ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Fortune magazine citing informed sources, Kamala Harris's team has actually given serious consideration to an invitation to speak at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. This in itself is news. As a Democratic candidate, her leadership has consistently held a hostile attitude towards cryptocurrency, and her "negotiations" to address 30,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts reflect how much policy might change under Harris's leadership.Gary DeWaal, a former senior trial attorney at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), told Fortune magazine that he does not expect Harris to comment on cryptocurrency before August 7, when she will announce her vice presidential pick. "That's her priority right now," he said.First, when Biden became president, many of his economic advisors were former colleagues of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is a staunch critic of cryptocurrency. Harris does not have that connection. The cryptocurrency lobbyist indicated that Harris's tech advisors are considered pro-cryptocurrency, and her husband Douglas Emhoff is a "crypto enthusiast." He added, "I expect her to shift her stance."A possible positive signal is that this week billionaire and Bitcoin enthusiast Mark Cuban told Decrypt that he received multiple inquiries about cryptocurrency from Harris's team.

ChainCatcher News, U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Graham Steele stated during an event hosted by the University of Washington School of Law on Thursday, "After every financial crisis, new regulations are adopted, such as the Dodd-Frank Act and the National Bank Act, and for cryptocurrencies, policymakers have the ability to take action before a crisis occurs."Additionally, he stated, "Our report indicates that the U.S. overall has strong investor and consumer protection laws that can address many of the risks posed by crypto assets. There must be vigorous enforcement of existing laws and regulations so that crypto assets and services, as well as the consumers using them, receive the same protections and principles as other financial products and services."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointlegraph, some provisions of the U.S. President Biden's infrastructure bill have come into effect, including the requirement to report many digital asset transactions exceeding $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This bipartisan infrastructure bill, passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in 2021, expanded the requirements for brokers, mandating that many crypto trading platforms and custodians report crypto transactions over $10,000 to the IRS.The bill requires brokers to report crypto transactions exceeding $10,000 to the IRS within 15 days, including the sender's name, address, and Social Security number.Jerry Brito, executive director of the nonprofit crypto research center Coin Center, stated that it is still unclear how to comply with the cryptocurrency tax reporting guidelines for 2024.

ChainCatcher message, Binance's new CEO Richard Teng responded to community members regarding the question of "Can Binance afford the penalties in the settlement agreement," stating that Binance's financial situation is robust and its business fundamentals are very solid. We have been profitable almost from day one and have maintained profitability since then.In terms of trading volume, we are still the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. U.S. regulators have not claimed that Binance has misappropriated user funds. User funds are supported 1:1, and users can choose to withdraw 100% of their funds at any time. Binance has more registered users than ever before, currently reaching 166 million. These penalties are not a concern. We will continue to move forward; our spending is moderate, but profits and revenues are strong.

ChainCatcher news, according to Coindesk, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo delivered a speech at a Blockchain Association event in Washington, issuing a broad warning about illegal financing in the crypto industry. Wally Adeyemo stated, "We cannot allow dollar-backed stablecoin providers outside of the United States to have the privilege of using our currency without the responsibility to implement procedures to prevent terrorists from abusing their platforms."

ChainCatcher News, U.S. CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam stated in an interview with CNBC that the current cryptocurrency landscape has not changed since the FTX collapse and may face another FTX-type event. The CFTC lacks the authority to comprehensively regulate the digital commodity market.To prevent this from happening again, Congress must provide the CFTC with appropriate powers. The CFTC Chairman had urged the Senate Banking Committee in December 2022 that lawmakers need to take swift regulatory action to establish guardrails and mitigate risks; otherwise, cryptocurrencies will be unsafe for investors and could pose greater risks.

