Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

New York Stock Exchange President Stacey Cunningham on todays markets, the reopening economy, cryptocurrencies and potential higher taxes under the Biden administration.

Miami is hosting the largest-ever cryptocurrency conference this week in a sign that what was once dismissed as a passing fad is now going mainstream.

The conference, which runs from June 3 to June 5 at the Mana Convention Center in Miamis Wynwood neighborhood, brings a host of reputable attendees including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who has said he wants to make the city a crypto hub.

Financial data analysis graph showing global market trends. Selective focus. Horizontal composition with copy space. (iStock)

The conference was originally scheduled to run from April 30 to May 1 in Los Angeles but was changed to Miami amid concerns of Californias strict COVID-19 policies. The date was also changed back to allow time for the second wave of the virus to pass and allow vaccines to roll out.

BITCOIN CONTENDS WITH BIGGEST MONTHLY DROP ON RECORD

Conference organizers expect upwards of 50,000 attendees.

Though still small compared to its west coast counterparts, Miami has emerged as a major tech hub in recent years. The Wynwood neighborhood, in particular, has become a hub for arts, technology, and innovation.

Mayor Suarez told Fox Business in January he is looking into allowing citizens to pay taxes and fees to the city in bitcoin.

CLICK HERE TO READ FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO

"We want to be one of the most crypto-forward and technological cities in the country," he said. "So we're looking at creating a regulatory framework that makes us the easiest place in the United States to do business if you're doing it in cryptocurrencies."

Fox Business Catie Perry contributed to this report.

Go here to read the rest:
Miami to host largest cryptocurrency conference in history - Fox Business

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday came out with an important clarification on cryptocurrency trade. The central bank said that banks cannot refer to its April 2018 circular to caution their customers against trading in cryptocurrencies.

The central bank said such references to its earlier circular by banks are not in order as it was set aside by the Supreme Court on March 4, 2020.

As such, in view of the order of the Honble Supreme Court, the circular is no longer valid from the date of the Supreme Court judgement, and therefore cannot be cited or quoted from, the RBI statement said.

Though the central banks statement is objective, it does give an indication that the stance towards cryptocurrencies is softening in India.

It comes at a crucial time as the government is in process of framing rules to either ban or regulate cryptocurrency trade in the country; the latter option is a preferred choice of most crypto traders and exchanges operating in the country.

Read | Cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin inches closer to $37,000, Ether rebounds sharply

RBIs clarification will directly help crypto exchanges that have been facing a lot of bottlenecks in their negotiations with banks. Nischal Shetty, founder and CEO, WazirX, had recently told IndiaToday.in about banking hurdles with respect to crypto trade.

Nischal Shetty has welcomed RBI's statement and said it is a positive development for the entire crypto sector in India. He said banks will now have more clarity in dealing with crypto exchanges.

On Twitter, Shetty said, Its amazing to see RBI clarifying and helping solve uncertainty for Crypto in India. There are over 1.5 crore Indians in Crypto. This news has brought joy and confidence to everyone in the sector. Lets continue to build the Indian crypto ecosystem.

The RBI also asked banks and other regulated entities to carry out customer due diligence processes in line with regulations governing standards for KYC, anti-money laundering, combating of financial terrorism and obligations of regulated entities under PMLA, 2020 in addition to ensuring compliance with relevant provisions under FEMA for overseas remittances.

This, too, is a welcome move according to WazirXs Nischal Shetty as all exchanges providing cryptocurrency trade services to customers are up to date with all regulations.

RBIs statement is important as it is another indication that the government is looking to soften its stance on cryptocurrency trade and go for regulation rather than a ban. A few days ago, a report indicated that the government is planning to set up a new expert committee to re-examine all aspects of crypto trade.

An earlier committee headed by former finance secretary Subhash Garg in 2019 recommended a blanket ban on cryptocurrency trade. However, many within the government now feel that the suggestions of the committee have become outdated.

Given the recent developments, many crypto investors and exchanges feel that the government may not go for an outright ban on virtual coin trade in the country.

Earlier in March, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had asked companies to declare their cryptocurrency investments and was viewed as another indication that the government may consider the option to regulate cryptocurrency trade. Even Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier told India Today that the government will not shut all options on cryptocurrencies.

