Russian Sanctions and Cryptocurrencies; What To Do

New Bill to Regularize Crypto in the U.S.

The fight to regulate the crypto market in the U.S. has become more and more intense. On Wednesday, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Senator Boozman, a Republican of Arkansas, proposed a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies in the U.S. Under the proposed bill, senators are trying to get the CFTC to include digital commodities, including ether and bitcoin, in a highly volatile industry.

If passed, the bill would expand the operational scope of the CFTC, which has expertise in regulating derivatives. It is worth noting that in the past few months, various committees have brought many proposals to the table of the Senate. In June, a crypto bill was proposed by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Through the bill, they focused on the regulation and tax treatment of digital assets, along with the roles of the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, the House Financial Services Committee was preparing a bill in July. This sought to strengthen the role of the Federal Reserve in the U.S. crypto market. Currently, proposed crypto market regulators include the CFTC, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reserve.

Analysts Expectations

Pictet Group cautions against crypto investments amid recent industry turmoil. According to It, crypto will be an asset class that cannot be ignored. However, private bankers and portfolios of private banks are unlikely to have a place. The crypto industry has experienced a meltdown this year amid crashing valuations, the failure of Three Arrows Capital and other companies, and multiple hacker attacks. Between Bitcoin’s peak in November and the final of June, $2 trillion was wiped from the market worth of crypto assets.

Banking giants have shied away from crypto for years. In 2017, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. called Bitcoin a fraud. However, as assets have grown over the past three years, some have begun to reverse their stance. Julius Baer recently announced that it is working on offering digital asset services to its high-net-worth clients. Fidelity Investments is preparing to launch a product allowing bitcoin investments in workplace retirement accounts. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have also started helping wealthy clients bet on cryptocurrencies.

Nevertheless, token trading remained a challenge. Venture capital funds and institutions are increasingly interested in the crypto space. For example, Cydonia Capital recently raised $100 million. There is a lot of interest in Web3 projects, especially when positive, good flows come from Web3 venture capital funds. However, despite the recent rally, some were not optimistic about the digital asset’s prospects in the coming months. According to the CEO of Paxos Asia, more cryptocurrency deleveraging is expected.

Crypto ATMs Back to Japan

After a protracted four-year absence, crypto ATMs, BTM, are once again available in Japan. On Tuesday, Gaia Co, a local cryptocurrency exchange company, announced that it would soon introduce BTMs that support Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. During the crypto winter in 2018, Coincheck was hacked for $530 million. This brought the local sector to its knees and reduced interest in crypto ATMs. This is the main reason why the country did not have active digital assets, Although Bitcoin ATMs in Tokyo made a breakthrough in 2014.

According to local media reports, a locally registered cryptocurrency company in Japan has never set up Bitcoin ATMs. Customers need to register with the company to get a unique card to withdraw money from BTMs. Once authenticated, they can use their smartphones to send crypto assets to BTM. And then use them to withdraw cash in yen.

BTMs will be located in Tokyo and Osaka locations. The company said it plans to install 50 BTMs across the country over the next year. Over the next three years, the firm wants to expand its installed base to 130 BTM. It is worth noting that the maximum withdrawal amount from BTMs is currently 2,243 USD, 300,000 JPY per day, with a maximum of $747 per transaction.

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