Coindesk

A senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice knew the crypto audience in Wyoming had fresh software developer convictions on its mind when he told them on Thursday that his department doesn't want to go after digital assets software developers who don't have money-laundering intentions.Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general in the DOJ's criminal division, made those assurances at an event hosted by the new crypto group American Innovation Project, drawing vigorous applause."The department will not use federal criminal statutes to fashion a new regulatory regime over the digital asset industry," he said. "The department will not use indictments as a lawmaking tool. The department should not leave innovators guessing as to what could lead to criminal prosecution."He added...

State Street, a Boston-based custody bank with $49 trillion in assets under its watch, is pushing deeper into digital assets by joining JPMorgan’s blockchain-based tokenized asset platform Digital Debt Service as the first third-party custodian.The first transaction State Street anchored was a $100 million tokenized commercial paper issuance by the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), a Singapore-based banking group, according to a Thursday press release.State Street Investment Management, the bank's asset management arm, purchased the debt. J.P. Morgan Securities acted as placement agent.The move comes as traditional finance heavyweights and global banks are getting increasingly involved in tokenization of financial instruments, or real-world assets (RWA), placing bonds, funds and credit on blockchain rails. The process promises operational benefits such as increased...

Gemini, the crypto exchange backed by the billionaire Winklevoss twins, has secured a Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), strengthening its bid to expand across the European Union under the bloc’s new regulatory framework, the company said in a blog post Thursday.The approval marks a significant step in Gemini’s EU strategy, enabling the firm to roll out its trading products and services to customers in more than 30 European jurisdictions, the company noted.Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which came into effect this year, is the EU’s first region-wide crypto rulebook, designed to harmonize digital asset oversight across member states and provide legal clarity for firms operating in the sector.Gemini has been steadily...

Anchorage Digital has moved out from under its U.S. banking regulator's order that it institute a compliance program to protect against money-laundering abuses, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announcing the removal of the cease-and-desist order originally issued in 2022."The OCC believes that the safety and soundness of the bank and its compliance with laws and regulations does not require the continued existence of the order," it said in the termination announced on Thursday.Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley, who has emerged as a high-profile representative of crypto interests in Washington, framed the enforcement action as regulatory "feedback" in celebrating its removal. "We received — and have now resolved — feedback from regulators as we set the...

Markets are quickly recalibrating previously lofty odds of an imminent rate cut as the jets touch down in Jackson Hole for the Kansas City Fed's Economic Symposium.The current data does not make the case for a September ease, said Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, speaking with Yahoo News in Wyoming."We have inflation that’s too high and has been trending upwards over the past year," she said. "If the meeting was tomorrow, I would not see a case for reducing interest rates."She further argued that inflation numbers are only beginning to show the impact of tariffs and that the full effect wouldn't be seen until next year.Hammack's comments are notable, showing Fed Chair Jerome Powell continues to have plenty of support...