The United States economy could be in for an upset. Data from a Wall Street Journal survey revealed financial experts expect the country to face an economic downturn this year. Over two-thirds of economists at 23 major financial institutions that do business with the Federal Reserve believe the U.S. will have a “shallow” or “mild” recession in 2023. Two of the surveyed institutions predict a recession for the following year. The research included big names in the financial services sector, such as Barclays PLC, Bank of America Corp., TD Securities and UBS Group AG. Collectively the Federal Reserve was named …

Court filings continue to shed light on the dubious relationship between FTX and Alameda Research, in which the hedge fund was afforded an ‘unfair’ trading advantage as well as unprecedented access to user holdings on the cryptocurrency exchange. The United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission filed a complaint in the Southern District Court in New York on Dec. 1, alleging a host of irregular business dealings between Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX and his trading company Alameda Research. The complaint provides a raft of allegations detailing how the two companies and select insiders including Bankman-Fried violated the Commodity Exchange Act …

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has indicated that he’s willing to testify at a United States Senate hearing into the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried controversially missed the deadline to respond to a Senate Banking Committee request to appear and testify during a hearing focused on FTX’s bankruptcy earlier this week. While the possibility of a congressional subpoena was on the table, the beleaguered former CEO has offered himself up in a series of Tweets published Dec. 9. 1) I still do not have access to much of my data -- professional or personal. So there is a limit …

Following United States President Joe Biden’s executive order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, federal agencies came up with a joint fact sheet on six principal directions for the crypto regulation in the U.S. It sums up the content of nine separate reports, which have been submitted to the President to “articulate a clear framework for responsible digital asset development and pave the way for further action at home and abroad.” The fact sheet was published on the White House official website on Sept. 16, and consists of seven sections: (1) Protecting Consumers, Investors, and Businesses; (2) Promoting Access …

Data from blockchain-analysis firms show that Russian denominated crypto purchasing and trading on major exchanges have faltered, debunking theories that the country will pivot to digital assets to circumvent sanctions. When Bitcoin rallied over 15% last week, some industry experts attributed the surge to Russians buying cryptocurrency in the face of increasing economic sanctions. This theory seems to be proved false, however, as data from Chainalysis showed that ruble-denominated crypto trading volume was just $34.1 million on March 3, around half of a recent peak of $70.7 million a week ago on Feb. 24. Speaking on the matter of sanctions-fueled …

The tide is turning on the way in which law enforcers discuss cryptocurrencies and treat crypto users. The United States Secret Service has launched a cryptocurrency awareness hub featuring a cheesy public service announcement video. The educational tool seeks to combat the “illicit use of digital assets as well as provide public awareness information on digital asset security and how to ensure it remains secure.” Watch the video here: "Secret Service: Safeguarding the next generation currency", Source: U.S. Secret Service Youtube U.S. Secret Service Office of Investigations Assistant Director Jeremy Sheridan said that the hub focuses on "investigating financial crimes." …

As the Bitcoin correction deepens, the fear, uncertainty, and doubt has returned, with billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio adding a whole bunch more of it. In an interview with Yahoo Finance’s editor-in-chief on March 24, the founder of the $150 billion hedge fund Bridgewater Associates stated that there is a “good probability” that the U.S. government could ban Bitcoin just as it did with gold ownership in the 1930s. That happened because government leaders at the time did not want gold to compete with fiat money and credit as a store of wealth, Dalio added. “They don’t want other …

Miami city employees could soon choose to get their salaries paid in Bitcoin rather than USD. In an interview with Forbes, Mayor Francis Suarez said tangible paths to expand Bitcoin's adoption throughout the city included enabling city employee salaries to be paid in BTC. Major figures in the cryptocurrency world have responded positively to the idea, with Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey calling it “smart” on Twitter. Smart https://t.co/wxsQkbfPef — jack (@jack) February 2, 2021 Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss stated that the mayor is “leading the way for governments and Bitcoin.” Mayor Suarez told Forbes that due to the …

The Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has collected more than $4.68 billion in illegal income and fines this year so far — with more than one quarter coming from Telegram’s ill-fated Gram token sale alone. In total, around $1.26 billion was handed over to the SEC by unregistered initial coin offerings. SEC Division of Enforcement Director Stephanie Avakian stated: “The Commission obtained judgments and orders totaling approximately $4.68 billion in disgorgement and penalties – the highest amount on record.” The division’s annual report for the 2020 fiscal year, published earlier this month, provides a comprehensive overview …

U.S. software company Intuit has been awarded a patent for processing Bitcoin (BTC) payments via text message (SMS), according to a filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) August 7. The patent, which outlines a system through which users can transfer BTC funds via sending an SMS on their cellphones, was originally filed in 2014, the same year that Intuit’s DIY tax solution QuickBooks partnered with BitPay to create a PayByCoin service for business clients to pay their invoices in BTC. As the patent outlines: “The invention [...] includes receiving, by a payment service from a payer …