Financial regulators find cryptocurrency difficult to understand. Other government bureaucrats have demonstrated even wilder interpretations, including this one: On Tuesday, the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held a hearing on cryptocurrencies, where it was suggested that cryptocurrencies may become "avenues for foreign interference" in domestic affairs (story below).
"Likewise, donations by foreign nationals are difficult to detect. Campaigns and political committees may not knowingly accept contributions from foreign nationals, but they are required only to take “minimally intrusive” steps to verify a contributor’s true nationality. As long as a contributor provides a donor attestation and uses a U.S. address, the contribution would appear legitimate and not prompt any additional due diligence requirements on the part of the recipient."
Feds ran a bitcoin-laundering sting for over a year
(The Verge, by Russell Brandom)
"So far, prosecutions have been launched across 19 states as a result of the operation, seizing more than $3.6 million in cash. The same raids seized large quantities of Schedule IV pharmaceuticals — including 100,000 tramadol pills and over 24 kilograms of Xanax — as is typical of trade on dark net markets. Agents also recovered more than 300 models of liquid synthetic opioids and roughly 100 grams of fentanyl."
Technical Updates
Commentary thread on Boneh-Lyn-Schacham Signature and Schorr Signature
BLS requires pairing-based crypto, which is slower than EC, and a strictly stronger (and newer) security assumption. On the other hand, it lets you do cooler things too :)
— Pieter Wuille (@pwuille) January 4, 2018
News & Commentary
Commentary on a16z new crypto fund
One of the most interesting things about the @a16z announcement was their explicit intention to hold their crypto investments for 10+ years.
— Spencer Noon 🕛 (@spencernoon) June 26, 2018
This is not about getting rich quick; it is a long-term and focused bet on an emerging new asset class that will take years to play out.
Commentary on the differences between the crypto communities in the East vs. the West
In China right now & its hard to get on Twitter but.....holy shit. For how much we talk about cryptoassets as a global asset, it certainly does not feel that way. This is basically a parallel crypto universe with little/ no bridge in between. 1/
— Katherine Wu (@katherineykwu) June 27, 2018
The SEC is seeking comment on yet another Bitcoin ETF
(CoinDesk, by Muyao Shen)
"The securities regulator called for comments on a proposal by the Cboe to list and trade the SolidX Bitcoin Shares, an ETF that was in turn proposed by the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust, according to documents published Tuesday."
Signs of higher U.S. inflation creep into regional Fed surveys
(Bloomberg, by Vince Golle)
"Recent regional Federal Reserve surveys also indicate that not only is the build-up in price pressures extending to service providers that make up the biggest part of the economy, but wages are also firming as the tight job market places a premium on skilled workers."