6/19/2022 Roundup

DeFi Weekly Roundup

June 19, 2022

Federal 

  • Five Republican senators, including Cynthia Lummis, have sent a letter to the SEC regarding its March bulletin, which established broad new requirements for crypto trading platforms.The lawmakers expressed concerns about lack of clarity and overreach of the SEC.
  • The FBI and LinkedIn are working together to fight fraud. Linkedin has increasingly been used to lure investors into cryptocurrency schemes according to the report.
  • Michelle Bond, the CEO of crypto trade organization the Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM) is running for U.S. Congress in New York.
  • The SEC has begun an investigation into whether crypto exchanges have sufficient protections against insider trading according to a source inside the SEC.
  • A bill intended to specify the rules and roles for crypto regulation could inadvertently “undermine” other market protections, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said Tuesday.

State 

  • Below is a summary of the latest legislative developments that have occurred this past week in state legislatures. Our master state legislative tracker can be found here. 
    • Arizona: HB 2204 – Would add virtual currency and NFT’s to tax deduction eligible assets. The bill passed the House  on 6/14.
  • Hawaii: S.B.2695 – Which establishes a cryptocurrency taskforce has been signed into law by the governor as of 6/17.
  • Michigan: S.B.0888 – Would create a cryptocurrency commission, passed committee on the week of 6/17.
  • Several U.S. states including Texas and Alabama are investigating Celsius Network’s decision to halt customer withdrawals.

International

  • Panama President Laurentizo Cortizo partially vetoed on Wednesday a bill regulating the use of crypto as a means of payment for any transaction.
  • A lobby group representing some of the largest financial services companies globally has warned the European Union that it needs to carefully consider the impact of issuing a digital euro. In a response to a European Commission consultation that closes Thursday, the Institute of International Finance  said there seemed to be an assumption that a CBDC is a good idea, even though the European Central Bank has yet to reach a decision. 

Industry

  • Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla Inc.were sued for $258 billion over claims they are part of a racketeering scheme to back the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.