The SEC is working to strengthen its regulatory claims for crypto exchanges and DeFi platforms by updating a proposed rule to require such operators to register with SEC. On April 14, the agency voted to reopen the comment period on the rule, which aims to close a regulatory gap for platforms that offer trading in securities but do not register as exchanges or brokerages. The update would add about a dozen additional digital asset firms under the oversight of the SEC.

On April 13 House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) sent a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler calling on the SEC to provide information related to charges filed by the agency against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The letter states that “failure to produce the requested information could result in the committee considering using compulsory process.”

The clearinghouse arm of the London Stock Exchange Group, LCH, announced that it will offer clearing services for cash-settled BTC index futures and options. The announcement notes that LCH DigitalAssetClear, which is part of the company's French arm, will finalize trades made on UK-regulated exchange GFO-X.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a series of educational events targeting underrepresented communities, high school students, older investors, and other groups. The agency said that at the events participants would be taught to “exercise caution” on crypto and that events could include “how to avoid becoming a victim of fraud” using cryptocurrencies.

On April 9 the New York Times published an article which states that bitcoin mining causes "immense pollution."

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) said in a podcast interview that Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is a “bad faith regulator” who has “been blindly spraying the crypto community with enforcement actions while completely missing the truly bad actors.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has released a report in which it asserts that regulators need to conduct more anti-money laundering and terrorism financing oversight on decentralized finance due to vulnerabilities in the space. It notes that many DeFi services fail to comply with Bank Secrecy Act obligations, which allows bad actors to exploit the technology.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is seeking to sell Signet, the payments network for crypto companies operated by the now-failed Signature Bank. A spokesperson for the regulator confirmed the plan after the FDIC asked crypto depositors at Signature to close their accounts and move their money by April 5.

At a Punchbowl News event this morning House Financial Services Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) said that he believes creating a new regulator for digital assets is not a “political reality” and confirmed that SEC Chairman Gensler will testify before the committee on April 18 . He noted that he is particularly interested in discussing a digital asset regulatory regime with Gensler. Additionally, he announced that he has been working with House Agriculture Chair GT Thompson (R-PA) to formulate a system for regulating digital assets as securities and commodities, and thus he is confident that the chamber can move forward on a market structure bill. He hopes to make progress on this legislation and a stablecoin bill by the summer.