Do we really need more guidance from FinCEN?
In May of last year, FinCEN issued guidance on “virtual currency” that reiterated and explained its original 2014 guidance. It essentially articulates a general principle: a business is subject to...
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Do anti-encryption bills in Congress pose a risk to cryptocurrency?
Two bills threatening encryption are driving headlines in the cryptocurrency space, the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data (LAED) Act and the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (“EARN...
There is no such thing as “a bitcoin”
Recently on Twitter, the St. Louis Fed’s David Andolfatto asked an interesting question: How hard would it be to track these funds and mark them as fully taxable at any...
Can we decentralize physical infrastructure along with software protocols?
With the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto demonstrated a means of achieving distributed consensus (agreement over important data like Bitcoin transactions) at a planetary scale without the need...
What’s in the Bitlicense’s 5-year update?
Some good changes have been made and a door to fix the main issue has been opened.
On the Bitlicense’s 5th anniversary, NYDFS has announced plans to streamline the licensing application process, the new coin listing process, and it has updated a Frequently Asked Questions page. These...
How the OCC can clear a path for financial technology entrepreneurs
The agency’s new acting head has experience with patchwork state licensing.
At last week’s Consensus: Distributed virtual conference Brian Brooks, chief operating officer of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), said the agency should consider a federal licensing scheme...
Without privacy, do we really want a digital dollar?
If a digital dollar is developed it must be just as “bearer” and private as physical cash.
COVID-19 is accelerating discussions about digitizing the dollar. Relief payments to support those suffering economically have revealed shortcomings inherent in current payment infrastructure. Fear of contagion has made handling physical...
How to trace a virus without surrendering our privacy
Decentralized technologies could achieve the goal without relying on trust in a centralized authority.
COVID-19 is dominating policy discussions here in Washington and abroad. Cryptocurrency policy is—rightly—not top-of-mind for folks in government at the moment. There is one area of our collective response to...
The first legal test for a SAFT
A Judge has granted the SEC an injunction against the public distribution of Grams, tokens intended to be used on Telegram’s long-promised blockchain network. As we wrote in Coin Center’s...
SEC Commissioner proposes safe harbor for projects that raise funds to build decentralized networks
Projects that qualify would get a 3 year window to achieve sufficient decentralization
In a speech in Chicago today, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce unveiled a proposal to create a regulatory safe harbor for projects that raise funds in order to build decentralized, unowned...