Combining all these developments with the growing popularity of cryptocurrency trade in India, it is a high possibility. Regulating virtual coin trade instead of a complete ban could be the preferred choice of the government in view of the evolving circumstances.

Also Read | RBI clarification on Bitcoin and cryto trading, here are 5 key takeaways

A Business Standard report quoting sources in the RBI said allowing banks to carry out due diligence for crypto investors and users amounts to legitimising trading in the country.

They could have stopped after the first paragraph which said the April circular is no longer valid. But RBI went on to permit banks to carry out due diligence for crypto customers like any other legitimate activities that are allowed for the banks, a source quoted in the report said.

After the RBIs statement, people from the crypto domain say the central bank has cleared its stance on virtual coins and this will help make the industry stronger.

They also said that the cryptocurrency sector now needs a concrete set of guidelines from the government that will help in better regulation. For instance, there is a regulatory framework needed for taxing cryptos.

While creating a solid framework for cryptos will need more time, RBIs clarification is a big step in that direction.

See the article here:
RBIs clarification on cryptocurrency: What it means for investors in India - India Today

WASHINGTONRegulators sued a group of cryptocurrency promoters who helped raise over $2 billion from investors with the promise of 40% monthly returns, in one of the largest cases ever brought over digital assets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday sued five individuals in Manhattan federal court over their promotion of BitConnect. The SEC said the men violated laws that required them to register as brokers and ran afoulof other investor-protection rules. It didnt accuse them of fraud.

The SECs lawsuit seeks to have the defendants give back the money they made and to pay civil monetary penalties.

BitConnect was a digital asset created in 2016 and sold in exchange for bitcoin, the worlds most valuable cryptocurrency. BitConnect told investors it would profitably trade their bitcoin using an automated trading bot and required the currencyto be locked up for terms ranging from four to 10 months, according to the SECs lawsuit. BitConnect eventually lost 92% of its value, and investors lost all or nearly all of their funds in the lending program, the SECs lawsuit said.Thousands invested in BitConnect.

The SEC sued BitConnect promoters Trevon Brown of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Craig Grant of Kissimmee, Fla., Ryan Maasen of Tulsa, Okla., and Michael Noble of Pacific Palisades, Calif. Regulators also sued Joshua Jeppesen of East Falmouth, Mass., who allegedly was a liaison between BitConnect and the promoters. Mr. Jeppesen also represented BitConnect at conferences and other events.

See the rest here:
SEC Sues Cryptocurrency Promoters Over Deal That Raised $2 Billion - The Wall Street Journal

As cryptocurrency melts down, the stocks of many crypto-related companies have followed. For some of them, significant resistance has formed above current trading levels. This could keep a top on them, at least in the short run.

They include Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), SOS Limited (NYSE:SOS), and BIGG Digital Assets Inc. (OTC:BBKCF).

See Also: Report Shows Over $2B Worth Of Bitcoin Bought During The Dip

The $28.75 level was support for Marathon Digital. Support levels can convert into resistance and that could happen here.

Many of the investors who paid $28.75now regret their decision because the price is lower. A number of these investors decide to sell, but they're reluctant to take a loss.

As a result, they place their sell orders at their buying price. In this case, it's $28.75. If there are enough of these sell orders, it will form resistance.

The $3.90 level was support for SOS. Now it is a resistance level.

For BIGG the resistance is at $1.80. Sellers at this level have kept a top on the price for a month.

Your Resource for Non-Stop Trade Ideas

Join ZINGERNATION on "Power Hour", as we work hard to deliver trade ideas every day.

For the latest in financial news, exclusive stories, memes follow Benzinga on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. For the best interviews, stock market talk & videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

View original post here:
3 Cryptocurrency Stocks That May Not Rebound Soon - Benzinga

With a combined market cap in the trillions, cryptocurrencies are a force to be reckoned with. Public confidence in crypto waxes and wanes on a daily basis, as reflected in the volatility of the price. Cryptocurrencies are the ingenuity of technology. They are a new form of currency, but also a payment system, like credit cards. The users of cryptocurrency stored in their digital wallets can trade goods and services with it.

But this currency is very different from the familiar US dollar.

The dollar is printed by the US Mint. Cryptocurrency is generated within the currencys network, and for its users. The currency is digital, so it never leaves its network.

