“Under the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, users who want to send cryptocurrencies from centralized exchanges to a private wallet would need to provide personal information about the owner of that wallet to the exchanges, if the amount sent is greater than $10,000 in one day. The exchanges would also need to submit and store records involving such transactions with a total value over $10,000 in a given reporting period, or just maintain records for transactions over $3,000.
The general public will have until Jan. 4, 2021 to provide comments or feedback.
Along with another recent proposal, the move would increase the amount of work individuals and exchanges must put into transferring cryptocurrencies, as well as increase the amount of personal data exchanges must hold onto or report to the Treasury Department.
Undercutting that ability with last-minute rulemaking in the twilight days of an outgoing administration is not the way to make the type of long-lasting, responsive regulations that will support the safe growth of this industry in the U.S.
Republican lawmakers even decried the move, with a public letter signed by U.S. Representatives Warren Davidson (Ohio), Tom Emmer (Minn.), Ted Budd (N.C.) and Scott Perry (Penn.) asking Mnuchin to discuss the move with elected officials. Earlier on Friday, Senator-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said she was concerned by the move.
Other industry representatives criticizing the move include Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, who wrote an open letter to Treasury Department staff saying the proposed rule ‘would inadequately address the actual risks that are at issue,’ and harm the industry overall.”
See Also: Analysts say Mnuchin’s proposed self-custody rule won’t impact Bitcoin price
See Also: US Treasury Bulking Up Crypto Policy Advisers as Wallet Reg Rumors Swirl
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“All of this is happening in an environment where we’re about to have a change of presidential administrations and there’s calls on Capitol Hill to dismantle some of the regulatory protections we’ve put in place with this stuff.
My agency has tried to make it safer for people to custody in national banks. We’ve talked about banks supporting some of these stablecoin projects. If those protections aren’t in place, I really worry about the environment for these kinds of things.
We’re at a really critical inflection point right now. It’s kind of a fork in the road.”
“The SEC has been using its power to approve registration statements to try and enforce its will on public or soon-to-be-public entities.
For example, the SEC could say that crypto trading platforms need clearer procedures for how they list or delist different cryptocurrencies. While it’s unlikely, the SEC could even require exchanges to delist certain tokens in this manner before deeming the S-1 forms effective.
They’ve been monkeying with governance rules like this at the federal level even though there’s no federal laws around this.”
See Also: Coinbase Picks Goldman Sachs to Lead Upcoming IPO: Report
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“In order for payments to be made offline, Visa proposed a system that would use “open source technology and public key infrastructure” so transaction messages could be signed without the need to be connected to the internet. The proposal outlines a protocol that can be developed in the future—but no code for such an idea has been written yet.
Recipients can submit signed, offline payment messages to an authorized wallet provider with guaranteed settlement of those transactions in order to withdraw funds from the offline payment system.
The idea is that an offline payment system creates an experience similar to physical cash.”
“Call and put options at the $100,000 strike price expiring on Sept. 24, 2021, went live on Deribit Thursday. The purchase of a $100,000 call is a bet that bitcoin will rise above that level on or before Sept. 24, 2021, making the option “in-the-money.”
‘A few trades have taken place, as thus far 45 [call option] contracts have been traded.‘ The $100,000 put option is yet to register any activity.”
“Mizuho sees bitcoin, not as a source of revenue itself, ‘but as a vehicle to boost engagement on the app,’ and that could drive revenue growth, he said. Further, as people start to use PayPal services more ‘it’s going to make PayPal more the center of their financial life.’ The same applies to Square.
Dolev predicted that, in 2021, there will be an “inflection point” as more and more people start using these apps, and the ‘trigger is bitcoin.’“
“The developers of Ethereum crypto mixer Tornado Cash have proposed issuing a governance token called TORN. Token holders will be able to make proposals and vote to change the protocol. However, only early adopters and founding developers will be eligible for the airdrop and distribution.
TORN will be airdropped to all addresses that made deposits into Tornado.Cash ETH pools before block 11400000. TORN will be airdropped in the form of a non-transferable TORN voucher (vTORN) that can be redeemed 1:1 to TORN within 1 year.”
See Also: DeFi community raises centralization concerns over ‘Compound Chain’
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“MGA Entertainment’s Bratz franchise, spanning toy dolls, movies, TV shows, and games, is heading to the blockchain.
Animoca Brands will use the franchise, which was particularly popular in the early ‘00s, to create a blockchain-based game called Bratz Lookz to release in January, along with other Bratz mini-games on its GAMEE platform.
[The NFTs] come in five rarity levels, with the highest one—“Shimmerin’”—redeemable for a physical Bratz collectible doll. Additionally, NFT buyers will receive 200 Bratz Coins to use in the Bratz Lookz game. The sale will begin on December 22, with packs ranging in price from $4.99 to $24.99.”
The Disrupt 