Blockchain Legal Resource

After unsuccessful past efforts to enact federal legislation regulating stablecoins, Congress has again turned to stablecoins. While it is always difficult to predict whether any bill will pass, there seems to be growing support in the current Congress, with the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services committee working closely together to adopt legislation.

In a wide-ranging public statement entitled “The Journey Begins,” SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce previewed next steps for the SEC’s Crypto Task Force. As chair of the Crypto Task Force, Commissioner Peirce’s statement lays out a broad agenda for the SEC’s approach to cryptocurrency over the next four years.

Under Chair Tim Scott (R-SC), the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs has announced several policy objectives favorable to the digital asset industry. We expect the Committee to take a more favorable view of the industry during the next Congress than in years past.

On January 23, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order on “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” Noting that the “digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States,” the executive order provides a framework for the new administration’s approach to the cryptocurrency sector.

With little fanfare, on January 23, 2025, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) withdrew controversial Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 regarding custody of digital assets. In its place, new Staff Accounting Bulletin 122 directs registrants to Accounting Standards Codification 450-20, Loss Contingencies and International Accounting Standard 37, Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets.

On January 21, 2025, the SEC announced the formation of a new Crypto Task Force. Styled “Crypto 2.0” in the SEC press release, the announcement signals a shift in the agency’s approach to the digital asset sector coincident with the change in presidential administrations.

On December 5, 2024, the IRS published a final draft of Form 1099-DA, which is set to go into effect on January 1, 2025. This form reflects the final IRS regulations (T.D. 10000) published July 9, 2024 implementing new cryptocurrency broker information reporting requirements.

What if courts used artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the plain meaning of undefined terms, including terms in insurance policies? Eleventh Circuit Judge Newsom ponders that very question in his concurring opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance Company, decided May 28, 2024.

On April 17, 2024, Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a bill entitled the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act. The bill is the latest bipartisan effort by the two senators to provide a comprehensive federal oversight regime for the regulation of stablecoins.

US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the US Department of Commerce’s (Commerce) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ), collectively issued guidance regarding the obligations of non-US based companies and persons to comply with US sanctions (Tri-Seal Compliance Note: Obligations of foreign-based persons to comply with US sanctions and export control laws) (Compliance Note).