Unlike the dollar, which is backed by the US government, there is no centralized institution behind cryptocurrency to ensure the security of transactions, integrity, and dispute resolution. These are all built into the protocols of the network. Cryptocurrency is a far more efficient payment system, as a result.

The first cryptocurrency was bitcoin, the brainchild of its founder Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym) his real identity remains unconfirmed. He started the first trade on Jan. 3, 2009. Its price rose from pennies to $20,000/coin in 2017. Its market cap is $750 billion. It has no owners or spokesperson just like the internet.

Elon Musk has invested Teslas $1.5 billion cash in bitcoins this year.

There are over 7,800 different cryptocurrencies. Independent companies like Coinbase (COIN) are exchanges where one can buy cryptocurrencies for dollars. Coinbase went public this year and has a market cap of $50 billion.

This reveals the excitement of people who understand the crypto phenomenon.

The Business Model:

Starting a new cryptocurrency has become easy, but it is not a typical business because there is no profit-generating product or service. The originators of new cryptocurrency initially give themselves a large number of free coins. They publicly announce the new deal.

Then onwards the network runs by itself and the originators are out of the picture.

Independent entities set up nodes to verify transactions, by majority consensus. They are called miners. The miners deploy powerful computers to do the work.

Anyone can be a miner. Collectively, the miners are the new gatekeepers and managers of the network.

The miners get awarded newly minted coins and also get paid a commission by the seller for their work. They validate each new block of transactions by solving a complex mathematical problem whose solution requires high-speed power-hungry computers.

When irregularities happen, both unintentional and intentional, the miners take action to resolve the problem.

The Incentives:

The incentives of a cryptosystem are beautifully aligned and not based on mediation by a trusted third party. The originators, the users, the miners, and the disrupters can only benefit when the currency gains confidence and appreciates.

If a significant irregularity in the system is sensed, the miners can join hands to fork out to a new cryptocurrency path abandoning the old one while preserving older users wallets and transactions. This renders the loot of the new thieves worthless and deters cheating.

The Regulators:

Identifying and catching thieves of cryptocurrencies is non-trivial for normal law enforcement. But miners can derail the cheaters.

Is this sufficient?

The IRS also has problem collecting taxes on gains made by cryptocurrency sellers. The sellers buying price to compute gains is not always known, unless the seller bought it on a crypto exchange.

The Technology:

The technology behind bitcoin is blockchain. Transactions are grouped into blocks. Each new block is validated by a miner before it can be added to the blockchain. Every node maintains a full history of blocks in the ledger with timestamps, making the ledger tamperproof. Encryption ensures the anonymity of wallets. The internet and encryption have existed for decades. Satoshi added special protocols on top, for security, integrity, reliability, and dispute resolution.

What is the value of cryptocurrency if it is network generated?

Although the US dollar was initially backed by gold reserves, this is no longer true. The pieces of green paper have value because originally everybody thinks they have value initially, said Nobel Laureate in Economics, Milton Friedman.

Cryptocurrencies also have value if their users think they do.

A large percentage of cryptocurrency users are illicit business dealers.

However, many younger professionals are investing in it and witnessing a huge appreciation in value. The entire community is incentivized to keep the system kosher this is the belief.

There are many cryptocurrency billionaires typically the founders of these networks. That has created an interesting market of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) a blockchain-enabled technology proving unique ownership of digital assets a video clip of NBA superstar LeBron James dunking reportedly changed hands in April for $387,000.

But cryptocurrency systems remain hard to get our arms around. And because of the anonymity of its users, it is looked at with suspicion.

Cryptocurrency is legit in my opinion. Its landscape is evolving. It would be wise to invest in understanding it, to see where it lands. The technology is compelling enough to revolutionize fintech.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

See original here:
Witness the landing Cryptocurrency - The Times of India Blog

NEW DELHI: Major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether gave up their gains on Thursday as environmental concerns rose due to cryptocurrency mining. Iran put a blanket ban on cryptocurrency mining for the next four months as widespread power outages stirred public dissatisfaction across the country.

Randal Quarles, Vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, laid out on Wednesday, some of the major questions US financial regulators will need to tackle as they figure out how to best monitor the rapidly changing cryptocurrency landscape.

