The major stablecoin company Tether is looking to eventually get rid of commercial paper backing for its United States dollar-based stablecoin Tether (USDT). Tether issued an official statement on Wednesday to deny reports alleging that Tether’s commercial paper portfolio is 85% backed by Chinese or Asian commercial papers and is being traded at a 30% discount. The stablecoin firm called such allegations “completely false,” reiterating that more than 47% of total USDT reserves are now the “United States Treasuries.” In its latest assurance opinion issued in May, Tether reported that commercial paper makes up less than 25% of USDT’s backing, …

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the United States Department of Justice conducted an extensive audit of the cryptocurrencies seized by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) — revealing the dire need for the federal agency to revamp its existing crypto management and policy systems. OIG’s audit on the seized cryptocurrencies found the USMS implementing adequate safeguards over its storage and access. However, the agency was found to be using spreadsheets to maintain track of the inventory owing to the inability of the existing system, Consolidated Asset Tracking System (CATS), for daily management of crypto assets. As of June …

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said he’s worried that a proposed bill to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies could weaken investor protections in the traditional financial market. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network Summit on Tuesday, Gensler was asked his thoughts regarding a recent bill introduced on June 7 by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). He responded, saying “we don't want to undermine the protections we have in a $100 trillion capital market,” adding: “We don’t want our current stock exchanges, mutual funds, or public companies to, sort of …

The Iowa Insurance Division, or IID, a regulator responsible for many securities sales in the state, has fined crypto lending firm BlockFi more than $943,000 after it allegedly offered and sold unregistered securities. In a Tuesday announcement, the state regulator said BlockFi had “offered and sold securities in Iowa that were not registered or permitted for sale in Iowa” in addition to not being registered as a broker-dealer or agent, in violation of the state’s Securities Act. The IID ordered BlockFi to pay $943,396.22 as an administrative fine as well as to cease and desist “from making any untrue statement …

“Everything is bigger in Texas” proved to be true during Consensus 2022. The crypto conference took place June 9–12 in Austin, Texas, this year, attracting over 20,000 people from across the globe, despite the 100-degree plus weather. According to the event sponsors, Consensus 2018, which was held at the Hilton Hotel in New York, had previously drawn in almost 9,000 attendees. Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia — the Wyoming-based digital asset bank — told Cointelegraph that the event this year speaks volumes. “New York has sent a lot of this industry fleeing to places like Austin, Wyoming and Miami. It …

One of the largest public universities in the United States by enrollment may be planning to launch virtual classes in the Metaverse in the future. According to records submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, on June 7 and June 8, the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University filed seven applications for variations of its name — ASU, Arizona State, Arizona State University — as well as that of its football team, the Sun Devils, to be used in a virtual environment. The trademark filings included the university’s name as well as …

Chinese mining chip designer Nano Labs has applied for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States to raise $50 million on Nasdaq amid sluggish market conditions. According to information obtained by the Renaissance Capital IPO monitoring tool, the Huangzhou-based crypto mining chip maker has filed with the regulator, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for its upcoming public offering on Nasdaq, the world's second-larges stock exchange. The application for American depository shares is occurring amid a slew of regulatory difficulties in China and the United States, causing a shortage of Chinese issuers' overseas fundraising. Only two IPOs …

On June 2, 2022, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) initiated an action against Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Among other things, the complaint alleges that Gemini made a number of false and misleading statements to the CFTC in connection with the potential self-certification of a Bitcoin futures contract, the prices for which were to be settled daily by an auction (the “Gemini Bitcoin Auction”). In the complaint, the CFTC specifically articulated the position that these statements were designed to mislead the commission as to whether the proposed Bitcoin futures contract …

Coin Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit blockchain advocacy group, filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of the Treasury for allegedly provisioning an unconstitutional amendment in the controversial infrastructure bill. In an official announcement, Coin Center revealed the filing of a suit against the Treasury Department in federal district court — challenging the enforcement of Section 6050I’s reporting mandate within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The lawsuit read: “In 2021, President Biden and Congress amended a little-known tax reporting mandate. If the amendment is allowed to go into effect, it will impose a mass surveillance regime on ordinary …

This past week, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem was ruled by decentralized autonomous organizations and new fund launches for the growth of the Web3 ecosystem. The total number of DAOs surged by eight times while Solana launched a $100 million DeFi fund. Optimism, an Ethereum layer-2 protocol that Vitalik Buterin recently praised for its governance model, lost 20 million tokens due to a mix-up of layer-1 and layer-2 addresses. A leaked 600-page copy of a United States crypto draft bill also grabbed the community’s attention, as it proposes heavy regulatory scrutiny for DeFi and DAOs. The top-100 DeFi tokens showed …

Circle, a peer-to-peer financial services firm, has agreed to acquire Cybavo, a digital asset infrastructure platform. The deal will allow Circle to provide "infrastructure as a service" for firms wanting to develop on Web3. Developers will be able to work on their products without having to worry about digital asset security, operations, or blockchain infrastructure management. According to the Friday press release, Circle and CYBAVO intend to further promote the adoption of USD Coin (USDC) and Web3 applications while integrating technology deeply into their core product suite. Circle signed an agreement to acquire @cybavo! Once the deal closes, Circle plans …

Three-quarters of United States retailers plan to accept crypto or stablecoin payments within the next two years, according to a new survey published by Deloitte. It also found that more than half of large retailers with revenues over $500 million are currently spending $1 million or more building the required infrastructure to make it happen. The information was revealed in Deloitte’s “Merchants Getting Ready For Crypto” report released in collaboration with PayPal on Wednesday. A large majority, around 85%, of the surveyed merchants said they anticipate that cryptocurrency payments will be ubiquitous in their respective industries in five years. The …