DeFI News by Thebittimes.Com

XRP is regaining momentum as institutional adoption grows backed by a solid technical outlook and growing speculation about potential spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, the market is now mostly focused on the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  First filed in December 2020, the case is heading toward another pivotal moment as it approaches the August 15 deadline by which the SEC is required to update the appellate court on the status of the dispute. Ripple vs. SEC August 15 deadline: What does it mean? The kernel of the problem is the question of whether Ripple’s XRP sales constituted unregistered securities offerings.  A 2023 ruling by the U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres already found that institutional sales did qualify as securities, while programmatic sales on various exchanges did not. Though Ripple recently withdrew its appeal, the SEC has yet to follow suit.  Judge ...

On Nov. 16, a16z shared the release of its annual State of Crypto Report, which considers the impact of blockchains for policymakers considering the future of emerging technology in the United States. In the report , the venture capital firm emphasizes that good regulation should protect consumers and provide compliance pathways, while showcasing continuous growth for the digital asset class. Regulation remains front and center Highlighting the value of these crypto currencies, the report  calls out Blockchain analytics firms estimate that it is less than 2% of total crypto activity that is being tied to illicit transactions, and in 2022, it only accounted for between 0.10-0.24% of all crypto activity. The report further shares that regulation has been of ongoing concern to the crypto community, with notable developments, including crypto legislation being passed out of the House committees for the first time in history and courts making landmark rulings, such as ...

Proposed Bill Seeks To Provide Crypto Clarity One of the key aspects of the proposed legislation focuses on determining whether a digital asset should be classified as a commodity or a security. Under the “discussion draft,” regulated crypto firms that handle tokens or cryptocurrencies can argue that these assets are commodities. advertisement However, they are required to provide a detailed explanation of their functioning and prove their decentralization by certifying that no single entity controls more than 20% of the assets. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would retain the authority to challenge this claim by conducting a thorough Analysis to determine whether the asset falls within its jurisdiction. Read More: Bloomberg Analyst Predicts Major Crypto Market Crash Soon A longstanding point of contention for crypto projects operating in the U.S. is the lack of clarity on when a project can be considered decentralized enough for its to...

Eun Young Choi , who was appointed director of the cryptocurrency enforcement team, said DoJ is targeting crypto exchanges, Crypto mixer s, and DeFi platforms that commit crimes or allow them to happen, such as enabling money laundering. advertisement US DOJ Promises Crackdown on Crypto Bad Actors Eun Young Choi , Director of DOJ’s NCET, revealed that the US DOJ is targeting crypto exchanges, companies, and mixers that commit crimes impacting the crypto market, including allowing money laundering. She promises to crackdown against bad actors in the crypto market as the scale of crypto crimes rises significantly in the past few years. “But on top of that, they’re allowing for all the other criminal actors to easily profit from their crimes and cash out in ways that are obviously problematic to us. And so we hope that by focusing on those types of platforms, we’re going to have a multiplier effect.” Trending Storie...

Hong Kong is relaxing its crypto regulation to allow retail investors to trade digital assets directly. A licensing regime for crypto platforms that allows retail crypto trading is reportedly set to be enforced in March next year. Hong Kong Nears Allowing Retail Crypto Trading Hong Kong is reportedly relaxing its strict cryptocurrency regulation with a plan to allow retail crypto trading, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. A mandatory licensing regime for cryptocurrency platforms that allows retail crypto trading is set to be enforced in March next year, the publication conveyed, elaborating: Hong Kong plans to legalize retail trading for crypto starting in March after years of skepticism — a stark contrast to mainland China’s ban. Moreover, regulators are seeking to allow retail exchanges to list large cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), the news outlet added. The listing rules are likely to include criteria ...

Kevin O'Leary. Source: a video screenshot, Kevin O'Leary / YouTube Famous Canadian businessman and television personality Kevin O'Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, argues that once a specific stablecoin bill is passed and “institutions smell policy, then you’ve got a real move up,” and that’s when bitcoin (BTC) breaks out of the $19,000-$22,000 trading range. The Shark Tank star appeared on the Crypto Banter YouTube channel on the October 14 episode, where he suggested a reason to “start going long bitcoin,” and that reason is connected to the policy in the United States. He went on to discuss the Stablecoin Transparency Act, which he says has a chance of getting passed by the US Congress “very quickly” after November 8, the date of the midterm elections. As reported, the push for stablecoin regulation follows the massive collapse of  Terra , which is a protocol that powered its algorithmic stablecoin UST.  Whi...

Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Officials from the European Union have reached agreement on the final text of their historic crypto legislation, which may pave the way for a regulatory strategy that applies to all of Europe. According to a letter from committee head Edita Hrdá, the complete legal text of the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) was adopted at a gathering of EU ambassadors on Wednesday. Hrdá said in a letter to Irene Tingali, chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, that cooperation between the Parliament and the Council ought to make it possible for the legislation to be passed at the Parliament’s first reading. After two years of back-and-forth, legislators finally reached an agreement on the legislative package in June. In its current form, the rule mandates that anybody wishing to issue cryptocurrency produce a “crypto-asset white paper” desc...