The United States Treasury made further hints at new laws for stablecoins on Dec. 17. Nellie Liang, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, fueled more stablecoin regulation speculation with comments on investors ‘potentially big risk’ when using stablecoins. Following on from the Financial Stability Oversight Council November 2021 report on stablecoins, the top official for financial oversight at the U.S Treasury stated that “If Congress does not enact legislation, the regulators will try to use what authority they have.” The Treasury has limited powers as broad strokes stablecoin regulation is not possible without the backing of a …

Yaniv Tal of The Graph Yaniv is a co-founder and CEO at Edge & Node, and co-founder of The Graph, a decentralized indexing protocol used by blockchains such as Ethereum. “Many people and institutions got started with DeFi in 2021, but we haven’t even started mass adoption yet. As more and more retail and payment systems start integrating with crypto, people will be able to keep their money in crypto, bypassing the traditional banking system, and benefit from high interest rates made possible by the productive use of protocol tokens.” These quotes have been edited and condensed. The views, thoughts …

In an annual report published on Friday, the United States Financial Stability Oversight Council, or FSOC, voiced its concern over the adoption of stablecoins and other digital assets. Regarding stablecoins, the FSOC said consumer confidence could be undermined by factors such as illiquidity, lack of appropriate safeguards, opacity regarding redemption rights, and cyber attacks. "A run on stablecoins during strained market conditions may have the potential to amplify a shock to the economy and the financial system," the report said. The report also alerted to developments in decentralized finance, or DeFi, where the use of high leverage could trigger a …

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance newsletter. As the market attempted to recover from last week’s pummeling, decentralized finance (DeFi) was once again the topic of discussion in high-profile U.S. governmental offices. Read on to learn more about this news and much more from the world of decentralized finance. What you’re about to read is the smaller version of this newsletter designed for brevity. For the full version of DeFi’s developments over the last week, drop your email below. Senator Warren warns about supposed DeFi dangers Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly scrutinized the decentralized finance sector this week …

On Dec. 14, the United States Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing titled “Stablecoins: How Do They Work, How Are They Used, and What Are Their Risks?” The testimonies, both spoken and written, focused largely on the last two issues, as anxieties over Know Your Customer compliance and the U.S. dollar inflation threat dominated the discussion. Held less than a week after the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee’s hearing on digital assets, which was generally perceived as “constructive”, the meeting held by the Banking Committee was expected to be tough. Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat …

Inflation concerns and a general sense of trepidation about the future of the global economy continue to put a damper on Bitcoin and altcoin prices and currently the Crypto Fear and Greed index is solidly in the ‘fear’ zone where it has been parked since the beginning of December. Despite the brief bump in prices seen across the markets following the recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting where Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that interest rates would remain low for the time being, the overall sentiment in the crypto market continues to wane, signaling that 2021 could end on …

Global Impact Week, an industry event which features fintech, policy, climate, healthcare, and media innovations, kicked off in Valencia, Spain, and is ongoing from Dec. 14 to 18. Recent figures put attendance at 100,000, with 500 speakers and 150 live sessions. Cointelegraph's Editor-in-Chief Kristina Cornèr has been in virtual attendance at the event, moderating the panel titled Fireside Chat: Fintech Defining the Future with Mastercard's executive VP of market development Liza Oakes. Here's what they had to say: Kristina Cornèr: In November, Mastercard announced the launch of crypto-funded payments cards. How do you see this opportunity develop in the next …

United States Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell hinted that though the government agency should consider monitoring developments in the crypto space, he didn’t see cryptocurrencies as a financial stability concern for U.S. markets. Addressing a question on crypto from Michael Derby of the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Powell supported the conclusions of a report from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets released on Nov. 1. The report proposed that stablecoin issuers should be subject to “appropriate federal oversight” akin to that of banks, legislation that was “urgently needed” to address risks. “Stablecoins can certainly be a useful, efficient …

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs heard from several expert witnesses with knowledge of stablecoins who urged lawmakers to establish a clear regulatory framework but could not seem to agree on where lines would be drawn. In a Tuesday hearing on “Stablecoins: How Do They Work, How Are They Used, and What Are Their Risks?”, Hilary Allen, a professor at the American University Washington College of Law, Alexis Goldstein, director of financial policy at Open Markets, Jai Massari, partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, and Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy at Circle, …

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren did not hold back in her criticism of decentralized finance, expressing concern about how a run on stablecoins would affect the average investor. In a Tuesday hearing with the Senate Banking Committee discussing stablecoins, Warren questioned Professor Hilary J. Allen of the American University Washington College of Law as to whether a run on stablecoins could potentially endanger the U.S. financial system. Though Allen said an “en masse” redemption of stablecoins from people who had lost faith in the tokens would be unlikely to have “systemic consequences” for traditional markets at present, the DeFi system would …

Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government (NUG), led by the supporters of jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has declared U.S. dollar-based stablecoin Tether (USDT) as an official currency for local use. As per a report published in Bloomberg, the NUG will accept Tether for its ongoing fundraising campaign seeking to topple the current military regime in Myanmar. The shadow government also raised $9.5 million through the sale of “Spring Revolution Special Treasury Bonds” offered to the Myanmar diaspora across the world. The group aims to raise $1 billion through the sale of NUG-issued bonds. The NUG Ministry of …

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its long-awaited guidance on virtual assets, laying out standards that have the potential to reshape the crypto industry in the United States and around the world. The guidance addresses one of the most important challenges for the crypto industry: To convince regulators, legislators and the public that it does not facilitate money laundering. The guidance is particularly concerned with the parts of the crypto industry that have recently brought about significant regulatory uncertainty including decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The guidance largely follows the emerging approach of U.S. regulators toward …