Cryptocurrencies are capable of "potentially much broader use" now, thanks in part to the introduction of so-called "stablecoins," which are pegged to more traditional currencies, he added.

Bitcoin is still down about 30 per cent so far this month while rival cryptocurrency Ether is about 42 per cent below its record. However, overall volume in the crypto market have been affected, analysts say.

"We are currently in a phase of consolidation and markets seem to have corrected slightly today. Overall, markets dipped by 4-5 per cent across the board. But this dip is not supported by volume, hence expect it to be temporary. This choppy behavior will continue for the next few months as we see the euphoria in the markets stabilize," said Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder, Mudrex.

As leading cryptos by market capitalization start to show signs of recovery, historically, altcoins have also followed suit in quick succession. Analysts advise investors to remain cautious, despite the belief that the market is likely to ride an upward trend over the next few days and potentially weeks.

While Bitcoin can process around six transactions per second, and Ethereum does around 25, the TRON network claims to have a capacity for 2,000 transactions per second (TPS). This project aims to become the leading decentralized platform, which is specialized in the domain of content sharing and entertainment. In 2018, it made its biggest acquisition when it took over BitTorrent.

Market capitalization and rank: $8.2bn (24)

For TRX to go further up, it needs to break and sustain above the resistance level of $0.096 whereas $0.069 should act as a crucial support level. The asset currently trades at $ .0782.

Time is in UTC and the daily time frame is 12:00 AM - 12: 00 PM UTC

See the original post here:
Top Cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin, Dogecoin and others retreat - Economic Times

While the global cryptocurrency market continues to surge, it's clear that volatility is a primary feature of the trend and industry experts advise investors to proceed with discernment.

Bitcoin is seeing its biggest bounce back since February following a mistyped tweet by Tesla's (TSLA) - Get ReportElon Musk about Dogecoin, leading many to believe there's a strong correlation between Musk's tweets and the coin's price movements.Dogecoin,which famously began as a joke, soared to all-time highs this past week,briefly rising above 40 cents after trading below a pennyat the beginning of the year.This ability to be moved significantly by just a tweet further proves the investment area's volatility.

One New York-based family office has developed trading algorithms for Dogecoin and is actively playing the market.

"Volatility is a feature of a cryptocurrency, it's not a bug," said Ed Lopez, managing director, head of ETF Product at VanEck (OUNZ) - Get Reportduring a recent roundtable discussion on The Digital Transformation sponsored by VanEck.

"But,we believe that cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and others are bigger than Elon Musk.There is a whole ecosystem being built around these cryptocurrency technologies, which promise to transform how we do business," Lopez added. David Trainer, New Constructs CEO, concurred that crypto is bigger than any one player.

With the inherent risk in the bitcoin asset class, investors should be betting on asymmetric return profiles in the digital currency space.

"I think it's important to distinguish between the technology and the individual currencies, and I also think it's important to be mindful of valuation. With the advent of any new technology, there's an explosion on the front end that ends up leaving a lot of people with losses on their hands," Trainer said.

Ethereum has been on fire as prices hit another record high Monday, breaking through the $3,000 barrier and more than quadrupling its year-to-date gains to around 330%.Ether token prices were marked 8.7% higher on the CoinDesk exchange and changing hands at $3,172.53 each.

While theres been overallvolatility in the cryptocurrency markets, ethereum has been as steady as they come. In fact, its been much steadier than the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin. While bitcoin has been trading better lately, it struggled Monday, up about 2% but well off the highs.

Coinbase (COIN) - Get Report, whichbecame one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and is valued at approximately $47 billion, acts as a middleman in the crypto market, allowing investors to buy and sell a wide range of crypto coins from bitcoin to Ethereum. But experts gave several reasons for bitcoin's decline that coincided with the direct listing of Coinbaseand weak trading the days after.

"The volatility is expected in cryptos -- including bitcoin, the most highly-valued one by far. But bitcoin's ride up over the past year or so has been dramatic," wrote TheStreet's Adam Smith.

Zev Fima, a research analyst withAction Alerts PLUS, added that "volatility is a feature of cryptocurrency at this point and you certainly don't want too much of your cash piled into something like that. It's good risk management to make sure you keep in check the percentage of cash on the balance sheet bitcoin is."

