Author: dfmines

Opinion by: Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer, Komodo PlatformThe Crypto Task Force held a press conference in early February 2025. It struck the wrong tone. While the task force gave lip service to regulatory clarity, the goal seemed to placate the crypto industry, not bring about change that empowers individuals. On Jan. 23, the president established a working group for digital assets to propose a federal regulatory framework around issuing and operating digital assets, including stablecoins and a Bitcoin reserve. These goals must be expanded upon, and it seems they are, as the development of a strategic reserve is now underway. Instead of perpetuating the same discussion on “regulatory clarity” that the industry has been having with officials for years, the task force should take a similar approach to crypto matters as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been working in feverish haste to cut federal agencies and programs that it has deemed wasteful.What the force should doInstead, the Crypto Task Force should expose the perils of central bank inflationary money that puts humanity on a neverending treadmill toward desperation. It should cultivate a spirit of competition and adopting decentralized, permissionless currencies. The Task Force should persuade lawmakers to adopt a laissez-faire crypto structure while effectively stamping out the rampant fraud by the truly bad actors who exploit people’s false hopes of quick riches. The Crypto Task Force should put out press releases warning people about obvious scams. It should also teach people the virtues of proof-of-work and the follies of many proof-of-stake coins. The goal of Trump’s crypto task force should be simple: Establish a freedom-focused growth trajectory for the crypto industry in the US without delay. The freedom age Trump has clarified that he wants to promote the responsible growth and use of crypto. Such recommendations only hold as much merit as they grant entrepreneurs the freedom to take risks and curtail massive corporations from rolling out a digital panopticon with centralized cryptocurrencies. Recent: SEC task force continues meeting with firms over crypto regulationsIf the US is to be competitive with countries like the United Arab Emirates, the US must create a regulatory sandbox that enables founders to develop technology — including controversial technologies like decentralized coin mixers — in legal gray areas without the fear of prison or jail time so long as they are not blatantly breaking pre-existing law. It’s time to let the market decideBefore Trump was elected, US crypto founders contended with seemingly arbitrary Securities and Exchange Commission witch hunts, which have ensnared even the most respected crypto institutions, such as Coinbase and Kraken. The SEC went after Ripple for issuing an alleged unregistered security, but Ripple enjoyed significant wins in that case, especially when selling tokens to institutions. Countless founders have been de-banked in the US for having founded even crypto-adjacent companies. That suggests there has been an all-out war by Washington and big banks against the industry. That has to end, and the damage that has been done must be repaired. The Crypto Task Force cannot protect big banks against crypto. It must let the market decide.Although many suits have been dropped, lawmakers have their work cut out for them. So much has changed since the 20th century, when the US was a world leader in the development of the internet. It has fallen far behind in crypto. What the US needs now is innovation, not crypto red tape. The world has Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) laws. The Crypto Task Force mustn’t waste time developing a separate set of AML and KYC laws. Instead of studying the feasibility of a Bitcoin reserve, just put the Bitcoin confiscated from Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road, under the management of the Treasury and call it a day instead of selling it. The Crypto Task Force must work now to build a renewed spirit of technological innovation in the United States. Countries in Asia have demonstrated a higher level of participation at the retail level. The US needs a strategy to educate and empower the retail investing public to partake in exciting and new markets like blockchain and AI. The US must switch from a conservative approach to crypto toward a progressive approach akin to what we’ve seen in the UAE.The US has already suffered a brain drain, as entrepreneurs have left to pursue opportunities in friendlier jurisdictions. If the US had developed a welcoming Bitcoin approach, El Salvador could have never attracted talent from the US.Too much freedom has already been lost in the US. The Trump administration must unleash the crypto-anarchists with the enthusiasm of DOGE in the spirit of some of the US’s greatest freedom thinkers, like Henry David Thoreau and others.Long ago, the US fell behind in the crypto arm’s race. It will take work to catch up, and the more radical the approach taken by the Crypto Task Force, the quicker the gap can be closed.If it doesn’t, you can bet we crypto-anarchists will be storming the gates. Opinion by: Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer, Komodo Platform.