Republican senator for Wyoming Cynthia Lummis has argued that the Federal Reserve is “violating the law” by delaying the processing of applications from crypto-native banks to receive accounts at the central bank. In a Nov. 30 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Lummis claimed that the Fed was treating the Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDIs), also known as ‘blockchain banks’, in her home state unfairly. She called on her Republican colleagues to withhold support for Fed chair Jay Powell who was reappointed by President Biden on Nov. 23. In Feb. 2019, Wyoming state legislature approved SPDIs to serve businesses unable …

There is no denying the fact that the crypto market has grown from strength to strength over the course of 2021, as is best highlighted by the total capitalization of the industry recently hitting the $3-trillion mark, albeit for a relatively brief period of time. That said, stablecoins, a class of cryptos that have their value pegged to a fiat currency, have seen their usage increase dramatically in recent months thanks, in large part, to their ability to help investors get their feet wet with digital currencies while eliminating many of the core issues — such as daily price volatility …

Investment funds from major U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley have increased their exposure to Bitcoin through purchases of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. According to filings from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 23, the Morgan Stanley Insight Fund increased its holdings of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, shares more than 63%, from 928,051 in the second quarter of 2021 to 1,520,549 as of Sept. 30. In addition, filings on the firm’s Growth Portfolio show it holding 3,642,118 GBTC shares in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 71% when compared with 2,130,153 shares as of …

American multinational investment bank Citi announced it had appointed Puneet Singhvi to lead the digital assets division of its Institutional Clients Group (ICG) starting on Dec. 1. In addition to appointing Singhvi on Nov. 22, Citi is hiring 100 additional personnel to for its digital assets division. The move indicates a concerted effort to beef up the financial group’s understanding of digital assets. Singhvi was previously the head of blockchain and digital assets in Citi’s trading business Citi Group is the world’s largest issuer of credit cards, and its ICG serves corporations, financial institutions, and governments around the world. An …

Blockchain innovation is surging throughout Southeast Asia, as the region is home to a number of fintech firms and global crypto companies. In particular, Singapore has become one of the world’s most crypto-friendly countries. This was recently highlighted in a report conducted by crypto exchange Gemini, which found that 67% of 4,348 respondents currently own crypto. The report further noted that Ether (ETH) is the most popular cryptocurrency in the region, with 78% of surveyors claiming to own the digital asset. Interestingly enough, the Ethereum blockchain may also be the network of choice for financial institutions based in Southeast Asia. …

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has warned Aussie investors about speculating on digital assets as it casts doubt over the entire crypto sector. During a Nov. 18 address to the Australian Corporate Treasury Association, the RBA’s head of payments policy Tony Richards offered an overview on distributed ledger tech, crypto assets, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In his speech, Richards raised questions over crypto’s validity and growth in 2021 as he took aim at the amount of capital invested into memecoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB): “The recent boom in this area is perhaps …

Sir Jon Cunliffe, the Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England (BoE) crypto may pose an imminent threat to the traditional financial system. During a Nov. 15 interview with the BBC’s “Today” program, Cunliffe argued that the rapid growth of digital assets and their integration with traditional financial services could soon pose systemic risks, stating: “[Cryptocurrencies] are growing very fast, and they’re becoming integrated more into what I might call the traditional financial system.” “So the point at which they pose a risk is getting closer. I think regulators and legislators need to think very hard about …

Stablecoins are the cornerstone of the digital asset marketplace with a market cap of over $100 billion. Governments are already putting considerable resources in being up to speed with the trends. A November 2021 report published by the United States President’s Working Group on Financial Markets details the various measures to ensure stablecoin regulation is implemented within government guidelines. A global central bank survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) shows 86% of central banks are now actively engaged in some way with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), a government-backed form of a stablecoin. Of this cohort of central …

In a presentation made during the Singapore Fintech Festival, Annerie Vreugdenhil, chief innovation officer of ING, announced the firm is working on a trial of its decentralized finance, or DeFi, peer-to-peer lending protocol with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. Vreugdenhil said the following in regards to the development, as reported by Ledger Insights: We are looking into peer-to-peer lending in a DeFi kind of setup. But then not on Bitcoins. What is interesting to us is how you can probably create peer-to-peer lending or open up lending capabilities with different kinds of collateral. So with different ways of …

The Central Bank of Nigeria has reportedly ordered all commercial banks in the country to freeze accounts with at least two individuals engaged in crypto trading. According to a Nov. 7 report from Nigerian news outlet Peoples Gazette, the Director of Banking Supervision, J.Y. Mammanand, issued a notice directing the central bank to close the accounts of two alleged crypto traders and move their funds “in suspense accounts.” Mammanand cited a Central Bank of Nigeria, or CBN, circular issued in February as grounds for the account closures. The crackdown is reportedly part of a larger move by banking regulators to …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a natural product made possible by blockchain technology and has the right and ready infrastructure to propel the technology to a bigger playing field. The space has grown by leaps and bounds since the Ethereum network went live in July 2015, with Ethereum network transactions growing by 33x to 1.2 million per day currently, and blockchain transactions would exceed millions per day if other chains were included. Most of these transactions originated from the DeFi services such as Uniswap, which facilitates over $1 billion swaps each day, as well as lending and borrowing protocols such as …

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, and supervisory approaches to bring such firms safely into the bank regulatory perimeter. This would clearly differentiate safe and sound crypto firms from those that are regulated only partially and have a history of control lapses, such as Binance and Tether.” The Office of the …