Passing the CLARITY crypto structure bill could improve market sentiment amid the ongoing downturn, according to United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The stalling of the CLARITY bill over concerns voiced by crypto industry executives has negatively impacted the industry, Bessent told CNBC on Friday. He said: “In a time when we are having one…
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New analysis published Wednesday by the Federal Reserve proposes that crypto be categorized as a distinct asset class for initial margin requirements used in “uncleared” derivatives markets, including over-the-counter trades and other transactions that do not pass through a centralized clearinghouse. The working paper said that is because crypto is more volatile than traditional asset…
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US lawmakers questioned Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins at a hearing on Wednesday about the agency’s enforcement actions against the crypto industry and why several cases were dismissed since the leadership change. Enforcement actions since US President Donald Trump assumed office, and appointed Atkins as SEC chair, are down by 60%, Representative…
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Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country’s central bank, said on Wednesday that its Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH) is piloting three regulatory sandbox programs to research and develop stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits. BNM’s initiatives center around using ringgit stablecoins, the fiat currency of Malaysia, for cross-border settlement and developing tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), according…
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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a US financial regulator, reissued a staff letter on Friday to expand the criteria for payment stablecoins to include national trust banks, recognizing their eligibility to issue the fiat-pegged tokens. The CFTC amended Staff Letter 25-40, which was issued on December 8, 2025, to include national trust banks, financial…
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The Bitcoin network mining difficulty, a metric tracking the relative challenge of adding new blocks to the Bitcoin (BTC) ledger, fell by about 11.16% in the last 24 hours, the worst drop in a single adjustment period since China’s 2021 ban on crypto mining. Bitcoin mining difficulty is at 125.86 T and took effect at…
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The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, and seven Chinese regulatory agencies published a joint statement on Friday banning the unapproved issuance of Renminbi-pegged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The ban applies to both domestic and foreign stablecoin and tokenized RWA issuers, according to the statement, which was also signed by…
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Pavel Durov, the co-founder of the Telegram messaging platform, sounded the alarm about the Spanish government’s plan to usher in online age verification and restrict social media platforms for individuals under the age of 16. The proposed law will lead to increased government-led censorship of online content, breaches of privacy through de-anonymizing users and mass-surveillance,…
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The comments came during Bessent’s Congressional testimony on Wednesday in a tense exchange with California Representative Brad Sherman. United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before Congress on Wednesday and reiterated that the US will retain Bitcoin (BTC) acquired through asset seizures but will not direct private banks to purchase more BTC in the event…
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Fireblocks, an institutional-grade crypto infrastructure company, announced on Wednesday that it will integrate Stacks, a decentralized finance (DeFi) layer for the Bitcoin protocol, to give institutional clients access to lending and yield-bearing opportunities. The integration bypasses the 10-minute Bitcoin block time by leveraging the Stacks blockchain, which has an average block time of about 29…
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