US House Republicans Plan Comprehensive Overhaul Of Crypto Regulation
Mark Kennedy & Manuel Olumorin
March 10, 2023
Welcome back to Lootbox, the calm in the middle of the storm, which is web3 news.
For today
- US House Republicans plans to overhaul crypto regulations
- Coinbase launches a wallet API
- The Sneakies - Epic Store launches self-publishing tools
US House Republicans Plan Comprehensive Overhaul Of Crypto Regulation
When it comes to regulations, it's clear who has the big stick.
The US of A. It's got the biggest market afterall.
What's happening now
House Republicans are working on a comprehensive plan to revamp crypto regulation, with GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee floating smaller, more targeted proposals that may get a vote later this month.
They might be serious this time...
This is just the beginning, the plan is to go bigger, according to Rep. French Hill, the Arkansas Republican who leads the panel’s digital assets subcommittee.
Hill said that the committee will spend March and April working on a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets, which goes beyond the smaller bills that are currently being considered.
What this means for web3 and gaming
So far, regulatory actions by US agencies have been regulation by enforcement. Who loves playing the game "whac-a-mole" role-playing as the mole?
So it's good to see that some sort of rulebook is being put in place, much like the European Union has already done.
As for the current proposal, it's unclear what the committee will propose. But we do know is the federal banking and markets regulators are ramping up enforcement of traditional financial regulations in the crypto space.
And this could have implications for digital asset firms, including those involved in web3 gaming.
An interesting side note...
The same Rep. French Hill is leading a subcommittee hearing that will concentrate on the recent crackdown by U.S. agencies. The hearing will feature testimony from Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase.
What's coming next?
Republicans have signaled their support for crypto, with Thursday's digital assets subcommittee hearing showcasing a handful of GOP-led crypto bills that are generally supportive of the industry and its customers. The legislation may get a committee vote at a markup planned for March 28.
Coinbase Unveils Game-Changing Wallet API
Right now, the holy grail of web3 is a seamless onboarding experience.
This time, it's Coinbase putting their version of a solution.
So what did they release?
A new wallet API to help web2 developers get into web3.
The wallet API is basically a Wallet as a service (WaaS) that developers can use to easily create and deploy on-chain wallets for their users without complicated processes like seed phrases.
Here's what we know
- Coinbase's WaaS is an API-oriented product built by the same team that created Coinbase's wallet infrastructure for the rest of its business.
- The WaaS allows users to access web3 wallets through web2 technology like usernames and passwords, making it easier to onboard regular people into web3.
- The product also has multi-party computation capabilities, which distribute information across multiple parties and key ownership, giving users full control over their assets.
- Companies like Floor, Moonray, Thirdweb, and Tokenproof are currently implementing Coinbase's WaaS to allow users to access web3 experiences ranging from NFT marketplaces to token-based experiences.
Want to get early access? This is where you can.
The Sneakies
- Crypto enforcement actions have been on the rise, and data from Solidus Labs shows the combined crypto enforcement by the SEC, CFTC and OFAC increased by 50% last year.
- Nvidia's bet on AI is paying off big time as its chips power large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT
- Epic store launches self-publishing tools for both devs and publishers, expecting to become more competitive than Steam.
- NFT Gaming, the company that recently filed to go public, is bringing AI to games via its acquisition of Voxpow. Voxpow is an AI company making speech recognition tools.
- Aavegotchi's community members are voting to end the sale of its native token GHST, a move that could prevent further increases in token supply and support the ecosystem's development if successful.
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