United States
Northwest Arkansas offering $10K in Bitcoin to attract remote workers
The Northwest Arkansas Council, consisting of business leaders aimed at promoting development in the region, has announced a crypto incentive program to bring in tech professionals and entrepreneurs willing to work remotely. In a Wednesday announcement, council president and CEO Nelson Peacock said the area would be looking to expand its range of talent in the tech industry by offering $10,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) — roughly 0.23 BTC at the current price of $43,610 — in addition to a bicycle or membership to arts and cultural facilities. The “Bitcoin and a Bike” program, the next stage of the area’s Life Works Here initiative, is specifically aimed at embracing professionals in blockchain-related fields. The program will offer the crypto incentive to qualifying individuals willing to live for a...
What should the crypto industry expect from regulators in 2022? Experts answer, Part 2
Michelle is the CEO of the Association for Digital Asset Markets, which works in partnership with financial firms and regulatory experts to devise a code of conduct for digital asset markets. “2021 was the year Washington woke up to the digital assets industry. The year started with the rushed FinCEN “Unhosted Wallets” proposal, which the industry was able to voice its concerns and delay. At the same time, pro-digital asset Senator Cynthia Lummis joined the Senate. As the Biden Administration got up to speed on digital assets, it seemed like all of Washington was studying the industry in some shape or form. Then came the Infrastructure Bill, which contained a rushed provision defining a broker for tax reporting purposes. This flawed language unleashed digital ...
ConstitutionDAO, a ‘crypto red alert’ and other cases of crypto-powered social action in 2021
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. The group was formed in November with the sole objective of purchasing an original copy of the United States Constitution, whi...
What should the crypto industry expect from regulators in 2022? Experts answer, Part 1
Hatu is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of DAO Maker, which creates growth technologies and funding frameworks for startups while simultaneously reducing risks for investors. “2021 has been a stop-start year for crypto and DeFi, as regulatory bodies have not clarified their stance on the industry. This has held back the retail population from getting involved, and this is a huge opportunity cost for the industry. However, with El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal tender and more countries embracing crypto, the future looks brighter. In 2021, yes, there have been multiple deliberations at various levels regarding crypto and its regulatory status. Governments and regulatory authorities across the globe have expressed reservations against the mainstreaming of crypto. Howe...
President Biden sends CFTC nominations to Senate
The White House has officially submitted President Joe Biden’s nominations to fill two seats at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with the upcoming departure of another commissioner. In a Friday announcement, the White House said it had sent Citi managing director Caroline Pham’s and Summer Mersinger’s names to the Senate for confirmation. Mersinger previously served as chief of staff to commissioner Dawn Stump — who is expected to leave the agency this year — as well as the director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. She and Pham will be taking the places of recently departed commissioner Dan Berkovitz, whose term expires in April 2023, and that of Stump, with a term ending in April 2027, respectively. The CFTC nominations came the same week the White House...
NYC mayor getting paid in Bitcoin suggests buying the dip
Newly sworn-in New York City Mayor Eric Adams is already using his influence to publicly speak about buying the recent Bitcoin dip. In a Thursday interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Adams said he had not yet received his first paycheck as the mayor of New York City, but reiterated his aim to make the city a Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto hub. When co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin pointed out that the price of the crypto asset has “come down” — dipping as low as $43,000 earlier today — the NYC mayor seemed to be undeterred. “Sometimes the best time to buy is when things go down, so when they go back up, you made a good profit,” said Adams. “We need to use the technology of blockchain, Bitcoin, of all other forms of technology. I want New York City to be the center of that technology.” “Some...
Bitcoin is new gold for millennials, Wharton finance professor says
Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s most-valued cryptocurrency, has replaced gold as an inflation hedge for young investors, according to Wharton’s finance professor. Gold’s performance was “disappointing” in 2021, Wharton School finance professor Jeremy Siegel said in a CNBC Squawk Box interview on Friday. On the other hand, BTC has been increasingly emerging as an inflation hedge among younger investors, Siegel argued: “Let’s face the fact, I think Bitcoin as an inflation hedge in the minds of many of the younger investors has replaced gold. Digital coins are the new gold for the Millennials. I think that the story of gold is a fact that the young generation is regarding Bitcoin as the substitute.” Siegel also reminded that older generations witnessed how gold had soared during the inflation...
SEC chair has a new senior adviser for crypto
United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler has added a new staff member who will offer advice related to crypto policymaking and interagency work. In a Thursday announcement, the SEC said Corey Frayer would be joining Gensler’s executive staff as a senior adviser on the agency’s oversight of cryptocurrencies. Frayer has worked as a professional staff member of the Senate Banking Committee as well as a senior policy adviser for the House Financial Services Committee with Representatives Maxine Waters and Brad Miller. Frayer’s appointment to the SEC chair’s executive staff came alongside those of Philipp Havenstein, Jennifer Songer and Jorge Tenreiro, who will be working as operations counsel, investment management counsel and enforcement counsel, respect...
New ProShares Metaverse ETF to track Apple, Meta, Nvidia
ProShares, the first company in the United States to launch a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), is diving into metaverse as it now plans to launch a new metaverse-focused ETF. ProShares on Tuesday filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an ETF focused on metaverse, called the ProShares Metaverse Theme ETF. Subject to approval by the SEC, the proposed ETF will track the performance of the Solactive Metaverse Theme Index (SOMETAV), consisting of firms providing or using metaverse-related technologies, including data processing and metaverse devices, the ETF prospectus reads. The index includes U.S. companies that are listed on the New York Stock Exchange or The Nasdaq Stock Market and meets certain market capitalization and liquidity requirements, ProShares s...
Law Decoded: Three regulatory trends of 2021, Dec. 20–27
It is that time of the year: Singular events must be abandoned in favor of end-of-year, big-picture narratives and yearly lessons learned. As many governments across the globe finally had to face the rapidly mainstreaming realm of digital finance, the year is packed with developments in crypto policy and regulation that are impossible to fit into a neat little summary. However, it is possible to try and distill several major trends that have come to the fore during the past 12 months, and that will keep shaping the relationship among societies, state power and the crypto space as we roll into 2022. Below is the concise version of the latest “Law Decoded” newsletter. For the full breakdown of policy developments over the last week, register for the full newsletter below. U.S. Congress notic...
Spreading holiday joy through charitable giving with cryptocurrency
The holidays are the perfect time of the year for giving back, and the rise of cryptocurrencies has created even more opportunities for charitable initiatives. This was highlighted during Giving Tuesday 2021, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving which saw over $2.4 million raised in cryptocurrency from the nonprofit fundraising platform The Giving Block. As crypto philanthropy becomes a new subsector of the cryptocurrency economy, some in the industry believe that crypto donations will only continue to increase. Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block, told Cointelegraph that last year the organization raised about $4 million in crypto donations, noting that this year, over $100 million in crypto donations will likely be received. According to Wilson, this growth is partly due to the fact th...
US lawmaker planning to introduce comprehensive crypto bill in 2022: report
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the United States lawmakers behind many pro-crypto pieces of legislation, is planning to introduce a comprehensive bill next year to handle digital assets. In a Thursday report, Bloomberg said Lummis’ proposed bill aimed to provide regulatory clarity on stablecoins, guide regulators as to which cryptos belong to different asset classes and offer consumer protections. In addition, the U.S. senator reportedly proposed creating an organization under the joint jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to oversee the crypto market. On Twitter, Lummis called for U.S. voters to reach out to their respective senators to support the bill, saying she was looking for bipartisan cosponsors. The Wyomi...
