Author: Vickie Helm

When Iowa Attorney General Brenna Byrd filed a lawsuit against CoinFlip and Bitcoin Depot earlier this year, there were some astronomical voices calling this push for consumer protection “anti-cryptocurrency.” they are wrong. Cryptocurrency ATMs (physical kiosks where users can purchase cryptocurrencies) have become a means of fraud and need reform.Law enforcement, regulators, and consumer advocacy groups have all expressed concerns about these machines for years. Brian Schwalb of DC AG sued Athena Bitcoin in September. Pennsylvania AG Dave Sunday warned that BATM is a “magnet for scammers.” Arizona AG Chris Mays even posted “STOP” signs at some crypto ATM locations.…

Wall Street’s appetite for cryptocurrencies has never been higher. BlackRock Bitcoin ETF breaks inflow record. Fidelity and VanEck followed suit with new Spot products. Even Nasdaq has signaled expansion of its digital asset trading infrastructure. But despite all this momentum, very little is actually happening on-chain.Currently, institutions treat cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class, but not as a venue for operations. The majority of trading, payments, and market making still takes place on private servers and traditional rails.The reason is simple. This is because blockchain, in its current form, does not yet meet organizational performance standards. Until they can offer…

Cryptocurrencies have felt broken in recent weeks.The largest liquidation event in market history took place on October 10th. Bitcoin was nuked. ETH and alternative currencies have fallen even more significantly. Since then, all “bounce” has disappeared on contact.Everyone blamed US President Donald Trump’s 100% tariffs on China, macro policies, or overleveraging. These are all valid explanations for why the market crashed, but they don’t explain why the market remained persistently depressed for weeks afterward.The missing piece appears to be a quiet document published on the same day by MSCI, the world’s second-largest index provider. It directly targets the organizations that…

With tax season approaching and 2025 only a few days left, investors should reconsider their tax and accounting strategies to support their overall financial health. In December, a small correction can lead to big gains. As investing in cryptocurrencies continues to gain traction among retail investors over the past few years, crypto tax reporting and the accompanying calculated tax strategies should not be overlooked.Similar to the stock market, the cryptocurrency market can also experience downturns, but at a much faster pace. The cryptocurrency market has been experiencing a downturn recently, and investors are understandably panicking.But within this broader market uncertainty…

A lot has happened this year in crypto-related policy. This year, Congress passed the first major encryption bill in U.S. history, and the president signed it. Federal regulators have significantly scaled back enforcement actions against crypto companies while announcing further rulemaking efforts aimed at revitalizing the industry. Companies themselves also feel more aggressive in launching new products and services in the United States.You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter that examines the intersection of cryptocurrencies and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.storyLast year, CoinDesk’s policy team explained what we want in 2025. Here’s how we explained…

Nearly a year ago, we published an open letter reflecting the views of crypto law regulators and outlining practical and achievable steps the next administration could take to make the United States the crypto capital of the world. The goal was not to promote cryptocurrencies as an ideology, but to convey the perspective of lawyers working in the field about how thoughtful regulatory policies can unleash innovation and ensure that the next generation of financial and internet infrastructure is built on American soil.On the anniversary of this letter, and with the Market Structure Bill in jeopardy, it is worth reflecting…

Opinion, a blockchain-based prediction market platform, has announced that it has raised $20 million in a pre-Series A round, highlighting how parts of the crypto economy can still raise significant amounts of money even when the overall market is down.The round included support from Hack VC, Jump Crypto, Primitive Ventures, Decasonic and others, according to an emailed announcement Wednesday.Opinion operates more like Polymarket, where markets are settled on-chain, than a centralized exchange like Kalshi. “Our payments occur entirely on-chain,” the Opinion team told CoinDesk via email.Dune Analytics said it handles about a third of the global prediction market trading volume…

Imposing a crypto tax this year would be terrible.For the past decade, the IRS has treated virtual currencies as property rather than currency, and all sales and exchanges as taxable events. However, despite blockchain being a public ledger, tax compliance rates have always been low. The discrepancy between the taxes the IRS expects and the taxes crypto users actually pay has continued to widen over the years.That gap is about to narrow significantly.We are entering the “enforcement era” of virtual currency taxesThis change did not happen overnight. In 2021, the IRS launched “Operation Hidden Treasure” aimed at intentionally concealing crypto…

Congress has finally taken action to regulate the digital asset market. The Senate is expected to begin drafting legislation by the end of this month that could shape the future of cryptocurrencies in the United States. Unfortunately, in its eagerness to finalize the legal framework, Congress has left the backdoor to corruption wide open. Cryptocurrency is relatively new. But money, regulatory power, and self-care are not. The Founding Fathers were well aware of the risks to the nation when powerful financial regulators had a financial stake in their decisions. That’s why when the First Congress created the Treasury Department in…

Like many others, I was wrong about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. But timing is not the destination, and I believe that one day something massive will happen that will wipe out trillions of dollars from the crypto world. This may happen when Bitcoin is at $200,000 or $2 million, but it will happen. For the uninitiated, a rag pull is a coordinated effort by a focused group to sell their cryptocurrency holdings at a price they are happy with, leaving the foolish masses with nothing but losses. It is a transfer of wealth from a large group to a small group.…