California is back at it; a new (old) virtual currency licensing bill is pending in the Assembly.
We believe that the ULC’s model Regulation of Virtual Currency Businesses Act will offer a better way.
The new bill is AB 1123. Over the last two years we’ve been discussing and studying an earlier bill, AB 1326, extensively. That bill went through several iterations: one that...
Bitcoin taxation is broken. Here’s how to fix it.
An exemption for small gains would take most of the headache out of using digital currencies like Bitcoin.
We recently described what a bill creating a federal safe harbor for non-custodial uses of cryptocurrency should look like, and we’re now advocating for just such a bill in Congress....
The Communications Decency Act, which protected the internet's early innovators, is a perfect model for protecting the people and companies building it's next level infrastructure.
As we wrote last January, We got lucky with the Internet. The net we’ve come to know, love, and rely upon owes much of its existence to two laws passed...
Here’s how the tax treatment of Bitcoin is broken.
I couldn’t have put it more succinctly than this piece in the Wall Street Journal today: One complication is that the IRS treats bitcoin as property, rather than currency. The...
FTC Fintech Forum: Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain
Director of research Peter Van Valkenburgh clarified the different types of blockchain consensus mechanisms and discussed the consumer protection implications for these technologies. A full agenda and list of participants...
The OCC has just taken another step toward a national fintech charter.
Today it released a draft of the licensing manual supplement that will be used by fintech companies digital currency and blockchain companies among them to understand and engage in the...
The Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF has been rejected by the SEC.
The first of several attempts to create an exchange traded fund based on cryptocurrency tokens has failed in its bid for regulatory approval. Coin Center executive director Jerry Brito had...
This updated framework gives regulators the tools they need to develop sound policy around open blockchain networks like Bitcoin.
Last weekend I attended what will probably be the final meeting of the Uniform Law Commission’s drafting committee for a model Regulation of Virtual Currency Businesses Act (the RVCBA!). The...
We explained open blockchains at the FTC’s FinTech forum today.
This morning the Federal Trade Commission held the latest event in its series of FinTech forums and it focused on Artificial Intelligence and Blockchains. The half-day workshop was designed to...
Fifth Letter to the Uniform Law Commission
We suggest optimal language to achieve the draft act's policy goals in relation to control of tokens, personal use, and exclusions for licensed money transmitters.
A direct download of these comments is available here.