The principle of “same risk, same regulation” for crypto received further confirmation with the release Wednesday of new guidance on stablecoin arrangements (SAs). The guidance, issued by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), applies the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI) for payment, clearing and settlement systems to systemically important SAs that transfer stablecoins. The document is intended for use by SA designers and operators and extends the PFMI standards to SAs without establishing new standards. It notes: “An SA may need to make changes to …

In a fresh episode of the longstanding battle between the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the country's Ministry of Finance, representatives of the former have criticized the latter’s idea of supporting the stablecoins, which some private investors have sought to launch in the country. According to local media, an unnamed representative of the central bank dismissed talk of Russia-based stablecoins, started last week by the Ministry of Finance’s director of financial policy department Ivan Chebeskov. Back then, Chebeskov voiced his ministry’s support for creating stablecoins tied to assets like “the ruble, gold, oil or grain.” He called it “the …

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), a global financial regulator including all G20 countries, is preparing to propose international regulations for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins in October. The FSB on Monday issued a statement on the international regulation and supervision of crypto asset activities, announcing a major crypto regulation effort. The watchdog is planning to report to the G20 finance minister and central bank governors in October 2022 on regulatory and supervisory approaches to stablecoins and other crypto assets. By that time, the FSB targets a public consultation report on the review of recommendations, including “how existing frameworks may be extended to …

Fintech firm blackfridge has launched a new stablecoin that is fully backed by the British pound (GBP), potentially opening the door to wider adoption of digital assets in the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies. The newly launched “poundtoken,” which trades under the ticker “GBPT,” will be available for trading on Gate.io, Bittrex Global and Uniswap, blackfridge announced Monday. GBPT is said to be fully backed by the British pound, which means that every token issued will have an equivalent value held in reserves. GBPT’s reserve status is regulated by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, which oversees deposit …

There is an old Arabic proverb: “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.” It could summarize the journey to date of Tether (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin. Tether has been embroiled in legal and financial wrangling through much of its short history. There have been lawsuits over alleged market manipulation, charges by the New York State attorney general that Tether lied about its reserves — costing the firm $18.5 million in fines in 2021 — and this year, questions voiced by United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as to whether USDT could maintain its peg to the U.S. dollar. …

The European Central Bank (ECB) has released a report analyzing the growth of the cryptocurrency market over the past decade and the risks it poses to the existing financial system. A section of the report dedicated to stablecoins discussed the central role that it plays in the current ecosystem. Stablecoins are increasingly used to interlink various blockchain networks and play a critical role in offering liquidity to the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The report further analyzed whether these stablecoins could find a place in the traditional financial system, but concluded that a lack of regulatory oversight added to the recent …

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, …

Regulate now or regret it later, United States Federal Reserve Board vice chairperson Lael Brainard told an audience at a Bank of England conference in London on Friday. Crypto has the same basic risks as tradition finance and needs “strong guardrails,” Brainard claimed, pointing to the recent downturn in market as proof. Brainard spoke the most general terms throughout her speech. She highlighted recent performance issues in cryptocurrency, such as volatility, correlation with risky equities, liability to bank runs and other risks associated with traditional finance, and over-collateralization as a stress amplifier. As crypto becomes more integrated into the more …

Tether’s Bitcoin (BTC)-denominated loan to Celsius Network has been fully liquidated without a loss, easing concerns that the stablecoin issuer may have oversized exposure to the embattled crypto lender. In a statement issued Friday, Tether explained that its lending arrangement with Celsius prevented any downside risk to its underlying business. Specifically, the BTC-denominated loan issued to Celsius was overcollateralized by 130%, and the original agreement allowed Tether to liquidate the collateral to cover the loan. “This process was carried out in a way to minimise as much as possible any impact on the markets and in fact, once the loan …

Banking Circle, a European bank focused on cross-border payments, is adopting a major U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin for payment rails. The firm officially announced on Friday the adoption of the USD Coin (USDC) on its platform as a payment acceptance, processing and settlement method. The new payment feature is enabled as part of Banking Circle’s new service targeting banks and payment providers, allowing them to facilitate payments outside traditional bank rails. Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, will be one of the crypto liquidity providers for Bank Circle, the announcement notes. The USDC adoption by Banking Circle is …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) giant Aave has unveiled plans to launch an overcollateralized stablecoin called GHO, subject to the community decentralized autonomous organization’s (DAO’s) approval. The announcement was made by Aave Companies — the centralized entity supporting the Aave protocol — on its Twitter page on Thursday, stating: “We have created an ARC for a new decentralized, collateral-backed stablecoin, native to the Aave ecosystem, known as GHO.” According to the governance proposal shared on Thursday, GHO would be an Ethereum-based and decentralized stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar that could be collateralized with multiple assets of the user’s choice. To obtain …

US government officials who privately own cryptocurrencies are now banned from working on regulations and policies that could affect the value of digital assets. A new advisory notice released by the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on Tuesday stated 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 a result, an employee who holds any amount of a cryptocurrency or stablecoin may not participate in a particular …