Tag: Cryptocurrencies

Binance’s $4.3 Billion Payment in US Plea Deal Approved by Judge

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By Sabrina Willmer and Anna Edgerton. (Bloomberg). February 23, 2024.

Binance Holdings Ltd. will pay $4.3 billion after a judge approved a plea deal that levies one of the largest criminal penalties in US history against the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange.

“This really is a case where the ethics of the company were compromised by greed,” US District Judge Richard Jones said at a sentencing hearing in Seattle on Friday.

Late last year, Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to anti-money
laundering and sanctions charges to resolve a long-running investigation by prosecutors
and regulators. Binance admitted that it allowed transactions with Hamas and other
terrorist groups on the exchange.

As part of the deal, the company’s compliance must be monitored by an independent firm
for as long as five years. The monitor hasn’t yet been apppointed. Bloomberg reported
earlier that New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell was poised to take the coveted
role.

Read more here: Bloomberg

Biden to Sign Crypto Order as Firms Face Sanctions Pressure

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By Allyson Versprille and Jennifer Epstein. March 7, 2022. (Bloomberg)

President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order this week that will outline the U.S. government’s strategy for cryptocurrencies, according to people familiar with the administration’s plans.

The order will direct federal agencies to examine potential regulatory changes, as well as the national security and economic impact of digital assets, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing the deliberations. The White House’s approach to crypto has attracted fresh attention in recent weeks after the U.S. and its allies levied sanctions on Russia, prompting concerns that organizations and individuals could use crypto to evade the restrictions.

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Ripple’s Historic Showdown on SEC Cryptocurrency Overreach Heats Up

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By J. Carl Cecere. March 2, 2022. (Bloomberg Law)

This may be the year that the SEC’s enforcement authority over cryptocurrencies is settled in court, and the legal battle between the SEC and Ripple Labs is underway in the Southern District of New York, says attorney J. Carl Cecere. The SEC’s action is misguided, but the suit will test whether the commission has authority to regulate crypto as securities, which could determine the technology’s continued growth in the U.S.

Cryptocurrencies had a breakout year in 2021, which saw total cryptocurrency market cap rise above $3 trillion for the first time. And while crypto values declined since then, little suggests this is anything more than one of the temporary hiccups that have been happening since 2011 during cryptocurrency’s remarkable decade-long rise.

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Crypto lobby groups say they’re fighting ‘unworkable’ crypto reporting language in infrastructure bill

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By Michael McSweeney. July 29, 2021. (The Block Crypto).

Crypto-related language said to be contained in a still-in-flux bipartisan infrastructure spending bill has spurred activity lobby groups in Washington, D.C. 

On Thursday, the Blockchain Association derided the proposed spending package as one that “threatens crypto innovation.” As previously reported, one of the bills “pay-fors” is tightened tax reporting requirements for crypto companies, which are estimated to raise some $28 billion to be used to fund infrastructure projects over a period of years.

But the controversy centers around which types of crypto companies would be considered “brokers” under the proposed changes, based on drafted language obtained this week by CoinDesk’s Nik De. The prevailing concern is that miners, decentralized finance startups and others not involved in the actual brokerage of digital assets will be hit with overly heightened compliance burdens. According to a fact sheet reviewed by The Block, the language “[updates] the definition of broker to reflect the realities of how digital assets are acquired and traded.”

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Elizabeth Warren Wants The SEC To Kill Crypto. Gary Gensler Had Better Not Agree.

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By Jared Whitley. July 23, 2021. (Seeking Alpha)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has made herself clear that she sees cryptocurrencies as “bogus private digital money” and a kind of social pestilence that needs to be annihilated through regulation. In short, she has no idea what blockchain technology is, what it does, how it works or why people use it – but it has to be stopped and she’s going to stop it.

Like many geriatric progressives approaching their sell-by date in Congress, Warren is so out of step that young progressives in her own party shake their heads at how wrong she is on this one.

But Warren is not some harmless grandmother yelling from her porch – she’s the chair of a Senate Banking subcommittee, and she can do real damage. In a recent letter to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, Warren not so subtly demanded that the agency start grabbing more regulatory power in order to smash U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges. Legal and industry experts believe that Warren colluded with anti-crypto zealots inside the SEC to write that letter as a Beltway power play, hoping to lock in the SEC as “the Terminator” before other agencies, like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), dare to legitimize the utility and benefits of this new technology. Taking a step back, it was an act of desperation by a faction of Washington dinosaurs that are poised to be on the losing side of history, and Gensler’s agency is in turmoil.

Read the Full Article Here.