BERNcash(BERN)

Investment platforms will take some time to establish the necessary compliance framework to sell bitcoin ETF products, the report said.

The spike in network fees was driven by speculative activity to mint new meme tokens following the launch of the Runes protocol, the report said.

Bitcoin’s bullish trajectory is expected to resume after the halving once mining hashrates have adjusted to the lower rewards and ETF inflows resume, the report said.

Miners' shares have lagged as bitcoin outperformance has sucked retail liquidity from mining stocks, the report said.

Solana is leading the field in blockchain payments, but the network has scalability issues, the report said.

Total crypto market cap is expected to reach $7.5 trillion by 2025 from $2.6 trillion today, the report said.

Spot bitcoin ETF inflows have surpassed expectations, the broker said in the report.

Six out of the top ten revenue-generating protocols are DeFi applications, the report said.

The amount of ether held on exchanges is at an all-time low of 11%, a sign that more of the cryptocurrency is being locked up for DeFi, the report said.

Ether is probably the only digital asset other than bitcoin likely to get spot ETF approval from the SEC, the report said.

A wallet containing pre-mined Ethereum (ETH) has reawakened after an eight-year slumber, moving the long-dormant coins to a new address.

Analysts claim 9 to 10% of BTC’s total supply will be held within ETFs by 2028.

Investment research firm Bernstein has weighed in on the Bitcoin price, predicting it could surge to $150,000 within the next two years.

The investment research company expects an ETF approval to lead to roughly 10% of BTC’s circulating supply going toward the products.

Charles Hoskinson likened SBF to Bernie Madoff the mastermind behind the largest Ponzi scheme in history, and says the media is giving him a 'free pass'.

HCMC, Vietnam, August 28th, 2023, Chainwire Staynex has officially announced its collaboration with the highly-acclaimed Miss Grand International in Vietnam. Spanning across major cities, this event promises to be an exhilarating fusion of culture, beauty, and hospitality. "Established based on the goal of 'elevating the travel-resort experience', Staynex hopes that collaborating with a global ambassador will quickly spread the unique and different experiences brought by the platform to customers worldwide." says Tim Duong, COO at Staynex. Highlights of the Partnership: - Pan-Country Presence: The beauty pageant, renowned globally, will be hosted in major cities across Vietnam. Staynex's platform will serve as the hospitality backbone, with its affiliated hotels providing premium accommodations for pageants and organizers. - Global Representation: The event boasts of participation from many countries, celebrating the diverse tapestry of beauty and culture from every corner of the globe. - Innovative Engagement: Upping the ante in audience engagement, each contestant will be provided with a unique referral code. Their followers can utilize these codes to register for a Staynex subscription. This not only offers the followers a 12-month subscription at the price of 10 months ($10 a year or $1 a month), but they also get 2 additional months absolutely free. - Empowering Votes: Staynex is weaving its user acquisition drive seamlessly into the pageant process. Every successful referral and subscription through the contestant's code will be counted as one vote. This adds a fresh dynamic to the traditional voting mechanism, allowing fans to directly influence the competition's outcome while benefiting from Staynex's offerings. "We are excited to provide a platform where fans can actively participate in the success of their favorite contestants. This initiative is not just about crowning a winner, but also about expanding the Staynex community in a meaningful and engaging manner," adds Tim Duong, COO at Staynex. With beauty, talent, and hospitality coming together under one banner, the Miss Grand International in Vietnam promises to be a truly grand spectacle. Staynex's partnership further cements its commitment to promoting exceptional experiences and forging community ties on a global scale. --- About Staynex™ Staynex™, operating as part of the Labs Group Ecosystem, is a global vacation club platform aiming to reshape the travel and hospitality industry. It utilizes advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and Web3 to improve individual travel experiences and streamline corporate travel bookings. Staynex™ is committed to continuous service enhancement and global expansion, fostering a vision of making travel more accessible, efficient, and enjoyable for everyone. --- About Miss Grand International Miss Grand International (MGI) Pageant is a world-class center of creativity and entertainment, raising the level of the world’s beauty pageant industry, creating Soft Power to be the leader in the international beauty pageant arena, and expanding branding to all over the world. Miss Grand International (MGI) is regarded as an international beauty pageant with an increasing number of followers and popularity on social media and the fastest growing beauty pageant. Miss Grand International (MGI) has now become the world’s leading international beauty pageant and one of the 5 Gland Slam Beauty Pageants along with Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Supranational. For Partnerships & Investing: [email protected] Contact CEO of Staynex™Bernard [email protected]

