The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) more-than-enthusiastic crackdown on the crypto industry is being seen as a positive signal for the majority of crypto investors, according to a new survey. Around 60% of 564 survey respondents in the latest MLIV Pulse survey from Bloomberg said they viewed the recent flurry of crypto crackdowns as a positive sign for investing in the asset class. Around 65% of retail investors signaled they were “more likely” to invest with “greater enforcement against crypto” compared to 56% of professional investors. Conversely, only 35% of retail and 44% of professional investors said they …

Ethereum went through a key network upgrade on Sept. 15, shifting from its proof-of-work (PoW) mining consensus to a proof-of-stake (PoS) one. The key upgrade is dubbed the Merge. The Merge was slated as a critical change for the Ethereum network that would make it more energy efficient, with later improvements to scalability and decentralization to come. A little over a month later, however, some industry observers fear the PoS transition has pushed Ethereum toward more centralization and higher regulatory scrutiny. The Merge replaced the way transactions were verified on the Ethereum network. Instead of miners putting in their computational …

$4.5 trillion asset management firm Fidelity Investments is reportedly set to hire another 100 people to bolster the firm's growing digital assets division — a stark contrast to the recent squeezing out of crypto-talent. A Fidelity representative told Bloomberg on Oct. 22 that the firm has begun a new round of hiring which will bring the Fidelity Digital Asset’s headcount to around 500 by the end of the first quarter of 2023. A search on Fidelity’s job board currently shows 74 live results for digital asset-related positions, which cover areas relating to blockchain technology, business analysis, customer service, finance and …

Crypto lending platform Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 13, 2022. Although the Celsius case involves digital assets, it remains subject to United States Bankruptcy Code under the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. While this may be, a series of unusual events have ensued since Celsius filed for bankruptcy. For instance, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn — the judge overseeing the Celsius case — stated on Oct. 17 that the court will look abroad for guidance. Glenn specifically mentioned that “Legal principles that are applicable in the United Kingdom are not binding …

For over a year, the oil-rich Central Asian country of Kazakhstan has maintained its position as the third-biggest contributor to Bitcoin (BTC) mining after surpassing Russia back in February 2021. As of January 2022, Kazakhstan contributed to 13.22% of the total Bitcoin hash rate, positioned right after the historical leaders the United States (37.84%) and China (21.11%), as shown below. Along similar timelines, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance data estimated that Kazakhstan’s absolute hash rate contribution (monthly average) was 24.8 exahashes per second (Eh/s). Meanwhile, the US and China contributed 71 Eh/s and 39.6 Eh/s, respectively. The International Energy Agency …

New York-based multi-asset trading services Oanda has launched a new cryptocurrency trading service in the United States. This latest addition developed in partnership with regulated blockchain infrastructure provider Paxos Trust Company is designed to give investors easy access to crypto alongside their existing forex portfolios in a secure environment. The collaboration will enable U.S.-based investors to spot-trade cryptocurrencies on Paxos’s itBit exchange through Oanda’s mobile platform, the broker said. Investors will be able open and fund trading accounts, as well as access major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). According to Oanda, users will benefit from the company’s …

United States crypto exchange Binance US has created a new “investigations unit” and tapped a former FBI special agent as its new head, with the aim of seeking out and stopping illegal activity on its platform. The “investigations unit” is a brand new unit within the U.S. crypto exchange, the firm's head of legal Krishna Juvvadi confirmed to Cointelegraph and sees former FBI agent BJ Kang become the company’s first “head of investigations.” The role will see him partnering with law enforcement, regulators, and even other exchanges to seek out and stop illegal activity on its platform, Kang will also …

Self-regulation will be critical in governing the rapidly changing landscape of the cryptocurrency industry in order to preserve its autonomous, decentralized nature. Months after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem that propelled crypto’s market capitalization below $1 trillion, the industry is beginning the long process of rebuilding not only retail trust but also faith in itself. Current market conditions are in part due to structural weaknesses in smart contracts, models and governance processes. This is made evident by the many hacks and exploits that have taken place this year and the ballooning of projects with flawed tokenomics and that are …

Over the years, several cryptocurrency companies have claimed that deposits with them were insured by the United States Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as if they were regular savings accounts. While so far, no crypto firm has been able to offer depositors this type of insurance, some speculate it could be the key to mass adoption. The most notable case is that of bankrupt lender Voyager Digital, which saw regulators instruct it to remove “false and misleading statements” regarding FDIC insurance. Crypto exchange FTX has been a beacon of hope looking to backstop contagion in the …

A new draft of the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA) bill has started to circulate online, with some commentary suggesting it could be positive for decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto. A prior draft version of the bill drew heavy criticism from industry representative bodies for containing too broad a definition for a “digital commodity platform,” which “could be interpreted as a ban on decentralized finance (DeFi).” In a newly posted 31-page draft bill, shared by Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro, the lawyer said he made the draft bill publicly available as he believes in “transparency and open discussion.” …

Ethereum’s Merge dominated the crypto world in September with promises of quicker transaction times, improved security and a 99% reduction in energy consumption. However, will you end up with a surprise tax bill too? Let’s examine. During the Merge event, the Ethereum mainnet — the then current proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain — merged with the proof-of-stake (PoS) Beacon Chain, marking the end of PoW as the consensus mechanism for the Ethereum blockchain. On the Beacon Chain, Ethereum joined ranks of other major PoS blockchains such as BNB Chain, Cardano and Solana. Ether (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap …

American taxpayers will find a broader, more defined category encompassing cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in their 2022 IRS tax forms. The draft bill released by the Internal Revenue Service features a well-defined Digital Assets section that outlines if and how taxpayers will account for the use of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and NFTs. Page 16 of the draft defines Digital Assets as any digital representations of the value recorded on a ‘cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology.’ 2021's tax form required taxpayers to indicate whether they had received, sold or exchanged in 'virtual currency' - with this term changing …