South Korea blocks 14 crypto exchanges on Apple Store — Report  

US Vice President JD Vance will speak at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, roughly a year after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke at the same event.According to a May 9 notice from the event’s organizers, Vance will address conference attendees in person on May 28, making him the first sitting US vice president to speak at a digital asset conference. Trump provided a pre-recorded video of himself from the White House to the organizers of the Digital Asset Summit in March — his first appearance at a crypto event since taking office in January — and spoke in person at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville while campaigning.Though Vance is a Bitcoin (BTC) holder — he holds $250,000 to $500,001 worth of the cryptocurrency, according to a financial disclosure filed in August 2024 — it’s unclear whether the vice president intends to make a substantive policy statement at the event. Cointelegraph reached out to Vance’s office for comment but had not received a response at time of publication.Related: Resurfaced clip shows Trump’s VP pick slamming Gensler’s approach to cryptoSince taking office alongside Trump in January, Vance has largely stayed out of the media spotlight in terms of crypto-related policy. The president has signed executive orders on establishing a crypto reserve and regulating stablecoins, while Vance’s involvement with overseeing the industry seemed to be limited to speaking on AI regulation.Two of the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who are tied to the crypto platform World Liberty Financial, were also scheduled to speak at the May event. Many lawmakers have expressed concerns that the platform, backed by the Trump family, is being used to personally enrich the president.Trump’s ties to crypto holding up legislation?The vice president’s appearance at the crypto conference was announced the same week Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate strongly criticized Trump’s connections to the crypto industry. In the House, Representative Maxine Waters halted a joint hearing discussing a crypto market structure bill and led a group of lawmakers to explore “Trump’s crypto corruption.” In the Senate, nine Democrats blocked a crucial vote on a stablecoin bill, saying the legislation lacked certain safeguards, hinting at the Trump family enriching itself through the USD1 stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial.Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Wall Street giant BlackRock met with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force to discuss staking within crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) and tokenization of securities. The discussion could advance institutional interest in the crypto industry.According to a May 9 memo published by the task force, BlackRock sought to “[d]iscuss perspectives on treatment of staking, including considerations for facilitating ETPs with staking capabilities.” The company has previously said that Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds, while successful, are less perfect without staking.Other crypto ETF issuers share that view. On Feb. 15, the New York Stock Exchange proposed a rule change to introduce staking services for Grayscale’s spot Ether ETFs. In April, the SEC delayed a decision on whether to approve or disapprove the rule change. BlackRock and Grayscale are behind the largest Ether ETFs by market capitalization, according to Sosovalue.Ethereum ETFs as of May 8. Source: SosovalueMany blockchains rely on proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms that allow users to lock their native coins for yield. A potential SEC approval of staking for Ether ETFs could lead to future requests among altcoins, including Solana (SOL) ETFs.Tokenization on the agendaBlackRock also discussed “tokenization of securities under federal securities regulatory framework.” Securities are traditional financial instruments where the investor expects monetary gain, such as bonds and stocks. Tokenizing securities has many benefits, including faster settlement times, lower costs than with traditional finance infrastructure, and 24-hour markets.BlackRock already offers a US federal debt tokenized fund called BUIDL, the largest fund with a $2.9 billion market cap. Competing products include Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund.Brokerage firm Robinhood is also exploring securities tokenization. The company is reportedly working on a blockchain that would allow retail investors in Europe to trade US securities like stocks.Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race

A group of Democratic senators has reportedly sent a letter to leadership at the US Department of Justice and the Treasury Department expressing concerns about US President Donald Trump’s ties to cryptocurrency exchange Binance and potential conflicts of interest in regulating the industry. According to a May 9 Bloomberg report, Democratic senators asked Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to report on the steps Binance had taken as part of its November 2023 plea agreement with US authorities, amid reports that Trump and his family had deepened connections with the exchange. That settlement saw Binance pay more than $4 billion as part of a deal with the Justice Department, Treasury, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and had then-CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao step down.However, since Trump won the presidency in 2024, many lawmakers have accused the president of corruption from profiting off crypto while being in a position to influence laws and regulations over the industry. Trump has launched his own memecoin — which earns the project millions of dollars in transaction fees — and offered the top tokenholders the opportunity to attend an exclusive dinner in Washington, DC. His family-backed crypto venture World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, MGX, would settle a $2 billion investment in Binance using the platform’s USD1 stablecoin.“Our concerns about Binance’s compliance obligations are even more pressing given recent reports that the company is using the Trump family’s stablecoin to partner with foreign investment companies,” the senators said in the letter, according to Bloomberg.Related: Trump tricked into pushing XRP for crypto reserve: ReportStablecoin bill fails to pass the US SenateThe letter came less than 24 hours after some of the same senators blocked a crucial vote on a bill to regulate stablecoins, named the GENIUS Act. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who reportedly signed the letter and opposed moving forward on the stablecoin bill, suggested the Senate should not be aligned with “facilitat[ing] this kind of corruption” from Trump.Bessent said the Senate “missed an opportunity” by not passing the stablecoin bill, but did not directly address any of the concerns over Trump’s crypto interests. It’s unclear if or when the chamber could consider another vote on the bill.In an April 23 report, the nonpartisan organization State Democracy Defenders Action said roughly 40% of Trump’s net worth was tied to crypto. The group noted that the GENIUS Act, in its current version, “would not prevent President Trump from using his executive powers to establish a regulatory environment and enforcement agenda that prioritizes his personal enrichment over the broader interests of US stakeholders.”Amid the concerns with the stablecoin and proposed market structure bills, Zhao reportedly applied for a federal pardon from Trump. Though the former CEO already served four months in prison, a pardon for his felony charge could allow him to get more involved with the crypto industry through a management position.Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions