Feb. 2 blog post from the company. The company is licensed by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (Fin-FSA) and claims that the new ”EUROe” coin is “the first and only EU-regulated crypto stablecoin.” Membrane Finance is excited to announce the launch of EUROe on Ethereum! Read more at https://t.co/nV8dYKkBmK, and read the thread below to see how you can get started with $EUROe from today! — EUROe (@EUROemoney) February 2, 2023 U.S.-based Circle Inc. released its own euro-backed stablecoin in June, but its Euro …

Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, has come out in support of blockchain as a potential solution for technological issues facing the country. In response to questioning from Liberal Democratic Party member Masaaki Taira before the Budget Committee of Japan’s House of Representatives on Feb. 1, Kishida said there were “various possibilities for using Web3” in Japan. He added that the Japanese government could use aspects including nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in efforts to revitalize regions and promote ‘Cool Japan’ — a national strategy aimed at showing off the country’s innovations and culture to the …

Filing taxes for cryptocurrency can be a confusing and daunting task for many individuals. The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats cryptocurrency as property subject to capital gains taxes. Knowing this appears to make filing crypto taxes simple, but crypto’s unique nature means there are many unanswered questions. Accurately reporting gains and losses can be a nightmare. While everyone concerned about tax season knows that keeping accurate records of every crypto transaction is a must, there are other things to keep in mind. There is a difference between short-term and long-term capital gains taxes, with tax rates varying depending …