The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Paraguay's bicameral legislature, failed to move forward on a bill aimed at promoting crypto mining through the use of surplus electricity following a veto from President Mario Abdo Benítez. In a Dec. 5 session, members of Paraguay’s legislature discussed the pros and cons of incentivizing crypto miners to operate in the country with a cap on the electricity rates, but ultimately voted against amendments that would have effectively reversed a presidential veto. Lawmakers suggested a lack of regulation around crypto-related activities had led to events like the downfall of FTX, and highlighted …

The international monitoring body Financial Stability Board, or FSB, called for a global framework aimed at regulating and supervising crypto in the wake of FTX’s collapse, also saying it would assess vulnerabilities associated with decentralized finance. In a Dec. 6 meeting in Basel, the FSB said it planned to “enhance its crypto-assets monitoring framework” to include “DeFi-specific vulnerability indicators” as well as address the potential impact of having DeFi becoming more closely connected to traditional financial markets. According to the monitoring body, the financial stability risks from the crypto market were “limited” following FTX’s liquidity crisis and bankruptcy, but “growing …

Three members of the United States Senate have reportedly penned a letter to Silvergate Bank requesting information about any relationship with FTX and business entities under former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. According to a Dec. 6 report from NBC News, Senators Elizabeth Warren, John Kennedy, and Roger Marshall sent a letter to Silvergate CEO Alan Lane. The lawmakers reportedly asked the bank to provide details on its relationship with FTX entities in response to “new and disturbing allegations” about its business practices. “Your bank’s involvement in the transfer of FTX customer funds to Alameda reveals what appears to be an egregious …

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius was granted an extension on its exclusivity period until Feb. 15, 2023. The court approval would give the troubled crypto lender another couple of months to file for a Chapter 11 restructuring plan. The approval to extend the exclusivity period came after two court hearings on Dec. 6. Celsius, in an official tweet, said that they requested approval to permit the sale of stablecoin, aimed at providing liquidity for continued operations The Judge has indicated that he will share his decision soon, likely next week. Celsius hopes to use the extension period to develop a plan …

Despite the Conservative Party's rhetorical embracement of crypto under the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the upcoming regulatory framework will reportedly tighten scrutiny over the industry. The legislation updates will broaden the powers of the financial regulator and probably limit foreign companies’ operations in the United Kingdom. According to a Financial Times report, the FTX collapse has influenced the course of the regulatory regime in the U.K. Reportedly, the Treasury is finalizing a package of guidelines that will enable the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to monitor the operations and advertising of crypto companies in the country. There also would be …

Welcome to Law Decoded, your weekly digest of all the major developments in the field of regulation. There was some substantial good news for crypto last week, but the prevailing storyline is still the unfolding of FTX. While the extradition of the failed exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried seemed pretty logical from the beginning of the saga, last week, the 30-year-old got the first official call: The Texas State Securities Board (SSB) invited the former CEO to attend the hearing on the alleged sale of unregistered securities on Feb. 2. SSB’s director of enforcement Joe Rotunda hopes to get a Cease …

Joseph Longo, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is calling for a regulatory loophole to be closed that allowed FTX to acquire an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) in the country without the full suite of checks. According to a Dec. 5 report from the Australian Financial Review, Longo made the comments while speaking at a joint parliament committee on corporations and financial services on Monday local time. A major topic the committee dug into was of course the recent FTX and Alameda Research meltdown led by the now-troubled founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Longo defended his regulatory …

Several crypto firms are facing a probe from the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over possible deceptive or misleading advertisements relating to cryptocurrencies. According to a Dec. 6 report from Bloomberg, FTC spokeswoman Juliana Gruenwald said the watchdog is investigating “several firms for possible misconduct concerning digital assets.” Gruenwald did not provide further details about which firms were the subject of the investigation or what had triggered the probe. However, deceptive advertising and promotion have been a trending topic in the U.S. this year. In October, reality TV star Kim Kardashian was fined by the United States Securities and …

The Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) has reportedly opened a formal investigation into two proposed contracts that would offer discounted electricity prices to new crypto-mining operations. According to a Dec. 5 statement from environmental law group Earthjustice, the government department would be looking to determine whether subsidizing crypto mining operations will raise electricity costs for Kentucky residents. The two mining contracts under investigation include one between Kentucky Power and Ebon International LLC, which runs a 250-megawatt mining facility in Louisa, as well as mining company Bitki-KY, which operates a 13-megawatt facility in Waverly, Kentucky. The contract proposes to give discounted …

Maxine Waters, chair of the United States House Financial Services Committee, has called out former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for announcing on social media he intended to testify after “learning and reviewing what happened” at the exchange. In a Dec. 5 Twitter thread, Waters cited Bankman-Fried’s numerous media interviews in the wake of FTX’s bankruptcy as evidence that his information was “sufficient for testimony” before the committee. Waters will preside over a hearing investigating the collapse of FTX on Dec. 13, in which committee leadership said they expected Bankman-Fried and other individuals associated with the events around the exchange’s downfall …

One of the most powerful moments in a new crypto user’s journey happens the first time they send a sizable amount of money to their private wallet. It’s an awe-inspiring, serious moment — and it’s a little scary to experience the power and personal responsibility of the technology firsthand with your own real money. A second powerful moment occurs when the same user is introduced to a block explorer, looks up their address and sees that same transaction there on the blockchain for all to see. There are competing visions of what Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies will …

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is currently reviewing requests to revise the “regulatory treatment” of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) within its Virtual Financial Assets Framework. Under the current regulatory framework, NFTs are included within the scope of the Virtual Financial Assets Act, which also includes virtual tokens, virtual financial assets, electronic money, and all financial instruments built, or dependent on, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). However, the MFSA is proposing to have NFTs removed from the Virtual Financial Assets framework since they’re unique and nonfungible and therefore incapable of being used as payments for goods and services, or for investment purposes. …