HCMC, Vietnam, August 28th, 2023, Chainwire Staynex has officially announced its collaboration with the highly-acclaimed Miss Grand International in Vietnam. Spanning across major cities, this event promises to be an exhilarating fusion of culture, beauty, and hospitality. "Established based on the goal of 'elevating the travel-resort experience', Staynex hopes that collaborating with a global ambassador will quickly spread the unique and different experiences brought by the platform to customers worldwide." says Tim Duong, COO at Staynex. Highlights of the Partnership: - Pan-Country Presence: The beauty pageant, renowned globally, will be hosted in major cities across Vietnam. Staynex's platform will serve as the hospitality backbone, with its affiliated hotels providing premium accommodations for pageants and organizers. - Global Representation: The event boasts of participation from many countries, celebrating the diverse tapestry of beauty and culture from every corner of the globe. - Innovative Engagement: Upping the ante in audience engagement, each contestant will be provided with a unique referral code. Their followers can utilize these codes to register for a Staynex subscription. This not only offers the followers a 12-month subscription at the price of 10 months ($10 a year or $1 a month), but they also get 2 additional months absolutely free. - Empowering Votes: Staynex is weaving its user acquisition drive seamlessly into the pageant process. Every successful referral and subscription through the contestant's code will be counted as one vote. This adds a fresh dynamic to the traditional voting mechanism, allowing fans to directly influence the competition's outcome while benefiting from Staynex's offerings. "We are excited to provide a platform where fans can actively participate in the success of their favorite contestants. This initiative is not just about crowning a winner, but also about expanding the Staynex community in a meaningful and engaging manner," adds Tim Duong, COO at Staynex. With beauty, talent, and hospitality coming together under one banner, the Miss Grand International in Vietnam promises to be a truly grand spectacle. Staynex's partnership further cements its commitment to promoting exceptional experiences and forging community ties on a global scale. --- About Staynex™ Staynex™, operating as part of the Labs Group Ecosystem, is a global vacation club platform aiming to reshape the travel and hospitality industry. It utilizes advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and Web3 to improve individual travel experiences and streamline corporate travel bookings. Staynex™ is committed to continuous service enhancement and global expansion, fostering a vision of making travel more accessible, efficient, and enjoyable for everyone. --- About Miss Grand International Miss Grand International (MGI) Pageant is a world-class center of creativity and entertainment, raising the level of the world’s beauty pageant industry, creating Soft Power to be the leader in the international beauty pageant arena, and expanding branding to all over the world. Miss Grand International (MGI) is regarded as an international beauty pageant with an increasing number of followers and popularity on social media and the fastest growing beauty pageant. Miss Grand International (MGI) has now become the world’s leading international beauty pageant and one of the 5 Gland Slam Beauty Pageants along with Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Supranational. For Partnerships & Investing: [email protected] Contact CEO of Staynex™Bernard [email protected]

