The Republican and Democratic Senate Judiciary leaders have called for changes to the market structure bill, arguing it would “weaken” the ability to police money transmitters. US Senate Judiciary Committee leaders are seeking to remove crypto developer protections from the Senate’s crypto market structure bill, arguing the provisions would weaken unlicensed money transmitting laws. Senate Judiciary chair Charles Grassley and the committee’s top Democrat, Richard Durbin, told Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott and top Democrat Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday that the crypto bill as drafted would “create a significant enforcement gap for decentralized digital asset platforms.” “Such a gap risks attracting illicit actors — like cartels and other sophisticated criminal organizations — to decentralized platforms,” Grassley and Durbin said in a letter Politico first reported on Friday. Read more
Bitcoin futures open interest has begun to recover in January after a sharp Q4 deleveraging, though analysts say the rebound remains modest. Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) — a measure of derivative market participation — has gained almost 13% from the start of the year, which analysts say could reflect more risk appetite for crypto. The increase follows a sharp deleveraging phase from October through December, when Bitcoin derivatives exposure fell alongside a broad market correction. Bitcoin futures OI has fallen 17.5% from 381,000 BTC to 314,000 BTC over the past three months, following a roughly 36% price correction from early October, “reflecting a phase of risk reduction and the unwinding of leveraged positions,” said CryptoQuant analyst “Darkfost” on Monday. Read more