Regardless of its volatile nature, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, Thomas Farley said that cryptocurrency is the best-kept secret in the world and maybe even in the history of the financial markets.

Go here to see the original:
How to Invest in Cryptocurrency - TheStreet

The board of advisers at the digital chamber is stuffed with former federal regulators, including a former member of Congress and a recent chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, J. Christopher Giancarlo, who was named to the board of BlockFi, a financial services company that tries to link cryptocurrencies with traditional wealth managers.

Max Baucus, the Democratic former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Jim Messina, a former top Obama adviser, also have recently been named to senior industry posts.

Lobbying disclosure records show that at least 65 contracts as of early 2021 addressed industry matters such as digital currency, cryptocurrency or blockchain, up from about 20 in 2019. Some of the biggest spenders on lobbying include Ripple, Coinbase the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States and trade groups like the Blockchain Association.

The lobbying burst is one of several recent signs nationwide that the industry is becoming a bigger presence in the economy. FTX, the cryptocurrency trading firm, is spending $135 million to secure the naming rights to the home arena of the Miami Heat.

The billionaire Elon Musk, who hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, was asked about Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency featuring the face of a Shiba Inu dog that was created as a joke but has recently surged in value. Its the future of currency. Its an unstoppable financial vehicle thats going to take over the world, Mr. Musk said, before adding, Yeah, its a hustle. The price of Dogecoin plunged nearly 35 percent in the hours after the show aired.

With the industrys hires of recent government officials, claims of conflicts of interest are already starting to emerge.

Jay Clayton, who was the S.E.C. chairman until December, is now a paid adviser to the hedge fund One River Digital Asset Management, which invests hundreds of millions in Bitcoin and Ether, two cryptocurrencies, for its clients. Mr. Clayton declined to comment.

See original here:
As Scrutiny of Cryptocurrency Grows, the Industry Turns to K Street - The New York Times

A representation of virtual currency Ethereum are seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken February 19, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Ether , the world's second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin , on Thursday extended a breakaway rally to a new record high of $3,616.10, gathering momentum as investors diverted focus from its main rival.

On the Bitstamp Exchange ether was last up about 4.0% at $3,568.92. Bitcoin was down 0.3% at $57,353.03 and about 11% below its record intraday high at $64,895.22 set on April 14.

Ether, the token traded over the ethereum blockchain, topped $3,000 for the first time on Monday. It is up more than 385% this year, compared with 96% for bitcoin.

The rise is in part a spillover from flows into bitcoin, which has grown in stature as big-name investors from Elon Musk's carmaker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) to Wall Street investor Stanley Druckenmiller bought in.

"Ethereum has been able to maintain its positive momentum, a crushing series of all-time highs in the past week," said Konstantin Anissimov, executive director at cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO.

"The current all-time high has reignited the ambitious sentiment that ethereum may eventually flippen (supplant) bitcoin by market capitalization in the near future."

Also, a technical adjustment called EIP (ethereum improvement proposal) 1559, expected to reduce the supply of ethereum and go live in July, has provided a lift for the digital currency.

Still, there is a speculative frenzy going on in the asset class. Joke cryptocurrency dogecoin is up by 24,000% over the last 12 months and is now the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. read more

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Link:
Cryptocurrency ether rises to new record high over $3600 - Reuters

When federal regulators late last year accused one of the worlds most popular cryptocurrency platforms of illegally selling $1.38 billion worth of digital money to investors, it was a pivotal moment in efforts to crack down on a fast-growing market and in the still-nascent industrys willingness to dive deeply into the Washington influence game.

The company, Ripple Labs, has enlisted lobbyists, lawyers and other well-connected advocates to make its case to the Securities and Exchange Commission and beyond in one of the first big legal battles over what limits and requirements the government should set for trading and using digital currency.

Ripple has hired two lobbying firms in the past three months. It has retained a consulting firm staffed with former aides to both Hillary Clinton and former President Donald J. Trump to help it develop strategy in Washington. And to defend itself against the S.E.C., it hired Mary Jo White, a former chairwoman of the commission during the Obama administration.

