Law Decoded, July 4–11: Access denied for crypto-owning policymakers

cointelegraph.com:

It’s been a century or so since the property qualification came out of vogue, but it doesn’t seem a problem if you want to apply it to crypto and policymaking. An advisory notice released by the United States Office of Government Ethics last week states that the de minimis exemption — which allows for the owners of securities who hold an amount below a certain threshold to work on policy related to that security — is universally inapplicable when it comes to cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. 

As the note specifies, even holding a mere $100 of a certain stablecoin should prevent a civil servant from participating in drafting regulation “until and unless they divest their interests in [that] stablecoin.” Stablecoins are not an exception — the same goes for any kind of cryptocurrency.

The only exemption will be made for policymakers who hold up to $50,000 in mutual funds that invest broadly in companies that would benefit from crypto and blockchain technology. The reasoning for this exemption is that they “are considered diversified funds.”

South Korea and the U.S. have reportedly agreed to share their latest investigation data around Terra, the $40 billion ecosystem crash which is under investigation in both countries. While the joint action between Terra’s original jurisdiction and the country with the largest crypto market comes as no surprise, the cooperation between the two nations would be the first of its kind, though likely not the last.

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Apparently, some Chinese firms have been using the Tether (USDT) stablecoin for salaries amid the hardline crypto ban by the country’s government. Beijing’s Chaoyang District People’s Court even had to deliver a judgment that stablecoins like USDT cannot be used for