Summer of crypto (regs): State of Crypto

Summer of crypto (regs): State of Crypto

Policy

Summer of crypto (regs): State of Crypto

Lawmakers are debating taxes, the CFTC put out a prediction market proposal and court cases are heating up.

By

Nikhilesh De

Jun 14, 2026, 6:30 p.m.

3

min read

Make

preferred on

Share

Share this article

Copy link

X icon

X (Twitter)

LinkedIn

Facebook

Email

Make

preferred on

U.S. Capitol Building (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Technically speaking, summer hasn't started yet and won't for another week. But it's over 90°F in New York, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to work through crypto tax legislation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission put out a proposal for regulating prediction markets, former CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler filed an amicus brief in one of the many, many lawsuits around prediction markets and Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal was rejected by an appellate court panel. Welcome to the summer of crypto regulations.

You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government.

Click here

to sign up for future editions.

Busy week

The narrative

Last Tuesday's House Ways and Means Committee hearing on digital asset tax bills was pretty straightforward. The members of the committee asked largely substantive questions, seemingly aimed at better understanding both how crypto taxes might work as well as what holes exist in current tax policy. There was no sniping at each other, no real pot shots at President Donald Trump and his family and no major arguments. At most, we had a few lawmakers question whether crypto is really an urgent issue amid current economic conditions.

In agency news, the CFTC published a proposal for better regulating prediction markets, giving the general public some time to weigh in, even as the various legal cases continue.

Why it matters

Crypto taxes are the next big issue after the market structure bill happens (if it happens, anyway). And while the hearing wasn't exactly spicy, it did suggest that there is a lot of work to be done before crypto tax legislation can proceed through a markup and to the House floor.

The CFTC's proposal to more closely regulate prediction markets is a first step in this process, and the public comments will be revealing.

Breaking it down

Tuesday's hearing from

the Ways and Means Committee

saw lawmakers ask questions about the various discussion draft bills presented for the hearing, addressing the different aspects of the crypto tax debate. It was a remarkably conciliatory hearing, when contrasted with some of the other hearings the crypto industry has watched.

Now we wait and see how these bills advance, and whether there is a bipartisan agreement on some of the sticking points.

The CFTC is also getting busy. The regulator

published a proposal

last week for how it can oversee prediction markets. Part of this proposal includes how the agency would define gaming for the purposes of establishing what prediction market contracts fall under its purview, and what potential contracts wouldn't meet the bar for being a federally regulated swap product.

And Gary Gensler, the former SEC and CFTC chair who had a major role in the creation and implementation of Dodd-Frank, filed

an amicus brief

alongside a number of other entities and states arguing that the term "swaps" was never meant to include anything that could look like sports betting.

Nevertheless, the CFTC filed another lawsuit against New Mexico on Friday, arguing that sports-related prediction markets are still swaps and should not be governed by a state gaming regulator.

On the SEC front, we're watching for its innovation exemption to come out. The proposal's public release has already been delayed, and legal experts

have concerns

about how it seems to be structured so far.

Oh and Sam Bankman-Fried

lost his appeal

of his 2023 conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges. A Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel found that District Judge Lewis Kaplan did not overreach his role or make mistakes in how he oversaw Bankman-Fried's criminal trial.

This week

This week

There aren't any congressional hearings or agency events that we're tracking this week.

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at

[email protected]

or find me on Bluesky

@nikhileshde.bsky.social

.

You can also join the group conversation on

Telegram

.

See ya’ll next week!

Newsletters

State of Crypto

Latest Crypto News

1

Asset management giant Invesco files for tokenized fund targeting stablecoin reserve market

9 hours ago

2

Coinbase's Base blockchain resumes after two-hour outage disrupted network

11 hours ago

3

Strategy's yield-generating STRC stock is more correlated with BTC than ever

12 hours ago

4

Kraken in talks to buy 15% stake in DeFi lender Aave at $385 million valuation

12 hours ago

5

a16z-backed crypto firm rebrands, shifts focus to solving AI’s global copyright headache

13 hours ago

6

BlackBerry is making a massive comeback as an 'uncrashable' software layer for AI and robotics

14 hours ago

7

Strategy has a 10-month cash runway for dividends, but retail investors are losing faith

14 hours ago

8

Quant fund says bitcoin is near a major inflection point as rare onchain signals align

14 hours ago

9

Bitcoin tumbles to new multi-year low of $58,000, but a short-squeeze setup emerges

15 hours ago

10

Crypto for Advisors: Bitcoin: planning for inheritance

15 hours ago

Latest Research

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

By

CoinDesk Research

Jun 15, 2026

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

Why it matters

:

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

View Full Report

More From

Policy

Kraken sues crypto derivatives firm PowerTrade over 'misappropriated' funds claim

Post-prison CZ says time behind bars didn't hurt the billionaire's business after Binance

CoinEx denies claims it served as $3.84 billion gateway to sanctioned Iranian crypto firms

CD20

$1,599.79

CD20 down 3.81 percent

3.81%

BTC

$59,680.03

BTC down 3.19 percent

3.19%

ETH

$1,543.57

ETH down 6.53 percent

6.53%

XRP

$1.03

XRP down 5.32 percent

5.32%

SOL

$68.00

SOL down 1.96 percent

1.96%