Ex-FTX exec ‘not worried’ about reporting to prison on Oct. 11

Censorship-resistant “dark stablecoins” could come in increasing demand as governments tighten their oversight of the industry. Stablecoins have been used for various groups to store assets due to a lack of government interference; however, with regulations pending, that could soon change, Ki Young Ju, CEO of crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, said in a May 11 X post.“Soon, any stablecoin issued by a country could face strict govt regulation, similar to traditional banks. Transfers might automatically trigger tax collection through smart contracts, and wallets could be frozen or require paperwork based on government rules,” he said.“People who used stablecoins for big international transfers might start looking for censorship-resistant dark stablecoins instead.”On the heels of US President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly administration assuming power earlier this year, lawmakers are weighing stablecoin legislation, which seeks to regulate US stablecoins, ensuring their legal use for payments. The European Union has already brought in its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which, among other measures, mandates that stablecoins be regulated and transparent.Source: Ki Young JuJu speculates that a dark or private stablecoin could be created as an algorithmic stablecoin, with the value maintained through algorithmic mechanisms rather than being pegged to an external asset like gold, which makes it susceptible to interference from authorities. “One possible example could be a decentralized stablecoin that follows the price of regulated coins like USDC using data oracles like Chainlink,” he said.Another way would be stablecoins issued by countries that don’t censor financial transactions, or, for example, if Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations in the future.“USDT itself used to be considered a censorship-resistant stablecoin. If Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations under a future Trump administration, it could become a dark stablecoin in an increasingly censored internet economy,” Ju said.Privacy technology in crypto is already being usedZcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR) — while they aren’t stablecoins —already shield transactions and allow users to send and receive funds without revealing their transaction data on the blockchain.Related: Russia finance ministry official floats country making own stablecoins: ReportSeveral projects are also working on using similar technology for stablecoins, such as Zephyr Protocol, a Monero fork that hides transactions from being revealed on the blockchain. PARScoin also hides user identities, transaction values, and links to past transactions.The market cap of US dollar-denominated stablecoins has continued to grow, crossing $230 billion in April, a report from investment banking giant Citigroup found. That’s an increase of 54% since last year, with Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC) dominating 90% of the market.Meanwhile, total stablecoin volumes hit $27.6 trillion in 2024, surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express

