Crypto news & regulatory update: January 31 – February 14, 2025

Editor’s note: Our Regulatory Updates series highlights the latest regulatory, legal, and policy happenings relevant to builders in web3 and crypto, as tracked and curated by the a16z crypto regulatory team. The roundups are based on recent news, guidance, legislation, and frameworks released by regulators, industry consortia, professional associations, banks, governments, and other entities as they impact the crypto industry (or applications) around the world. We also occasionally include select resources such as talks, posts, or other commentary — from us or from others — with the updates.

🧠 tl;dr

• President Donald Trump nominated Brian Quintenz, a former commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and current Global Head of Policy for a16z crypto, to chair the CFTC.
• White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R.-Ark.), House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson (R.-Penn.), Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R.-Ark.), and Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced their intent to pass crypto legislation relating to market structure and stablecoins this session.
• Commissioner Hester Peirce released a statement, titled “The Journey Begins,” which criticizes the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) past approach to crypto and includes a list of regulatory issues that the newly created SEC Crypto Task Force will seek to address. 
• In a CoinDesk op-ed, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) wrote that their immediate crypto priorities include: (1) establishing a federal framework for stablecoins, (2) providing clarity for the initial sale and distribution of tokens, (3) creating pathways for the registration of centralized platforms for the trading of tokens, (4) implementing strong protections against money laundering and terrorist financing, and (5) ensuring fair competition.

🌽 Commodity Futures Trading Commission

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” President Donald Trump nominated Brian Quintenz, a former commissioner at the CFTC and current Global Head of Policy for a16z crypto, to chair the CFTC.
• CFTC Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham announced a reorganization of the Division of Enforcement’s task forces to combat fraud and help victims while ending the practice of regulation by enforcement.
• A federal district court entered a default judgment against two cofounders and the head trader of trading platform EmpiresX, ordering them to pay more than $129 million for taking investor funds in a fraudulent commodity pool scheme and lying that investor capital was not held in or used to trade cryptocurrencies.
• A federal district court entered an order against a Florida resident in a CFTC action charging him in connection with a digital asset fraud scheme, in which he and others fraudulently offered the sale of cryptocurrency “My Big Coin.” The defendant was previously criminally prosecuted, sentenced to more than eight years in prison, and ordered to pay $7.6 million in restitution.
• A federal district court entered an order against a New York resident in a CFTC action charging him with fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation of investor assets obtained for the purported purpose of trading digital assets on behalf of customers. The defendant was previously criminally prosecuted, sentenced to more than three years in prison, and ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution.
• The CFTC’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach launched a national awareness effort to alert the public to relationship investment scams targeting Americans through wrong-numbered texts, dating apps, and social media. The effort warns Americans to be skeptical of any request from online friends for cryptocurrency, gift cards, wire transfers, or other forms of payment.
• The CFTC announced that it would hold a CEO Forum to discuss the launch of the CFTC’s digital asset markets pilot program relating to tokenized non-cash collateral such as stablecoins.

🦅 Congress

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R.-Ark.), House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson (R.-Penn.), Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R.-Ark.), and Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced their intent to pass crypto legislation relating to market structure and stablecoins this session.
• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” in a CoinDesk op-ed, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) wrote that their immediate crypto priorities include: (1) establishing a federal framework for stablecoins, (2) providing clarity for the initial sale and distribution of tokens, (3) creating pathways for the registration of centralized platforms for the trading of tokens, (4) implementing strong protections against money laundering and terrorist financing, and (5) ensuring fair competition.
• In a CoinDesk op-ed, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) wrote that it was “essential” for the United States to “enact clear and sensible cryptocurrency regulations,” starting with stablecoin legislation.
• Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), along with Senators Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act of 2025 that would establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
• House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) released a discussion draft of the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act of 2025 that would establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
• House Representative and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) discussed crypto policy in the new administration and other issues on The Scoop podcast. 

⚖️ Department of Justice

• The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged a Canadian man with exploiting vulnerabilities in two decentralized finance protocols to fraudulently obtain about $65 million from the protocols’ users.
• The DOJ charged two Russian nationals in connection with operating a cybercrime group using the Phobos ransomware that targeted more than 1,000 public and private entities and demanded ransom payments in bitcoins.
• An Alabama man pleaded guilty in connection with the January 2024 unauthorized takeover of the SEC’s social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which hackers posted a fraudulent message in the name of the then-SEC Chairman, falsely announcing that the SEC approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded product.
• Two Estonian nationals pleaded guilty for their operation of a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that raised more than $577 million and targeted hundreds of thousands of victims from across the world, including in the United States.

🔒 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released 175 documents in connection with the FDIC’s “comprehensive review of all supervisory communications with banks that sought to offer crypto-related products or services.”

🪙 Federal Reserve

• Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller discussed the maturation of the stablecoin market, as well as potential challenges that could impede stablecoins from reaching their full potential.

📈 Securities and Exchange Commission

• As mentioned in “tl;dr,” Commissioner Hester Peirce released a statement, titled “The Journey Begins,” which criticizes the SEC’s past approach to crypto and includes a list of regulatory issues that the newly created SEC Crypto Task Force will seek to address. 
• Commissioner Hester Peirce discussed crypto regulation, memecoins, enforcement, and other issues on Bloomberg.

🌍 International

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

• Coinbase announced that it obtained its Virtual Asset Service Provider registration from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

***

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the current or enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.