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Senator Tim Scott is confident market structure bill passed by August

Senator Tim Scott, the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, recently said that he expects a crypto market bill to be passed into law by August 2025.

The chairman also noted the Senate Banking Committee’s advancement of the GENIUS Act, a comprehensive stablecoin regulatory bill, in March 2025, as evidence that the committee prioritizes crypto policy. In a statement to Fox News, Scott said:

“We must innovate before we regulate — allowing innovation in the digital asset space to happen here at home is critical to American economic dominance across the globe.”

Scott’s timeline for a crypto market structure bill lines up with expectations from Kristin Smith, CEO of the crypto industry advocacy group Blockchain Association, of market structure and stablecoin legislation being passed into law by August.

The Trump administration has emphasized that comprehensive crypto regulations are central to its plans for protecting the value of the US dollar and establishing the country as a global leader in digital assets by attracting investment into US-based crypto firms.

US Government, United States, Stablecoin

Senator Tim Scott highlights the Senate Banking Committee’s goals and accomplishments in 2025. Source: Fox News

Related: Atkins becomes next SEC chair: What’s next for the crypto industry

Support for comprehensive crypto regulations is bipartisan

US lawmakers and officials expect clear crypto policies to be established and signed into law sometime in 2025 with bipartisan support from Congress.

Speaking at the Digital Assets Summit in New York City, on March 18, Democrat Representative Ro Khanna said he expects both the market structure and stablecoin bills to pass this year.

The Democrat lawmaker added that there are about 70-80 other representatives in the party who understand the importance of passing clear digital asset regulations in the United States.

US Government, United States, Stablecoin

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, pictured left, President Donald Trump in the center, and crypto czar David Sacks, pictured right, at the White House Crypto Summit. Source: The White House

Khanna emphasized that fellow Democrats support dollar-pegged stablecoins due to the role of dollar tokens in expanding demand for the US dollar worldwide through the internet.

Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, also spoke at the conference and predicted that stablecoin legislation would be passed into law within 60 days.

Hines highlighted that establishing US dominance in the digital asset space is a goal with widespread bipartisan support in Washington DC.

Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

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Spot Solana ETFs to launch in Canada this week

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Spot Solana ETFs to launch in Canada this week

Spot Solana ETFs to launch in Canada this week

Spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are set to launch in Canada on April 16, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. 

In an X post on April 14, the analyst shared a private client note from TD Bank, a Canadian financial institution, claiming the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) greenlighted asset managers Purpose, Evolve, CI and 3iQ to issue ETFs holding Solana (SOL).

The OSC did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Canada does not have a federal securities agency, with its territories and provinces applying their own securities laws. Toronto’s securities exchange is regulated by Ontario’s OSC.

The ETFs are permitted to stake a portion of the SOL holdings for added yield, Balchunas said, adding that the upcoming listings are “our first look at the alt coin race.” 

Spot Solana ETFs to launch in Canada this week

Source: Eric Balchunas

Related: SEC approves options on spot Ether ETFs

Waiting on US approval

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged dozens of applications to list ETFs holding alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins,” but so far has only approved funds holding spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) for trading. 

Staking is still off limits for US crypto ETFs. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said Ether ETFs could be greenlighted to start staking as soon as May, but the process may take months longer. 

However, investors’ demand for altcoin ETFs may be weaker than for funds holding core cryptocurrencies, Katalin Tischhauser, crypto bank Sygnum’s research head, told Cointelegraph in August.

“[T]here is all this frothy excitement in the market about these ETFs coming, and no one can point to where substantial demand is going to come from,” Tischhauser told Cointelegraph. 

Spot Solana ETFs to launch in Canada this week

Volatility Shares’ SOL futures ETF has roughly $5 million in net assets. Source: Volatility Shares

In March, asset manager Volatility Shares launched the first ETFs to track Solana’s performance using financial derivatives. 

Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) has seen a lukewarm reception, attracting only around $5 million in net assets as of April 14, according to its website. 

“FWIW, the 2 solana ETFs in US (which track futures so not a perfect guinea pig) haven’t done much. Very little in aum. The 2x XRP already has more aum than both the solana ETFs and it came out after,” Balchunas said. 

Balchunas added that he “[w]ouldn’t read a ton into it” as a predictor for spot SOL ETFs. 

Magazine: Bitcoin eyes $100K by June, Shaq to settle NFT lawsuit, and more: Hodler’s Digest, April 6–12

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Anchorage Digital faces scrutiny from US Homeland Security — Report

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Anchorage Digital faces scrutiny from US Homeland Security — Report

Anchorage Digital faces scrutiny from US Homeland Security — Report

The US Department of Homeland Security’s El Dorado Task Force has reportedly launched an investigation into Anchorage Digital Bank, a Wall Street-backed cryptocurrency firm. 

According to an April 14 Barron’s report, members of the task force have contacted former employees of the company over the past weeks to examine its practices and policies. Citing unidentified sources, the report claims the probe looks at potential financial crimes within Anchorage. 

The reported Homeland task force probe hints at cross-national financial activities. Established in 1992, the El Dorado Task Force focuses on “transnational money laundering” activities and financial crimes carried out by organizations. 

Anchorage is co-founded by Portuguese-American entrepreneur Diogo Mónica and Nathan McCauley, according to its website. Along with its US businesses, Anchorage has operations in Singapore and Portugal. Its investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs and Visa, among others. 

Anchorage Digital is the only federally chartered crypto bank in the United States. It received its national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in January 2021. 

