The issue of central bank digital currencies is in the crossfire of US politicians, with figures like Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz trying to prevent them from existing. But what about a statewide digital currency? The first of its kind, a gold backing state digital currency project has appeared in Texas.
On the same day, two Texas legislators introduced identical bills to create a gold-backed state digital currency. Each unit of the digital currency would represent a particular fraction of a troy ounce of gold held in trust, according to the notes. Once a person buys a certain amount of digital currency, the controller uses that received money to buy an equivalent amount of gold. Although neither bill has been approved or put up for a vote, both state that the law will take effect on September 1, 2023.
Meanwhile, another bill has passed a Senate committee in Texas. The bill would be largely remove incentives for miners operating under the state regulatory environment. According to the bill, crypto companies that participate in a program intended to compensate them for load reductions on the Texas electric grid would be limited to an anticipated demand of "less than 10 percent of the total load required by all loads in the program." Certain crypto mining companies would also not receive a state tax cut for participating in the program starting in September 2023.
Regulators announce $10m deal with Robinhood 'for bankrupt investors'
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said the company behind cryptocurrency and stock trading platform Robinhood will likely pay more than $10 million in penalties "for operational and technical failures that harmed core investors." The settlement was the result of an investigation by the North American Association of Securities Administrators in conjunction with securities regulators from Alabama, Colorado, California, Delaware, New Jersey, South Dakota and Texas. The platform suffered a series of system outages in March 2020, resulting in users missing trades while many of its services were unavailable.
Coinbase Supports New Court Action to Remove Ban on Tornado Cash
The US Department of the Treasury is facing a new legal challenge aimed at reversing its decision to Sanction Crypto Mixer Tornado Cash. The challenge was submitted by six individuals backed by the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. A motion for partial summary judgment was filed on April 5 in a Texas district court, seeking Coinbase-backed plaintiffs move out for the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to resolve the first two counts of his original complaint filed in September 2022. The charges allege OFAC exceeded its legal powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and violated the free speech clause of the US Constitution's First Amendment.
Bill Protecting Bitcoin Mining Rights Passes In Arkansas
A bill that seeks to regulate Bitcoin (BTC) mining activity in Arkansas has been approved by the state Congress. It will now go to the governor's office for approval. Under the legislation, cryptominers will enjoy the same rights as data centers. The bill outlines that the Arkansas government should not "impose a different requirement for a digital asset mining business than any requirement for a data center." The Arkansas measure follows a similar initiative in the state of Montana, where the Senate passed a bill to protect crypto miners at the end of March.
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