Three United States senators led by Elizabeth Warren have sent a letter to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder expressing concern over a number of facets of Binance’s activities and requesting information from the companies that includes their balance sheets. Crypto skeptic Warren’s cosigners were fellow Democrat Chris Van Hollen and Republican Roger Marshall. They claimed there is evidence that the companies attempted to evade U.S. regulators, that the companies sanctions evasion and facilitated the laundering of at least $10 billion and they lack transparency. "What little information about Binance’s finances is available to the public …

The French National Assembly has voted in favor of legislating stricter licensing rules for new cryptocurrency firms in order to harmonize local laws with proposed European Union (EU) standards. The vote was passed with 109 votes (60.5%) in favor to 71 (39.5%) against. With the French Senate having already passed the bill, it will now be passed to president Emmanuel Macron who has 15 days to either approve it or send it back to the legislature. ✅ Projet de loi DDADUE dans les domaines de l’économie, de la santé, du travail, des transports et de l’agriculture | Adoption par l’Assemblée …

A cryptocurrency mining rights bill with laws that would prohibit the discrimination of crypto miners is one step closer to fruition after passing the Montana Senate. The proposed laws would enshrine a “right to mine digital assets” and would prohibit “discriminatory” electricity rates being charged to crypto miners, protect mining that occurs “at home” and strip local governments of the power to use zoning laws to stop crypto mining operations. It also prohibits additional taxes on the use of crypto as a payment method and would consider “digital assets,” inclusive of cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs), as “personal property” alongside …

A recently introduced Illinois Senate Bill has been ridiculed by the crypto community over its "unworkable" plans to force blockchain miners and validators to do "impossible things" — such as reversing transactions if ordered to do so by a state court. The Senate Bill was quietly introduced into the Illinois legislature on Feb. 9 by Illinois Senator Robert Peters but appears to have been only recently noticed by Florida-based lawyer Drew Hinkes who discussed the bill in a Twitter post on Feb. 19. The bill titled the “Digital Property Protection and Law Enforcement Act,” would authorize the courts — upon …

Non-custodial crypto platform ShapeShift refuted United States Senator Elizabeth Warren’s claims of "illicit financing,” suggesting that she used the platform as a scapegoat to “push” her latest crypto bill, according to a recent statement. ShapeShift stated in a tweet on Feb. 19 that Warren made “mistakes” in her “analysis” of the platform, which were made at a recent senate banking committee hearing entitled “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets,” on Feb. 14. On Valentine's Day, @SenWarren attempted to use ShapeShift as an example to push her latest crypto bill. Unfortunately, there were mistakes in the …

A bi-partisan anti-money laundering (AML) bill that covers “decentralized entities” such as decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and DAOs will soon be reintroduced to Congress, according to United States Senator Elizabeth Warren. Warren, a vocal crypto critic, argued at the Feb. 14 Senate Banking Committee’s hearing entitled “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets” that the crypto community wants decentralized entities running on code to be exempt from AML requirements: “In other words, they want a giant loophole for DeFi written into the law so they can launder money whenever a drug lord or a terrorist pays …

United States lawmakers with the Senate Banking Committee have announced three witnesses scheduled to appear before a hearing scheduled on Feb. 14. At the time of publication, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee’s hearing titled ‘Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets’ had witnesses including Vanderbilt University law professor Yesha Yadav, Duke Financial Economics Center policy director Lee Reiners, and Linda Jeng, a lecturer at Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for International Economic Law. The hearing will be one of the first in the 118th session of the U.S. Congress exploring the regulation of cryptocurrencies following a …

Even though this winter continues to stress test the case for Bitcoin (BTC) advocation, some lawmakers strive to put their names on the crypto hot list among the likes of United States Senators Cynthia Lummis and Pat Toomey. State Senator Wendy Rogers, 68, introduced two bold bills in the Arizona legislature. One focuses on making BTC legal tender in the U.S. state. If passed into law, BTC will have the same status as the U.S. dollar, becoming an accepted medium of exchange for debt payment, public charges, taxes and dues in the state. The bill is not Rogers’ first attempt …

Texan Republican Senator Ted Cruz is pushing the United States Congress to adopt cryptocurrency within its halls using an incentive both sides might agree on — food. Cruz introduced a concurrent resolution dated Jan. 25 that would only allow vending machine and food service contractors that accept crypto as a payment option within the U.S. Capitol. If adopted, the Architect of the Capitol, the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives would be required to find the crypto-accepting food and vending firms. At the time of writing the text of the resolution was …

United States Senator and crypto skeptic Elizabeth Warren wants the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to “double down” on its crypto enforcement efforts, highlighting that the cryptocurrency industry is running “scared” for what’s to come next. Warren’s comments came from an interview with American Economic Liberties Projects on Jan. 25. The Senator opined that since Gensler was sworn in as SEC Chairman in April, 2021, the Commission “has made a good start” on fixing some of the problems created by the former SEC leaders under the Trump Administration. Warren claimed that the previous SEC administration “essentially gave the green light” to …

Cryptocurrencies will be a hot topic as the United States Congress resumes and the battle lines are drawn between lawmakers for and against the fledgling financial industry. But the Blockchain Association reports that more than 100 crypto industry advocates are fighting to help strike the right balance between protection and innovation. The 118th U.S. Congress convened in Washington D.C. on Jan. 3. It’s scheduled to continue until Jan. 3, 2025, during the final two years of President Joe Biden’s first term. The crypto industry is currently in the crosshairs following several high-profile meltdowns last year, the largest being the collapse …

Republican Senator Pat Toomey, who is set to retire from U.S. Congress at the end of the term, has used one of his last few weeks in office to introduce a new stablecoin bill, aimed at creating a regulatory framework for “payment stablecoins.” Toomey — who also serves as the Ranking Member of the U.S. Banking Committee — said the Dec. 21 bill, called the Stablecoin TRUST Act of 2022 would serve as a framework for stablecoin regulation for his fellow senators who are looking to push out stablecoin legislation in 2023. In a statement, the senator called stablecoins an …