Today in Crypto: US Lawmakers Question Lobbyists Over Stablecoin Fall; Miners Mull Exiting NY Over Bills
In crypto news, the industry is hurrying to respond to concerns by U.S. lawmakers about stablecoins after the UST collapse, Reuters wrote.
The Blockchain Association and the Chamber of Digital Commerce, representing some of the biggest companies in the market, has been fielding “a flurry of questions” from Capitol Hill in the last week or so since the crash.
Lawmakers have asked about the structure of UST to see if the collapse was preventable.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining companies in New York are mulling leaving the state and giving up on what once seemed to be lucrative, Coindesk wrote Thursday (May 19).
This comes as the state Legislature looks at a bill to ban new mining projects using carbon-based energy sources, as experts look into the environmental impact. Crypto mining uses enormous amounts of computing power and energy.
The Senate bill would call for a two-year moratorium on the new mining projects which use gas, coal or other nonrenewable energy sources.
Meanwhile, Ripple, the enterprise blockchain and crypto solution, has announced a commitment of $100 million to carbon markets, to help carbon removal and modernizing the markets, a press release said.
Carbon markets have struggled before to keep up with exploding demand from supply bottlenecks and slow time to market, which could hurt climate goals in the long run.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said the investment is a response to the “global call for action” for climate change.
Meanwhile, Tether has reportedly cut the amount of commercial paper in the reserve backing its stablecoin, a report from Bloomberg said.
This has revealed more information about its holdings as regulators look more into dollar-pegged assets.
Tether had around $82.4 billion in assets as of March 31 along with another $82.2 billion in liabilities for its digital tokens, the report said.
Finally, Panama President Laurentino Cortizo will reportedly not be signing a law to regulate crypto, Bloomberg reported.
He said he wants it to contain tougher anti-money laundering measures.
The bill was passed last month and would make it easier for crypto exchanges to get licenses to operate in the country.