In remarks given at the American Fintech Council’s 2021 Policy Summit, acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J Hsu called for greater regulation of universal crypto firms. “Large, universal crypto firms—especially issuers of highly-circulated stablecoins—should embrace comprehensive, consolidated supervision. At the same time, federal and state bank regulators should prioritize the development of policies, staff,
Regulation
The stablecoin market has been growing exponentially — from only $21.5 billion in mid-October of last year to $130 billion at the start of November; a six-fold increase — so it was only reasonable to expect that the United States government would have to come to grips with these digital assets that are designed to
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) in South Korea reaffirmed in a public statement today that nonfungible tokens (NFT) are not virtual assets, and will not be regulated. The confirmation of the decision to keep NFTs unregulated came after a review of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) updated guidelines. The October 28 guidance report from
Newly elected New York City Mayor Eric Adams has reiterated his pledge to make the city a crypto hub by accepting his first three paychecks entirely in Bitcoin. In a Nov. 4 response on Twitter to Francis Suarez — re-elected for another term as of Tuesday — Adams said he would be matching the Miami
According to Iran’s main blockchain organization, authorities have been remiss in their enforcement of cryptocurrency laws. The association is concerned about the government’s inactivity, offering its help to regulators that it feels are inadequately prepared to handle such a challenging task. Abbas Ashtiani, head of the Iran Blockchain Association (IBA), said that Iranian regulators such
Blake Cassidy, CEO of Australian micro-investment app Bamboo, has claimed that the Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) bias against listing crypto companies is causing an Aussie brain drain leading firms to seek out a US listing. Cassidy’s comments come in the same week the company announced a $3 million ($4M AUD) Series A investment round including
Congressmen Todd Emmer and Darren Soto sent a bipartisan letter to Securities & Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler on Wednesday, strongly questioning why the agency has denied approval for the creation of a Bitcoin spot ETF while allowing Bitcoin Futures ETFs to begin trading. In a spot ETF, the fund holds the actual commodity (in
NYSE Arca, a subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Group, wants to list and operate a trust based on Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded products (ETP). In a rule change proposal with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), NYSE Arca proposed to list shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust. The proposal clarifies
AllianceBlock, a blockchain tech firm that seeks to bridge the gap between decentralized finance, or DeFi, and traditional finance, announced a partnership with fellow blockchain tech entity Flare. Flare claims its layer-one, or blockchain protocol improvement, technology can bring smart contracts to cryptocurrencies such as XRP (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin (BTC), Algorand, and Stellar Lumens
The Laos government’s pilot project to explore cryptocurrency mining and trading is expected to bring in roughly $194 million towards the country’s total domestic revenue projected for 2022. According to a Nov. 2 report from Malaysian news outlet The Star, the Laotian government’s recent bid to capitalize on China’s crypto mining crackdown may be netting
The regulation of cryptocurrencies varies considerably across the globe: China has cracked down on significant amounts of crypto activity in recent months, while Japan only recently allowed specialized cryptocurrency investment funds. El Salvador, on the other hand, has accepted Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal currency. As financial centers throughout the world seek to regulate the
The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or PWG, has released a report suggesting that stablecoin issuers in the United States should be subject to “appropriate federal oversight” akin to that of banks. A Nov. 1 U.S. Treasury report from the group with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The rollout of the world’s second central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is off to a rocky start. Last week, Nigeria rolled out its eNaira CBDC after the Bahamas became the first country in the world to launch theirs, known as The Sand Dollar, the year prior. In a statement quoted by local news outlet
Following a mind-blowing price surge, the Squid Game (SQUID) token plummeted over 99% shortly after Twitter flagged its “official” accounts on the social media platform as suspicious. According to data on CoinMarketCap (CMC), the SQUID token experienced its first downward move on Monday, erasing its entire gains from as much as $2,861 and dropping below
Digital assets have recently become more and more prevalent in our daily lives — in the news, popular culture and our personal interactions. In the first quarter of 2021, the number of global daily Bitcoin (BTC) transactions hit 367,536. Bitcoin alone now accounts for around $20 billion of daily online transactions. Not only this, but
We ask the buidlers in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector for their thoughts on the industry… and we throw in a few random zingers to keep them on their toes! This week, our 6 Questions go to Yoni Assia, the co-founder and CEO of eToro. Yoni Assia is the co-founder and CEO of eToro, the