Despite its advanced regulatory position, Anchorage Digital has faced regulatory challenges in the US. In April 2022, the OCC issued a consent order against the bank for deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering compliance programs. At the time, the company was ordered to establish a committee to address the alleged issues under the oversight of the OCC.

Cointelegraph reached out to Anchorage for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication. 

Anchorage’s crypto footprint

Anchorage was founded in 2017, and since then has been expanding its crypto footprint with services for institutional clients. The company is a custodian of BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) alongside Coinbase and BitGo. BlackRock’s BTC funds have attracted over $35.5 billion in cumulative inflows since its launch in January 2024. 

Another of Anchorage’s clients is Cantor Fitzgerald. The company has offered custody and collateral management for Cantor’s Bitcoin holdings since March 2025. Anchorage reported over $50 billion in assets under management in 2024. 

Among Anchorage’s custody competitors are players such as Ripple, Kraken, Taurus and Fireblocks, but the storage of digital assets has also attracted traditional financial institutions to the crypto field. HSBC, Citi and BNY Mellon — America’s oldest bank — are also competing to safeguard crypto assets for institutional clients. 

According to Fireblocks’ Adam Levine, senior vice president of corporate development, the US market lacks qualified custodians for digital assets. “[…] there are limited options for certain market participants to keep their digital assets in safe keeping via a qualified custodian,” Levine told Cointelegraph in a previous interview.

A 2025 survey by EY reveals that 59% of institutional investors plan to allocate over 5% of their assets under management to cryptocurrencies, indicating a growing demand for institutional-grade custody services.

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Institutional investors are expected to increase crypto allocations in 2025. Source: EY

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

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British Steel: Raw materials for Scunthorpe plant ‘paid for’ amid race against time to avert shutdown

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British Steel: Raw materials needed for Scunthorpe plant 'paid for' amid race against time to avert shutdown

The raw materials needed to keep British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant operating have been paid for, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has said – but she would not be drawn on when they would arrive.

Officials have been racing to obtain enough iron and coal to keep the furnaces at the UK’s last virgin steel-producing plant going – because if they cool down too much, the molten iron solidifies and blocks the furnaces.

It comes after ministers rushed through an emergency bill on Saturday to take over the facility after talks with Chinese owners Jingye broke down.

Politics latest: Chinese embassy urges UK to act with ‘fairness’ on British Steel

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the government had been prompted into action after learning that the firm had stopped ordering new raw materials to keep the plant running and planned on selling off supplies it already had.

Speaking to reporters from the site in Scunthorpe on Monday afternoon, Ms Rayner said: “We’ve got the raw materials, they’ve been paid for, and we’re confident that the furnaces will continue to fire.”

Asked whether the materials would be arriving on Monday, the deputy PM only said: “As I say, we’ve got the raw materials, and everything’s in place, and we’re confident that the furnaces will continue.”

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner views blast furnaces during her visit to the British Steel site in Scunthorpe. Pic: PA
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Angela Rayner views blast furnaces during her visit to the British Steel site in Scunthorpe. Pic: PA

Earlier, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray told Sky News the raw materials were “in the UK” and “nearby” the Lincolnshire site.

He said there were “limits to what I can say” because there were “commercial operations going on here”.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said there were two ships carrying materials docked at Immingham port in North Lincolnshire, with “a third ship which is currently en route off the coast of Africa, which will be making its way to the UK”.

Ministers have faced questions over why they are only just acting now, given unions warned earlier this month that Jingye decided to cancel future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.

Parliament was recalled on Saturday so that emergency legislation could be passed bringing the steelworks into effective government control and officials were on site as soon as the new legislation came into force.

Read more:
What next for British Steel?
How Trump, China and Reform played their part as government steps in

Ms Rayner would not be drawn on the long-term plan, nor whether other buyers were interested or whether it would come down to nationalisation.

She said: “We’ve taken nothing off the table. We’d like to see private investment going forward… we’re confident of the future of British Steel.”

‘No evidence of sabotage’

Ms Rayner said the government “hasn’t seen any evidence” of sabotage, when asked about suggestions that Jingye might have purposefully attempted to shut the blast furnaces down.

The Chinese company stepped in with a deal to buy British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant out of insolvency five years ago.

Mr Reynolds told MPs on Saturday that the intention of Jingye… “was to cancel and refuse to pay for existing orders” which would have “irrevocably and unilaterally closed down primary steelmaking at British Steel”.

Appearing on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, the business secretary said he would not bring a Chinese company into the “sensitive” steel sector again.

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British Steel: What happens next?

Commenting on the situation for the first time on Monday, a Chinese embassy spokesperson urged the British government to act with “fairness, impartiality and non-discrimination… to make sure the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese company be protected”.

“It is an objective fact that British steel companies have generally encountered difficulties in recent years,” it added.

Companies including Tata – which ran the now-closed Port Talbot steelworks – and Rainham Steel have offered managerial support and materials to keep the Lincolnshire site running.

Union officials have said they are “hopeful” that the materials required at the North Lincolnshire works will arrive within the next 48 hours.

However Andy Prendergast, national secretary at the GMB, said there still needs to be “a deal to be done for the future” and their preference is “nationalisation of what is a key national asset”.

The Conservatives accused the government of acting “too late” and implementing a “botched nationalisation” after ignoring warnings about the risk to the steelworks.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “The Labour government have landed themselves in a steel crisis entirely of their own making.

“They’ve made poor decisions and let the unions dictate their actions.”

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