San Francisco, USA, August 16th, 2023, ChainwireLinera reaches a total of $12M in seed funding. The new round of funding was led by Borderless Capital with contributions from a16z crypto, Laser Digital Ventures, Matrixport, Flow Traders, GSR Markets, and moreLinera, the first blockchain network scalable via microchains, has successfully closed an additional $6M round, led by Borderless Capital. Founded by Mathieu Baudet, former Meta researcher on the Novi digital payments wallet and a cryptographic protocols specialist, Linera's pioneering technology aims to bring web2 scalability to web3 applications by introducing an unlimited number of user chains powered by an elastically scalable network.Linera has now secured a total of $12M in seed funding, with the most recent $6 million follow-on investment round led by Borderless Capital. Notable participants include Laser Digital Ventures, DFG, Cadenza, Block1, Eterna Capital, MH Ventures, Matrixport, L2IV, ArkStream, Flow Traders, GSR Markets, and Open Web Collective (OWC), alongside continued support from a16z crypto, Tribe Capital, and Cygni Capital, who participated in the initial seed round.“Among new web3 architectures emerging like the move away from a single monolithic blockchain, Linera’s microchains are a completely new and necessary evolution. Further, Linera’s capacity for linear scaling is designed to support millions and conceivably billions of simultaneous transactions. And, while unprecedented, this kind of performance and reliability is essential for web3 to actually scale applications like payments, messaging, trading, AI, and more to billions of users around the world," said Alpen Sheth, Senior Partner at Borderless Capital. "Linera has made significant progress since we led their initial seed round last year, and we're excited to expand our support for the project. Mathieu and the Linera team have designed a truly innovative multi-chain architecture that unlocks a broader design space for developers and their end users. We can't wait to see how the ecosystem takes shape and the utilities it enables as Linera advances into the devnet and testnet phases," said Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z crypto.Linera recently made its initial software development kit (SDK) available for testing, targeting Rust developers. Thanks to the new funding, Linera will be expanding the team, launching a devnet and a testnet for the protocol and fostering a strategic presence in the APAC region while continuing to grow their developer academy.From microchains to mass-scalable applicationsThe competition for blockspace in traditional Layer 1 blockchains, coupled with limited production rates and block sizes, creates a bottleneck during traffic peaks, leaving users outpriced or delayed, rendering the infrastructure effectively unavailable.“We’ve taken a step back to completely redesign a blockchain infrastructure that scales from the start,” said Mathieu Baudet, founder and CEO of Linera. “Linera’s unique multi-chain architecture ensures predictable performance, responsiveness, and robust security at Internet scale."Linera empowers developers to create high-speed web3 applications used by a large number of active users in parallel, revolutionizing decentralized infrastructure for a variety of use cases, including retail payments, gaming micro-payments, messaging, proprietary trading, and blockchain bridges.The Linera system scales by adding chains, not by increasing the size or the production rate of blocks. Its groundbreaking microchain model grants each individual user their own lightweight chains, which integrate into browser extensions or mobile devices for streamlined web3 app interactions within their wallets. During times of high demand, Linera's validators expand dynamically like elastic web services.Linera's innovative design is rooted in the expertise that Mathieu Baudet acquired at Meta while contributing to the Libra (now Diem) blockchain and co-authoring the academic paper "FastPay", which laid the foundations for the Linera protocol. Bernadette Cay, Linera's COO, brings extensive experience in launching products from Google and MoPub, the mobile ad exchange acquired by Twitter.About LineraLinera is the first low-latency blockchain designed to scale elastically like web2 applications. Founded by Mathieu Baudet, a former Meta Novi engineer and researcher, with a PhD in cryptographic protocols, Linera revolutionizes blockchain scalability by introducing microchains, removing mempools, and minimizing validator interactions. Linera optimizes performance for web3 applications used by a large number of active users in parallel, enabling unprecedented horizontal scalability for use cases such as retail payments, gaming micro-payments, messaging, proprietary trading, and blockchain bridges.Join us in creating the next generation of high-performance decentralized applications. Learn more at linera.ioAbout BorderlessBorderless is a leading investment management firm focused on Web3 technology, dedicated to supporting the next generation of innovators who are driving the development of groundbreaking technologies that will enable the creation of value without borders. Borderless comprises a team of builders, partners, and investors who adopt a long-term perspective and strive to unleash the full potential of open, community-driven networks. Since 2018, Borderless has made 200+ investments across infrastructure, business applications, and nascent cryptographic protocols, and has played an integral role in the development of some of the most significant and innovative Web3 communities.For more information, please visit their website at borderlesscapital.ioContactPR DirectorKarla VilhelemMarket [email protected]

