The international monitoring body Financial Stability Board, or FSB, has proposed a comprehensive framework for cryptocurrencies aimed at addressing potential risks while “harnessing potential benefits of the technology.” In an Oct. 11 report, the FSB opened a possible crypto regulatory framework to public comment including proposed policy initiatives, financial stability risks, and the approach the group could use to establish guidelines for digital assets. According to the report, the FSB will submit proposed recommendations “to promote the consistency and comprehensiveness of regulatory, supervisory and oversight approaches to crypto-asset activities and markets” to the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. …

Major stablecoin issuer Tether froze yet another batch of USDT on the Ethereum blockchain, freezing more than $8 million worth of the cryptocurrency. Crypto monitoring resource Whale Alert has identified several transactions indicating that Tether froze three USDT addresses on Oct. 10. According to data from transaction logs on Etherscan, the frozen addresses hold 3.4 million USDT, 1.95 million USDT and 2.9 million USDT. The addresses are no longer able to move funds and collectively hold $8.2 million worth of the USDT stablecoin. "Tether works closely with law enforcement worldwide to assist in investigations, including freezes," a spokesperson for Tether …

On Oct. 10, unsecured lending protocol TrueFi issued a default notice to Blockwater Technologies for missing a scheduled payment related to its $3.4 million Binance USD (BUSD) loan, the first declared default on the platform to date. According to the company, the default does not impact lenders in its USD Coin (USDC), TrueUSD (TUSD) and Tether (USDT) stablecoin lending pools, "nor any of TrueFi’s capital market portfolios." As outlined in the statement, TrueFi had an extensive out-of-court workout with Blockwater's principals last week. After reviewing the "complexity around the sudden insolvency," the company concluded that a court-supervised administrative proceeding would …

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce, released an initial public draft highlighting the various security considerations in relation to the architecture and implementation of stablecoins. Based on the study of the top 20 stablecoins over the past year, NIST found that the top five coins that retained their peg represented 87 % of the total top 20 market capitalization. Out of the lot, the top 5 stablecoins based on market capitalization that managed to maintain their pegs are listed below. Coincidentally, all five tokens are pegged to the …

The Luna Foundation Guard, or LFG, a fund focused on the Terra ecosystem, has said it cannot provide a timeline to distribute assets to users following stablecoin TerraUSD depegging from the dollar. In an Oct. 7 Twitter thread, LFG cited “ongoing and threatened litigation” in its reasons for being unable to distribute its remaining assets to UST users starting with the smallest HODLers. The fund’s reserves held more than $4 billion in assets prior to the market downturn in May, an amount that has dropped to roughly $105 million at the time of publication. “Distribution is not possible at this …

For all the doom and gloom surrounding crypto markets these days, there’s plenty to be excited about. Institutional investors are still actively buying Bitcoin (BTC), venture capital is still investing heavily into blockchain startups and forthcoming regulatory clarity is likely to pave the way for wider adoption, perhaps as early as next year. This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter features some exciting stories about adoption, not to mention Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter (finally). Sidebar: I had the opportunity to attend Circle Internet Financial’s Converge22 conference in San Francisco last week. In a media session on the sidelines of the …

MakerDAO, the governing body of the Maker Protocol, has taken the first step of its plan to reallocate $500 million of its stablecoin Dai (DAI) collateral reserves into short-term United States Treasuries and corporate bonds. The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) voted on Oct. 6 to approve a pilot transaction of $1 million following an executive vote from Maker (MKR) token holders, with the rest of the funds soon to be reallocated following confirmation from the community. A majority, 80% of the $500 million, will be invested in short-term U.S. Treasuries, with $160 million allocated to the 0-1y US Treasury iShares …

Colorado is accepting crypto as payment for any taxes owed to the state as of Sept. 1. It was the result of a promise made earlier in the year by Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who has proven his commitment to establishing the state as pro-cryptocurrency. Colorado isn’t the only U.S. state trying to incentivize cryptocurrency investment within its borders, as legislatures in Arizona, Wyoming and Utah have all previously introduced bills to accept tax payments in the form of digital currencies in varying degrees. There is much to gain economically for states who embrace blockchain technology and the crypto sector. …

The real economic utility of Web3 — a broad term that refers to some future iteration of the internet — can only be realized by utilizing existing payment onramps and offramps, according to Max Rothman, vice president of crypto and digital assets at Checkout.com. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Rothman explained that companies operating in Web2 and Web3 are largely sioled from one another, which means they cannot access each other’s benefits. “Web2 companies have mastered seamless online payments and the user experience,” he said, referring to businesses that operate in the current state of the internet. “For Web3 companies …

According to the latest data from DeFi Llama, the overall circulation of stablecoins has decreased by approximately $38 billion since early May. There are still $148.7 billion left in circulation, with the majority consisting of Tether ($68.2 billion), USD Coin ($46.7 billion), Binance USD ($21.4 billion), DAI ($6.33 billion), and the Frax stablecoin ($1.33 billion). Meanwhile, the yields on stablecoin borrowing and lending on decentralized protocols (DeFi) such as Aave have fallen sharply. Back in May, annual variable percentage rates (APR) on Binance USD, USD Coin, and DAI loans stood around 3.5%. Their APRs have since fallen to about 1.5%. …

Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) has nearly completely slashed its commercial paper holdings, with less than $50 million worth of commercial paper units as of Sept. 30, 2022. Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino made the announcement in an Oct. 3 tweet, adding also that Tether’s United States Treasury bills increased to 58.1% of its total portfolio, up 25.1% from its Jun. 30 figure of 43.5%. #tether portfolio update. Tether as of 30 September 2022 holds ~58.1% of its assets in US t-bills. Up from 43.5% on June 30 2022. CP exposure is < 50M now.@Tether_to — Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) October 3, 2022 …

New draft legislation on stablecoins in the United States House of Representatives proposed to impose a two-year ban on new algorithmically pegged stablecoins like TerraUSD (UST). The proposed legislation would require the Department of the Treasury to conduct a study of stablecoins similar to UST in collaboration with the United States Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. An algorithmic stablecoin is a digital asset the value of which is kept steady by an algorithm. While an algorithmic stablecoin is pegged to the value of a …