State of Crypto

Catching Up on a Lot of Stuff

I poked my head out of the Sam Bankman-Fried trial just long enough for my entire panel of House lawmakers at CoinDesk’s policy event in Washington, D.C. to cancel, leading to a very impromptu session instead. Unfortunately that’s not enough time to really dig into any of the things that’s happened over the past month so here’s a brief list of things I missed instead.

Crypto Wants a De Minimis Tax Exemption in the U.S.

The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) published an open letter in July asking the crypto industry to weigh in on crypto tax issues, including loans, staking, mining, constructive sales and wash trading. These comments were due earlier this month.

Sam Bankman-Fried Is Now in Jail

It’s a bit of a truism in journalism that any headline that ends in a question that can be answered with “yes” or “no” will usually be answered with “no.” A few weeks ago, however, I asked “Is Sam Bankman-Fried Going to Jail?” and in a rejection of that truism, the answer was “yes.”

Campaign-Finance Charges Are Back on the Menu

I didn’t really have anything prepared to write about this week but the Department of Justice is on it. Prosecutors told the judge overseeing Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial that they intend to fold campaign finance allegations into a wire fraud charge, after announcing they would have to drop the campaign finance charge itself due to treaty obligations with the Bahamas.

Unpacking the Latest Lummis-Gillibrand Bill Draft

U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand have developed a second draft of their comprehensive crypto regulation bill. Chances are slim that it will, as a single bill, advance to becoming a law, but it may still drive a broader conversation within Congress on what sort of provisions smaller pieces of legislation should include.

Will 2023 Be the Year of the Bitcoin ETF?

Excitement over the hoped-for approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund is back again. This time, financial giant BlackRock’s entrance to the race for an ETF has spurred hope that the Securities and Exchange Commission will approve the long-awaited product, a decade after the crypto industry first sought to launch a bitcoin ETF.