San Francisco, USA, August 16th, 2023, ChainwireLinera reaches a total of $12M in seed funding. The new round of funding was led by Borderless Capital with contributions from a16z crypto, Laser Digital Ventures, Matrixport, Flow Traders, GSR Markets, and moreLinera, the first blockchain network scalable via microchains, has successfully closed an additional $6M round, led by Borderless Capital. Founded by Mathieu Baudet, former Meta researcher on the Novi digital payments wallet and a cryptographic protocols specialist, Linera's pioneering technology aims to bring web2 scalability to web3 applications by introducing an unlimited number of user chains powered by an elastically scalable network.Linera has now secured a total of $12M in seed funding, with the most recent $6 million follow-on investment round led by Borderless Capital. Notable participants include Laser Digital Ventures, DFG, Cadenza, Block1, Eterna Capital, MH Ventures, Matrixport, L2IV, ArkStream, Flow Traders, GSR Markets, and Open Web Collective (OWC), alongside continued support from a16z crypto, Tribe Capital, and Cygni Capital, who participated in the initial seed round.“Among new web3 architectures emerging like the move away from a single monolithic blockchain, Linera’s microchains are a completely new and necessary evolution. Further, Linera’s capacity for linear scaling is designed to support millions and conceivably billions of simultaneous transactions. And, while unprecedented, this kind of performance and reliability is essential for web3 to actually scale applications like payments, messaging, trading, AI, and more to billions of users around the world," said Alpen Sheth, Senior Partner at Borderless Capital. "Linera has made significant progress since we led their initial seed round last year, and we're excited to expand our support for the project. Mathieu and the Linera team have designed a truly innovative multi-chain architecture that unlocks a broader design space for developers and their end users. We can't wait to see how the ecosystem takes shape and the utilities it enables as Linera advances into the devnet and testnet phases," said Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z crypto.Linera recently made its initial software development kit (SDK) available for testing, targeting Rust developers. Thanks to the new funding, Linera will be expanding the team, launching a devnet and a testnet for the protocol and fostering a strategic presence in the APAC region while continuing to grow their developer academy.From microchains to mass-scalable applicationsThe competition for blockspace in traditional Layer 1 blockchains, coupled with limited production rates and block sizes, creates a bottleneck during traffic peaks, leaving users outpriced or delayed, rendering the infrastructure effectively unavailable.“We’ve taken a step back to completely redesign a blockchain infrastructure that scales from the start,” said Mathieu Baudet, founder and CEO of Linera. “Linera’s unique multi-chain architecture ensures predictable performance, responsiveness, and robust security at Internet scale."Linera empowers developers to create high-speed web3 applications used by a large number of active users in parallel, revolutionizing decentralized infrastructure for a variety of use cases, including retail payments, gaming micro-payments, messaging, proprietary trading, and blockchain bridges.The Linera system scales by adding chains, not by increasing the size or the production rate of blocks. Its groundbreaking microchain model grants each individual user their own lightweight chains, which integrate into browser extensions or mobile devices for streamlined web3 app interactions within their wallets. During times of high demand, Linera's validators expand dynamically like elastic web services.Linera's innovative design is rooted in the expertise that Mathieu Baudet acquired at Meta while contributing to the Libra (now Diem) blockchain and co-authoring the academic paper "FastPay", which laid the foundations for the Linera protocol. Bernadette Cay, Linera's COO, brings extensive experience in launching products from Google and MoPub, the mobile ad exchange acquired by Twitter.About LineraLinera is the first low-latency blockchain designed to scale elastically like web2 applications. Founded by Mathieu Baudet, a former Meta Novi engineer and researcher, with a PhD in cryptographic protocols, Linera revolutionizes blockchain scalability by introducing microchains, removing mempools, and minimizing validator interactions. Linera optimizes performance for web3 applications used by a large number of active users in parallel, enabling unprecedented horizontal scalability for use cases such as retail payments, gaming micro-payments, messaging, proprietary trading, and blockchain bridges.Join us in creating the next generation of high-performance decentralized applications. Learn more at linera.ioAbout BorderlessBorderless is a leading investment management firm focused on Web3 technology, dedicated to supporting the next generation of innovators who are driving the development of groundbreaking technologies that will enable the creation of value without borders. Borderless comprises a team of builders, partners, and investors who adopt a long-term perspective and strive to unleash the full potential of open, community-driven networks. Since 2018, Borderless has made 200+ investments across infrastructure, business applications, and nascent cryptographic protocols, and has played an integral role in the development of some of the most significant and innovative Web3 communities.For more information, please visit their website at borderlesscapital.ioContactPR DirectorKarla VilhelemMarket [email protected]