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Opinion by: Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer, Komodo PlatformThe Crypto Task Force held a press conference in early February 2025. It struck the wrong tone. While the task force gave lip service to regulatory clarity, the goal seemed to placate the crypto industry, not bring about change that empowers individuals. On Jan. 23, the president established a working group for digital assets to propose a federal regulatory framework around issuing and operating digital assets, including stablecoins and a Bitcoin reserve. These goals must be expanded upon, and it seems they are, as the development of a strategic reserve is now underway. Instead of perpetuating the same discussion on “regulatory clarity” that the industry has been having with officials for years, the task force should take a similar approach to crypto matters as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been working in feverish haste to cut federal agencies and programs that it has deemed wasteful.What the force should doInstead, the Crypto Task Force should expose the perils of central bank inflationary money that puts humanity on a neverending treadmill toward desperation. It should cultivate a spirit of competition and adopting decentralized, permissionless currencies. The Task Force should persuade lawmakers to adopt a laissez-faire crypto structure while effectively stamping out the rampant fraud by the truly bad actors who exploit people’s false hopes of quick riches. The Crypto Task Force should put out press releases warning people about obvious scams. It should also teach people the virtues of proof-of-work and the follies of many proof-of-stake coins. The goal of Trump’s crypto task force should be simple: Establish a freedom-focused growth trajectory for the crypto industry in the US without delay. The freedom age Trump has clarified that he wants to promote the responsible growth and use of crypto. Such recommendations only hold as much merit as they grant entrepreneurs the freedom to take risks and curtail massive corporations from rolling out a digital panopticon with centralized cryptocurrencies. Recent: SEC task force continues meeting with firms over crypto regulationsIf the US is to be competitive with countries like the United Arab Emirates, the US must create a regulatory sandbox that enables founders to develop technology — including controversial technologies like decentralized coin mixers — in legal gray areas without the fear of prison or jail time so long as they are not blatantly breaking pre-existing law. It’s time to let the market decideBefore Trump was elected, US crypto founders contended with seemingly arbitrary Securities and Exchange Commission witch hunts, which have ensnared even the most respected crypto institutions, such as Coinbase and Kraken. The SEC went after Ripple for issuing an alleged unregistered security, but Ripple enjoyed significant wins in that case, especially when selling tokens to institutions. Countless founders have been de-banked in the US for having founded even crypto-adjacent companies. That suggests there has been an all-out war by Washington and big banks against the industry. That has to end, and the damage that has been done must be repaired. The Crypto Task Force cannot protect big banks against crypto. It must let the market decide.Although many suits have been dropped, lawmakers have their work cut out for them. So much has changed since the 20th century, when the US was a world leader in the development of the internet. It has fallen far behind in crypto. What the US needs now is innovation, not crypto red tape. The world has Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) laws. The Crypto Task Force mustn’t waste time developing a separate set of AML and KYC laws. Instead of studying the feasibility of a Bitcoin reserve, just put the Bitcoin confiscated from Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road, under the management of the Treasury and call it a day instead of selling it. The Crypto Task Force must work now to build a renewed spirit of technological innovation in the United States. Countries in Asia have demonstrated a higher level of participation at the retail level. The US needs a strategy to educate and empower the retail investing public to partake in exciting and new markets like blockchain and AI. The US must switch from a conservative approach to crypto toward a progressive approach akin to what we’ve seen in the UAE.The US has already suffered a brain drain, as entrepreneurs have left to pursue opportunities in friendlier jurisdictions. If the US had developed a welcoming Bitcoin approach, El Salvador could have never attracted talent from the US.Too much freedom has already been lost in the US. The Trump administration must unleash the crypto-anarchists with the enthusiasm of DOGE in the spirit of some of the US’s greatest freedom thinkers, like Henry David Thoreau and others.Long ago, the US fell behind in the crypto arm’s race. It will take work to catch up, and the more radical the approach taken by the Crypto Task Force, the quicker the gap can be closed.If it doesn’t, you can bet we crypto-anarchists will be storming the gates. Opinion by: Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer, Komodo Platform.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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The dominant cryptocurrency traded above $83,000, while gold soared past $3,000 for the first time, as tariff-wary investors chose it as a safe haven asset. Gold Soars Past $3K While Bitcoin Chugs Along Above $83K Bitcoin (BTC) saw modest gains over the past 24 hours, rising 0.76% to $83,486.74, though it remains down 6.14% over […]

Although meme tokens showed impressive performance in 2024, the start of this year marked a downturn in the meme coin market. The third-largest meme token, Pepe (PEPE), soared to its ATH of $0.00002825 on December 9th, a price that dropped by 75.17% since following a month-long downturn that saw leading meme tokens dip by 22-38%.…
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Crypto presales are well-known for allowing investors to purchase tokens before their official listings on exchanges, which often spells massive gains for early supporters. Currently, established tokens are struggling to make gains, so it’s no surprise Best Token (BEST) is thriving in its presale phase. The upcoming token is set to have a central position…
