Latest news with #FIT21
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why UK can leapfrog EU and US on crypto, according to Coinbase exec
More than two years after then-chancellor, and later UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak pledged to make the UK a "global crypto hub," the digital asset landscape has evolved rapidly. In an industry where two years can feel like a decade, has the UK managed to keep pace with global developments, or is it slipping behind? On the latest episode of Yahoo Finance Future Focus, Coinbase (COIN) UK's senior country director Keith Grose weighed in on the UK's crypto trajectory, and what the shift to a new Labour government could mean for the sector's future. 'Two years might be a long time in crypto,' Grose said, 'but that's not a long time in regulation world.' Despite the crypto industry's blistering pace, Grose said the UK is making meaningful progress. Just last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released long-awaited draft rules on stablecoins, cryptoasset custody, and exchange operations, steps Grose sees as significant milestones toward making the UK crypto-friendly. 'The whole crypto regime is being put into force this year,' he explained. 'The FCA is really moving quickly to make this a friendly place for crypto. They're very growth-focused.' Read more: Crypto live prices This comes at a time when other major markets, particularly the US, are dramatically stepping up their crypto efforts. The US Congress is debating multiple bipartisan bills, including the Stablecoin Act and the FIT21 crypto framework, while president Donald Trump has floated the idea of a national digital asset reserve. Still, Grose believes the UK has a unique advantage. With the EU's MiCA regulation taking effect and the US experimenting with various policy directions, Britain has a "third-mover advantage." 'We get to look at what's happening in Europe and the US,' he said. 'If the FCA is smart about how they're regulating, we can leapfrog some of the challenges others are facing.' One of the most exciting developments, Grose said, is the UK's move to regulate stablecoins, which are increasingly seen as a foundational piece of future payment infrastructure. 'We haven't seen a pound-backed stablecoin at scale yet in the UK, but it's coming,' Grose said. 'And when it does, it's going to be very exciting.' According to Grose, both the FCA and the Bank of England are working on a regulatory framework to support stablecoins as legitimate payment rails, signalling a broader shift toward crypto being embedded into the mainstream financial system. This could also be a strategic response to developments across the Atlantic, where US states are beginning to adopt strategic reserves of bitcoin, and where the idea of a federal crypto strategy is now on the table. 'You have Trump releasing executive orders, Congress working on regulation, and both the SEC and CFTC taking action. That's the full force of government,' Grose said. 'I'd love to see something like that here in the UK.' With the Labour government now in power, there's hope that regulatory momentum will continue, or even accelerate. While Labour hasn't yet laid out a comprehensive crypto strategy, Grose is optimistic that the UK's institutional machinery is aligned for progress. The key, he suggested, will be ensuring that crypto is not siloed within just one regulatory body, but instead becomes a whole-of-government priority, as is increasingly the case in the US. 'I think there's a lot happening behind the scenes, at the policy level, industry level, to make Rishi's original vision a reality. We're not there yet, but we're well on the way.' Read more: 6 crypto developments in 2025 that will keep fuelling bitcoin's rally Grose revealed that Coinbase has ramped up its operations, receiving its VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) registration, a license that makes Coinbase the largest authorised crypto firm in the UK. 'We've brought all of our UK users back in-house,' Grose said. 'We're now servicing them directly from our UK entity and can run our own financial promotions.' And that means more visibility for Coinbase in the UK market. While Grose didn't give away all the details, he hinted that something big is coming in early July, and that Londoners should keep an eye out for Coinbase's next move. 'You'll see the Coinbase brand more,' he said. 'And you'll see a lot of new products coming out of the UK.' Read more: Why pension funds are buying bitcoin What we know about Elon Musk's controversial blockchain vision for US How AI could change the internetError while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why UK can leapfrog EU and US on crypto, according to Coinbase exec
More than two years after then-chancellor, and later UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak pledged to make the UK a "global crypto hub," the digital asset landscape has evolved rapidly. In an industry where two years can feel like a decade, has the UK managed to keep pace with global developments, or is it slipping behind? On the latest episode of Yahoo Finance Future Focus, Coinbase (COIN) UK's senior country director Keith Grose weighed in on the UK's crypto trajectory, and what the shift to a new Labour government could mean for the sector's future. 'Two years might be a long time in crypto,' Grose said, 'but that's not a long time in regulation world.' Despite the crypto industry's blistering pace, Grose said the UK is making meaningful progress. Just last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released long-awaited draft rules on stablecoins, cryptoasset custody, and exchange operations, steps Grose sees as significant milestones toward making the UK crypto-friendly. 'The whole crypto regime is being put into force this year,' he explained. 'The FCA is really moving quickly to make this a friendly place for crypto. They're very growth-focused.' Read more: Crypto live prices This comes at a time when other major markets, particularly the US, are dramatically stepping up their crypto efforts. The US Congress is debating multiple bipartisan bills, including the Stablecoin Act and the FIT21 crypto framework, while president Donald Trump has floated the idea of a national digital asset reserve. Still, Grose believes the UK has a unique advantage. With the EU's MiCA regulation taking effect and the US experimenting with various policy directions, Britain has a "third-mover advantage." 'We get to look at what's happening in Europe and the US,' he said. 'If the FCA is smart about how they're regulating, we can leapfrog some of the challenges others are facing.' One of the most exciting developments, Grose said, is the UK's move to regulate stablecoins, which are increasingly seen as a foundational piece of future payment infrastructure. 'We haven't seen a pound-backed stablecoin at scale yet in the UK, but it's coming,' Grose said. 'And when it does, it's going to be very exciting.' According to Grose, both the FCA and the Bank of England are working on a regulatory framework to support stablecoins as legitimate payment rails, signalling a broader shift toward crypto being embedded into the mainstream financial system. This could also be a strategic response to developments across the Atlantic, where US states are beginning to adopt strategic reserves of bitcoin, and where the idea of a federal crypto strategy is now on the table. 'You have Trump releasing executive orders, Congress working on regulation, and both the SEC and CFTC taking action. That's the full force of government,' Grose said. 'I'd love to see something like that here in the UK.' With the Labour government now in power, there's hope that regulatory momentum will continue, or even accelerate. While Labour hasn't yet laid out a comprehensive crypto strategy, Grose is optimistic that the UK's institutional machinery is aligned for progress. The key, he suggested, will be ensuring that crypto is not siloed within just one regulatory body, but instead becomes a whole-of-government priority, as is increasingly the case in the US. 'I think there's a lot happening behind the scenes, at the policy level, industry level, to make Rishi's original vision a reality. We're not there yet, but we're well on the way.' Read more: 6 crypto developments in 2025 that will keep fuelling bitcoin's rally Grose revealed that Coinbase has ramped up its operations, receiving its VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) registration, a license that makes Coinbase the largest authorised crypto firm in the UK. 'We've brought all of our UK users back in-house,' Grose said. 'We're now servicing them directly from our UK entity and can run our own financial promotions.' And that means more visibility for Coinbase in the UK market. While Grose didn't give away all the details, he hinted that something big is coming in early July, and that Londoners should keep an eye out for Coinbase's next move. 'You'll see the Coinbase brand more,' he said. 'And you'll see a lot of new products coming out of the UK.' Read more: Why pension funds are buying bitcoin What we know about Elon Musk's controversial blockchain vision for US How AI could change the internet
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Digital Assets Are One Step Closer to Regulatory Clarity
The United States is on the brink of a new technological frontier – one powered by blockchain and digital assets. These assets are not just the next phase of the internet, but lay the foundation for a more secure, decentralized, and inclusive financial future. From reimagining global payments to protecting data privacy, the potential of blockchain-based systems is endless. Despite the promise of this technology, the United States remains without a clear, comprehensive federal regulatory framework for digital assets. This absence has created uncertainty for innovators, consumers and investors alike. Entrepreneurs operating in the digital asset operating in the digital asset space face ambiguous rules and unclear jurisdictional boundaries between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Investors lack the transparency and protection they deserve. Under the Biden Administration, the SEC chose to regulate through enforcement, rather than through clear guidance or collaboration. The agency's approach has led to lawsuits, confusion, and the offshoring of promising American companies seeking regulatory certainty abroad. For years, Congress has worked under both Republican and Democratic leadership to close this gap and create a tailored, modern regulatory framework. That work reached a milestone in May 2024 when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act with bipartisan support as 71 Democrats voted in favor of the bill. FIT21 laid the groundwork for how digital assets should be treated under U.S. law, clarified the roles of the CFTC and SEC, and provided pathways for registration, disclosure, and compliance. This Congress, we are building on that momentum and continue to push for smart, tailored policy that fosters innovation while protecting consumers. In April, the House Financial Services Committee passed the bipartisan STABLE Act, which would establish a clear and comprehensive set of rules for the issuance and regulation of payment stablecoins that have the potential to modernize the way we transact by making payments faster, cheaper, and more inclusive. Yesterday, we took another major step forward. The Financial Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee passed the CLARITY Act, a landmark bipartisan bill that was carefully crafted between our committees. The CLARITY Act establishes a functional framework for the classification of digital assets, provides builders and firms with clear regulatory obligations, and ensures robust consumer protections against fraud and bad actors. The STABLE and CLARITY Acts form the most comprehensive digital asset regulatory framework Congress has ever advanced. Collectively, these bills will ensure that the United States sets the global standard for the future of digital assets. We are committed to working with our colleagues in both chambers to enact comprehensive digital asset legislation into law. The rest of the world is not waiting to lead in blockchain innovation. If we fail to act, we risk ceding leadership in one of the most transformative technologies in modern history. Congress has the opportunity and responsibility to establish a regulatory framework that unlocks the next era of American innovation. It is time for the United States to lead in the new digital frontier.
Coin Geek
30-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
US bill elevates CFTC, but no one works there anymore
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... America's plan for a digital asset market structure regulatory framework envisions a major role for a regulator that's having serious trouble staffing its upper echelons. On Wednesday, United States Vice-President J.D. Vance gave the keynote address on day two of the BTC 2025 conference in Las Vegas. Vance addressed a number of subjects, including his belief that Congress needs to pass digital asset market structure legislation and get a finished bill on President Trump's desk for signing into law ASAP. The following day, the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee (FSC) issued their new digital asset market structure bill, which they've christened the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. (Section-by-section summary here.) The bill is an updated version of the FIT21 bill that the House passed last year but wasn't addressed by the Senate before Congress adjourned for the 2024 federal election. In announcing the bill, FSC chair French Hill (R-AR) offered the necessary homilies to consumer protection, regulatory clarity, and 'American innovation.' CLARITY is billed as having bipartisan support, citing Democrat co-sponsors Warren Davidson (R-OH), Angie Craig (D-MN), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), and Don Davis (D-NC). CoinGeek's intrepid James Field will be along any moment now with a deeper dive into CLARITY's nuts and bolts, but as with FIT21, CLARITY establishes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the primary regulator of digital assets that aren't considered securities. So, basically all digital assets, given the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) doesn't believe any digital assets are securities. To underscore that systematic disengagement, the SEC announced on May 29 that it wasn't interested in regulating 'protocol staking activities,' because someone somewhere will presumably ensure these activities are conducted fairly. (The sole remaining Democrat commissioner at the SEC believes the regulator is doing 'more harm than good by purporting to carve out broad categories of crypto products without analyzing the realities of how they really work.') CLARITY does envision the SEC having anti-fraud authority over stablecoins that are allowed to operate under the new rules proposed by bills in the Senate (GENIUS) and House (STABLE). The SEC will also take point on digital asset activity by 'SEC-registered broker-dealers and national securities exchanges where such registrants are exempt from registration with the CFTC.' However, the SEC is not allowed to touch 'certain decentralized finance activities related to the operation and maintenance of blockchain networks.' These activities include 'validating or providing incidental services with respect to a digital asset, providing user-interfaces for a blockchain network, publishing and updating software, or developing wallets for blockchain networks.' That will likely come as a relief to the SEC, as it will spare staff from having to craft a separate press release denying any responsibility for overseeing DeFi activities. If you want to get ahead of next week's disavowal, a lobby group just asked the SEC to ignore decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), so 5…4…3…2…1… CFTC exodus leaves no one manning the gates Looking to the CFTC to shoulder the regulatory burden is complicated by the fact that nobody seems to want to serve as a CFTC commissioner anymore. Incoming Chairman Brian Quintenz has yet to be confirmed by the Senate, but when he finally takes his seat in the corner office, he'll find himself staring at a lot of empty chairs where commissioners usually sit. This will be the last week on the job for commissioners Summer Mersinger and Christy Goldsmith Romero, while Caroline Pham has announced her plan to depart once Quintenz is confirmed. Kristin Johnson is also headed for the exits, although she promised to stay until 'later this year,' likely just long enough for her replacement to be nominated and confirmed. With former Chair Rostin Behnam having resigned on January 20, Quintenz will have the CFTC all to himself, at least, until Trump gets around to nominating new commissioners. It's a good thing that CLARITY gives the CFTC/SEC a 360-day window following passage in which to figure out who's looking after what. (In the interim? Crypto Thunderdome, apparently.) Despite having pulled her own ripcord, Romero appeared a little uneasy over the mass exodus at a Brookings Institution event this week. 