The Briefing Memo

March 2025 - If you’re new here, welcome to The Briefing Memo, which features the latest insights and updates from The Venture Dept.

We were beyond excited to co-host an exclusive event with Reflexive featuring none other than House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a true leader on digital assets in the US Congress. Majority Whip Emmer delved into his passion for digital assets and their role in U.S. leadership, the launch of the nonpartisan Congressional Crypto Caucus with Rep. Ritchie Torres, his reflections on the White House Crypto Summit, and his legislative priorities. We’re truly honored he joined us, and what left our stakeholders most impressed was his genuine interest, authenticity, and eagerness to engage in real, meaningful conversation — qualities that set him apart and underscored his commitment to this space.

For us at The Venture Dept., this event was a profound milestone, emblematic of our mission to serve as a bridge between founders and government, fostering dialogue that drives innovation and shapes the future of digital assets. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Ji Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation and LP Advisor to The Venture Dept., for expertly moderating the conversation, to Reflexive’s Sunny Parikh for co-hosting this incredible event, and to Cooley LLP for generously providing the space.

Next month we’re teaming with Aaron Brogan of Brogan Law to co-host our second Crypto Colloquy on April 23 during NY FinTech Week. We’d love to have you if you’ll be in NYC that day.

Policy Updates

• White House and Executive Agencies: On February 18, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order titled "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies," requiring independent regulatory agencies like the SEC, FTC, and FCC to submit significant actions to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. On March 6, 2025, he signed an executive order establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile as a "virtual Fort Knox for digital gold" to be housed within the Treasury Department. On March 7, 2025, he hosted the first-ever White House Digital Assets Summit in the State Dining Room, bringing together industry leaders, lawmakers, and administration officials to promote U.S. leadership in digital finance. On March 17, 2025, President Trump nominated Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman to serve as Vice Chair for Supervision. The administration is also reportedly considering using blockchain to track future humanitarian spending.

• US Congress: On March 3, 2025, Rep. Tom Emmer announced the formation of the Congressional Crypto Caucus, a nonpartisan voting bloc co-launched with Rep. Ritchie Torres to mobilize support for digital asset legislation and ensure the United States remains the global leader in blockchain innovation. The Senate approved (on a 70 to 28 vote) bipartisan legislation on March 4, 2025 to repeal the Biden-era "midnight crypto rule" on defi tax reporting. On March 12, 2025, the House Ways and Means Committee also passed bipartisan legislation to rollback this rule. On March 13, 2025, the Senate Banking Committee advanced the GENIUS Act by a vote of 18-6, which would establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins. On March 27, 2025, the Senate Banking Committee held a nomination hearing for Paul Atkins (SEC) and Jonathan Gould (OCC).

• US Regulators: On February 27, 2025, the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued a Staff Statement on Meme Coins clarifying that transactions in meme coins (crypto assets inspired by internet memes that are typically purchased for entertainment or social purposes and lack functionality) do not involve the offer and sale of securities under federal securities laws. From late February through March 2025, the SEC dismissed several high-profile enforcement actions against crypto companies, including Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, Robinhood, and Consensys, signaling a major shift in regulatory approach. On March 7, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued Interpretive Letter 1183, allowing national banks to custody cryptocurrency and work with stablecoin issuers, and later Bulletin 2025-4 which announced the removal of "reputation risk" from the organization’s handbook. On March 21, 2025, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed economic sanctions against Tornado Cash following a review of novel legal and policy issues, while continuing to target DPRK's state-sponsored hacking and money laundering. On March 21, 2025, the SEC held it's inaugural crypto task force roundtable. On March 28, 2025, the FDIC issued a press release clarifying that “institutions may engage in permissible crypto-related activities without receiving prior FDIC approval.”

New Investment: Stable Sea

One of our most recent investments, Stable Sea, announced their inaugural funding round. We were proud to participate. Stable Sea is building critical infrastructure for converting stablecoins into local fiat quickly, reliably, and at scale. While stablecoins have become widely adopted for cross-border payments, their real-world utility breaks down at the last mile when recipients need to convert that value into local currency. Stable Sea is tackling this exact pain point with their unified platform to manage and route stablecoin flows to local fiat. They're also offering a unified payments dashboard that gives corporates real control over how they manage stablecoin flows, whether for international subsidiaries, vendor payments, or treasury operations. Read more about our investment here.

Department Updates

Matt joined Aaron Brogan to write an Op-Ed arguing that the accredited investor rule (which requires individuals to have a high net worth or income to invest in private securities markets) shuts out the vast majority American households from potentially lucrative investment opportunities, especially as more companies choose to stay private longer.

Matt moderated a panel at the Digital Asset Summit on the expanding role of crypto custodians and was joined by Marshall Beard (Gemini), Nathan McCauley (Anchorage), and Mike Belshe (BitGo).

Matt joined former NYDFS colleague Rich Weber for a panel at FIBA’s annual AML Conference.

On the horizon

April: Matt will be speaking at Stellar House in NYC on April 2.

April: The Venture Dept. and Brogan Law are hosting our second annual Crypto Colloquy on April 23.

May: Matt will be speak at Stablecon on May 29 in NYC. You can find more information about the event here: https://www.stablecon.com/.