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The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry is breathing a sigh of relief as Congress relaxes reporting obligations, but questions remain about how lawmakers will regulate DeFi.On March 12, the House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule that required DeFi protocols to report gross proceeds from crypto sales, as well as info on taxpayers involved, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The rule, which the IRS issued in December 2024 and wasn’t set to take effect until 2027, was regarded by major industry lobby groups as burdensome and beyond the agency’s authority. The White House has already signaled its support for the bill. President Donald Trump is ready to sign when it reaches his desk. But DeFi observers note that the industry has yet to strike a balance between privacy and regulation. Bipartisan vote on repealing the rule. Source: DeFi Education FundPrivacy concerns over IRS DeFi ruleThe crypto industry was quick to laud the vote in the House. Marta Belcher, president of the Filecoin Foundation, said that blocking the rule was particularly important for user privacy. She told Cointelegraph it is “critical to protect people’s ability to transact directly with each other via open-source code (like smart contracts and decentralized exchanges) while remaining anonymous, in the same way that people can transact directly with each other using cash.”Privacy concerns were central to the crypto industry’s objections to the rule, with industry observers claiming that it was not fit for purpose and infringed on user privacy. Bill Hughes, senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters for Consensys Software wrote in December 2024, “Trading front ends would have to track and report on user activity — both US persons and non-US persons […] And it applies to the sale of every single digital asset — including NFTs and even stablecoins.”The Blockchain Association, a major crypto industry lobby group, stated that the rule was “an infringement on the privacy rights of individuals using decentralized technology” that would push DeFi offshore.While the rule has been stopped for now, there still aren’t fixed privacy guidelines in place — something Etherealize CEO Vivek Raman said the industry needs to move forward. “There needs to be clear frameworks for blockchain-based privacy while maintaining [Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering] requirements,” he told Cointelegraph.Raman stated that some transactions and customer data will need to remain private, “and we need guidance on what privacy can look like.”How do you regulate DeFi?The crypto space has long juggled user privacy demands and regulators’ Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer concerns. One problem lies in the technology itself — if a network is created by many and controlled by no single entity, who can the government contact? Per Raman, “It’s hard for a decentralized protocol that is controlled by nobody to issue 1099s or fulfill broker-dealer responsibilities! Companies can certainly be [broker-dealers], but software has not been designed for [broker-dealer] rules.”DeFi developers can and have been proactive in working with regulators, Chainalysis suggested, as was the case with certain protocols freezing funds after the disastrous $285 million KuCoin hack. Related: Timeline: How Bybit’s lost Ethereum went through North Korea’s washing machineCinneamhain Ventures partner and consultant Adam Cochran claimed that every protocol has certain pressure points regulators could press on if a protocol were used to commit a crime:Source: Adam CochranHowever, these specific instances do not make a comprehensive regulatory framework that both the industry and investor protection agencies can point to. In that regard, crypto analytics firm Chainalysis stated in 2020 that regulators may need to craft regulations for the DeFi space with decentralized reporting limitations in mind. Raman suggested that one possible solution could be zero-knowledge proofs, which allow users to confirm certain data without revealing it. He is optimistic about regulators’ ability to find a way to regulate the space while still maintaining user privacy: “I think we’ll see a positive sum environment where DeFi and compliance will coexist.”The long-awaited crypto regulatory framework Trump has already made a number of pro-crypto measures through executive orders and appointing pro-crypto individuals to head parts of his administration — the most recent being the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Related: US Rep. Byron Donalds to introduce bill codifying Trump’s Bitcoin reserveThe pro-crypto tenure of important financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has dropped a number of high-profile enforcement cases against crypto firms.While notable, the big fish that the crypto industry is waiting for is the crypto regulatory framework and stablecoin bills circulating in Congress, which would give the industry the guardrails it claims it needs to thrive. On March 13, the Senate Banking Committee approved the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin bill, putting it one step closer to a vote on the Senate floor. The crypto framework bill, FIT 21, was first introduced in the 2024 legislative session, ultimately failing in the Senate. However, in February, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill said that he anticipated the bill could pass in this session with “modest changes.”But even if FIT 21 were passed soon, regulations for DeFi could be far off. The bill would exclude DeFi from SEC and CFTC oversight, but it would also establish a working group to research 12 key areas related to DeFi. This study will seek to understand the risks and benefits of DeFi and will ultimately make regulatory recommendations. Magazine: Vitalik on AI apocalypse, LA Times both-sides KKK, LLM grooming: AI Eye

