US lawmakers and regulators continue to compete in their creative efforts to come up with anything but sensible regulations for the cryptocurrency industry.
Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal have drafted a letter calling on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to deny young adults access to the firm’s metaverse platform. According to the two legislators, allowing teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 to enter the virtual environment posed “serious risks,” citing privacy issues, eyestrain and online bullying.
Along with his colleague Jared Huffman, Markey also announced the reintroduction in the Congress of the Law of Environmental Transparency of Cryptoactives. the bill would force require crypto mining companies to disclose emissions from operations that consume more than five megawatts of power, and would require the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to lead an interagency investigation into the impact of crypto mining in the United States.
Another group of senators – Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen and Roger Marshall – have sent a letter to the CEO of Binance, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, expressing concern about various areas of Binance’s activities. The senators requested information from the company, including its balance sheet. The trio claim that there is evidence that the company tried to circumvent US sanctions and facilitated the laundering of at least USD 10 billion.
The chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, has again endorsed a proposal that would expand asset custody rules to more cryptocurrencies, stating that investors need more protection. The proposed rule would require written agreements between advisers and custodians, add requirements for foreign institutions acting as custodians, and explicitly extend the safeguard rules to discretionary trading.
The French National Assembly has voted to legislate stricter authorization rules for cryptocurrency startups in order to bring local legislation in line with the rules proposed by the European Union. The vote was approved with 109 votes (60.5%) in favor and 71 (39.5%) against. The French Senate has already approved the bill, which now goes to President Emmanuel Macron, who has 15 days to approve it or return it to the legislature.
If passed, the new law would force France-based cryptocurrency service providers to comply with stricter anti-money laundering rules, demonstrate that client funds are segregated, comply with new guidelines on filing reporting to regulators and providing more detailed information on risks and conflicts of interest as a means of strengthening consumer protection.
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Another free zone for digital assets in the UAE
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, is about to launch a free zone for digital and virtual asset companies, as the country’s approach to the sector continues to attract traders from cryptocurrencies from around the world. The RAK Digital Asset Oasis (RAK DAO) will be a “specially designed free zone for innovation and unregulated activities in the virtual asset sector.”
The free zone will be dedicated to service providers of digital and virtual assets in emerging technologies, such as the metaverse, blockchain, utility tokens, virtual asset portfolios, non-fungible tokens, decentralized Autonomous Organizations, decentralized applications and other business related to Web3.
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South Dakota’s proposed amendment would ban cryptocurrencies, but not CBDCs
In the US state of South Dakota, a law has been introduced to amend the Uniform Commercial Code in order to narrow the definition of money and exclude cryptocurrencies. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) would still be considered money under the proposed new definition. The 117-page amendment, introduced in the state House of Representatives by Republican Mike Stevens, defines “money” as “a medium of exchange currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government.”
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