Here are the latest updates from the crypto world
According to an executive from Paradigm, the new “Digital Asset Market Structure Discussion Draft” which was introduced by the House Republicans on May 5, can work to reduce the dominance of large crypto firms and can help in promoting more participation in the broader market.
Justin Slaughter, the Paradigm’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a May 5 X post, that the discussion draft, led by the House agricultural and financial services committee chairs Glenn Thompson and French Hill, is an “incremental, albeit meaningful, rewrite” of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21).
The draft also defines an affiliated person as anyone who owns more than 1% of a digital commodity issued by the project — down from 5% in the FIT21 bill. This is a move that Slaughter said, can curb the influence of big crypto firms and lead to more participation in the crypto market.
“This is a portent of the entire bill. There are often criticisms of crypto being too dominated by a few large firms. This bill makes clear the regulatory regime proposed is going to push against that fact and strongly encourage more small-d ‘democratization’ of the space.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission would be the main authority regulating activity on crypto networks until they become sufficiently decentralized, Slaughter noted.
Trish Turner, a veteran US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official, has been appointed to lead the agency’s digital assets division following the departure of two key crypto-focused executives.
According to a report from Bloomberg Tax citing a person familiar with the situation, Turner, who has spent over 20 years at the IRS and most recently served as a senior adviser within the Digital Assets Office, will now head the unit.
This promotion marks a significant leadership transition for her as it is at a time when US crypto tax enforcement is facing both internal and external pressures.
On May 5, Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee and Seth Wilks, two private-sector experts brought in to lead the IRS’s crypto unit, exited after roughly a year in their roles.
Wilks announced his departure on LinkedIn, while Mukherjee confirmed his decision in a statement to Bloomberg Tax.
“The reality is that federal employees have faced a very difficult environment over the past few months,” Wilks wrote. “If stepping aside helps preserve someone else’s job, then I am at peace with the decision.”
According to Cointelegraph, crypto exchange OKX’s CEO for its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) arm has urged the industry to focus on delivering real-world utility as interest in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization accelerates.
In a Cointelegraph interview at the Token20249 event in Dubai, OKX MENA CEO Rifad Mahasneh warned that while tokenization is promising, projects must “clearly demonstrate” the benefits of tokenizing specific assets.
“In some cases, we’re tokenizing things that don’t need tokenization, but in some cases, we’re tokenizing things that actually give you real, everyday value, right? And if you can see that everyday value, then that is a promising project,” Mahasneh told Cointelegraph.
He said hype can drive project growth in the Web3 space, but providing everyday value should be the priority.