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: July 1 – July 22, 2025
tl;dr
- The House of Representatives voted 308 to 122 in favor of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, and President Trump signed it into law, making it the first major piece of U.S. crypto legislation. House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould, and others released statements in connection with the bill’s passage.
- The House of Representatives voted 294 to 134 in favor of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which would establish a digital asset market structure framework. The Senate and President Trump must approve the bill before it goes into effect.
- The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance provided its views on the application of certain disclosure requirements under the federal securities laws to offerings and registrations of securities by issuers of crypto asset exchange-traded products.
- The federal bank regulatory agencies issued a joint statement highlighting for banks potential risk-management considerations related to holding crypto assets on their customers’ behalf, or crypto-asset safekeeping.
Congress
- As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the House of Representatives voted 308 to 122 in favor of the GENIUS Act, and President Trump signed it into law, making it the first major piece of U.S. crypto legislation. House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould, and others released statements in connection with the bill’s passage.
- As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the House of Representatives voted 294 to 134 in favor of the CLARITY Act, which would establish a digital asset market structure framework. The Senate and President Trump must approve the bill before it goes into effect.
- The House of Representatives voted 219 to 210 in favor of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency and forbids federal agencies from exploring their development. The Senate and President Trump must approve the bill before it goes into effect.
- House Representative Sean Casten (D-Ill.) introduced the Compliant Operations of Decentralized Entities (CODE) Act, legislation intended to “combat illicit activity and address cybersecurity concerns associated with decentralized finance (DeFi).”
- House Representative Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) reintroduced the Veterans Affairs Distributed Ledger Innovation Act, which would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to explore the use of distributed ledger technology.
- Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.) reintroduced the Keep Your Coins Act, which would prohibit “any federal agency from promulgating a rule that would impair an individual’s ability to act as a self-custodian,” among other things.
- The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a full committee hearing to examine stakeholder perspectives on federal oversight of digital commodities.
- The House Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on “Making America the Crypto Capital of the World: Ensuring Digital Asset Policy Built for the 21st Century.”
- House Representatives Maxine Waters (D-Cal.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) announced “Anti-Crypto Corruption Week” to lead Democrats in opposition to efforts relating to crypto legislation, including the CLARITY Act, the GENIUS Act, and a bill banning a central bank digital currency. Waters also wrote an opinion piece urging her colleagues to vote against the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released principles for crypto market structure legislation.
Department of Justice
- The DOJ charged four North Korean nationals in a five-count wire fraud and money laundering indictment arising from a scheme to be hired as remote IT workers and then steal and launder more than $900,000 in virtual currency.
- The DOJ charged two men for their alleged roles in operating and promoting OmegaPro, an international investment scheme that defrauded victim investors of more than $650 million through a deceptive foreign exchange and cryptocurrency investment platform.
- The DOJ filed a complaint against 40,353 USDT stolen in the commission of a scheme in which perpetrators impersonated the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, fraudulently stole $250,300 worth of cryptocurrency from an intended donor, and then laundered the funds.
- The DOJ announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than $10 million dollars in cryptocurrency directly linked to the Sinaloa cartel.
- A bitcoin scammer who had previously been sentenced to 18 months in prison was resentenced to a 12-year prison term after refusing to repay $20 million in restitution to a victim.
Department of the Treasury
- The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service formally removed the decentralized finance broker reporting rule.
- The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration published a report in which it found that “IRS-CI did not always follow established guidelines when seizing and safeguarding digital assets,” and made six recommendations on how to improve processes for the safeguarding and disposition of seized digital assets.
- The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a crypto wallet address connected to the Aeza Group, a Russian bulletproof hosting services provider.
Federal Reserve
- As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the federal bank regulatory agencies issued a joint statement highlighting for banks potential risk-management considerations related to holding crypto assets on their customers’ behalf, or crypto-asset safekeeping.
Securities and Exchange Commission
- As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance provided its views on the application of certain disclosure requirements under the federal securities laws to offerings and registrations of securities by issuers of crypto asset exchange-traded products.
- Commissioner Hester M. Peirce released a statement reaffirming that “[t]okenized securities are still securities” and that “market participants must consider—and adhere to—the federal securities laws when transacting in these instruments.”
- In Remarks to the City of London Corporation at Guildhall, Commissioner Hester M. Peirce discussed crypto sandboxes and said that “the unique challenges and opportunities raised by blockchain technology and crypto assets and their borderless nature would lend themselves well to a mechanism for facilitating experiments.”
State
Arizona
- Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed legislation that would have established a digital assets reserve fund.
Connecticut
- Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed legislation that bars the state and political subdivisions of the state from purchasing, holding, investing in, or establishing a reserve of virtual currency.
Michigan
- The city council of Grosse Pointe Farms passed an ordinance that places restrictions on crypto ATMs and their operators.
New York
- The New York Attorney General sent a letter to congressional leaders expressing “serious concerns that the STABLE Act and the GENIUS Act do not contain the necessary guardrails to protect the American public.”
International
Bank for International Settlements
- The Bank for International Settlements published a bulletin on the policy challenges associated with stablecoin growth and potential approaches to them.
Belgium
- A Belgian court sentenced three men to 12-year prison terms each in connection with a crypto-related kidnapping.
European Union
- The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public statement “warning investors of the ‘halo effect’ that can lead to overlooking risk when authorised crypto-asset service providers…offer both regulated and unregulated products and/or services.”
- ESMA published a paper on the implications of Maximal Extractable Value in crypto markets.
- ESMA issued guidelines on supervisory practices for competent authorities to prevent and detect market abuse under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
- ESMA published the results of a peer review focused on the authorization of crypto-asset service providers in Malta under MiCA.
- The European Banking Authority published a no-action letter on the interplay between the Payment Services Directive and MiCA.
- The European Central Bank’s Governing Council approved a two-track approach that will enable settling distributed ledger technology transactions using central bank money.
- The Anti-Money Laundering Authority stated that it expects firms engaging in crypto-asset activities to have in place strong protections against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Greece
- In its first-ever cryptocurrency seizure, the Hellenic Anti-Money Laundering Authority issued a freezing order against funds linked to the $1.5 billion Bybit hack.
Hungary
- Hungarian authorities introduced new criminal penalties for certain actions relating to crypto.
United Kingdom
- A Russian-British dual national was charged with sending cryptocurrency to separatist militias fighting alongside the Russian army in eastern Ukraine.
- Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that there may “be a role for stablecoins” in the area of payments but that he does not “see them as a substitute for commercial bank money.”
- Two individuals were sentenced to a combined 12 years of imprisonment for their roles in a £1.5m crypto fraud.
- A former National Crime Agency officer was jailed for stealing and hiding 50 bitcoins, which had been seized as criminal property during an investigation into online crime on the dark web.
- Two individuals were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and running an illegal crypto asset exchange, and seven crypto ATMs were seized.
- HM Treasury published a response to its 2024 consultation on the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations.
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