Crypto industry jumps into lobbying in response to FinCEN
The Blockchain Association's ranks swell as firms look to aid its work in keeping crypto transactions peer-to-peer. The crypto lobby is growing as more firms join the effort to fight rules that attack financial privacy. The Blockchain Association today announced the addition of five new members, with membership now totaling 30 firms. The new members are Uniswap, Blockfi, Fireblocks, CMT Digital and Blockchain Capital. In its tweet announcing the news, the Blockchain Association attributed the rise in membership to its work in presenting an industry response to rules from the United States....
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FinCEN has released two new Virtual Currency Guidance notes today. FIN-2014-R011 and FIN-2014-R2012 both detail FinCEN's response to requests "for Administrative Ruling on the Application of FinCEN's Regulations to Virtual Currency" Trading Platforms and Payment Systems. FinCEN has clarified that both would require a money transmitter license under their federal rules. FinCEN's clarifications, presented by Jamal El-Hindi, the Associate Director of FinCEN's Policy Division, may be the precursor to a new wave of Bitcoin company crackdowns. Recently, the SEC revealed that there were ongoing....
Much like other activity in the digital asset space, crypto lobbying has been picking up during the past year. Interaction between the cryptocurrency industry and Capitol Hill is becoming ever more intensive as efforts to regulate crypto grow in tandem with its popularity. The surge in crypto industry lobbying last year was given some concrete parameters in February by crypto analytics startup Crypto Head. It released a report showing that the crypto companies that spent the most money on lobbying in 2021 were Robinhood, Ripple Labs, Coinbase and the Blockchain Association. These....
As financial service firms expand their use of the bitcoin block chain for trading and business activity, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) isn't missing a beat. FinCEN, an enforcement arm of the U. S. Department of Treasury, has ruled that companies using the bitcoin block chain to transfer precious metals are considered money transmitters and therefore subject to anti-money laundering restrictions. The ruling came in response to a letter from an unnamed company seeking clarification on this point. FinCEN posted the ruling on its website to serve as guidance to financial....
Ripple Labs spent the most on crypto lobbying in the U.S. over the past five years, with expenses totaling $2 million. Cryptocurrency advocates in the United States have been increasingly putting efforts to support the industry, with crypto lobbying spending growing significantly in recent years.Crypto-related lobbying expenditure in the U.S. totaled at $4.9 million in 2021, more than doubling from $2.3 million in the previous year, according to a new study by the crypto analytics startup Cryptohead.io. The study is based on lobbying tracking data obtained from research and government....
Cryptocurrency and blockchain firms are concerned about the future legislation revolving around the cryptocurrency industry and money spent on lobbying cemented this fact. A recently published study indicates that money spent on crypto lobbying jumped 116% in 12 months with $9.56 million leveraged to seek to influence from politicians and public officials.
Millions of Dollars Were Spent on Crypto Lobbying and Interest Representation in 2021
While the digital currency and blockchain industry has matured a great deal, a number of crypto advocates are concerned about regulation and....