The US city is expected to pen an amicus brief in Coinbase's lawsuit against the state of Michigan, which the exchange filed ahead of its prediction markets launch. Lawyers representing the US city of Detroit plan to file an amicus brief in Coinbase's lawsuit against Michigan, which argues that federal regulators should have authority in overseeing prediction markets and not states. In a Thursday filing in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan related to state officials’ motion for a preliminary injunction, District Judge Shalina Kumar approved an order which will allow Detroit to file a brief supporting state authorities in their lawsuit against Coinbase. Kumar gave Detroit’s lawyers until April 3 to make the filing as the lawsuit continues. In December, Coinbase filed its lawsuit against Michigan, as well as gaming authorities in Connecticut and Illinois, more than a month before the crypto exchange announced the launch of its prediction market services on the platform. Read more
The bill proposes exempting dollar-pegged stablecoins from gains or losses if the tokens remain tightly pegged to the underlying fiat currency. US Representatives Max Miller and Steven Horsford published a discussion draft bill on Thursday titled the ‘‘Digital Asset Protection, Accountability, Regulation, Innovation, Taxation, and Yields Act’’ or the ‘‘Digital Asset PARITY Act,” to overhaul the tax code for digital assets. The Digital Asset PARITY Act seeks to overhaul the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by adding provisions that would clarify the tax treatment of digital assets. The legislation said that stablecoins are not subject to gains if the cost basis, or the amount paid by the investor, does not fluctuate by more than 1% of $1 or $0.01, according to the discussion draft. Read more
While prediction market platforms are under legal scrutiny in the US, many Coinbase users are claiming that the app is pushing them to gamble. Update (March 27 at 8:32 pm in UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Negative reactions to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase using its notifications to push bets on event contracts amid the March Madness basketball tournament range from “annoying” to “absurd.” In January, Coinbase rolled out prediction market bets for US-based users as part of a partnership with Kalshi. However, for some users, the last two months have been seen as an opportunity for the exchange to get people “hooked on sports gambling” using an app that many had devoted to crypto trading. Read more
Ether traders said ETH price could see further downside after bulls failed to defend the $2,000 support as signs of declining demand were apparent. Ether’s (ETH) drop below the $2,000 on Friday put it at risk of a deeper correction in the coming weeks or months. Key takeaways: Ether’s price shows structural weakness as it fails to hold above the $2,000 psychological support. Read more