The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 55: New digital asset introduced in US Congress, Aramco denies BTC mining reports, BSV sets new world record

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A 58-page bill seeking to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets took the center stage in the U.S. Congress this week, following three different hearings on the same subject the day before.

Rep. Don Beyer, chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, introduced “Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act,” the bill that is considered to be the most comprehensive to date. The bill will cover the definition of securities to commodities in a clause that would strengthen data collection for tax reporting among others. It would allow the Treasury Secretary to rule out stablecoins, require regulators to define rules for decentralized finance (DeFi) and possibly create a charter for digital asset exchanges. It may also serve as the gateway for the U.S. to create its own central bank-backed digital currency by authorizing the Federal Reserve to do so.

Beyer’s proposed bill is the first to take on the reformation of several agencies. It would require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to come up with a joint ruling, providing legal clarity for most of the digital asset market.

There is no clear timeline for its passage yet.

In a statement, Beyer said, “Our laws are behind the times and my bill would start the long-overdue process of updating them to give digital asset holders and investors basic protections.”

Beyer’s spokesperson said that the lawmaker has been working on it for over a year, which came as a surprise as Beyer demonstrated little interest in the industry previously. However, reports said that his top two donors, based on public records, have worked on lines of businesses that are digital assets related.

In other news, Saudi Aramco denied claims of involvement in BTC mining activities. The company dismissed the rumor in an official statement, “With reference to recent reports claiming that the company will embark on Bitcoin mining activities, Aramco confirms that these claims are completely false and inaccurate.”

In a supposed interview on the Bitconheiros YouTube channel, Brazilian investor Ray Nasser said negotiations were ongoing with Aramco in relation to mining BTC. Nasser reportedly said, “Aramco needs to burn this flared gas. She needs to get rid of this gas that is a by-product of their oil mining, they do. What if you find a way to make money while doing this?”

Aramco generates large amounts of energy, a requirement for bitcoin mining. It is Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil exporter.

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin SV blockchain continues to break records! The BSV blockchain has set a new world record for the highest daily average block size on a Bitcoin network on July 31, 2021.

The average block size on the BSV network during that 24-hour period was 45.87MB compared to BTC network’s average block size of 753.58KB—more than 60 times smaller than that seen on BSV. This is the third record in the last two months for the BSV network, which also saw new record daily averages on June 8 with 17.39MB and on June 25 with 35.08MB.

Earlier this year, the BSV blockchain also surpassed BTC with the total data stored on-chain on May 16 reaching 352.9GB on the BSV network compared to 352.4GB of BTC’s, making BSV the most data-rich Bitcoin network. Since then, the BSV network has continued to extend that lead, increasing the amount of data stored on-chain.

This week, CoinGeek’s Hashing It Out with Becky Liggero featured several guests discussing how blockchain can benefit the iGaming industry. To watch this engaging conversation, click here.