A group of crypto and blockchain firms joined together to create a Texas crypto advocacy group, according to a Sept. 11 announcement. The group is called “Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas,” and is founded by a16z crypto, Coinbase, Ledger, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, and Paradigm. The group is promoting “the development of coherent and predictable regulations for digital assets in Texas.”
#Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas Launches to Support Clear Digital … – Business Wire https://t.co/kn9LdN5zj1 pic.twitter.com/VzgqpEc0uC
— Stock Market News (@Stock_Market_Pr) September 11, 2023
To further its goals, the Crypto Freedom Alliance will foster educational initiatives that will target government officials, corporations, non-profits, and other organizations in an effort to highlight the value of Web3 in the state of Texas, the announcement stated.
Cointelegraph met up with a16z crypto’s global head of policy, Brian Quintenz, at the Permissionless II conference in Austin to get further details on the new group. According to Quintenz, Texas is uniquely suited to become a haven for Web3 developers, but this necessitates forming an advocacy group to tackle issues in the state.
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For example, Quintenz argued that decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) often need legal jurisdiction to operate. Texas is an attractive state, thanks to its adoption of the Uniform Code of Unincorporated Associations.
“Modifying the unincorporated association law that applies more generally to limited liability types of entities is a state issue, and there are only a few states that have adopted the Uniform Code of Unincorporated Associations […] Texas is one of them,” Quintenz stated.
However, small changes would need to be made to this code to allow DAOs to be recognized as legal entities:
“One of the things we continue to try to do is to advocate and educate around creating a legal entity for DAOs that makes some changes to the unincorporated association framework but makes it more restrictive. We don’t want to just open it up to anybody and say ‘Oh, I’m a DAO.’ You can only really qualify for this if you’re a decentralized kind of organization.”
In addition to advocating for changes to the unincorporated association laws, Quintenz said the group would also push for crypto-friendly tax laws, bank charter laws and bank regulations. He considered Wyoming’s bank charter laws to be “a positive example” of what can be accomplished by crypto-friendly legislatures.
Texas is a popular hub for crypto mining in the U.S. Genesis Digital Assets bases most of its CPUs in Texas. On July 3, crypto mining firm Hut8 also moved 6,400 mining computers to the state.
United States President Donald Trump has exempted an array of tech products including, smartphones, chips, computers, and select electronics from tariffs, giving the tech industry a much-needed respite from trade pressures. According to the US Customs and Border Protection, storage cards, modems, diodes, semiconductors, and other electronics were also excluded from the ongoing trade tariffs. “Large-cap technology companies will ultimately come out ahead when this is all said and done,” The Kobeissi letter wrote in an April 12 X post. US Customs and Border Protection announces tariff exemptions on select tech products. Source: US Customs and Border Protection The tariff relief will take the pressure off of tech stocks, which were one of the biggest casualties of the trade war. Crypto markets are correlated with tech stocks and could also rally as risk appetite increases on positive trade war headlines. Following news of the tariff exemptions, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) broke past $85,000 on April 12, a signal that crypto markets are already responding to the latest macroeconomic development. Related: Billionaire investor would ‘not be surprised’ if Trump postpones tariffs President Trump walked back the sweeping tariff policies on April 9 by initiating a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs and lowering tariff rates to 10% for countries that did not respond with counter-tariffs on US goods. Bitcoin surged by 9% and the S&P 500 surged by over 10% on the same day that Trump issued the tariff pause. Macroeconomic trader Raoul Pal said the tariff policies were a negotiation tool to establish a US-China trade deal and characterized the US administration’s trade rhetoric as “posturing.” Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser argued that exempting select tech products from import tariffs would not reduce bond yields or further the Trump administration’s goal of lowering interest rates. Yield on the 10-year US government bond spikes following sweeping trade policies from the Trump administration. Source: TradingView The yield on the 10-year US Treasury Bond shot up to a local high of approximately 4.5% on April 11 as bond investors reacted to the macroeconomic uncertainty of a protracted trade war. “The concession just given to China for tech exports won’t reverse the trend of rates going higher. Confidence in US bonds and the US Dollar has been eroding for years and won’t stop now,” Keiser wrote on April 12. This 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. Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions Bitcoin remains on track to surpass $1.8 million by 2035 despite recent price corrections and waning investor appetite caused by ongoing global trade tensions, according to Joe Burnett, director of market research at Unchained. Speaking during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X, Burnett said that Bitcoin is still in a long-term bullish cycle and could potentially rival or surpass gold’s $21 trillion market capitalization within the next decade. Despite tariff uncertainty limiting risk appetite among investors, research analysts remain optimistic about Bitcoin’s (BTC) long-term prospects for the next decade. “When I think about where Bitcoin will be in 10 years, there are two models I admire,” Burnett said. “One is the parallel model, which suggests that Bitcoin will be about $1.8 million in 2035.” “The other is Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin 24 model, which suggests Bitcoin will be $2.1 million by 2035.” Burnett emphasized that both are “good base cases,” adding that Bitcoin’s trajectory could exceed these predictions depending on broader macroeconomic factors. 