Biden Vetoes Crypto Accounting Repeal, Israel Advances Digital Shekel, Paraguay Seizes Crypto Farm, Hong Kong Shuts Down Unlicensed Exchanges
Summary:
President Joe Biden has vetoed a resolution aimed at repealing accounting guidelines set by the SEC, which has sparked backlash from the crypto community. Israel is fast-tracking the development of its digital shekel. Property in Paraguay holding crypto mining units was seized following the discovery of an unregistered power connection. Unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong are shutting down operations, following a warning to either secure operating licenses or cease operations.
President Joe Biden of the United States has rejected a resolution aimed at superseding Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Biden released an official statement saying that undermining the SEC's broader authorities concerning accounting practices through this reversal could be perilous. The controversial guidelines, which compel institutions safeguarding crypto assets to log these holdings as liabilities on their balance sheets, were due to be enforced on April 11. However, the crypto community and legislative members voiced strong opposition. By a 228 to 182 majority, the House of Representatives voted for the repeal of the SEC's instructions and forwarded the bill to the Senate. There, the repeal of SAB-121 got a significant 60 to 38 in favor vote. Crypto advocacy group, the Blockchain Association, and U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis expressed their disappointment that Biden had vetoed the decisions of bipartisan majorities in both houses and contravened what they believe is "the will of the American people".
Israel is setting a quicker pace in developing the digital shekel, its prospective central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Bank of Israel aims to collaborate with multiple service providers to co-create a digital shekel-focused cutting-edge digital payments ecosystem.
Project Rosalind, a co-initiative of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Bank of England, seeks to generate prototypes for an application programming interface (API). The competition-driven initiative sees the Bank of Israel availing a sandbox environment attached to an API layer, with participants battling it out to devise real-time CBDC payment systems for ordinary people.
The National Electricity Administration (ANde) in Paraguay discovered an unregistered power link and seized a property holding 2,738 crypto mining units in Salto del Guirã. The country's senate is currently considering a draft law to prohibit crypto mining and other crypto-related operations until comprehensive legislation is drafted and commitments from the national electricity provider are obtained. The illegal operation, identified through AI and power distribution analysis, allegedly pilfered electricity worth 1.1 billion guarani ($146,000) monthly and could lead to criminal charges for the operators.
Hong Kong is necessitating all unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges to suspend operations immediately. It issued a stark warning to the exchanges, compelling them to either apply for an operational license by February 29 or halt their operations within three months. Over 22 crypto exchanges sought to secure licenses to maintain their operations in the region within that timeframe, but the majority of the applications were unexpectedly withdrawn right before the deadline.
Published At
6/3/2024 10:05:00 PM
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