Here’s what happened in crypto today

1 week ago 9

Today in crypto, Japanese firm Metaplanet said it plans to eventually use its Bitcoin reserves to acquire cash-generating businesses, Coinbase’s lobby arm has urged lawmakers to expedite the CLARITY Act, which shifts crypto regulatory jurisdiction to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and a US court has ended Coin Center’s appeal against the Treasury Department over Tornado Cash.

Metaplanet eyes digital bank acquisition in phase 2 of Bitcoin strategy

Japanese firm Metaplanet plans to eventually use its Bitcoin reserves to acquire cash-generating businesses, possibly including a digital bank in Japan.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, CEO Simon Gerovich said the company is racing to accumulate as much Bitcoin (BTC) as possible before turning its holdings into leverage for expansion.

“We think of it as a Bitcoin gold rush,” Gerovich said. “We need to accumulate as much Bitcoin as we can... to get to a point where we’ve reached escape velocity and it just makes it very difficult for others to catch up.”

The Tokyo-listed firm, originally a hotel operator, started accumulating Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation in 2024. It currently holds 15,555 BTC and aims to boost that figure to over 210,000 by 2027, 1% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist.

Phase two of Metaplanet’s plan involves using Bitcoin as collateral to access financing, similar to securities or government bonds. “We’ll get cash that we can use to buy profitable businesses,” Gerovich said.

Gerovich said Metaplanet’s future acquisitions would ideally align with its strategy, so “maybe it is acquiring a digital bank in Japan and providing digital banking services that are superior to the services that retail now is getting.”

Coinbase crypto lobby urges Congress to back major crypto bill

Coinbase's lobbying arm, along with 65 crypto firms, has urged US House lawmakers to pass a major bill when they meet next week that would lay out how the crypto industry is regulated.

In a letter sent on Monday, Stand With Crypto and 65 crypto advocacy groups and firms asked House lawmakers to back the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — better known as the CLARITY Act.

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“We know that there have been efforts to politicize crypto legislation, but with crypto drastically reshaping the global economy the U.S. risks falling behind unless we adopt pro-crypto policies that fully embrace blockchain technology,” it said.

The CLARITY Act specifies the roles of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission in policing crypto. It gives most of the jurisdiction over crypto to the CFTC, but the SEC would regulate products such as crypto-related securities.

Court ends Coin Center-US Treasury appeal over Tornado Cash

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has dismissed an appeal filed by crypto advocacy organization Coin Center against the US Treasury Department over its Office of Foreign Assets Control’s 2022 sanctions against the Tornado Cash mixing service.

In a Thursday filing, the appellate court granted a motion to vacate a lower court ruling and remand with instructions to dismiss as part of a joint filing with Coin Center and the US Treasury. The dismissal, according to the court, would essentially conclude Coin Center’s legal challenge against the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

In 2022, OFAC added multiple wallet addresses connected to Tornado Cash to its list of sanctioned entities. Coin Center filed a lawsuit alleging that the Treasury Department “exceeded [its] statutory authority” in the sanctions, though there were other lawsuits filed by interested parties, including one from six Tornado Cash users backed by crypto exchange Coinbase.

The price of Tornado Cash’s native token (TORN) briefly surged by more than 14% to $10.55 on the news on Monday, before retracing to trade at $9.47 at the time of publication.

“This is the official end to our court battle over the statutory authority behind the [Tornado Cash] sanctions,” said Coin Center executive director Peter Van Valkenburgh in a Monday X post. “The government was not interested in moving forward and defending their dangerously overbroad interpretation of sanctions laws.”