Stablecoin, market structure bills should get done this year — Rep. Khanna  

Bitcoin (BTC) price rallied to an intraday high of $87,453 in the early hours of the NY trading session but quickly retraced its gains to $83,655 shortly after US President Donald Trump made a video appearance at the Digital Asset Summit in New York. Prior to the video statement, rumors circulated on X, suggesting that President Trump would announce zero capital gains taxes on certain cryptocurrencies or issue a favorable statement about the US strategic Bitcoin reserve. To the disappointment of some traders, neither rumor proved to be true, and Trump simply doubled down on his promise not to sell Bitcoin that has been confiscated by the government, and he called for Congress to enact clear stablecoin legislation as soon as possible. The most positive statement made by President Trump was his restated goal of making the US the leader in all things crypto. “Together, we will make America the undisputed Bitcoin superpower and the crypto capital of the world.” As is commonplace for crypto markets, traders clearly bought into the rumor that Trump would make some sort of pro-Bitcoin executive order statements, and once this was clearly not the case, they sold on the news. In an X post, chartered market technician Aksel Kibar said that there is still a chance of Bitcoin price correcting to $73,700. BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Aksel Kibar / X Kibar said, “Long-term chart on BTC/USD. Still looks like a pullback to the broken $73.7K. What follows from here will decide on the following several month’s price action.” Not all of Bitcoin’s recent strength is attributed to excitement over today’s Trump statement. On March 19, BTC responded positively to the release of FOMC minutes and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s confirmation that the Fed’s quantitative tightening regime would reduce its pace and that the possibility of two interest rate cuts in 2025 remained on the table. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes took a victory lap at what he described as the Fed’s admission that QT would essentially end on April 1, but he cautioned that while $77,000 may have been the Bitcoin price bottom, surprise bouts of volatility could lead to more pain in stocks and BTC. Hayes said, “JAYPOW delivered, QT basically over Apr. 1. The next thing we need to gt bulled up for realz is either SLR exemption and or a restart of QE. Was BTC $77K the bottom, prob. But stonks prob have more pain left to fully convert Jay to team Trump so stay nimble and cashed up.” Related: Trump says US will be ‘Bitcoin superpower’ as BTC price breaks 4-month downtrendAs reported by Cointelegraph, a majority of Bitcoin’s recent price action has been driven by activity in the futures markets, but the reappearance of the BTC Coinbase premium could be a sign that spot demand is returning to the market. Bitcoin Coinbase premium index. Source: CryptoQuantThis article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Former chief legal officer of the Kraken exchange, Marco Santori, praised the political campaign donations made by crypto industry firms during the 2024 election as “democracy at work.”In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright, the former Kraken executive argued that crypto voters tilted the election in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump and the Republican Party.The executive also said that the election donations from crypto firms, many of which are now having regulatory lawsuits dropped, do not represent conflicts of interest. Santori told Cointelegraph:”Detractors only call it a conflict of interest when it is a cause they do not believe in, otherwise, it’s just democracy at work. It is people advocating for their own benefits — people like you and me. That is what is happening, and that is what happened in the last election.”“Look at what happened in November. Who can deny that crypto was responsible For 4-5% of the vote,” Santori added. “It was a huge swing in an American election in every state across demographics,” the executive continued.2024 US electoral map. Source: 270 To WinIn September 2024, Dr. Tonya M. Evans, a tenured law professor at Pennsylvania State University, told Cointelegraph that the 2024 US elections would be decided by razor-thin margins and that crypto voters had the voting power to swing the elections.Related: Rep. Mike Collins now accepting crypto donations for campaignCrypto industry spends big on 2024 US electionsThe crypto industry was responsible for nearly half of all corporate political campaign contributions during the 2024 United States election cycle.According to data from Public Citizen, a nonprofit watchdog group, digital asset firms poured over $119 million to support pro-crypto candidates and policies in the 2024 US elections.The crypto industry’s share of corporate campaign contributions during the 2024 election cycle. Source: Public CitizenThis included money spent on the Presidential and Congressional elections, such as the re-election campaign of Rep. Bryan Steil, on which crypto political action committee Fairshake spent $760,000 in a last-minute media ad supporting the lawmaker.According to former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, the crypto industry built a professional lobbying operation during the most recent election cycle — something that was absent during 2016 and 2020.The lobbying of the crypto industry is credited as the catalyst that allowed the GOP to secure both chambers of Congress, the popular vote, and the 2024 US presidential election.Magazine: Harris’ unrealized gains tax could ‘tank markets’: Nansen’s Alex Svanevik, X Hall of Flame

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance has clarified its views on proof-of-work mining, arguing that such activities do not constitute “the offer and sale of securities” as outlined in the Securities Act of 1933, so long as they meet certain criteria.In a March 20 statement, the SEC division addressed the “mining of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network” and determined that decentralized PoW networks should not be treated as securities.Although the SEC’s statement did not name any specific blockchain, its views on certain PoW activities apply to permissionless networks where mining is used to participate in the consensus mechanism. The statement applies to solo miners and mining pools participating in such networks. The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance gives its view on PoW “protocol mining activities.” Source: SECAlthough Bitcoin (BTC) is by far the largest and most significant PoW chain, there are several others, including Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC) and Monero (XMR). US regulators have long considered Bitcoin to be a commodity and not a security — a view that also extends to Litecoin and Dogecoin, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Source: CointelegraphRelated: Trump says US will be ‘Bitcoin superpower’ as BTC price breaks 4-month downtrendA pro-crypto policy tailwindDigital asset markets, including PoW chains, are set to flourish under US President Donald Trump, who has vowed to make America the world’s blockchain and crypto capital. In addition to appointing a pro-crypto replacement to Gary Gensler at the SEC, the president has established the Council of Advisers on Digital Assets to advance common-sense regulations for the industry. On March 19, the council’s executive director, Bo Hines, revealed that a comprehensive stablecoin bill could land on the president’s desk in a matter of months. The same day, the Blockchain Association, an industry advocacy group, said a cryptocurrency market structure bill is expected by the summer. “I think we’re close to being able to get those done for August They’re doing a lot of work on that behind the scenes right now,” said Kristin Smith, the Blockchain Association’s CEO.Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom