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Bitcoin Protocol Babylon Hours Away From Opening ‘Duration-Based’ Staking Round

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BlackRock Expands Digital Asset Team, Adds Four High-Level Roles

BlackRock is looking to add more people to its digital asset team as the industry grows in popularity among Wall Street firms.
Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, big names in finance have taken several steps to expand their presence in crypto. While BlackRock has long been a pioneer in the space, especially among traditional financial banks, the asset manager seems to have more in store.
Four roles on BlackRock’s digital asset team were added to its website on Wednesday, including Director of Digital Assets, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Vice President for Digital Asset and ETF Legal Counsel and Associate for Digital Asset.
According to the job description, three of the roles are based in New York and another one in Atlanta. The descriptions have otherwise been kept fairly broad and don’t give away any clues regarding what BlackRock might be looking to work on in the future.
For the role of the legal counsel, the company is seeking somebody who can help with future crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) launches. BlackRock has so far issued two spot ETF products, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHE).
Other issuers have applied to launch funds for several other crypto assets, including Solana (SOL), XRP, and Litecoin (LTC). BlackRock has not announced any plans to do the same.
The asset manager is also strongly focused on tokenization, a sector in which it has quickly become a leading force.
The firm’s tokenized money market fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), has drawn in $1.7 billion since its introduction in 2023, making it by far the largest tokenized fund on the market currently.
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Unicoin CEO: Why Are We Still Under the SEC’s Gun?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin said he’s asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pull its investigation against the crypto operation and hasn’t yet received a response.
Unicoin represented a final shot against the industry from previous Chair Gary Gensler’s SEC, which informed the firm in an official notice late last year that the regulator intended to accuse it of fraud, deceptive practices and handling unregistered securities. The investigation was announced in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration in December, before the SEC’s leadership was taken over by those selected by crypto fan President Donald Trump.
The CEO, who has watched a dozen other crypto companies let off the hook of their enforcement actions by the agency’s new management, told CoinDesk he wrote a March 17 letter to the agency’s new Crypto Task Force, asking about the investigation.
«I seek your guidance on the best way to address this abuse of power and bring it to an end,» Konanykhin wrote in the letter, a copy of which has been reviewed by CoinDesk. He requested the matter be terminated and that the conduct of the enforcement official involved with the case at the agency be reviewed, because of his «willingness to weaponize the SEC’s authority for political purposes.»
A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment on Unicoin’s status on Wednesday. A Unicoin spokesperson told CoinDesk on Tuesday that the company «remains in the final stages of the SEC review process. As of now, we have not received any new updates or formal feedback from the SEC regarding our registration. We are fully committed to compliance and transparency, and we continue to work toward securing the necessary approvals for our planned offerings.»
The CEO believes his company, which suggests investors can see up to 8,000% returns, was targeted by agency harassment last year, he said in an interview with CoinDesk in Washington.
«They demanded from us to promise not to go public in the United States, not to ICO, not to raise funds,» he said. «So I packed my bags and moved to Europe to resume business.»
He said the election of Trump and the president’s promises to make the U.S. the global crypto capital made him come back to New York from Switzerland, with an intent to go public here.
«We thought the war was over, and we said to the SEC, ‘Hey, we’re resuming our activity,» Konanykhin said. At that point, the agency announced it intended to target the company with civil charges.
Konanykhin noted that the regulator had accused them of violating securities laws with an airdrop. Konanykhin argued that it’s a common marketing strategy seen in many crypto assets, and is «what the president of the United States is doing with his memecoin.»
«It’s embarrassing that the war on crypto still continues,» he said. If the agency continues its war on crypto by pursuing Unicoin, «I think so many observers are going to be astonished.»
Unicoin started as an effort to create a «more transparent and reliable alternative» to Bitcoin in the U.S. (which, the Unicoin website said, has returned 9 million percent to investors over the last 10 years). He said some analysts believe bitcoin was «created by Chinese intelligence, but nobody really knows by whom.»
«I’m elated by the opportunity to participate in making American the crypto capital of the planet as the president pledged he wants to do, even though it’s highly annoying to still have the legacy persecution from the SEC,» Konanykhin said.
Meanwhile, he said, «we are preparing actively for going public.»
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U.S. House Stablecoin Bill Goes Live in Flurry of Crypto Activity on Capitol Hill

The U.S. Congress’ opening priority for the crypto industry is to quickly finish a stablecoin oversight bill, and the House of Representatives has released the text of its version on Wednesday, following in the heels of a recent committee approval of its Senate counterpart.
The House version, introduced by Rep. Bryan Steil, who leads the House Financial Services Committee’s crypto panel, and Rep. French Hill, the Republican chair of the overall committee, governs the way companies can issue dollar-denominated digital tokens.
The new version will «close the gap» between the House efforts and the Senate version of the bill, Steil said during a conference appearance Wednesday.
The Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE Act) «is a strong continuation of our work on digital assets in the last Congress,» Hill said in a statement.
The Senate Banking Committee had already advanced its own version of the legislation with a strong bipartisan vote, so it moves on now to consideration on the Senate floor. Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip who has been among Congress’ top crypto advocates for years, said the two bills have «some minor differences that I’m sure can be ironed out.»
Read more: Trump-Tied World Liberty Financial Pitches Its Stablecoin in Washington With Don Jr.
Also on Wednesday, Emmer reintroduced his Securities Clarity Act, which seeks to define how a crypto asset might fall within the securities law framework. Emmer introduced the bill, which was part of last year’s Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT 21), alongside Democratic Representative Darren Soto.
Emmer, Steil and many other lawmakers involved in crypto efforts on Capitol Hill all appeared on Wednesday at the DC Blockchain Summit, a crypto policy event hosted by the Digital Chamber. Most of them shared hopes that the stablecoin effort would be completed by August.
As the conference wrapped up, the Senate prepared to vote for a second time on a Congressional Review Act resolution overturning the IRS’ 2024 regulation governing decentralized finance (DeFi) brokers. The Senate and House have both previously passed the resolution, which U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign, but the Senate must vote on it again due to a procedural rule requiring the House to vote first on tax-related issues.
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