Blockchain Bulletin
QE on the Block - Digital Assets and Blockchain Newsletter - July 2021
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Just Minted: News Sweep June-July 2021:
- The Chinese government took further action to crack down on cryptocurrencies. In late May, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued guidance (1) forbidding banks and online payment processors from accepting virtual currencies as a means of payment or settlement and (2) barring institutions from exchanging virtual currencies for yuan. In early June, the Chinese government moved to block prominent cryptocurrency-related accounts on Weibo, a platform similar to Twitter. And on June 21, the PBOC told the country’s leading financial institutions (including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, and Alipay) to cease all support for cryptocurrency transactions.
- A video of one Chinese mining operation being shut down recently went viral, adding credibility to China’s pledged crackdown on cryptocurrency generally, and cryptocurrency mining specifically.
- The United States General Services Administration (“GSA”) auctioned eleven lots of seized cryptocurrency in June. The lots totaled 8.93 bitcoins and 150.2 Litecoins—marking the first time Litecoin was available in a GSA auction.
- American interest in cryptocurrency is rising, according to a report by Miq Digital, an independent marketing intelligence company. The report found that approximately 6% of the U.S. population now uses or owns cryptocurrency, with as many as 25% of U.S. investors holding cryptocurrencies.
- The SEC recently filed a lawsuit against the promoters of BitConnect, an unsuccessful cryptocurrency that used a “lending program” that some called a Ponzi scheme. The suit alleges that the promoters were obligated to register as broker-dealers and to register the coin as a security, but failed to do so.
- Two Tennessee taxpayers have sued the IRS, arguing that stakers, who generate tokens on a...