The introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) may increase the stability of a banking system, according to a paper released Tuesday by the United States Treasury Office of Financial Research. This finding counters concerns that a CBDC may encourage runs on weaker banks. According to the Tuesday paper, researchers often claim that the public may in times of financial stress “pull funds out of banks and other financial institutions” meaning that a “CBDC could make runs on financial firms more likely or more severe.” The authors, however, argued that a well-designed CBDC could mitigate that risk and also …

The United State Department of the Treasury has requested comments from the public on the potential opportunities and risks of digital assets in compliance with President Joe Biden’s executive order from March. In a Tuesday announcement, the U.S. Treasury said it was asking for input from the public that will “inform its work” in reporting to the president on the possible implications of digital assets on the financial markets and payment infrastructures. Biden’s executive order directed the Treasury Department to take the lead among other government agencies in developing policy recommendations aimed at mitigating both systemic and consumer risks around …

It’s been a century or so since the property qualification came out of vogue, but it doesn’t seem a problem if you want to apply it to crypto and policymaking. An advisory notice released by the United States Office of Government Ethics last week states that the de minimis exemption — which allows for the owners of securities who hold an amount below a certain threshold to work on policy related to that security — is universally inapplicable when it comes to cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. As the note specifies, even holding a mere $100 of a certain stablecoin should prevent …

On June 7, United States Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand launched the much anticipated Responsible Financial Innovation Act, proposing a comprehensive set of regulations that address some of the biggest questions facing the digital assets sector. By providing holistic guidance to the rapidly growing industry, the bill offers a bipartisan response to President Biden’s call for a whole-of-government approach to regulating crypto. Among its many proposals, the bill establishes basic definitions, provides an exemption for digital currency transactions and harmonizes the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), delineating regulatory swim …

Despite the myriads of state and federal regulatory hurdles faced by crypto businesses in the region, the United States plays a major role in preserving the Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto ecosystem. With China moving out of the picture following a permaban on crypto, the United States maintains the top position in terms of hash rate contribution and ATM installations worldwide. Prior to cracking down on BTC mining, China historically represented over 50% of the total hash rate up until Feb 2021. With China out of the competition, the U.S. picked up the slack to become the highest BTC hash rate …

Stablecoins were supposed to be the boring uncle of the crypto world — safe, sensible and dull. They’re probably not what Satoshi Nakamoto had in mind, but they’re supposed to be a reassuring haven of calm and utility away from the turbulence of pure-play cryptocurrencies. With values pegged to fiat currencies, stablecoins were intended to be useful rather than to offer get-rich-quick schemes. They play an important role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem by providing a safer place to store capital without having to cash out entirely, and allowing assets to be denominated in fiat currencies rather than volatile tokens. However, …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the world by storm over the last year. Digital collectibles that were characterized solely as CryptoKitties in 2017 have since evolved into famous pieces of art, digitized music, high-end fashion for the Metaverse and a way for communities to connect with others across the globe. Even with the current crypto bear market, recent findings from the research firm Security.org found that NFT ownership has doubled over the last year, rising from an estimated 4.6 million people to 9.3 million people. The report also discovered that while the vast majority of Americans are not ready to …

Officials representing the United States government have reportedly urged Japan’s licensed cryptocurrency exchanges to stop doing business with Russia, seemingly as part of the country’s economic sanctions. According to a Thursday report from the Financial Times, U.S. diplomats requested several of the 31 crypto exchanges licensed to do business in Japan and certain miners to halt operations in Russia. Japan’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency, or FSA reportedly issued demands to the respective exchanges to sever any remaining ties with Russia. 国務省は、「米国は、G20およびその他の国際パートナーとの関与を継続し、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻に起因する人道的課題、とりわけロシアの侵略戦争が世界の食料およびエネルギー安全保障に及ぼす悪影響に対処していく」とツイートしました。 https://t.co/NIzKSzkte4 — アメリカ大使館 (@usembassytokyo) July 8, 2022 Cryptocurrencies have become a point of contention among many lawmakers …

Web3 community members are fighting back against the United States Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade. On June 24, the landmark court case, which previously assured the right to have an abortion, was overturned, sparking a backlash among reproductive rights activists in the United States. Some activists have turned to Web3 solutions, creating decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and nonfungible token (NFT) projects focused on raising awareness for women’s reproductive rights. One of the earliest of these efforts was demonstrated by Nadya Tolokonnikova, a member of the performance activist group Pussy Riot. Tolokonnikova told Cointelegraph that about three weeks …

A United States-based lobbying group has raised a voice against developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States. The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) believes the project’s cost outweighs the “hypothesized benefits.” In a public letter to the U.S. Commerce Department, dated Tuesday, Andrew Morris, the senior counsel for research and policy at NAFCU, claimed that the costs would outweigh the benefits and that there are superior alternatives for accomplishing the same objectives. The letter came in response to the Department’s request for comment (RFC) on digital assets. While the full text of the letter …

The United States Department of the Treasury has delivered to President Joe Biden a framework on crypto for U.S. government agencies to work with their foreign counterparts. In a Thursday announcement, the U.S. Treasury said it had reported on a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and other government agencies as required by President Biden’s executive order on digital assets issued in March. According to the Treasury Department, the framework aimed to encourage the development of digital assets while respecting “America’s core …

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board has come out swinging against Gary Gensler’s “legendary” resistance to approving a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). The hard-hitting opinion piece, published on Wednesday, called out the Gensler-led Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for overt inconsistencies in how the commission handles applications for Bitcoin-related exchange-traded products (ETPs) compared to more traditional assets and other commodities. So far, Gensler’s SEC has rejected every proposal for a spot Bitcoin ETP, including two in the last week from Grayscale and Bitwise, which resulted in Grayscale launching legal action against the SEC. The editorial board said the …