Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference Extends Invitation to Roswell, New Mexico Mayor and City Council

By: bitcoin magazine|2025/05/03 04:30:02
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Bitcoin MagazineLas Vegas Bitcoin Conference Extends Invitation to Roswell, New Mexico Mayor and City CouncilThe Bitcoin Conference 2025 in Las Vegas, scheduled for the last week of May, includes several notable political figures slated as speakers, including returning guest and Bitcoin advocate Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). Also appearing are Trump’s so-called “A.I. and Crypto Czar,” David Sacks, and Bo Hines, the “Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets at the White House.”This year, a less-expected and almost otherworldly contingent will possibly make an appearance as well — at least in the audience, if not beamed up and looking straight into the stage’s spotlights. Like fire from the skies, an unexpected $3,000 bitcoin donation which nobody asked for crashlanded in Roswell, New Mexico, earlier this year, leaving city council members wrestling with whether to once again answer history’s call, by establishing the United States’ first strategic bitcoin reserve — at the city level or otherwise — before other U.S. states or even the U.S. Congress itself acts definitively (following President Donald Trump’s executive order).JUST IN: City of Roswell, New Mexico sets up a strategic #Bitcoin reserve. pic.twitter.com/yhKgKbwsfV— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) April 30, 2025Roswell is home to a few things you might not expect — world-renowned dairy farming and one of the world’s largest mozzarella cheese factories; aerospace and aviation industries with a famous “aircraft graveyard” which once housed Elvis Presley’s personal small plane, “Hound Dog II,” for 35 years; a vibrant arts, museums and cultural scene — but also a thriving tourism industry, largely built around what Roswell is really known for: flying saucers.But Roswell is really known worldwide for the 1947 “UFO incident.” In early July 1947, a presumably once-flying object of unknown origin crashed and was destroyed, landing roughly at nearby Corona, New Mexico, recovered later and brought to the now-defunct Roswell Army Air Field’s 509th, a World War II-era military base, still housing the United States’ only nuclear bombs at the time as well as the U.S.’s only pilots, mechanics, and officers equipped to touch them.Speculation still rages as to whether the recovered craft and its alleged pilot and passengers — reports of oddly shaped bodies persist but are highly debated still — were from a supposed extraterrestrial location, or the result of a U.S. military experiment. At the time, the local newspaper, the Roswell Daily Record, family-owned since 1891 and still in print today, reported the headline seen around the world: RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell RegionReaders now know that the Daily Record followed up with a retraction, restating the military’s revised claim that the crashed vehicle was “just” a high-altitude weather balloon. 21st-century examination of a zoomed-in photo from the 1947 “flying saucer” staged press photo reveals otherwise, according to Donald Burleson, cryptanalyst and former professor of mathematics at Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell. Burleson is also a published author and has written “Looking Up,” one of the Daily Record’s recurring columns on UFOs, for 25 years.The city of Roswell hosts the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which opened in 1992 and draws over 220,000 visitors annually, Executive Director Karen Jaramillo told The Associated Press during a 2023 interview marking the museum’s 5 millionth visitor. Roswell also hosts an annual UFO festival, which, according to the city’s website in 2023 “... had a $510,205 direct economic impact for Roswell ...” in a lockdowns-recovery rebuilding year for the event(s).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell,_New_Mexico#Local_industryStranger in a Strange LandRoswell by and large and the newspaper alike is today home to many oddities, myself included. A Nashville transplant with an odd missionary calling, last year the Record took me in as their in-house evening copy editor — with a desk, landline, sick pay, and everything ... it’s kind of surreal. (I’m told the desks are from the WWII army air base. And the chairs? On day three, I brought in my own.)Germaine to today, I also possess certifications in bitcoin and have been orange-pilling people for years. The newspaper eventually allowed me to fulfill that second calling of mine by contributing as a writer as well, via a Sunday column where I began writing about bitcoin, for the Record. I’m honored to have providentially been brought on board just in time to document the entire “story arc” of President Trump’s first-term anti-bitcoin hostility and his 2024 reversal in my October 2024 opinion column — as well as Trump’s unexpectedly well-received “Never sell your bitcoin!” exclamation, while campaigning at 2024’s Nashville Bitcoin Conference. With “World War Bitcoin,” I described for “normie” newspaper