Tinian, a small island in the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, could get a second chance at launching a stablecoin after the territory’s Senate voted to override the governor’s earlier veto of its stablecoin bill.On May 9, the Northern Mariana Islands Senate voted 7-1 to override Governor Arnold Palacios’ April 11 veto of the bill, which would allow the Tinian local government to issue licenses to internet casinos and includes a provision for the Tinian treasurer to issue, manage and redeem a “Tinian Stable Token.” The bill will now head to the 20-member Northern Mariana Islands House, which will need a two-thirds majority vote to override the veto and pass the bill into law.If the House is quick to pass the bill, the Tinian government could be in the lead for the first US public entity to issue a stablecoin. It’s in a race against the state of Wyoming, which is aiming to issue a stablecoin by July.Tinian is governed by the local government, the Municipality of Tinian and Aguiguan, and is one of four municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a small US territory in the Pacific north of Guam. Tinian has just over 2,000 residents, and its economy heavily relies on tourism.Senators push “much-needed” bill despite “deep concerns” Governor Palacios said in his letter last month that he vetoed the bill as it “presents several legal issues and may be unconstitutional” and would regulate an activity that could not “be clearly restricted” to Tinian.Democrat Senator Celina Babauta, the only one to vote against overriding the veto, said before the vote that she had “deep concerns with respect to the lack of resources, the lack of manpower” to enforce the gambling law and police use of the stablecoin.“We are restricted by federal statutes and must comply with that,” she added.Senator Celina Babauta (right) delivers remarks at a Senate hearing alongside Senator Karl King-Nabors (middle). Source: YouTube“We struggle with trying to find creative and innovative ways to diversify our economy and our industries,” Babauta said. “I don’t believe that gambling is the only thing that we can be looking forward to every single time there’s an investor that comes in.”However, Republican Senator Karl King-Nabors, who represents Tinian and co-authored the bill, said it was “a far more stringent and efficient way to oversee the online gaming aspect.”“This stablecoin is tracked through software, and if anything, it allows for more transparency when it comes to the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission,” he added.King-Nabors said the bill aligned with “much-needed” economic diversification measures, as the local economy was yet to bounce back from a COVID-19 pandemic-induced slump.“This legislation stands at a time where we’re going through so much economic hardships,” King-Nabors added. “I find it difficult that we’re constantly having to step over obstacles when we’re trying to incentivize and look for ways to bring in revenue that don’t affect our environment, that don’t require a brick and mortar, that don’t impact our land.”Tinian bids for fully-backed stablecoinRepublican Senator for Tinian, Jude Hofschneider, led the introduction of the bill in February, which aims to amend a local Tinian law to allow internet-only casino licenses, along with allowing the island to launch a fully backed US dollar-pegged stablecoin.A four-member Tinian delegation to the Marianas legislature, which includes Hofschneider and King-Nabors, had passed the bill to Governor Palacios in a unanimous vote on March 12.Statements shared with Cointelegraph in March said the stablecoin is called the Marianas US Dollar (MUSD) and will be backed by cash and US Treasury bills held in reserve by the Tinian Municipal Treasury.The Tinian government chose tech services firm Marianas Rai Corporation, based in the Northern Mariana Islands’ capital of Saipan, as the exclusive infrastructure provider to issue and redeem MUSD.MUSD is built on the eCash blockchain, a network that rebranded from Bitcoin Cash ABC in 2021 and is a fork of Bitcoin Cash, a blockchain that split off from Bitcoin in 2017.Related: Senator Tim Scott slams partisan politics for failed stablecoin bill Marianas Rai Corp. co-founder and technology chief Vin Armani told Cointelegraph in April that it was “in active discussions with potential partners” about launching the token after Governor Palacios’ veto and was “poised to act quickly” as US Congress is looking to pass stablecoin laws.In the US, one stablecoin bill, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, has since stalled in Congress after Senate Democrats pulled support for the bill due to concerns about President Donald Trump’s sprawling crypto ventures.Another stablecoin-regulating bill in the House, the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, has also lost Democrat support due to Trump’s crypto tie-ups.Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight 

The White House announced that talks between the United States and China regarding a trade deal have made “substantial progress,” yet no official deal has been announced at this time, leaving investors in doubt.According to a May 11 announcement from the White House, more details on the trade talks and the proposed “agreement” will be revealed on May 12.“I am happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a joint statement with US trade representative Jamieson Greer.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells the media that the US-China trade walks were productive. Source: Fox News”We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive,” Bessent continued, without mentioning the word “deal” once in his statement.Greer made mention of the deal but did not give any details on the talks, leaving investors in doubt about the substance of the announcement, as market participants continue to monitor the ongoing trade tensions for signs of relief for financial markets.Related: Bitcoin nears $100K as Trump set to reveal trade deal with UKTrump’s tariffs cause chaos in markets and draw widespread criticismAlthough traditional financial and digital asset markets have recovered and retraced some of the value lost following the initial price shock brought on by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs, investor uncertainty still looms over asset markets.The Trump administration has flip-flopped on its tariff policies, reversing course on trade proposals or softening its rhetoric several times, leaving investors on edge and uncertain about investing in riskier assets like tech stocks and crypto.In April 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection, at the behest of the Trump administration, announced that select tech products would be exempt from tariffs including, smartphones, processing chips, computers, and other electronics.However, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walked back the electronic tariff exemptions one day following the announcement.Lutnick said that the tariff exemptions would only be temporary until administration officials decided on a comprehensive tariff regime that featured different tariff rates for economic sectors.The lack of a comprehensive, decisive trade policy has called the Trump administration’s plans into question, with many observers saying that the trade tariffs will only create more discord in financial markets and the broader economy.Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle