Crypto Other News of Note for this week below - have a great weekend! ⛽️is hit by more class actions; 🇨🇿the Czech Republic removes capital gains tax on Bitcoin after 3+ years of hodling; 👮Defi gets a two year reprieve on required US treasury department/IRS tax reporting; 🇨🇾@krakenfx doubled their revenue in 2024 and obtained a MiFID license by acquiring a Cypriot firm; 🇫🇮@Paxosglobal acquires @MembraneFi and a Finnish EMI license; 🇸🇪Swedish asset manager Virtune launches new crypto ETPs on Nasdaq Helsinki; 🇮🇳Bybit paid a $1M fine to India’s financial regulator for compliance violations; 🌍BlackRock buys 455 more BTC and is preparing to launch a Bitcoin ETP in Europe; 💡the CFTC is calling a public roundtable to rethink its stance on prediction markets; 🇨🇦the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization excludes crypto funds from reduced margin requirements; 📉MicroStrategy rebrands as “Strategy” and reports a Q4 net loss; 🧑‍🌾@Telcoin gets approval to open Nebraska’s first crypto bank; 🌊@OndoFinance is starting its own layer 1 designed for tokenized assets, launches an “instant liquidity solution” called Ondo Nexus; 💰Trump’s media company files trademark applications for several ETFs including “Made in America ETF”; 🪖NY Post reports that Brad Garlinghouse is expected to be appointed as an advisor to the White House Crypto Council; ⚡️Tether’s integrating UST to Bitcoin and the Lightning Network; 🐧a Pudgy Penguins-linked Layer 2, Abstract, launched on mainnet; 🚿OpenSea gets backlash to the launch of its new OS2 platform; 🇰🇷 the South Korea Financial Investment Association asked legislators to allow spot-traded ETFs; 📈Bullish Global is allegedly contemplating a near-term IPO; 🇺🇸@worldlibertyfi moves its ETH and WBTC holdings to Coinbase; 🤑US Ethereum ETFs hit a record $1.5B daily trading volume; 🌏@Glassnode and Gemini report that APAC retail crypto trading is outpacing everywhere else; 🇬🇧Coinbase gets an important UK FCA approval; 🇯🇵Japan’s Financial Services Agency asked Apple and Google to suspend downloads of five unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges

This is big news. Tokenized collateral is a total game changer - e.g. atomic settlement.

RT @DanSpuller: @DAatDuke @DukeU @ThenCorey @circle @BlockchainAssn @NYcryptolawyer @FireblocksHQ @BitwiseInvest @jimmie_lenz @leereiners T…

Chair Pham and Chairman Goldsmith Romero are BOTH speaking at crypto conferences today. We've come so far! I love the engagement!

CFTC Commissioner Goldsmith Romero sounding educated & pragmatic on the #defi panel at #DAatDuke conference. "From a regulatory standpoint, to the extent that there’s control, it’s going to be considered more ‘ce’ than ‘de’, and this is something regulators are going to look at."

@nic__carter @CampbellJAustin @fgthiel @iampaulgrewal Bitter Muppets - ha!!

The digital asset press release intro, in summary: “4 years of arbitrary prosecution and persecution” -References to known personal debanking of crypto founders @nic__carter. -Regulatory evironment has driven technology offshore -We need value creation onshore -Onshore activity is better for consumer protection -Stablecoin legislation a priority – to increase the usage of the US dollar digitally, and create potentially long term trillions of dollars in demand, which could lower interest rates -“[We need] Market structure legislation with clear definition and fair rules” All good!

I am honored to share that I will be chairing the @BlockchainAssn’s L2 Working Group. I'm really looking forward to working with the BA team and members to foster innovation, build consensus, and advance the industry as a whole. 🚀

@MinarikLaw Great piece!

@SithianAnand Never legal advice!

@milesjennings is one of the most thoughtful brains on decentralization out there. Worth a read.

RT @RebeccaRettig1: Crypto lawyers who’ve been through all the cycles waking up to work today.

Looking forward to traveling to Durham, NC next week for Digital Assets at Duke. In the meantime, here is this week's always crazy Other News of Note: 💸Trump called on Congress to abolish the income tax on US tokens; 🔥Nasdaq filed a rule change with the SEC to allow for in-kind redemption for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust; 🙈Howard Lutnick defends Tether; 📈@Grayscale files for a spot XRP ETF with the NYSE & the SEC approves Bitwise’s combined Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF; 🧑‍🏫Gary Gensler took a job as a professor at MIT; 🌍@cryptocom is delisting ten tokens to comply with MiCA; 🇨🇿the head of the Czech central bank wants to buy billions in Bitcoin; 🇯🇴Jordan approved a plan to develop a comprehensive legal framework to regulate crypto; 🇺🇸Illinois, Utah, South Dakota, and Arizona are considering proposed strategic Bitcoin reserves; 🧑‍🌾Kansas introduced a bill allowing pension funds to invest in spot bitcoin ETFs; 🇳🇴the Norway sovereign wealth fund’s indirect Bitcoin exposure has grown 153% year over year; 🪲@Immunefi is launching a blockchain-based arbitration system for bug bounties; ❌ECB president Christine Lagarde said Bitcoin wouldn’t be included in the eurozone’s central bank reserves due to liquidity, security, and regulatory concerns; 📊Coinbase files to list Solana and Hedera futures; 🪱Securitize announced @Wormhole as the official interoperability provider for the Apollo Diversified Credit Securitize Fund; 💰Ramp Network is partnering with @MetaMask to allow users to convert ETH directly into fiat currencies via L2s; 🇹🇼Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission plans to issue a draft bill for virtual service providers, which will include plans to allow banks to issue stables to act as a bridge between fiat and crypto; 🇦🇷Coinbase is expanding to Argentina; 🤯BlackRock and Microstrategy keep buying Bitcoin (they now control 2.7% and 2.3% respectively of all Bitcoin); 🪐@JupiterExchange announced its intent to acquire the memecoin launchpad Moonshot, buy back its native token, and launch a $10M fund for open-source AI development; 🇨🇳@CryptoQuant_com says that China’s treasury sold over $19.7B worth of Bitcoin recently; 😵‍💫THORChain headed towards insolvency with a liquidity crisis; 🐦the SEC acknowledged the Canary spot litecoin ETF - the first non-BTC/ETH single spot ETF to be acknowledged; 👨‍💼CME introducing options on Bitcoin Friday Futures; 🏦Jerome Powell says ‘banks are perfectly able to serve crypto customers’

@ILiketoCope yeah the number is a little deceptive in some ways. But still absolutely nuts.

@zanevangreuning great advice!! I also like the advice someone game me: accept the fact that sometimes you'll feel like you're shouting into the void.

RT @EliBenSasson: We're not leaving Ethereum. zkSTARKs are needed to scale all blockchains, including Bitcoin. @Starknet is *the best* zk…

@emmettito_ @adamsternbach

@danheld is a marketing wizard & he understands how much potential @Starknet can offer to Bitcoin. 👏