readers the strategic race occurring among the multiple nations now competing to accumulate and mine “all the remaining bitcoin.”And through it all, I didn’t even get fired. Yet. But being in the bitcoin news industry and seeing the trend, in January I proposed a strategic bitcoin reserve for Roswell, since the city received a $3,000 in bitcoin donation from an anonymous out-of-state reader of the newspaper column. To my mind, with or without government “approval” or bitcoin media industry recognition, I have a confirmed blockchain transaction from January 3, 2025, that says the Roswell Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has been established. Period.Who custodies and manages it is still up for grabs, but I ask others, “Are we Bitcoiners or not?”But OK, the idea is currently being mulled over by some city councilors who’ve given me the time of day, as I want to give the donation to the city as our start, and look for personal and corporate sponsorships from there (so as not to create any new expenses or taxes for the city). We’re struggling, being honest. While the city council can of course be a tough nut, and bitcoin is new and bewildering to many still, Roswell City Attorney Hess Yntema kindly replied to me recently via email, “As for accepting a gift of Bitcoin, in New Mexico, municipalities are empowered to acquire real and personal property. NMSA 1978, §3-18-1(C). ... Personal property is broad and includes tangible and intangible assets; this would include Bitcoin. The City is always grateful when a donation is made to further the public good.”To help with the decision-making process perhaps, I’m grateful to report that Bitcoin Magazine has extended an invitation to all 10 members of the Roswell City Council plus Mayor Timothy Jennings to attend the event whether the council approves the custody and management of a city-held bitcoin reserve or not. Mayor Jennings’ office replied graciously that he would be unable to attend on those dates, while at press time at least one other city councilor, Cristina Arnold, has committed to be “thinking about it.” City Councilor Ed Heldenbrand and City Attorney Hess Yntema are, with Arnold, excited to be ushering in Roswell’s next step, for posterity’s sake if not their generation: “... a great step for the future,” Heldenbrand said in a text message.The Roswell City Council next meets on Thursday, May 8, at 6:00 p.m. Mountain time, with meetings livestreamed over YouTube, where whether the topic of the proposed donation will be discussed remains unknown at press time. Prior to this meeting however, two Roswell city councilors, one from the city’s finance committee, have scheduled a meeting with myself and Hess this week to discuss “the procedure for accepting the Bitcoin,” according to a group text message from my ward’s councilor organizing the meetup. “...Trying to front-run the market to ensure New Mexico remains a rich state,” State Sen. Anthony Thornton (R-NM, Dist. 19) presented a strategic reserve bill, S.B. 275, during the recent legislative session. The bill was “narrowly tabled” 5-4, Thornton later stated.Asked for additional comment this week about “why” a bitcoin reserve, Thornton responded to me in written detail: “I do believe that as our debt based fiat currency (i.e., the U.S. dollar) continues to be debased by the Fed central bankers, more people, more corporations, more municipalities, more sovereign governments will decide to store their wealth in assets that cannot be produced by a printing press... hence commodities such as gold and silver will continue to rise in value. “However, the scarcity of Bitcoin and its digital mobility will likely make it the one asset utilized by the entire world as the best place to store one’s long-term capital.”It’s not at all surprising that denizens of Roswell might still be among the first in the nation to respond to bitcoin’s siren song, calling out around the world to Earth’s more intelligent life forms for 16 years now. Roswellians — accustomed as they now are to random new technologies of mysterious origin appearing from the sky and disrupting all social order, industry and established financial infrastructures — might just have an unfair advantage over others in “grokking” bitcoin because of such an “incident” already being a part of their collective psyche. Readers interested in learning more about bitcoin firsthand may eerily find themselves being drawn to Las Vegas this May to attend the Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference 2025’s two-day conference lineup, plus additional events throughout the week.Disclosure: The author both holds bitcoin as a savings asset, does not believe in aliens and has unsuccessfully run for public office in Roswell three times: This content could therefore contain unintended financial and/or political biases relating to the subject matter, and is the opinion of the author. This is a guest post by Guy Malone. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.This post Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference Extends Invitation to Roswell, New Mexico Mayor and City Council first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Guy Malone.