Ripple is just one of a long list of cryptocurrency companies scrambling for influence in Washington as the Biden administration begins setting policy that could shape the course of a potentially revolutionary industry that is rapidly moving into the mainstream and drawing intensifying attention from financial regulators, law enforcement officials and lawmakers.

There is a tectonic shift underway, Perianne Boring, the president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a cryptocurrency lobbying group, told other industry lobbyists, executives and two House lawmakers who serve as industry champions, during a virtual gathering last month. If we dont start planning and taking action soon, we have everything to risk.

So far, cryptocurrency has been a highly volatile investment, but it is already starting to alter the way individuals, companies and even some central banks do business. Firms like Ripple, which is based in San Francisco, run cryptocurrency platforms that allow customers to make nearly instant global payments through a system that operates largely outside government monetary networks.

Globally, the value of all outstanding cryptocurrency has jumped to about $2.4 trillion or more than the approximately $1.2 trillion of United States currency in circulation worldwide from about $200 billion two years ago. This is from an industry that was born only a dozen years ago, when the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was introduced.

As the stakes have grown, so has the recognition that the industrys future at least in the United States will be shaped in Washington, prompting the rush to scoop up well-connected advocates.

The board of advisers at the digital chamber is stuffed with former federal regulators, including a former member of Congress and a recent chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, J. Christopher Giancarlo, who was named to the board of BlockFi, a financial services company that tries to link cryptocurrencies with traditional wealth managers.

Max Baucus, the Democratic former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Jim Messina, a former top Obama adviser, also have recently been named to senior industry posts.

Lobbying disclosure records show that at least 65 contracts as of early 2021 addressed industry matters such as digital currency, cryptocurrency or blockchain, up from about 20 in 2019. Some of the biggest spenders on lobbying include Ripple, Coinbase the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States and trade groups like the Blockchain Association.

The lobbying burst is one of several recent signs nationwide that the industry is becoming a bigger presence in the economy. FTX, the cryptocurrency trading firm, is spending $135 million to secure the naming rights to the home arena of the Miami Heat.

The billionaire Elon Musk, who hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, was asked about Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency featuring the face of a Shiba Inu dog that was created as a joke but has recently surged in value. Its the future of currency. Its an unstoppable financial vehicle thats going to take over the world, Mr. Musk said, before adding, Yeah, its a hustle. The price of Dogecoin plunged nearly 35 percent in the hours after the show aired.

With the industrys hires of recent government officials, claims of conflicts of interest are already starting to emerge.

Jay Clayton, who was the S.E.C. chairman until December, is now a paid adviser to the hedge fund One River Digital Asset Management, which invests hundreds of millions in Bitcoin and Ether, two cryptocurrencies, for its clients. Mr. Clayton declined to comment.

The day before Mr. Clayton resigned from the S.E.C., the agency filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, which competes with Bitcoin, alleging that the company had improperly raised $1.3 billion from investors through what the agency claimed was effectively an illegal stock offering.

Binance.US, which runs a cryptocurrency exchange, this month hired as its chief executive Brian P. Brooks, who until January served as the acting head of the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, which helps regulate banks. The day before he stepped down, the agency granted a conditional charter to Anchorage Digital Bank, making it the countrys first national cryptocurrency bank. A spokeswoman for Mr. Brooks said Binance was not a bank, so there was no conflict.

Ripples new lobbying firms include one that was recently set up by K. Michael Conaway, a Republican who until this year served as a House member from Texas and helped push pro-cryptocurrency legislation last year. Mr. Conaway is banned from lobbying his former colleagues for a year.

So Ripple has enlisted Mr. Conaways former chief of staff, who is also a partner at the lobbying firm but is no longer subject to the revolving-door ban, to lobby on bills pending in Congress.

Among the other firms working for Ripple is Teneo led by Declan Kelly, a former aide to Mrs. Clinton which has assigned Tony Sayegh, a senior Treasury Department official during the Trump administration, to help shape its communications strategy in Washington.

So far, the industry has not become a big player in campaign contributions, although there are major exceptions, like Sam Bankman-Fried, the 29-year-old billionaire founder of FTX, who donated $5 million in October to a political action committee that backed President Biden. (Mr. Bankman-Fried said in an interview that his donation was not an attempt to influence industry regulation, but that he does want to participate in the discussion.)

