CFTC Chair is extremely bullish on blockchain and bitcoin since the last couple of years have seen some of the national governments struggling with how to regulate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Some of the governments even got extremely hostile to virtual currencies while others were more accepting.The United States was among the regulation confusion but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is one of the agencies that are actually supportive of the leading cryptocurrency and blockchain. This bullish view was reinforced by the CFTC chair when he appeared on the CNBC’s ‘’The Exchange.’’As we are seeing today in the blockchain news, the governments and financial officials across the world have been extremely hostile towards Bitcoin but the CFTC chair is bullish towards both. He expressed the view that the agency is concerned with the regulation regarding anti-money laundering and preserving the integrity of the entire marketplace. The reason for the regulation is to make sure that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can continue innovation.Heath Tarbert answered why the government officials in Washington got scared over Libra but not about Bitcoin since the leading cryptocurrency has been around for ten years and is fully understood how it actually works. On the contrary, Libra is still developing and has a lot of unanswered questions about the overall structure. Tarbert also noted that Bitcoin is not considered as legal tender such as the US dollar but a commodity. Cryptocurrencies are still under the jurisdiction of the CFTC due to the Commodity Exchange ACT and this is why the BTC futures trading is approved by the CFTC.Tarbert noted that Bitcoin could break out if the governments start accepting Bitcoin as a legitimate payment option and the state of Ohio was even the first one to accept BTC for tax payments but the state has since discontinued the program. During the appearance on CNBC, Tarbert stressed that the US should put much more effort to be the world’s leader when it comes to blockchain and he said that blockchain could even overtake the internet or at least be parallel with it. He added:

 “I think whoever ends up leading in this technology will end up writing the rules of the road for the rest of the world. My emphasis is on making sure that the United States is a leader.”

A legal firm, Silver Miller, has an inclination for lawsuits that are crypto-related, taking on cases in relation to SIM swapping that lead to significant crypto losses. Silver Miller will be taking up complaints against one of the biggest US-based operators, like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon as we are reading further in the cryptocurrency news today.In a recent statement, Silver Miller declared that he responds already to cases of SIM identity theft, and is resolving some of the claims. The mobile operators are breaking their own rules and procedures easing the SIM swapping beside reassurances, which has been discovered in research by Silver Miller.It is probable to break into personal banking or exchange accounts, as mobile phones are frequently used as 2FA tools. As a result, from SIM swapping there was a considerable amount of funds drawn off cryptocurrency from owners over the years, afore any new tools of authentication were implemented.Evidence was found by the firm that mobile company representatives had broken certain rules and procedures and even assisted criminal circles that aimed at hacking valuable SIM clients. Private arbitration was taken up as an alternative to public litigation, in an attempt to mend those cases by the firm. It is a vital priority for the firm to protect clients' identities, is decided by Silver Miller, being once a victim of digital theft.Everyone whose SIM was compromised is invited by Silver Miller, particularly in the cases where “enhanced security” was promised, to seek legal tools for redress, with a higher potential for arbitration to achieve the results even without a trail.One of the hardest stricken by SIM swapping attacks, communities is the crypto community. $550,000 worth crypto assets theft is one of the most recent cases in which two men were charged in Boston. Two residents of Brockton, Massachusetts, were charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, computer fraud, and identity theft, Eric Meiggs and Declan Harrington both in their early twenties, on the basis of targeting 10 identified persons from the cryptocurrency community in the US.The greatest risk is now only present on social media platforms and for crypto influencers or anyone that basically has a whale wallet. SIM swapping cannot affect the wallets but it can empty the exchange accounts or any other custodial wallet where a third-party is able to win the crypto assets.

Some strict AML regulations have to be implemented in the crypto space since the market has spiked the interest from the media and regulators over the past few years. The lack of regulation leads to a lot of criminal activities and the US government has to prepare to act against potential money laundering schemes.In our cryptocurrency news today we see that the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Kennet Blanco, recently stated that that the country is trying to find a way to introduce strict AML regulations on multiple cryptocurrency-related types of businesses. The new ‘’travel rule’’ will require all crypto exchanges to verify the identities of each customer with the KYC process. They will also have to identify the original parties and beneficiaries of transfers for more than $3,000 and that information will be available for all counterparties. Blanco added during a press conference in New York:

 “It [travel rule] applies to convertible virtual currencies, and we expect that you will comply period. That’s what our expectation is. You will comply. I don’t know what the shock is. This is nothing new.”

Apparently, FinCEN introduced the new rule back in 1996 and the main purpose at that time was also anti-money laundering and covered all financial institutions in the states at that time. Later in 2013, the rule was updated and started including cryptocurrencies as well. The CEO of CipherTRace however, which is a blockchain forensic company, said that the digital assets have never been considered as money and that the travel rule should not be including them.It’s worth noting that the United States Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a set of new guidelines for crypto exchanges to follow and all exchanges have time until June 2020 to adjust and to start complying. Cryptocurrencies have also been used mostly for beneficial purposes and they’ve been implicated in the alleged criminal activities.Also, there is another argument that cash is still the most used method for money laundering and it was also supported by Yaya Fanusie, the director says that the analysis for the Foundation for Defense Democracies Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance. When he was asked what he thinks about money, he said: ‘’cold is still king.’’

The Democratic 2020 US presidential candidate Andrew Yang has recently outlined his plans on regulating cryptocurrency and the entire industry. On November 14, Yang wrote a blog post which put him in the focus of the latest cryptocurrency news for stating his plans on regulating crypto.As an entrepreneur, lawyer, philanthropist and a Democratic candidate in the 2020 United States presidential election, Yang is a popular authority in the US now. His blog post is centered around the tech industry and how cryptocurrencies experience the levels of fraud they do because of the lack of adequate reactions.

“Other countries, which are ahead of us on regulation, are leading in this new marketplace and dictating the rules that we’ll need to follow once we catch up,” he said.

The US presidential candidate Andrew Yang also explained that cryptocurrencies and digital assets already compose a big portion of the economic activity. However the government response has lagged.

“A national framework for regulating these assets has failed to emerge, with several federal agencies claiming conflicting jurisdictions,” he said.

In his own plan to regulate the tech industry and protect the US citizens from big tech companies "which are prioritizing profits over our well-being" as he said, Yang promises to promote complete legislation on the crypto asset market space. The US presidential candidate Andrew Yang will also define what a token is, when a token is a security, and what are the tax implications of owning, selling and trading digital assets, among others.Yang also pointed out that in order to effectively regulate these technologies (blockchain and crypto), the US government first needs to understand them. The US presidential candidate is specifically referring to the Financial Services Committee (FSC) which is the body that questioned the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for over six hours and was in the Libra news for the upcoming Libra token.Yang concluded with the following statement:

“It’s embarrassing to see the ignorance some members of Congress display when talking about technology, and anyone who watched Congress question Mark Zuckerberg is well aware of this. Without a base level of understanding, it’s unreasonable to expect proper regulation of major tech companies, or the drafting of legislation that addresses the critical technological issues that we’ll continue to face in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.”