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China's Central Bank and Eight Other Departments' Latest Regulatory Focus: Key Attention to RWA Tokenized Asset Risk


Foreword: Today, the People's Bank of China's website published the "Notice of the People's Bank of China, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration for Market Regulation, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks Related to Virtual Currency and Others (Yinfa [2026] No. 42)", the latest regulatory requirements from the eight departments including the central bank, which are basically consistent with the regulatory requirements of recent years. The main focus of the regulation is on speculative activities such as virtual currency trading, exchanges, ICOs, overseas platform services, and this time, regulatory oversight of RWA has been added, explicitly prohibiting RWA tokenization, stablecoins (especially those pegged to the RMB). The following is the full text:


To the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:


  Recently, there have been speculative activities related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets (RWA) tokenization, disrupting the economic and financial order and jeopardizing the property security of the people. In order to further prevent and address the risks related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets tokenization, effectively safeguard national security and social stability, in accordance with the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the People's Bank of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Commercial Banks," "Securities Law of the People's Republic of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Securities Investment Funds," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Futures and Derivatives," "Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Renminbi," "Regulations on Prevention and Disposal of Illegal Fundraising," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign Exchange Administration," "Telecommunications Regulations of the People's Republic of China," and other provisions, after reaching consensus with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and with the approval of the State Council, the relevant matters are notified as follows:


  I. Clarify the essential attributes of virtual currency, Real-World Assets tokenization, and related business activities


  (I) Virtual currency does not possess the legal status equivalent to fiat currency. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, etc., have the main characteristics of being issued by non-monetary authorities, using encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technology, existing in digital form, etc. They do not have legal tender status, should not and cannot be circulated and used as currency in the market.


  The business activities related to virtual currency are classified as illegal financial activities. The exchange of fiat currency and virtual currency within the territory, exchange of virtual currencies, acting as a central counterparty in buying and selling virtual currencies, providing information intermediary and pricing services for virtual currency transactions, token issuance financing, and trading of virtual currency-related financial products, etc., fall under illegal financial activities, such as suspected illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public issuance of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, etc., are strictly prohibited across the board and resolutely banned in accordance with the law. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to provide virtual currency-related services to domestic entities in any form.


  A stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency indirectly fulfills some functions of the fiat currency in circulation. Without the consent of relevant authorities in accordance with the law and regulations, any domestic or foreign entity or individual is not allowed to issue a RMB-pegged stablecoin overseas.


(II)Tokenization of Real-World Assets refers to the use of encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technologies to transform ownership rights, income rights, etc., of assets into tokens (tokens) or other interests or bond certificates with token (token) characteristics, and carry out issuance and trading activities.


  Engaging in the tokenization of real-world assets domestically, as well as providing related intermediary, information technology services, etc., which are suspected of illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public offering of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, and other illegal financial activities, shall be prohibited; except for relevant business activities carried out with the approval of the competent authorities in accordance with the law and regulations and relying on specific financial infrastructures. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to illegally provide services related to the tokenization of real-world assets to domestic entities in any form.


  II. Sound Work Mechanism


  (III) Inter-agency Coordination. The People's Bank of China, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of virtual currency-related illegal financial activities.


  The China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of illegal financial activities related to the tokenization of real-world assets.


