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Stablecoins are increasingly flowing through global payment rails. But here is the catch: in the US, they are still not legal tender - only US coins and Federal Reserve notes qualify. The IRS even classifies stablecoins as property, meaning every payment could trigger capital gains tax. But winds are shifting. The proposed Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act of 2025 could make USD stablecoins legal tender. The ECB’s digital euro already envisions legal tender status for CBDCs, therefore, if Washington recognises stablecoins, how long before other jurisdictions follow either by adopting USD stablecoins or fast-tracking their own programmable digital alternatives?

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OFSI’s July 2025 Cryptoassets Threat Assessment warns UK crypto firms that sanctions risk has shifted from fringe to frontline. The agency maintains suspected breach reporting is inconsistent and has been likely under-reported since 2022, with most issues arising inadvertently via delayed attribution, indirect exposure to designated persons (DPs) and weak due diligence. Three dominant jurisdictions pose threats: Russia, North Korea and Iran. OFSI urges a risk-based program using continuous blockchain analytics to track newly spawned addresses post-designation, heightened scrutiny of privacy coins, chain-hopping and non-KYC services and prompt reporting of suspected sanctions evasion.

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The US can no longer ignore crypto’s role in global finance with institutional adoption surging and Trump’s proposal for a US Strategic Crypto Reserve is a bold but divisive move. Supporters see it as a hedge against inflation and a way to solidify America’s dominance in digital assets but critics warn of political flip-flopping, regulatory chaos and conflicts of interest. So, will the US lead the next financial evolution, or will it fumble the opportunity whilst other nations move ahead? The question is no longer if but how the US should act.

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Dark pools, long used in traditional finance, are entering crypto whereby bringing stability but challenging decentralisation. By shielding trades from public view, they reduce slippage and protect against predatory strategies such as front-running. For institutions and whales, they unlock liquidity without destabilising markets. Yet this privacy clashes with blockchain’s ethos of transparency and raises regulatory concerns. But whilst dark pools could mature crypto markets, they risk reintroducing opacity and centralisation. Their impact will be pivotal: less a silver bullet than a sign of digital finance’s uneasy evolution.

Dark pools promise liquidity and stability, but their entry into crypto clashes with blockchain’s ethos of transparency. Opaque and centralised by design, they risk reviving structures crypto aimed to replace. Anonymity protects investors from slippage and predatory trading but also enables illicit finance, inviting regulatory scrutiny. Technically, secrecy on public blockchains demands hybrid models that compromise decentralisation for speed, sparking criticism from purists. Yet atomic settlement and AI-driven hyper-trading reveal their transformative potential. Dark pools underscore crypto’s central tension: balancing transparency, efficiency, security and oversight, whilst for retail investors, dollar-cost averaging remains the most pragmatic shield against volatility.

Since Trump’s January 2025 return, the SEC has pivoted from cracking down on crypto to championing it scrapping lawsuits, launching a pro-innovation Crypto Task Force - fast-tracking rules for tokenisation, DeFi, stablecoins and crypto ETFs. Chair, Paul Atkins’ “Project Crypto” aims to make the US the world’s blockchain leader with clear, simple regulations.