The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry is breathing a sigh of relief as Congress relaxes reporting obligations, but questions remain about how lawmakers will regulate DeFi.On March 12, the House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule that required DeFi protocols to report gross proceeds from crypto sales, as well as info on taxpayers involved, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The rule, which the IRS issued in December 2024 and wasn’t set to take effect until 2027, was regarded by major industry lobby groups as burdensome and beyond the agency’s authority. The White House has already signaled its support for the bill. President Donald Trump is ready to sign when it reaches his desk. But DeFi observers note that the industry has yet to strike a balance between privacy and regulation. Bipartisan vote on repealing the rule. Source: DeFi Education FundPrivacy concerns over IRS DeFi ruleThe crypto industry was quick to laud the vote in the House. Marta Belcher, president of the Filecoin Foundation, said that blocking the rule was particularly important for user privacy. She told Cointelegraph it is “critical to protect people’s ability to transact directly with each other via open-source code (like smart contracts and decentralized exchanges) while remaining anonymous, in the same way that people can transact directly with each other using cash.”Privacy concerns were central to the crypto industry’s objections to the rule, with industry observers claiming that it was not fit for purpose and infringed on user privacy. Bill Hughes, senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters for Consensys Software wrote in December 2024, “Trading front ends would have to track and report on user activity — both US persons and non-US persons […] And it applies to the sale of every single digital asset — including NFTs and even stablecoins.”The Blockchain Association, a major crypto industry lobby group, stated that the rule was “an infringement on the privacy rights of individuals using decentralized technology” that would push DeFi offshore.While the rule has been stopped for now, there still aren’t fixed privacy guidelines in place — something Etherealize CEO Vivek Raman said the industry needs to move forward. “There needs to be clear frameworks for blockchain-based privacy while maintaining [Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering] requirements,” he told Cointelegraph.Raman stated that some transactions and customer data will need to remain private, “and we need guidance on what privacy can look like.”How do you regulate DeFi?The crypto space has long juggled user privacy demands and regulators’ Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer concerns. One problem lies in the technology itself — if a network is created by many and controlled by no single entity, who can the government contact? Per Raman, “It’s hard for a decentralized protocol that is controlled by nobody to issue 1099s or fulfill broker-dealer responsibilities! Companies can certainly be [broker-dealers], but software has not been designed for [broker-dealer] rules.”DeFi developers can and have been proactive in working with regulators, Chainalysis suggested, as was the case with certain protocols freezing funds after the disastrous $285 million KuCoin hack. Related: Timeline: How Bybit’s lost Ethereum went through North Korea’s washing machineCinneamhain Ventures partner and consultant Adam Cochran claimed that every protocol has certain pressure points regulators could press on if a protocol were used to commit a crime:Source: Adam CochranHowever, these specific instances do not make a comprehensive regulatory framework that both the industry and investor protection agencies can point to. In that regard, crypto analytics firm Chainalysis stated in 2020 that regulators may need to craft regulations for the DeFi space with decentralized reporting limitations in mind. Raman suggested that one possible solution could be zero-knowledge proofs, which allow users to confirm certain data without revealing it. He is optimistic about regulators’ ability to find a way to regulate the space while still maintaining user privacy: “I think we’ll see a positive sum environment where DeFi and compliance will coexist.”The long-awaited crypto regulatory framework Trump has already made a number of pro-crypto measures through executive orders and appointing pro-crypto individuals to head parts of his administration — the most recent being the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Related: US Rep. Byron Donalds to introduce bill codifying Trump’s Bitcoin reserveThe pro-crypto tenure of important financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has dropped a number of high-profile enforcement cases against crypto firms.While notable, the big fish that the crypto industry is waiting for is the crypto regulatory framework and stablecoin bills circulating in Congress, which would give the industry the guardrails it claims it needs to thrive. On March 13, the Senate Banking Committee approved the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin bill, putting it one step closer to a vote on the Senate floor. The crypto framework bill, FIT 21, was first introduced in the 2024 legislative session, ultimately failing in the Senate. However, in February, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill said that he anticipated the bill could pass in this session with “modest changes.”But even if FIT 21 were passed soon, regulations for DeFi could be far off. The bill would exclude DeFi from SEC and CFTC oversight, but it would also establish a working group to research 12 key areas related to DeFi. This study will seek to understand the risks and benefits of DeFi and will ultimately make regulatory recommendations. Magazine: Vitalik on AI apocalypse, LA Times both-sides KKK, LLM grooming: AI Eye

