WASHINGTON — While the scandals in the cryptocurrency industry seem to never end, Washington policymakers appear to have little interest in pushing through legislation to codify the structure of the industry.
The latest shoe to drop is Binance’s multibillion dollar settlement with U.S. authorities and the resignation of its CEO this week. Before that came the conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for stealing billions from customers and the implosion of smaller crypto companies that cost investors large sums of money.
When cryptocurrencies collapsed and a number of companies failed last year, Congress considered multiple approaches for how to regulate the industry in the future. However, most of those efforts have gone nowhere, especially in this chaotic year that has been dominated by geopolitical tensions, inflation and the upcoming 2024 election.
In fact, the appetite for new rules seems more diminished than ever.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said plainly Tuesday that there is no need for new cryptocurrency rules at a news conference announcing the $4 billion settlement with Binance: “I think today’s actions show that we are serious about enforcing strong regulations that are already in place to make sure that illegal transactions are not fostered by by cryptocurrency entities,” she said.
And a group of more than 100 mostly Democrat lawmakers in October said the responsibility for preventing the use of crypto to finance terrorism belongs to the White House, calling for the Biden Administration to act.
Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform. Zhao stepped down and Binance admitted to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and apparent violations of sanctions programs, including its failure to implement reporting programs for suspicious transactions.
As part of the settlement agreement, the U.S. Treasury said Binance will be subject to five years of…
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