GSR, the oldest market maker in the crypto space, is feeling the full impact of the ongoing bear market, with multiple top executives, including the CFO, departing the company. The company had also announced a staff cut in October 2022, terming them as a part of “structural changes” in the organization. Top Executives Depart As crypto’s largest market maker retreats in the face of the bear market onslaught, several high-level executives, including C-level and department heads, are headed toward the exit. According to sources, the retrenchment is having a major impact on one of the industry’s oldest and best-known players and one that is extremely prominent in the US markets. The most recent and maybe the most high-profile departure from the firm is its Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Hugh. Hugh joined GSR in 2021 and played a pivotal role in building the company’s finance function. Hugh has so far not commented on his departure. Other high-level executives leaving the company include GSR’s Global Head of Product, Benoit Bosc, and its Director of Trading Operations, Aman Bhalla. Bosc had taken over the sales role from Michael Bressler, a highly experienced TradeFi executive from JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Bressler had joined GSR in 2021, becoming the company’s sales head in 2021. However, Bressler left the firm in 2022. Other Notable Departures Other notable departures from the company include Jake Dwyer. Dwyer had joined the firm in 2021 and was tasked with leading GSR’s DeFi and venture initiatives. Trader Quentin Dubois and the head of Quant Trading, Romain Bernard, have also exited the company, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Director of Business Development at GSR, Jeff Stern, has also left the organization. All of these departures occurred this year. While Dwyer confirmed his departure from GSR, the others, including Bhalla, Bosc, Vince, Barnard, and Dubois, have not commented on the matter. A spokesperson from GSR commented on the matter, stating that the company will look to evolve with the fast-moving crypto markets. “GSR has been at the center of crypto markets for ten years — markets that are fast-moving and volatile. We owe it to our clients to continue adapting and evolving to keep pace with the speed of crypto, and we will continue to do so.” The spokesperson also confirmed the departures of Bosc and Bhalla. However, they added that they will continue in their respective roles until the end of August and ensure a smooth transition of their respective roles. “Our business operations and strategy have naturally evolved to respond to changing market conditions, but there has been no restructuring.” Crypto Winter Takes Its Toll GSR had laid off around 10% of its workforce in October 2022, adding that the layoffs were part of structural changes. In doing so, the company became the latest in a long line of crypto firms that had to curtail their growth and ambitions in the face of a crippling crypto winter. Companies and exchanges operating have sanctioned a wave of layoffs as they look to navigate the crypto bear market. The firm had undertaken an aggressive expansion drive, growing its workforce to over 200 and reaching a peak of 300 before the layoffs took place. A source familiar with the firm and its operations stated, “The executive team is mostly friends, and I think it threw off a lot of the momentum GSR built in the previous cycle. They hired a lot of corporate Wall Street executives that came in at the top of the bull market, which ended up costing the firm dearly.” Most of the c-suite executives have links with Winton, CEO Jacob Palmstierna’s former employer, or Goldman Sachs, the former employer of Rich Rosenblum and Cristian Gil. Staff at GSR believes that the firm got too big too soon and the team needs to be better streamlined. A GSR spokesperson stated, “While last year’s bear market created challenges for all crypto companies, our long-term belief in the space hasn’t changed. We have continued investing and hiring in high-conviction areas and have maintained a world-class team of TradFi and DeFi talent that is uniquely positioned for another decade of growth.” Scaling Back US Operations The firm is also focusing on scaling back its US operations. Multiple sources have attributed the retreat to a combination of a number of factors. These include a decreasing appetite for token listings, a high cost of talent acquisition, and concerns around regulations. According to a source, the company has also moved from its New York office, taking up a space in Jersey City instead. “At one point, it was probably their largest office, and they have been scaling it down meaningfully. They have given up their New York office and have a smaller space in Jersey City.” Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