The cryptocurrency industry has a long list of lobbying goals, detailed in an eight-page letter sent to Mr. Biden in March that called for the government to settle on a clear set of policies with a light-touch regulatory approach.

The regulatory questions relate to at least two key parts of the cryptocurrency industry: so-called tokens, which are the currencies themselves, like Bitcoin, and platforms like Ripple that allow rapid money transfers with these cryptocurrencies, or the buying and selling of them, like Coinbase.

But considerable tension remains over existing federal rules, with public sparring among rival companies like Coinbase and Binance, a sign of how hard it will be to reach consensus on any new regulations.

Industry leaders are at least somewhat hopeful that it will have more support from the Biden administration than it did from the Trump administration, pointing out, for example, that Gary Gensler, the new S.E.C. chairman, taught courses about blockchain technology at M.I.T.

At his confirmation hearing in March, Mr. Gensler said cryptocurrencies had brought new thinking to the world of payments and financial inclusion. However, he indicated that he would strike a balance between encouraging new financial technology to flourish and protecting investors.

The cryptocurrency industry is less optimistic about Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, who expressed deep concern this year about Bitcoin.

It is a highly speculative asset, and I think people should beware, it can be extremely volatile, Ms. Yellen said at a New York Times DealBook event in February. And I do worry about potential losses that investors in it could suffer.

One sign of the industrys growing clout in Washington came during the closing days of the Trump administration, when the Treasury Department proposed a rule to curb the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering by requiring companies handling certain transactions over $3,000 to know the names and addresses of the customer and the recipient.

Even before Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the proposed rule in December, he was targeted in industry appeals to delay or abandon the idea.

In the early days of the internet, there were people who called for it to be regulated like the phone companies, Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of Coinbase, wrote on Twitter in November, adding that he had sent a letter to Treasury to object. Thank goodness they didnt.

Thousands of such comments have been sent to Treasury.

Among those raising concerns was Sigal Mandelker, who until late 2019 was the top Treasury official overseeing the financial crimes agency that proposed the tighter rule, after her departure. She now works for Ribbit Capital, which is an investor in Coinbase and other cryptocurrency industry players and joined the chorus objecting to Treasurys plan. Ms. Mandelker did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Mnuchin backed down and pushed off final action to the Biden administration, which has extended the comment period and is considering how to proceed.

The Ripple enforcement case brought by the S.E.C. in December centers on whether a digital asset the company sold, called XRP, should be defined as a security or a commodity, a major distinction in terms of regulation.

Ripple asserts that XRP is effectively a currency, and like any currency or commodity can be bought and sold without S.E.C. intervention. But the agency argues that each sale of XRP is like a stock or bond trade, meaning a buyer is effectively acquiring a stake in Ripple when purchasing the asset. As a result, the S.E.C. argues that Ripple should have registered with the agency and provided extensive public disclosures like those required with stock or bond offerings.

Ripple, which in 2019 became one of the first cryptocurrency companies to open a lobbying office in Washington, has aggressively pushed back, successfully asking a federal judge to force the S.E.C. to turn over what the agency considers confidential internal documents.

Stuart Alderoty, Ripples general counsel, said that in the absence of clear cryptocurrency rules, the federal government was effectively creating regulatory policy via enforcement, an approach that is confusing and harmful to investors and the industry.

If you have a responsible player in the industry, they are going to be engaging with policymakers, he said.

The S.E.C. case against Ripple has helped persuade industry players on the sidelines to get involved.

The industry needs to accept that good legislation and regulation is what is required, not no regulation, said John E. Deaton, a lawyer who has moved to intervene in the enforcement action against Ripple. Because right now it is like the Wild, Wild West, and you have different federal agencies fighting over which one has jurisdiction.

The House this month passed a bill backed by industry lobbyists to create a working group of federal regulators, industry executives, investor protection groups and others to examine possible frameworks for a regulatory system.

We need to get the big prize done, Representative Darren Soto, Democrat of Florida and a member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, a group of lawmakers working with the industry to help promote cryptocurrencies, told the industry conference last month. Which is the statutes and jurisdiction and definitions to create that certainty, to really let blockchain and cryptocurrency flow and improve in the United States.

More:
As scrutiny of cryptocurrency grows, industry turns to Washington lobbyists - Business Standard