'What happens if the CFTC gets down to one and gets new authority for crypto? It's going to be really, really hard, right? You're not going to have the same push and pull … I worry about that at the CFTC, and I worry about that at other agencies as well.' As befitting America's public-private revolving door, Mersinger is leaving to become CEO of the Blockchain Association industry lobbying group. Pham is also returning to the private sector, although she said didn't 'have any specific plans' to announce. Back to the top ↑ Will Trump's crypto ventures thwart legislative progress? Vance's Vegas speech expressed optimism that the Senate could 'move quickly on passing a clean GENIUS Act and for the House to follow-up and do the same.' The 'clean' reference reflects the hope that when the Senate brings GENIUS to the floor for debate (likely next week), it will largely ignore the 53 proposed amendments to its text. As for Vance's urging of Congress to act with similar haste to bring a finished market structure bill to Trump's desk, concerns are mounting that the president's seemingly endless list of self-interested crypto ventures could discourage support for legislatively blessing these money-making moves after the fact. While the crypto sector and pro-crypto pols previously suggested that both stablecoin and market structure legislation could be on Trump's desk by Labor Day, the rising outrage over Trump's increasingly brazen crypto cash grabs could complicate that timeline. One unnamed 'crypto executive' told Politico this week that these concerns could mean market structure legislation 'won't move forward until after the midterm elections next year.' Speaking of, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) announced Wednesday that he'd launched a probe into Trump's recent dinner at his Virginia golf club for the top 220 holders of his $TRUMP memecoin. The Washington Post reported that Raskin's probe is focused on who paid big bucks to breathe the same air as Trump, even though reports suggest that nobody in attendance got much in the way of Trump facetime. Raskin believes that publicly releasing the list of Trump's deep-pocketed dinner guests will 'let the American people know who is putting tens of millions of dollars into our President's pocket so we can start to figure out what—beyond virtually worthless memecoins—they are getting in exchange for all this money.' As with similar Democrat-led probes by the likes of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dems lack the votes to progress these probes beyond the press release stage. Until their Republican colleagues relocate their lost capacity for outrage, these efforts are purely performative. Back to the top ↑ Tokenized retirement? Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to expunge any and all Biden-era rules and regs that might impede 'number go up.' On May 28, the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration formally rescinded Biden-era guidance that has deterred employers from including digital assets in their employees' 401(k) retirement plans. The guidance in question was issued in March 2022 and urged 401(k) plan sponsors to exercise 'extreme care' before including digital assets alongside more traditional financial investment options. The new guidance neither endorses nor disapproves of tokens in 401(k) plans, just reaffirms the department's 'neutral stance.' Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the Biden administration 'made a choice to put their thumb on the scale,' but the new sheriffs in town are 'rolling back this overreach and making it clear that investment decisions should be made by fiduciaries, not D.C. bureaucrats.' There was nearly $9 trillion dollars held in 401(k) accounts at the end of 2024, with over one-third of Americans contributing to the plans. The ongoing upheaval in the stock market due to Trump's on-again/off-again tariffs has many contributors looking at alternative investment options, although prominent tokens like BTC haven't been spared this volatility. For what it's worth, the fact that BTC has fallen 5% this week—during the year's biggest pro-BTC event, and despite announcements by multiple new entrants launching BTC 'treasury' strategies that will see them spending billions of dollars acquiring tokens—should give any 401(k) manager pause regarding the wisdom of injecting additional volatility into workers' retirement schemes. Back to the top ↑ Saylor told Trumps to mortgage Mar-a-Lago and buy BTC Among the entities announcing new BTC treasury strategies this week was Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the Truth Social platform. TMTG is raising $2.5 billion to buy BTC, swiftly elevating itself to the upper tier of companies that have gone down this road. Day 2 of the BTC Vegas shindig saw the president's sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump take the stage to discuss TMTG's BTC buying plans, including the revelation that they were both egged on and inspired by Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) (NASDAQ: MSTR). Strategy bought another 4,020 BTC on Monday, boosting its treasury to 580,250 tokens, and almost immediately announced plans to raise even more debt to buy even more BTC. Strategy's strategy has been mimicked by a growing number of firms, including former meme-stock GameStop (NASDAQ: GME), which announced Wednesday that it had spent $512 million buying 4,710 BTC as the first step in launching its own BTC treasury. Eric Trump told the Vegas audience that Saylor had long been urging the Trump family to 'do what I'm doing,' going as far as to suggest they mortgage Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. (To be fair, Saylor has been telling everyone to mortgage their homes to buy BTC since 2021.) Trump opted instead to use TMTG to make his BTC bet, but so far, the market's reaction has been anything but positive. TMTG's DJT stock briefly spiked in the wake of its BTC announcement but has since fallen below $21, a low it hasn't touched since early April. This is by no means an isolated incident. GameStop's shares surged to nearly $37 in the wake of its BTC announcement but closed Thursday below $30. Like Strategy and its clones MetaPlanet, Twenty-One Capital, and others, there's little in the way of fundamentals behind these companies, rendering them slaves to BTC's random surges and plunges. In TMTG's case, the company's high profile belies a nonexistent business model, with revenue in the first three months of 2025 failing to surpass $1 million. The company's share price values the company at a multiple of 1,800x its annual revenue, meaning if it wasn't attached to the President of the United States, it would have been taken out behind the barn and put out of its misery ages ago. But that was yesterday, and Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. Back to the top ↑ Watch: Teranode is the digital backbone of Bitcoin title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. House Republicans Officially Introduce Crypto Market Structure Bill
