Turkmenistan has passed a sweeping crypto law that legalizes the industry but tightly controls it through licensing and the potential use of state-run ledgers. Turkmenistan has approved a sweeping law to legalize and tightly regulate the cryptocurrency industry, marking a major policy shift for one of the world’s most closed economies. According to a Nov. 28 report from local news outlet Business Turkmenistan, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed a law regulating the crypto industry. The new law, which will come into force in 2026, establishes licensing, know-your-client, Anti-Money Laundering, and cold storage requirements for crypto exchanges and custodial services, and prohibits credit institutions from providing crypto services. The state can also stop, void and force a refund of token issuances. Read more
Economist Saifedean Ammous sparked fierce debate on social media by questioning the importance of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Zcash vs. Bitcoin. Bitcoin advocate Saifedean Ammous ignited a lively debate between Bitcoiners and privacy advocates by questioning the perceived importance of privacy as a key characteristic of money in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. “This is the question. How much demand is there for money that does not get debased versus how much demand is there for money that allows you to maintain your privacy?” Ammous said. Ammous, the author of “The Bitcoin Standard,” described Zcash as a “shitcoin” and raised concerns about the initial launch of the project, which involved a trusted setup ceremony in 2016 to generate the cryptographic parameters for its privacy features. Read more