GSR, the oldest market maker in the crypto space, is feeling the full impact of the ongoing bear market, with multiple top executives, including the CFO, departing the company. The company had also announced a staff cut in October 2022, terming them as a part of “structural changes” in the organization. Top Executives Depart As crypto’s largest market maker retreats in the face of the bear market onslaught, several high-level executives, including C-level and department heads, are headed toward the exit. According to sources, the retrenchment is having a major impact on one of the industry’s oldest and best-known players and one that is extremely prominent in the US markets. The most recent and maybe the most high-profile departure from the firm is its Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Hugh. Hugh joined GSR in 2021 and played a pivotal role in building the company’s finance function. Hugh has so far not commented on his departure. Other high-level executives leaving the company include GSR’s Global Head of Product, Benoit Bosc, and its Director of Trading Operations, Aman Bhalla. Bosc had taken over the sales role from Michael Bressler, a highly experienced TradeFi executive from JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Bressler had joined GSR in 2021, becoming the company’s sales head in 2021. However, Bressler left the firm in 2022. Other Notable Departures Other notable departures from the company include Jake Dwyer. Dwyer had joined the firm in 2021 and was tasked with leading GSR’s DeFi and venture initiatives. Trader Quentin Dubois and the head of Quant Trading, Romain Bernard, have also exited the company, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Director of Business Development at GSR, Jeff Stern, has also left the organization. All of these departures occurred this year. While Dwyer confirmed his departure from GSR, the others, including Bhalla, Bosc, Vince, Barnard, and Dubois, have not commented on the matter. A spokesperson from GSR commented on the matter, stating that the company will look to evolve with the fast-moving crypto markets. “GSR has been at the center of crypto markets for ten years — markets that are fast-moving and volatile. We owe it to our clients to continue adapting and evolving to keep pace with the speed of crypto, and we will continue to do so.” The spokesperson also confirmed the departures of Bosc and Bhalla. However, they added that they will continue in their respective roles until the end of August and ensure a smooth transition of their respective roles. “Our business operations and strategy have naturally evolved to respond to changing market conditions, but there has been no restructuring.” Crypto Winter Takes Its Toll GSR had laid off around 10% of its workforce in October 2022, adding that the layoffs were part of structural changes. In doing so, the company became the latest in a long line of crypto firms that had to curtail their growth and ambitions in the face of a crippling crypto winter. Companies and exchanges operating have sanctioned a wave of layoffs as they look to navigate the crypto bear market. The firm had undertaken an aggressive expansion drive, growing its workforce to over 200 and reaching a peak of 300 before the layoffs took place. A source familiar with the firm and its operations stated, “The executive team is mostly friends, and I think it threw off a lot of the momentum GSR built in the previous cycle. They hired a lot of corporate Wall Street executives that came in at the top of the bull market, which ended up costing the firm dearly.” Most of the c-suite executives have links with Winton, CEO Jacob Palmstierna’s former employer, or Goldman Sachs, the former employer of Rich Rosenblum and Cristian Gil. Staff at GSR believes that the firm got too big too soon and the team needs to be better streamlined. A GSR spokesperson stated, “While last year’s bear market created challenges for all crypto companies, our long-term belief in the space hasn’t changed. We have continued investing and hiring in high-conviction areas and have maintained a world-class team of TradFi and DeFi talent that is uniquely positioned for another decade of growth.” Scaling Back US Operations The firm is also focusing on scaling back its US operations. Multiple sources have attributed the retreat to a combination of a number of factors. These include a decreasing appetite for token listings, a high cost of talent acquisition, and concerns around regulations. According to a source, the company has also moved from its New York office, taking up a space in Jersey City instead. “At one point, it was probably their largest office, and they have been scaling it down meaningfully. They have given up their New York office and have a smaller space in Jersey City.” Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Should the market experience favorable momentum due to Bitcoin ETF approvals and increased engagement from institutional players, miners would attain sufficient "margin room" for the 2024 halving, Bernstein outlined.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced that he is officially accepting Bitcoin for his presidential campaign donations. Crypto-Friendly Mayer from Miami On Friday, August 4, Miami Mayer and Republican candidate for the 2024 Presidential Election, Francis Suarez, confirmed that his campaign would be accepting donations in Bitcoin. He clarified that his supporters can donate as little as 0.00034 BTC, equivalent to $1, at his website. "Officially, my campaign is accepting Bitcoin," Suarez announced. "This is a process of developing technologies that are going to create democratizing opportunities for wealth creation and are not manipulated by a human being's ulterior motives, political goals, etc." Suarez heavily criticized the Biden administration for its approach towards cryptocurrencies which involves regulation through enforcement, without understanding the mechanisms of digital assets or setting clear rules. "The biggest mistake that this administration has made is they don't understand crypto so they have gone to a regulated-by-enforcement mechanism as opposed to set the ground rules," Suarez explained. "You have to be able to classify certain digital products, you have to be able to have certain guidelines and rules that are clear with respect to the custody of assets." The candidate also declared that, if