ChainCatcher news, according to an official announcement, Coinbase Financial Markets (CFM) has announced that U.S. Coinbase Advanced users can now access regulated cryptocurrency futures contracts. These futures contracts are designed for retail traders, with sizes of 1/100 Bitcoin and 1/10 Ethereum.This move provides traders with the ability to hedge risks, diversify portfolios, utilize leveraged trading, and predict market trends. Coinbase received approval in August to offer federally regulated cryptocurrency futures trading to qualified customers in the U.S. Now, U.S. Coinbase Advanced users can trade cryptocurrency futures contracts through CFM.

ChainCatcher news, Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett posted on social media that Elon Musk and Mark Cuban are joining forces to fight against the U.S. SEC. In a joint amicus brief submitted today, the two expressed support for a thorough reform of the SEC's current administrative procedures. The current procedures allow the use of internal judges to preside over cases brought by the SEC itself and prohibit defendants from having the right to a jury trial.

ChainCatcher News, regulatory agencies and legal experts from various states in the U.S. have intervened in the case where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Coinbase. According to newly submitted documents, the newly involved parties believe that, aside from speculation, the vast majority of digital assets lack defined or widely adopted practical economic use cases, and that cryptocurrencies are neither significant nor special, allowing the SEC to regulate digital assets under existing laws.Additionally, two legal experts pointed out that Coinbase's citation of legal principles that prevent government agencies from making significant economic interventions without explicit congressional authorization is incorrect, as the Coinbase case involves enforcement against a specific company rather than the establishment of quasi-legislative rules. The SEC is far from claiming new powers to regulate the "national economy," but has instead filed specific complaints in federal court.

According to ChainCatcher news, as reported by Wu, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a new OFAC SDN sanctions list on August 23, which includes Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Semenov. The announcement states that he is of Russian nationality, previously residing in Dubai, and lists eight of his Ethereum addresses. The announcement cites regulations: secondary sanctions risk, sections 510.201 and 510.210 of the North Korea Sanctions Regulations, and the prohibition of transactions by persons owned or controlled by U.S. financial institutions.Tornado Cash was blacklisted last year, effectively prohibiting U.S. citizens from using the service. An official statement from U.S. regulators stated that since its launch in 2019, the tool has facilitated the laundering of over $7 billion, including funds from North Korean attackers and other malicious actors. In August 2022, Roman Semenov claimed that his account on the developer platform GitHub was suspended. Russian-born Tornado Cash developer Pertsev was arrested by the Dutch Ministry of Finance and the Information Services Agency in August 2022.

ChainCatcher news, ConsenSys lawyer Bill Hughes tweeted that U.S. Senators Warren, Marshall, Lummis, and Gillibrand have just introduced a cryptocurrency-focused amendment that will be included in the must-pass national security legislation.The bill requires the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Treasury, along with other agencies, to establish a process within the next two years to examine money service businesses, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, and other regulated entities to ensure their anti-money laundering programs are robust enough to address the risks posed by cryptocurrency activities and fulfill reporting obligations.The bill also shifts anti-money laundering regulatory reporting responsibilities to cryptocurrency self-service terminal operators, requiring the U.S. Treasury to issue compliance guidance on the sanctions responsibilities of stablecoin issuers within 120 days of the bill's enactment, as well as the responsibilities of stablecoin issuers for user transactions that violate sanctions regimes. It also requires FinCEN to submit a report within a year on the operations and use of cryptocurrency mixers and laundering schemes.Bill Hughes stated that it is currently unclear whether this amendment will ultimately be accepted by lawmakers, so whether there is a chance for it to become law remains to be seen.

ChainCatcher news, according to CryptoSlate, U.S. Republican Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) stated that he is prepared to introduce his cryptocurrency bill in the House this week and believes that the recent Ripple ruling will help garner Democratic support for the bill.The Digital Asset Market Structure Bill was introduced by Thompson and Congressman Patrick McHenry, with support from Congressmen French Hill and Dusty Johnson. The bill was first submitted to the House for preliminary review on June 2 and is scheduled to enter the voting phase in July. The bill proposes a new regulatory framework that classifies cryptocurrencies as either securities or commodities, to be regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).