  (IV) Strengthening Local Implementation. The people's governments at the provincial level are overall responsible for the prevention and disposal of risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets in their respective administrative regions. The specific leading department is the local financial regulatory department, with participation from branches and dispatched institutions of the State Council's financial regulatory department, telecommunications regulators, public security, market supervision, and other departments, in coordination with cyberspace departments, courts, and procuratorates, to improve the normalization of the work mechanism, effectively connect with the relevant work mechanisms of central departments, form a cooperative and coordinated working pattern between central and local governments, effectively prevent and properly handle risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets, and maintain economic and financial order and social stability.


  III. Strengthened Risk Monitoring, Prevention, and Disposal


  (5) Enhanced Risk Monitoring. The People's Bank of China, China Securities Regulatory Commission, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Cyberspace Administration of China, and other departments continue to improve monitoring techniques and system support, enhance cross-departmental data analysis and sharing, establish sound information sharing and cross-validation mechanisms, promptly grasp the risk situation of activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization. Local governments at all levels give full play to the role of local monitoring and early warning mechanisms. Local financial regulatory authorities, together with branches and agencies of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, as well as departments of cyberspace and public security, ensure effective connection between online monitoring, offline investigation, and fund tracking, efficiently and accurately identify activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly share risk information, improve early warning information dissemination, verification, and rapid response mechanisms.


  (6) Strengthened Oversight of Financial Institutions, Intermediaries, and Technology Service Providers. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing account opening, fund transfer, and clearing services for virtual currency-related business activities, issuing and selling financial products related to virtual currency, including virtual currency and related financial products in the scope of collateral, conducting insurance business related to virtual currency, or including virtual currency in the scope of insurance liability. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing custody, clearing, and settlement services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related business and related financial products. Relevant intermediary institutions and information technology service providers are prohibited from providing intermediary, technical, or other services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related businesses and related financial products.


  (7) Enhanced Management of Internet Information Content and Access. Internet enterprises are prohibited from providing online business venues, commercial displays, marketing, advertising, or paid traffic diversion services for virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities. Upon discovering clues of illegal activities, they should promptly report to relevant departments and provide technical support and assistance for related investigations and inquiries. Based on the clues transferred by the financial regulatory authorities, the cyberspace administration, telecommunications authorities, and public security departments should promptly close and deal with websites, mobile applications (including mini-programs), and public accounts engaged in virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities in accordance with the law.


  (8) Strengthened Entity Registration and Advertisement Management. Market supervision departments strengthen entity registration and management, and enterprise and individual business registrations must not contain terms such as "virtual currency," "virtual asset," "cryptocurrency," "crypto asset," "stablecoin," "real-world asset tokenization," or "RWA" in their names or business scopes. Market supervision departments, together with financial regulatory authorities, legally enhance the supervision of advertisements related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly investigating and handling relevant illegal advertisements.


  (IX) Continued Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities. The National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, strictly controls virtual currency mining activities, continuously promotes the rectification of virtual currency mining activities. The people's governments of various provinces take overall responsibility for the rectification of "mining" within their respective administrative regions. In accordance with the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments in the "Notice on the Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities" (NDRC Energy-saving Building [2021] No. 1283) and the provisions of the "Guidance Catalog for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 Edition)," a comprehensive review, investigation, and closure of existing virtual currency mining projects are conducted, new mining projects are strictly prohibited, and mining machine production enterprises are strictly prohibited from providing mining machine sales and other services within the country.


  (X) Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal Financial Activities. Upon discovering clues to illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets, local financial regulatory authorities, branches of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, and other relevant departments promptly investigate, determine, and properly handle the issues in accordance with the law, and seriously hold the relevant entities and individuals legally responsible. Those suspected of crimes are transferred to the judicial authorities for processing according to the law.