elected the President, he would ban the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDC): "Nobody wants the federal government knowing where you have your money and how much money you have ... I don't think that there's anything particularly innovative about that." Francis Suarez announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential race in June 2023. He argued that the country needs a president who understands how cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies work. Miami Mayer has long been a supporter of Bitcoin and digital assets in general. He already launched his own cryptocurrency MiamiCoin (MIA) in 2021, and promised to make Miami a Bitcoin hub. Presidential Candidates Against CBDC Francis Suarez is not the only presidential hopeful who spoke out against CBDCs. The governor of Florida and presidential candidate for the Republican party, Ron DeSantis, criticized the Federal Reserve’s new payments system, FedNow, and said that the Biden administration’s efforts towards launching a CBDC are “about surveillance and control”. Both Ron DeSantis and another presidential hopeful of the Democratic party, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., implied they would not support the launch and use of a CBDC in the country. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently confirmed the purchase of BTC for his children, even though he had earlier denied investment in the digital currency. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders and Democratic Senators, including Elizabeth Warren, Bob Casey, and Richard Blumenthal, are urging the Biden administration to initiate a crackdown on “crypto tax evaders”. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Prominent lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to initiate a crackdown on crypto tax evaders and enforce tax reporting guidelines for users in the crypto space. The United States Congress had mandated new tax rules for crypto traders, but officials have been slow to implement these rules. Act Against Evaders According to experts, cryptocurrency brokers have ignored at least half of their tax obligations. Now, a group of prominent Democratic senators has joined Bernie Sanders in demanding federal officials initiate a crackdown to fix what analysts believe is a $50 billion tax gap in the budget caused due to wilful crypto tax evaders. The lawmakers have urged the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury to publish tax reporting guidelines for cryptocurrency brokers and enforce the guidelines. Along with Bernie Sanders, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bob Casey, and Richard Blumenthal have signed a letter warning the heads of the IRS and the Treasury that time was running out to implement the proposed rules. The rules lawmakers were referring to in the letter are the directives that were included in the Senate’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, passed in August 2021. The bill broadened tax reporting requirements for businesses that acted as brokers for cryptocurrencies, Officials Slow To Implement Rules The four lawmakers stated that the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act required new reporting requirements when it came to crypto trading. However, officials in the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have not yet created any rules to implement them, despite a deadline set by Congress looming. Many experts have stated that such a delay in drafting tax regulations of such nature is highly unusual. The lawmakers quoted a report by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, which stated that failure to address the tax gap due to crypto brokers evading taxes could cost the Treasury $28 billion over the next eight years. “Nearly two years have passed since the law was enacted, and the implementation deadline is less than six months away—but Treasury has yet to publish proposed rules. If your agencies fail to implement the new crypto tax reporting rules by December 31, 2023 — the deadline established by Congress — you will risk losing an estimated $1.5 billion in tax revenue in 2024. This is an unacceptable outcome.” The lawmakers further argued, “Research suggests that crypto tax evaders are cheating the IRS out of at least $50 billion a year—but the figure may be much higher. Given the chance, tax evaders and the crypto intermediaries willing to aid them will continue to game the system, exploit loopholes, and siphon off billions of dollars a year from the U.S. government. You must not give them that chance.” A Significant Gap Analysts from Barclays had claimed the $50 billion figure quoted by the lawmakers last year, based on IRS data from 2017. However, they say that the actual figure could be much higher given the jump in activity in the crypto space in recent years. According to analysts, the $50 billion gap accounts for 10% of the national tax gap, which is the money owed in taxes every year but not paid. Furthermore, because of the anonymous nature of crypto exchanges, the Internal Revenue Service faces a daunting task in figuring out where the taxes are not being paid. Officials have repeatedly pointed out that the longer it takes to implement rules, the more large crypto traders can avoid paying taxes. New Rules Could Tackle Offenders If passed, the new rules implemented by the Treasury Department will require entities such as Coinbase to furnish information about crypto trades. This information would include gains and losses, which would be reported to the IRS. Many experts are of the view that the new rules would give the IRS the much-needed tools to ensure the closure of the tax gap. It would also give the IRS the resources it needs to go after large-scale tax evaders. The rules have received support from President Joe Biden, who has stated on numerous occasions that crypto loopholes are allowing wealthy crypto investors to hide their revenue from authorities. The new rules will also help the industry, which is already grappling with numerous types of fraud and corruption. The lawmakers in question have been highly critical of the crypto space, with Warren being extremely outspoken about the FTX debacle. Warren had also asked Fidelity to shelve its 401(k) Bitcoin plan and alleged that the illegal fentanyl drug trade was being funded using crypto. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.