The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry is breathing a sigh of relief as Congress relaxes reporting obligations, but questions remain about how lawmakers will regulate DeFi.On March 12, the House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule that required DeFi protocols to report gross proceeds from crypto sales, as well as info on taxpayers involved, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The rule, which the IRS issued in December 2024 and wasn’t set to take effect until 2027, was regarded by major industry lobby groups as burdensome and beyond the agency’s authority. The White House has already signaled its support for the bill. President Donald Trump is ready to sign when it reaches his desk. But DeFi observers note that the industry has yet to strike a balance between privacy and regulation. Bipartisan vote on repealing the rule. Source: DeFi Education FundPrivacy concerns over IRS DeFi ruleThe crypto industry was quick to laud the vote in the House. Marta Belcher, president of the Filecoin Foundation, said that blocking the rule was particularly important for user privacy. She told Cointelegraph it is “critical to protect people’s ability to transact directly with each other via open-source code (like smart contracts and decentralized exchanges) while remaining anonymous, in the same way that people can transact directly with each other using cash.”Privacy concerns were central to the crypto industry’s objections to the rule, with industry observers claiming that it was not fit for purpose and infringed on user privacy. Bill Hughes, senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters for Consensys Software wrote in December 2024, “Trading front ends would have to track and report on user activity — both US persons and non-US persons […] And it applies to the sale of every single digital asset — including NFTs and even stablecoins.”The Blockchain Association, a major crypto industry lobby group, stated that the rule was “an infringement on the privacy rights of individuals using decentralized technology” that would push DeFi offshore.While the rule has been stopped for now, there still aren’t fixed privacy guidelines in place — something Etherealize CEO Vivek Raman said the industry needs to move forward. “There needs to be clear frameworks for blockchain-based privacy while maintaining [Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering] requirements,” he told Cointelegraph.Raman stated that some transactions and customer data will need to remain private, “and we need guidance on what privacy can look like.”How do you regulate DeFi?The crypto space has long juggled user privacy demands and regulators’ Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer concerns. One problem lies in the technology itself — if a network is created by many and controlled by no single entity, who can the government contact? Per Raman, “It’s hard for a decentralized protocol that is controlled by nobody to issue 1099s or fulfill broker-dealer responsibilities! Companies can certainly be [broker-dealers], but software has not been designed for [broker-dealer] rules.”DeFi developers can and have been proactive in working with regulators, Chainalysis suggested, as was the case with certain protocols freezing funds after the disastrous $285 million KuCoin hack. Related: Timeline: How Bybit’s lost Ethereum went through North Korea’s washing machineCinneamhain Ventures partner and consultant Adam Cochran claimed that every protocol has certain pressure points regulators could press on if a protocol were used to commit a crime:Source: Adam CochranHowever, these specific instances do not make a comprehensive regulatory framework that both the industry and investor protection agencies can point to. In that regard, crypto analytics firm Chainalysis stated in 2020 that regulators may need to craft regulations for the DeFi space with decentralized reporting limitations in mind. Raman suggested that one possible solution could be zero-knowledge proofs, which allow users to confirm certain data without revealing it. He is optimistic about regulators’ ability to find a way to regulate the space while still maintaining user privacy: “I think we’ll see a positive sum environment where DeFi and compliance will coexist.”The long-awaited crypto regulatory framework Trump has already made a number of pro-crypto measures through executive orders and appointing pro-crypto individuals to head parts of his administration — the most recent being the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Related: US Rep. Byron Donalds to introduce bill codifying Trump’s Bitcoin reserveThe pro-crypto tenure of important financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has dropped a number of high-profile enforcement cases against crypto firms.While notable, the big fish that the crypto industry is waiting for is the crypto regulatory framework and stablecoin bills circulating in Congress, which would give the industry the guardrails it claims it needs to thrive. On March 13, the Senate Banking Committee approved the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin bill, putting it one step closer to a vote on the Senate floor. The crypto framework bill, FIT 21, was first introduced in the 2024 legislative session, ultimately failing in the Senate. However, in February, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill said that he anticipated the bill could pass in this session with “modest changes.”But even if FIT 21 were passed soon, regulations for DeFi could be far off. The bill would exclude DeFi from SEC and CFTC oversight, but it would also establish a working group to research 12 key areas related to DeFi. This study will seek to understand the risks and benefits of DeFi and will ultimately make regulatory recommendations. Magazine: Vitalik on AI apocalypse, LA Times both-sides KKK, LLM grooming: AI Eye