 (XI) Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal and Criminal Activities. The Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as well as judicial and procuratorial organs, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, rigorously crack down on illegal and criminal activities related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, such as fraud, money laundering, illegal business operations, pyramid schemes, illegal fundraising, and other illegal and criminal activities carried out under the guise of virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, etc.


  (XII) Strengthen Industry Self-discipline. Relevant industry associations should enhance membership management and policy advocacy, based on their own responsibilities, advocate and urge member units to resist illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets. Member units that violate regulatory policies and industry self-discipline rules are to be disciplined in accordance with relevant self-regulatory management regulations. By leveraging various industry infrastructure, conduct risk monitoring related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, and promptly transfer issue clues to relevant departments.


  IV. Strict Supervision of Domestic Entities Engaging in Overseas Business Activities


(XIII) Without the approval of relevant departments in accordance with the law and regulations, domestic entities and foreign entities controlled by them may not issue virtual currency overseas.


  (XIV) Domestic entities engaging directly or indirectly in overseas external debt-based tokenization of real-world assets, or conducting asset securitization activities abroad based on domestic ownership rights, income rights, etc. (hereinafter referred to as domestic equity), should be strictly regulated in accordance with the principles of "same business, same risk, same rules." The National Development and Reform Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other relevant departments regulate it according to their respective responsibilities. For other forms of overseas real-world asset tokenization activities based on domestic equity by domestic entities, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with relevant departments, supervise according to their division of responsibilities. Without the consent and filing of relevant departments, no unit or individual may engage in the above-mentioned business.


  (15) Overseas subsidiaries and branches of domestic financial institutions providing Real World Asset Tokenization-related services overseas shall do so legally and prudently. They shall have professional personnel and systems in place to effectively mitigate business risks, strictly implement customer onboarding, suitability management, anti-money laundering requirements, and incorporate them into the domestic financial institutions' compliance and risk management system. Intermediaries and information technology service providers offering Real World Asset Tokenization services abroad based on domestic equity or conducting Real World Asset Tokenization business in the form of overseas debt for domestic entities directly or indirectly venturing abroad must strictly comply with relevant laws and regulations. They should establish and improve relevant compliance and internal control systems in accordance with relevant normative requirements, strengthen business and risk control, and report the business developments to the relevant regulatory authorities for approval or filing.


  V. Strengthen Organizational Implementation


  (16) Strengthen organizational leadership and overall coordination. All departments and regions should attach great importance to the prevention of risks related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization, strengthen organizational leadership, clarify work responsibilities, form a long-term effective working mechanism with centralized coordination, local implementation, and shared responsibilities, maintain high pressure, dynamically monitor risks, effectively prevent and mitigate risks in an orderly and efficient manner, legally protect the property security of the people, and make every effort to maintain economic and financial order and social stability.


  (17) Widely carry out publicity and education. All departments, regions, and industry associations should make full use of various media and other communication channels to disseminate information through legal and policy interpretation, analysis of typical cases, and education on investment risks, etc. They should promote the illegality and harm of virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses and their manifestations, fully alert to potential risks and hidden dangers, and enhance public awareness and identification capabilities for risk prevention.


  VI. Legal Responsibility


  (18) Engaging in illegal financial activities related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization in violation of this notice, as well as providing services for virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses, shall be punished in accordance with relevant regulations. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law. For domestic entities and individuals who knowingly or should have known that overseas entities illegally provided virtual currency or Real World Asset Tokenization-related services to domestic entities and still assisted them, relevant responsibilities shall be pursued according to the law. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law.


  (19) If any unit or individual invests in virtual currencies, Real World Asset Tokens, and related financial products against public order and good customs, the relevant civil legal actions shall be invalid, and any resulting losses shall be borne by them. If there are suspicions of disrupting financial order and jeopardizing financial security, the relevant departments shall deal with them according to the law.


  This notice shall enter into force upon the date of its issuance. The People's Bank of China and ten other departments' "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" (Yinfa [2021] No. 237) is hereby repealed.


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