5/1/22 Roundup

DeFi Weekly Roundup

May 1, 2022

Federal 

  • U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced the Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2022, a bill that would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission a greater role in overseeing companies issuing or letting people trade digital tokens. 
  • The Blockchain Association along with The Mortgage Bankers Association have disclosed that they are lobbying against The Russian Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Act of 2022, introduced by Senator Warren and designed to curtail the use of cryptocurrency as a way to evade sanctions.
  • Peter Thiel protege Blake Masters is using his Republican primary campaign for Arizona Senate to evangelize for cryptocurrency, vowing to fight regulatory efforts on digital currency.
  • ​​Labor Department officials believe Fidelity Investments’s plan to allow investors to put bitcoin in their 401(k) accounts risks the retirement security of Americans. 

State 

  • Below is a summary of the latest state legislative developments that have occurred this past week. Our master state legislative tracker can be found here. 
    • Missouri: H.B. 2571 –  Would add cryptocurrency to state laws concerning money laundering. Passed first reading and was scheduled for public hearing on 4/26.
    • Colorado: H.B. 22-1053 – Would implement the design, development, and deployment of an online program for agricultural producers to learn about the use and benefits of implementing new digital, data-driven systems to facilitate trade in agriculture. Passed the House on 4/24 and is now in the Senate. 
    • New York: A. 7389C – Would ban crypto proof of stake mining for two years. Passed the House on 4/25 and moved to the Senate.
    • Hawaii: H.B. 2108 – Establishes a program for the licensure, regulation, and oversight of digital currency companies. Passed both houses and is now in reconciliation to comply with amendments from both chambers as of 4/29.

International

  • Binance announced on Thursday that it has closed several accounts associated with relatives of Russian officials, following last week’s announcement that the exchange was limiting services in the country.
  • The European Banking Authority’s Joana Neto has said that new proposals outlined by the EU to monitor large transactions involving unhosted wallets are “very resource intensive” for exchanges and questioned what regulators would do with the collected data. 
  • The Central African Republic has adopted bitcoin as legal tender, the president’s office said Wednesday, becoming the second country in the world to do so behind El Salvador.

Industry 

  • Goldman Sachs Group Inc. offered its first ever lending facility backed by Bitcoin, in a significant step for a major U.S. bank that accelerates Wall Street’s embrace of cryptocurrencies.
  • Fidelity plans to begin allowing 401(k) savings to be allocated toward crypto currency later this year for millions of investors.