31
Mar, 2025
California introduces ’Bitcoin rights’ in amended digital assets bill
Altcoin News, Bitcoin News, Crypto Analytics, Crypto Industries & Currency Updates
A Californian lawmaker has just added Bitcoin and crypto investor protections to a February-introduced money transmission bill aimed at securing crypto self-custody rights for the US state’s nearly 40 million residents.
California’s Assembly Bill 1052 was introduced as the Money Transmission Act on Feb. 20, 2025, but was amended by Democrat and Banking and Finance Committee chair Avelino Valencia on March 28 to include several Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto-related investor protections.
The amendments cross out “Money Transmission Act,” with the legislation now called “Digital assets.”
“California often sets the national blueprint for policy, and if Bitcoin Rights passes here, it can pass anywhere,” Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter said in a March 30 statement.
“Once passed, this legislation will guarantee nearly 40 million Californians the right to self-custody their digital assets without fear of discrimination.”
Source: Satoshi Action Fund
The bill would also deem the use of a digital financial asset as a valid and legal form of payment in private transactions and would prohibit public entities from restricting or taxing digital assets solely based on their use as payment.
The bill would also expand the scope of California’s Political Reform Act of 1974 to prohibit a public official from issuing, sponsoring or promoting a digital asset, security or commodity.
“A public official shall not engage in any transaction or conduct related to a digital asset that creates a conflict of interest with their public duties,” one section of the AB 1052 states.
AB 1052 is now in the “desk process” — meaning the bill has been formally introduced and is awaiting its first reading.
A total of 99 merchants currently accept Bitcoin payments in California, BTC Maps data shows.
Ripple Labs, Solana Labs and Kraken are among the largest crypto firms based in California.
Related: New BITCOIN Act would allow US reserve to exceed 1M
A stablecoin-related bill was also introduced in California on Feb. 2, 2025, which aims to provide more clarity over stablecoin collateral requirements, liquidation processes, redemption and settlement mechanisms requirements and security audits.
Bitcoin-related bills and measures near 100 at the US state level
According to Bitcoin Law, 95 Bitcoin-related bills or measures have been introduced at the state level in 35 states, including 36 Bitcoin reserve bills that are still live.
The Texas Senate passed a Bitcoin strategic reserve bill in a 25-5 vote on March 6, while Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed a Bitcoin Rights bill into law on March 24.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, both of which will initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.
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31
Mar, 2025
MARA Holdings plans huge $2B stock offering to buy more Bitcoin
Altcoin News, Bitcoin News, Crypto Analytics, Crypto Industries & Currency Updates
Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings Inc (MARA) is looking to sell up to $2 billion in stock to buy more Bitcoin as part of a plan that bears a resemblance to Michael Saylor’s Strategy.
MARA Holdings, formerly Marathon Digital, said in a March 28 Form 8-K and prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it entered into an at-the-market agreement with investment giants, including Cantor Fitzgerald and Barclays, for them to sell up to $2 billion worth of its stock “from time to time.”
“We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin and for working capital,” MARA added.
MARA’s move copies a tactic made famous by Bitcoin (BTC) bull Saylor, the executive chair of the largest corporate Bitcoin holder Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, which has used a variety of market offerings, including stock sales, to amass 506,137 BTC worth $42.4 billion.
MARA Holdings falls just behind Strategy with the second largest holdings by a public company, with 46,374 BTC worth around $3.9 billion in its coffers, according to Bitbo data.
In July, the company’s CEO, Fred Thiel, said it was going “full HODL” and wouldn’t sell any of the Bitcoin it mined to fund its operations, as is typical for crypto miners, and would purchase more of the cryptocurrency to keep in reserve.
Related: Crusoe to sell Bitcoin mining business to NYDIG to focus on AI
The Bitcoin (BTC) miner’s planned stock sale follows a similar offering it made early last year that offered up to $1.5 billion worth of its shares. It also issued $1 billion of zero-coupon convertible senior notes in November with plans to use most of the proceeds to buy Bitcoin.
Google Finance shows that MARA closed the March 28 trading day down 8.58% at $12.47, following on from crypto mining stocks being rattled a day earlier with reports that Microsoft abandoned plans to invest in new data centers in the US and Europe.
MARA shares have fallen another 4.6% to $11.89 in overnight trading on March 30, according to Robinhood.
Bitcoin is trading just above $82,000, down 1.2% over the past 24 hours after falling from a local high of around $83,500, according to CoinGecko.
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Learn MoreMARA Holdings plans huge $2B stock offering to buy more Bitcoin
30
Mar, 2025
Centralization and the dark side of asset tokenization — MEXC exec
Altcoin News, Bitcoin News, Crypto Analytics, Crypto Industries & Currency Updates
Tracy Jin, the chief operating officer at the MEXC crypto exchange, warns that tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) carries a substantial amount of centralized risks that can lead to censorship, liquidity issues, legal uncertainty, cybersecurity problems, and asset confiscation through state or third-party intermediaries.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, the executive said that as long as tokenized assets remain under the purview of state regulators and centralized intermediaries, then “tokenization will simply be a new version of old financial infrastructure and not a financial revolution.” Jin added:
“Most tokenized assets will be issued on permissioned or semi-centralized blockchains. This gives authorities the power to issue restrictions or confiscate assets. The tokenization of assets such as real estate or bonds is still tied to the national legal system.”
“If the property or company behind the token is local, in a country with an unstable legal environment or high political volatility, the risk of confiscation increases,” the executive continued.
RWA tokenization is projected to become a multi-trillion sector in the next decade as the world’s assets come onchain, which will increase the velocity of money and extend the reach of capital markets worldwide.
The total market cap of the RWA sector. Source: RWA.XYZ
Related: Dubai Land Department begins real estate tokenization project
Estimates of the future RWA market differ dramatically
Tokenized real-world assets include stocks, bonds, real estate, intellectual property rights, energy, art, private credit, debt instruments, fiat currency, commodities, and collectibles.
According to RWA.XYZ, there are currently over $19.6 billion in tokenized real-world assets onchain, excluding the stablecoin sector, which surpassed a $200 billion market cap in December 2024.
A research report from Tren Finance polled large financial institutions including Citi, Standard Chartered, and McKinsey & Company; the report found that the participants predicted the RWA market to reach anywhere between $4 trillion to $30 trillion by 2030.
Financial institutions provide different forecasts for the future of the tokenized RWA market. Source: Tren Finance
McKinsey & Company predicted the RWA sector will encompass between $2 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030 — a relatively modest assessment compared to other forecasts.
Meanwhile, institutions like Standard Chartered and executives at the blockchain network Polygon say that the RWA market will reach $30 trillion in the next decade.
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