Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of publicly-reported news that may be of particular interest.
U.S. Developments
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who formally announced his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on April 7, has begun accepting bitcoin donations. Donors can select bitcoin from a number of available payment options, with bitcoin payments being enabled by processor BitPay.
International Developments
Australia. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has indicated that it is not in favor of regulating bitcoin and other digital currencies, stating that “it is currently unlikely that any benefits of regulation would outweigh the potential costs”. The statements, issued on 7th April, are the latest from Australia’s central bank, which went so far as to propose that coordinated cross-border regulation is necessary given bitcoin’s potential to disrupt the global remittance industry.