Regulatory update: GENIUS & CLARITY Acts, SEC on staking, 401(k) guidance, and more

Editor’s note: Our Regulatory Updates series highlights the latest regulatory, legal, and policy happenings relevant to the crypto industry, curated by the a16z crypto regulatory team.

Regulatory news: May 13 – May 30, 2025

🧠 tl;dr

• The Senate voted 66–32 in favor of a procedural motion to advance to full debate on the Senate floor the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
• House Committee on Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which would establish a market structure regulatory framework for digital assets.
• The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration rescinded a 2022 compliance release that had discouraged fiduciaries from including cryptocurrency options in 401(k) retirement plans.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance released a statement, which clarifies that certain proof-of-stake blockchain protocol “staking” activities, as defined in the statement, do not involve the offer and sale of securities within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement supporting the release. Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw criticized the release.

🦅 Congress

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the Senate voted 66–32 in favor of a procedural motion to advance to full debate on the Senate floor the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” House Committee on Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which would establish a market structure regulatory framework for digital assets.
• House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) reintroduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which would clarify that digital asset developers and service providers that do not custody consumer funds are not money transmitters.
• Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to bring to his attention the potential unintended tax consequences on digital assets arising from the corporate alternative minimum tax and a newly promulgated accounting standard. 
• House Representative Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) and others sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demanding that the Treasury make available to certain House committees all suspicious activity reports related to World Liberty Financial, $TRUMP, and other ventures.
• House Committee on Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) discussed recent developments in crypto legislation, including market structure, stablecoins, and the anti-central bank digital currencies act.

⚖️ Department of Justice

• A federal court vacated commodities fraud and manipulation charges against Mango Markets trader Avraham Eisenberg on the grounds that the Southern District of New York was not the proper venue for the case. The court also entered a judgment of acquittal on the wire fraud charge on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that Eisenberg had made misrepresentations to Mango Markets. 
• The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged 12 additional people for allegedly participating in a cyber-enabled racketeering conspiracy throughout the United States and abroad that involved hacking websites and servers to obtain cryptocurrency-related databases and committing home break-ins. The conspirators netted more than $263 million. 
• The DOJ charged the founder of Amalgam Capital Ventures in connection with a fraud scheme in which he, among other things, falsely represented to investors that their money would be used for listing a proprietary cryptocurrency coin on global cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as for hardware, software, and other expenses associated with Amalgam’s operations. The SEC filed parallel civil charges.
• The DOJ charged a Russian national and leader of the Qakbot Malware Scheme with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The DOJ also filed a civil forfeiture complaint against more than $24 million in cryptocurrency that was seized over the course of the investigation.
• The DOJ unsealed two warrants authorizing the seizure of five internet domains used by malicious cyber actors to operate the LummaC2 information-stealing malware service, which facilitated crimes including fraudulent bank transfers and cryptocurrency theft.
• A federal jury found the former CEO of SafeMoon guilty in connection with a scheme in which he and his co-conspirators fraudulently diverted and misappropriated millions of dollars’ worth of liquidity from the SafeMoon liquidity pool for their personal benefit.
• An Alabama man was sentenced to 14 months in prison for his role in last year’s hack of the SEC’s X account in which he published fraudulent posts in the name of the then-SEC Chairman falsely announcing that the SEC had approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

🛠️ Department of Labor

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration rescinded a 2022 compliance release that had discouraged fiduciaries from including cryptocurrency options in 401(k) retirement plans.

💵 Department of the Treasury

• The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Funnull Technology Inc., a Philippines-based company that provides computer infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of websites involved in virtual currency investment scams. 

📈 Securities and Exchange Commission

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance released a statement, which clarifies that certain proof-of-stake blockchain protocol “staking” activities, as defined in the statement, do not involve the offer and sale of securities within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement supporting the release. Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw criticized the release.
• The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a set of frequently asked questions relating to the application of certain broker-dealer financial responsibility rules and transfer agent rules to crypto asset activities and distributed ledger technology.
• The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority withdrew their 2019 joint statement on broker-dealer custody, which had, in effect, deterred SEC-registered broker-dealers from taking custody of crypto asset securities.
• In testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Chair Paul S. Atkins said that a key priority of his is to “develop a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets that establishes clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the law.”
• The Practicing Law Institute held its SEC Speaks in 2025 event. Chair Paul S. Atkins and Commissioners Caroline A. Crenshaw, Mark T. Uyeda, and Hester M. Peirce gave remarks.
• In remarks at the 12th Annual Conference on Financial Market Regulation, Commissioner Hester M. Peirce briefly mentioned autonomous trading protocols and said that the SEC’s attention is on providing regulatory clarity for crypto assets, among other things.
• The SEC charged Unicoin, Inc. and three of its top executives for false and misleading statements in connection with an offering that raised more than $100 million from thousands of investors in the United States and abroad.
• The SEC filed a joint stipulation with Binance Holdings Limited, BAM Trading Services Inc., BAM Management US Holdings Inc., and Changpeng Zhao to dismiss, with prejudice, the Commission’s ongoing civil enforcement action against them.
• The SEC delayed its decision on the proposed 21Shares Core Solana ETF and the Bitwise Solana ETF.

🏛️ White House

• Vice President J.D. Vance said that crypto has a “champion and an ally in the White House” with President Trump, and that the administration intends to enact a “transparent and tailored framework for digital assets.”
• White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks told CNBC that stablecoin legislation has “significant bipartisan support,” and that stablecoins create trillions of dollars in demands for treasuries.

🌍 State

🦌 Michigan

• Michigan state Representatives introduced four legislative bills that would protect cryptocurrency users, establish a framework for state investment in cryptocurrency, allow currently abandoned infrastructure to be used for Bitcoin mining, and offer a tax exemption for Bitcoin mined through this program.

🗽 New York

• Authorities in New York have arrested and charged two men in connection with the alleged kidnapping and torture of an Italian man in an attempt to steal his bitcoins. 
• The New York Department of Financial Services issued a consumer alert warning consumers to use caution before responding to outreach from individuals who may be falsely claiming to represent virtual currency entities.
• The Manhattan District Attorney charged two men for an alleged conspiracy to steal from customers of Coin Dispute Network, their allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency asset recovery business, which claimed it could trace and recover cryptocurrency in exchange for a fee.

🐂 Texas

• The Texas House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 21, which would establish a state-managed Bitcoin reserve in the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott must sign the bill in order for it to go into effect.

🌍 International

🇦🇺 Australia

• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission sued a former director of Blockchain Global Ltd. for multiple directors’ duties breaches.

🇦🇹 Austria

• Crypto exchange Bybit announced that it has obtained a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation license from Austria’s Financial Market Authority.

🇪🇺 European Union

• Europol supported the takedown of a criminal “parallel banking organization” with multiple branches spread out across Europe. Seventeen individuals were arrested on suspicion of providing money laundering services to criminals, including illegal hawala banking, cash collection, cash courier services, and the exchange of cryptocurrencies for cash.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong

• Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passed the Stablecoins Bill, which establishes a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

• HM Revenue & Customs released guidance on information UK taxpayers will need to provide to UK cryptoasset service providers starting on January 1, 2026.

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