Leading Republicans in the House of Representatives have formally introduced their latest version of the bill to establish a regulatory structure for digital assets markets, something the industry has clamored for for years. The successor to the previous session's Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), the new bill called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is being pushed by top Republicans in the House Financial Services and the House Agriculture committees. Stablecoin legislation is still the frontrunner to be the first major piece of U.S. crypto law, but Thursday's introduction pushes the ball forward on the more important and complex of the two companion efforts. "America should be the global leader in the digital assets marketplace, but we can't do that without establishing a clear regulatory framework," said Representative Dusty Johnson, the South Dakota Republican who leads the agriculture subcommittee focused on digital assets, in a statement on the bill's introduction. The hefty 236-page Clarity Act — likely a starting point for lengthy negotiations between the parties in the House and eventually their Senate counterparts — gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission "exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over digital commodity cash or spot markets that occur on or with new CFTC registered entities," which represents the bulk of crypto activity according to the current thinking of U.S. regulators. The legislation would set up a regime in which crypto platforms would have options for registration with the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, depending on whether they're trading in digital assets commodities such as bitcoin BTC, securities or both. Those seeking registration with the CFTC as a digital commodity exchange, broker or dealer could get provisional registrations while the agency is working on rules. The bill also requires crypto platforms to be regulated as financial firms under the Bank Secrecy Act; exempts certain decentralized finance (DeFi) operations and wallet providers from SEC oversight; bans future efforts of regulators to force custody firms to hold their customers' assets on their own balance sheets as the SEC staff sought to do under a now-scrapped accounting stance; and puts some transactional authorities over payment stablecoins — which are clearly stated to not be securities — in the hands of whichever regulator already oversees the firm involved in the activity. The Clarity Act additionally delved into so-called "qualified digital asset custodians" — previously a controversial point when the SEC sought to allow only a narrow array of regulated custodians to handle the assets of investment advisers' clients. The new bill sets the standard for such a custodian as one under "adequate supervision and appropriate regulation by certain federal, state, or foreign authorities" — a bar the CFTC will be called to define. DeFi is kicked down the road, with the bill demanding the SEC, CFTC and Treasury Department study that arena of digital assets and come back with a report in a year on how to proceed. The Government Accountability Office would also be asked to write a report on DeFi and on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The involved regulators would have a year to put the Clarity Act's market structure rules into effect if the law were enacted. That's a tight timeframe for complex financial regulation, which can often take more than a year — or even several years — for the agency staffs to write rules and seek public input. Despite similar timelines in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, for instance, there are still a few provisions that haven't yet been completed. The Senate will return to a floor debate next week on its stablecoin bill, which has already cleared several procedural hurdles with bipartisan support, despite loud Democratic misgivings about President Donald Trump's personal business connections to the crypto sector his government is seeking to regulate. But it's unclear whether that legislation will mesh with whatever version of stablecoin oversight the House eventually votes on, leaving uncertainty about exactly how crypto legislation will proceed in this session. Some discussion remains about whether the stablecoin and market structure bills should be combined as a single crypto push in Congress. Trump has called for both to land on his desk by the August congressional break, though many crypto insiders in Washington see that as a highly ambitious goal. The relevant House committees are set to hold digital assets hearings next week that will give members a chance to publicly discuss the details of the legislation.
