Takeaways:
- U.S. States Order TruthGPT Coin Promoters to Cease Using Elon Musk, Changpeng Zhao and Vitalik Buterin Images.
- Coinbase Faces Legal Battle with SEC Over Cryptocurrency Regulation.
- Biden’s 2024 Budget Proposal Includes Tax on Crypto Miners.
U.S. States Order TruthGPT Coin Promoters to Cease Using Elon Musk, Changpeng Zhao and Vitalik Buterin Images Horatiu Caragaceanu, also known as “The Shark of Wall Street,” is promoting a cryptocurrency investment scam called truthGPT Coin (TRUTH) that purportedly uses artificial intelligence (AI). However, five U.S. states, including Texas, New Jersey, Alabama, Montana, and Kentucky, have ordered Caragaceanu to cease using images of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin to promote the scam.
The Texas State Securities Board stated that bad actors are attempting to capitalize on the widespread public interest in artificial intelligence.
In another news Coinbase Faces Legal Battle with SEC Over Cryptocurrency Regulation The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is taking steps to regulate cryptocurrency trading platforms like Coinbase, which went public on the Nasdaq exchange in April 2021.
The SEC has sued other crypto-trading platforms for allegedly operating unregistered exchanges, brokerages, and clearing businesses. In March 2022, Coinbase announced that the SEC sent a warning that it planned to bring an enforcement action against the company. While the details of the allegations haven’t been disclosed, analysts estimate that about 35% of Coinbase’s net revenue is potentially at-risk. Coinbase has noted that the SEC could require the company to jettison its entire customer-facing business, which poses an existential risk.
Moving on to Biden’s 2024 Budget Proposal Includes Tax on Crypto Miners President Biden’s proposed 2024 federal budget includes a tax on crypto miners called the Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) excise tax.
The tax would be up to 30% of crypto miners’ electricity costs, spread over three years starting January 2024, and is expected to raise about $3.5 billion over 10 years. The tax is geared toward combating climate change and encourages crypto mining firms to take better account of the harms they impose on society.
The President’s Council of Economic Advisers estimates that crypto mining in the United States consumed as much electricity in 2022 as all the country’s home computers or residential lighting. Notably, the proposed tax on crypto mining would affect bitcoin more than the rest of the crypto market, as it is the only major crypto network that uses proof-of-work (PoW) as its underlying mechanism for achieving consensus.
