Headlines

▌The US SEC deleted the first formal definition of "digital assets" in the hedge fund rules

On Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) removed the first formal definition of a “digital asset” from its latest hedge fund rules.

While the SEC initially included the definition in its 2022 proposal to reform mandatory disclosure for hedge funds, the securities regulator dropped the definition in a final rule approved by the commission.

The agency included a footnote to explain itself that the committee and staff are continuing to consider the term and will not currently include digital assets as part of the rule.

The revision, which drew sharp criticism from the industry and two of the five SEC commissioners, is one of several recent policy moves aimed at explicitly incorporating crypto into existing rules.

The SEC also made another proposal in February that could prohibit investment advisors from storing assets with crypto firms.

Policies

▌U.S. lawmakers propose bipartisan bill to ban members from investing in "financial instruments"

Democratic U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Raja Krishnamoorthi and Republican Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick and Matt Gaetz introduced the bipartisan Restoration of Faith in Government Act.

Under the bill, members of Congress investing in such assets would largely be required to sell them or place them in confidential trusts within 90 days of passage.

Failure to comply with the law may result in civil charges brought by the U.S. Attorney General and may result in a fine of up to $50,000.

While four members of Congress pointed to stock trading as one of the reasons for the bill, the text of the bill suggests that ownership of certain cryptocurrencies could also be included in the ban.

Members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have said that Bitcoin qualifies as a commodity, while some remain unclear about the asset status of Ethereum.

▌UK government decides to relax advertising approval for encryption companies

British lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a much-anticipated amendment to ease advertising approvals for crypto companies, meaning it is now expected to become law.

The amendment will allow cryptocurrency companies already registered with the country’s financial regulator under its anti-money laundering regime to be able to approve their own advertisements, which they would not otherwise be able to do.

The exemption only applies until the new encryption law takes effect, and may still face opposition before it officially takes effect.

The Upper House, the second house of parliament, agreed to move forward with the amendment at a committee meeting on Tuesday, before it was voted on by the main chamber of the lower house on Wednesday.

Cryptocurrency

▌Michael Saylor: Global Loss of Confidence in Fiat Currencies Boosts Bitcoin Adoption

Michael Saylor, the former CEO of MicroStrategy, pointed out in an interview with CNBC that two dynamics are driving the widespread adoption of Bitcoin.

The first is concerns about inflation.

There are macroeconomic concerns about inflation, and as inflation occurs, people lose confidence in fiat currencies.

This means they are starting to realize that everything denominated in cash flow is a currency derivative, and Bitcoin is not denominated in cash flow.

The second is that recent banking crises, including the collapse of Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and most recently First Republic Bank, have undermined investor confidence in the banking system.

Saylor reiterated MicroStrategy's confidence in Bitcoin's potential.

Saylor noted that the business intelligence and software firm will continue to accumulate more digital assets, despite at one point suffering large paper losses on its roughly 140,000 BTC portfolio.

▌Adidas announces cooperation with tokenproof to introduce its sports and lifestyle brands into the NFT community

Adidas announced a partnership with tokenproof to bring its sports and lifestyle brand to the NFT community.

Adidas leverages tokenproof's cutting-edge authentication methods to enhance its Web3 presence.

Additionally, millions of Adidas CONFIRMED users in more than 25 countries can now use token proofs to connect their wallets to confirm they hold ALTS by Adidas tokens.

Through the operation, users will receive special allowances as rewards. This includes access to limited edition products.

The first "Indigo Herz Pack" was designed in collaboration with BAYC, Gmoney and Pixel Vault PUNKS Comic.