Joe Biden’s White House is expected to issue an executive order in the coming weeks about actions the U.S. government will take regarding digital assets. A source “familiar with the White House’s plan” told Barron’s that the executive order would be issued in a national security memorandum. Biden’s memorandum would assign some government entities to study crypto, stablecoins, and nonfungible tokens (NFT) with the goal of developing a workable regulatory framework. The source was quoted as saying: “This is designed to look holistically at digital assets and develop a set of policies that give coherency to what the government is …

The White House has officially tapped former Fed governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as the vice chair for supervision for the Federal Reserve, as well as economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to fill two empty seats on its board of governors. In a Friday announcement, U.S. President Joe Biden said he had nominated Cook, an Obama-era economic adviser and Michigan State University faculty member, as well as Jefferson, a former research economist for the Fed, to the board of governors in addition to Raskin. Jefferson and Cook will take two of the vacant seats in the group of …

From the very beginning of the cryptocurrency movement, the societal potential of Bitcoin (BTC) has been one of the fundamental selling points. The decentralized design of crypto-based systems introduces the possibility of bringing individuals together to work toward shared goals, as well as enabling them to pool resources while remaining insulated from outside control. 2021 saw a number of cases that could serve as evidence of this emancipatory power of digital assets. ConstitutionDAO: $49 million raised in a few days Arguably, the most high-profile case of a massive fundraising effort enabled by a decentralized autonomous organization in 2021 was ConstitutionDAO. …

According to The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), one of the world's largest financial newspapers and the entity behind the Nikkei 225 stock index, Japan's Financial Services Agency, or FSA, will propose legislation next year restricting stablecoin issuance to only bank and wire transfer companies. Theoretically, this would prevent entities such as Tether (USDT), which does not operate as a bank and is only regulated in the British Virgin Islands, from conducting business with Japanese customers. However, the new proposed rules would only affect some stablecoin issuers. For example, USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle plans to become a crypto bank chartered …

The United States Federal Reserve is planning to address ambiguities that they feel are plaguing digital asset regulation in the country following rapid analyses between government agencies. In a Nov. 23 announcement, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System said it recently worked with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on a series of “policy sprints” aimed at addressing regulatory clarity in the crypto space. The interagency effort included building a greater understanding of the terminology surrounding crypto assets, identifying potential risks, and analyzing existing regulatory frameworks to determine if any …

The Boston Blockchain Association, or BBA, together with Boston-based media house Media Shower and the Chamber of Digital Commerce, are working to lobby for favorable crypto regulations in Massachusetts. According to a release issued on Monday, the BBA in collaboration with Media Shower and the Chamber of Digital Commerce has released a crypto regulatory toolkit for lawmakers in the state. Dubbed the Massachusetts Edition of the Legislator’s Toolkit for Blockchain Technology, the document reportedly aims to guide the state's policymakers toward enacting laws that will benefit the cryptocurrency industry within the Commonwealth. The policy document reportedly covers five core recommendations …

Fall is traditionally the open season for United States financial regulators. The thicket of news coming out of Capitol Hill, federal courts and various regulatory agencies can feel overwhelming around this time, especially for those of us residing outside of these venerable institutions’ purview. It is also clear that the outcomes of these legal battles will have tremendous effects on crypto markets, adoption and, generally, the relationship between state power and the industry worldwide. But that is not the only reason for anyone interested in how the old world adapts to digital finance to follow U.S. developments closely. Gensler of …

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has made a major step forward with a research and development project that could see the Turkish lira go digital. On Wednesday, CBRT announced the signing of memoranda of understanding with three domestic research and technology companies that will form the “Digital Turkish Lira Collaboration Platform.” The pool of participants is expected to expand as the project moves forward. The three original technology stakeholders are Aselsan, a major defense corporation, Havelsan, a software and systems developer operating in the defense and IT sectors, and TÜBİTAK Informatics and Information Security Research Center. …

Too much is happening in the realm of crypto policy and regulation to leave the biggest developments of each week without a roundup and at least some conceptual reflection. Starting today, we are getting back to decoding crypto law and everything around it that is worth decoding. Who’s next to follow El Salvador? Eyeballs galore will be pinned to the great Salvadoran experiment from now on. People with PhDs in economics and applied statistics within central banks and research institutes will chase every accessible data point that could be remotely helpful in making sense of the effects of Bitcoin’s adoption …

Google is running crypto ads again after its updated financial products and services policy went into full effect on Aug. 3. The multinational giant banned crypto- and initial coin offering-related advertisements back in June 2018, and the updated policy allows regulated crypto entities to market their services once again. ICOs have been left out in the cold, however. Google’s crypto ad policy revision was first outlined in June and stipulates that “advertisers offering cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets” targeting United States consumers are allowed to advertise their services and products if they meet specific requirements. The move will provide additional sales …

In a surprise move on Wednesday, online advertising behemoth Google lifted a nearly three-year-old policy banning cryptocurrency exchanges from using its ad services. “Beginning August 3, advertisers offering Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Wallets targeting the United States may advertise those products and services when they meet the following requirements and are certified by Google,” reads a policy update on the company’s support page. Requirements exchanges have to pass include needing to be either registered with “FinCEN as a Money Services Business and with at least one state as a money transmitter” or “a federal or state chartered bank entity,” potentially opening …

President-elect Biden’s team recently unveiled additional folks it plans on nominating for various positions after the inauguration on Wednesday. One key pick is Gary Gensler as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, according to a statement from Biden’s transition team on Monday. On Jan. 12, Reuters reported on anonymous sourcing forecasting Gensler as Biden’s choice. Today’s statement from the Biden team confirms the President-elect’s expected choice. “Gary Gensler served as chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2009 to 2014,” the statement said. Coming immediately after the financial crisis, Gensler's term at the CFTC saw …