🎙Could Bitcoin really hit $10m by Q1 2035? Perhaps. But first, we need to unravel the tangled web of the markets this week, and for both discussions, @rkbaggs and @gazza_jenks are joined today by Joe Burnett (@IIICapital) on the #CHAINREACTION show! https://t.co/hfyEwGUCsh — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) April 11, 2025 Related: Bitcoin price can hit $250K in 2025 if Fed shifts to QE: Arthur Hayes “The automobile industry is significantly more valuable than the horse and buggy industry,” Burnett said, adding that Bitcoin’s more advanced technological properties will make it surpass the $21 trillion market capitalization of gold. He added: “The gold market is an estimated $21 trillion market. If Bitcoin just hit $21 trillion and had Bitcoin-gold parity, Bitcoin would be $1 million per coin today.” Since US President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, global markets have been under pressure due to heightened trade war fears. Hours after taking office, Trump threatened to impose sweeping import tariffs aimed at reducing the country’s trade deficit, weighing on risk sentiment across both equities and crypto. While Bitcoin’s role as a safe-haven asset may reemerge amid ongoing trade war concerns, physical gold and tokenized gold remain the current winners. Top tokenized gold assets, trading volume. Source: CoinGecko, Cex.io Tariff fears led tokenized gold trading volume to surge to a two-year high this week, topping $1 billion for the first time since the US banking crisis in 2023, Cointelegraph reported on April 10. Related: Bitcoin’s 24/7 liquidity: Double-edged sword during global market turmoil Bitcoin’s volatility is falling during both bear and bull markets, signaling its growing maturity as an asset class. While another 80% drawdown during future bear markets is still possible, this will act as a robust acquisition period for the “strongest” holders, Burnett said, adding: “The highs bring [Bitcoin] attention, and the deep, dark bear markets move coins into the hands of the strongest, most convicted holders, as fast as possible.” Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer at Maelstrom, predicted Bitcoin could climb to $250,000 by the end of 2025 if the US Federal Reserve formally enters a quantitative easing cycle. Despite the optimistic predictions, investors remain cautious and continue “rebalancing their portfolios” but are unlikely to take on significant positions in the next 90 days before markets gain more clarity on global tariff negotiations, Enmanuel Cardozo, market analyst at real-world asset tokenization platform Brickken, told Cointelegraph. “With money flowing out of Bitcoin ETFs, investors are looking for safer spots to hold their cash right now, including strong currencies. Gold’s a traditional vehicle in these cases and a go-to when markets are uncertain,” he added. BTC, gold, year-to-date chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView Since the beginning of 2025, the price of gold has risen over 23%, outperforming Bitcoin, which has fallen by more than 10% year-to-date, TradingView data shows. Magazine: Bitcoin’s odds of June highs, SOL’s $485M outflows, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 2 – 8
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and crypto exchange Binance have asked a US federal judge for an additional two-month pause in their nearly two-year legal battle. “Since the Court stayed this case, the Parties have been in productive discussions, including discussions concerning how the efforts of the crypto task force may impact the SEC’s claims,” both parties said in an April 11 joint status report with the US District Court for the District of Columbia. According to the filing, the SEC requested and Binance agreed to another 60-day extension as the regulator continues to seek permission to “approve any resolution or changes to the scope of this litigation.” “The Defendants agreed that continuing the stay is appropriate and in the interest of judicial economy,” the filing said. The request comes not long after the SEC dropped a string of crypto-related lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini, as well as Robinhood and Consenys. At the end of the 60-day period, the SEC and Binance plan to submit another joint status report. This marks the second 60-day pause the SEC and Binance have requested this year, following a previous extension granted by the judge on Feb. 11. The recently launched crypto task force was a key reason behind the request for the second extension. Source: CourtListener The request in February came just days after crypto skeptic Gary Gensler stepped down as SEC chair on Jan. 20, with crypto-friendly SEC commissioner Mark Uyeda taking over as acting chair. At the time, the SEC and Binance also cited the establishment of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force as a reason for the pause. Related: Crypto Biz: Ripple’s ‘defining moment,’ Binance’s ongoing purge Formed just a day after Gensler resigned on Jan. 21, the task force said it aims to “help the Commission draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.” The SEC’s legal battle with Binance has dragged on for almost two years. It began in June 2023 when the agency filed a lawsuit against Binance, its US platform, and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. The US regulator pressed 13 charges against Binance, including unregistered offers and sales of the BNB and Binance USD tokens, the Simple Earn and BNB Vault products, and its staking program. Magazine: Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging research
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Markets hinge on Trump’s every word during macroeconomic uncertainty
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SEC requests Binance to agree to the extension
