Coindesk

The crypto industry can likely look forward to two more agencies falling into line on its digital assets policy aims: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is one of the chief U.S. banking regulators, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where the lights are effectively being shut off.The sector's dicey relationship with U.S. banking can be expected to be further mitigated with the arrival of a new stand-in chief at the OCC, Rodney Hood, the crypto-friendly former chairman of the U.S. credit-union watchdog. As with other key financial oversight positions, President Donald Trump has tapped somebody who embraces cryptocurrency technology.When running the credit-union agency in 2021, he'd said, "Cryptocurrency needs to be a part of the credit...

Eric Council Jr., the Alabama man charged with hacking the X account of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to falsely post the agency had approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds, is set to plead guilty in the case.A "Consent Order of Forfeiture," filed in D.C. federal court shows Council has agreed to plead guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Identity Theft and Access Device Fraud, and will forfeit $50,000 in proceeds from these offenses. Council, according to the prosecution, used a fake ID to trick a phone store employee into helping him and co-conspirators access a device with access to the SEC’s X account. Judge Amy Berman Jackson has set Council's sentencing for May 16. The case stems from the then highly...

Crypto regulations are a competitive business in Asia, with places such as Hong Kong and Singapore vying to become Asia’s crypto hub and capture all the business associated with that status.The challenge, though, lies in crafting a rulebook that balances investor protections with a welcomingness to businesses and new capital. And here, Hong Kong has an advantage over places like Japan or Korea, since its common-law framework for traditional finance has made its economy one of the most open and free in the world — a recent report from a Canadian think tank deemed Hong Kong the “freest economy” in the world, with Singapore just behind it in second place.With crypto, however, Hong Kong has moved relatively slowly, especially compared...

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance's bitcoin (BTC) reserves dropped by $355 million last month while customer balances grew by more than $4 billion, bringing the two figures more in line with each other, according to recently published exchange reserves data.At the turn of the year Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, held 622,192 BTC across third-party custody and exchanges balances. On Feb 1, that figure had shrunk to 618,563 BTC. Customer net balances, in contrast, grew from 575,296 BTC to 615,816 BTC, meaning the rate of collateralization fell to 100% from 108% .Balances of Tether's USDT stablecoin also fell, dropping about $25 million as customer balances rose $2.6 billion.The motive for the shift in reserves remains unclear, and Binance did...

President Trump has proposed the Federal government hold digital currencies, and some media and political people have pushed back with dire warnings of the impact on the U.S. dollar. But the reality of Trump’s proposal differs sharply from that painted by Trump’s hysteric critics. BTC is not a threat to the U.S. dollar and U.S. government holding of BTC or any other digital currencies is not an endorsement.The U.S. dollar still dominates the world, representing nearly 60% of all currency held by central banks, as of Dec. 2024, according to the IMF. Unlike fiat currencies, bitcoin and other digital currencies are not governed by any central bank. So, there is no way to ever have an adversarial relationship with the...