The FTX collapse shook up the crypto market, and billions of dollars are currently locked up in the now-defunct crypto exchange. On top of that, FTX was such a big player that the contagion spread to other crypto players, including several trading powerhouses, popular DeFi protocols, and decentralized exchanges. Trust in the crypto ecosystem is at its lowest level. Investors are withdrawing funds from major centralized exchanges while the sales of cold wallets are up. Despite an overall gloomy mood in crypto space, one form of crypto investment remains at the height of popularity, and this is staking. Staking is …

Custodial CeDeFi investment platform Midas will close down its operations because of a $63.3 million deficit in its decentralized finance (DeFi) portfolio. In an announcement, the company’s founder and CEO Iakov Levin also known as “Trevor” wrote that the move is partly because the fund’s DeFi portfolio lost $50 million, which is 20% of its $250 million assets under management (AUM). In addition, Levin also highlighted that the collapse of the Terra, FTX exchange and Celsius contributed to their struggles. The Midas founder noted that their users withdrew 60% of the funds after the LUNA, Celsius and FTX debacles. Levin …

Japanese regulators are reconsidering some major cryptocurrency restrictions related to the use of stablecoins like Tether (USDT) or USD Coin (USDC). The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan will lift the ban on the domestic distribution of foreign-issued stablecoins in 2023, local news agency Nikkei reported on Dec. 26. The new stablecoin regulations in Japan will allow local exchanges to handle stablecoin trading under condition of asset preservation by deposits and an upper limit of remittance. “If payment using stablecoins spreads, international remittances may become faster and cheaper,” the report notes. Allowing stablecoin distribution in Japan will also require more …

Republican Senator Pat Toomey, who is set to retire from U.S. Congress at the end of the term, has used one of his last few weeks in office to introduce a new stablecoin bill, aimed at creating a regulatory framework for “payment stablecoins.” Toomey — who also serves as the Ranking Member of the U.S. Banking Committee — said the Dec. 21 bill, called the Stablecoin TRUST Act of 2022 would serve as a framework for stablecoin regulation for his fellow senators who are looking to push out stablecoin legislation in 2023. In a statement, the senator called stablecoins an …

Sasha Ivanov, founder and CEO of the Waves blockchain platform, is planning to launch a new stablecoin amid the ongoing crisis of the Waves-backed stablecoin, Neutrino USD (USDN). Ivanov took to Twitter on Dec. 20 to announce the USDN situation resolution plan alongside a new stablecoin project. “I will launch a new stablecoin,” Waves founder wrote, adding that there is going to be a “USDN situation resolution plan set in motion before.” He stressed that nothing new will be launched or announced until the USDC plan resolution is set in motion. Without specifying the details on the nature of the …

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has pushed for stricter regulations on centralized crypto actors, but says decentralized protocols should be allowed to flourish given that open-source code and smart contracts are alrea“the ultimate form of disclosure.” Armstrong shared his views on cryptocurrency regulation in a Dec. 20 Coinbase blog where he proposed how regulators can help “restore trust” and move the industry forward as the market continues to recover from the damage done by FTX and its shock collapse. But decentralized protocols aren’t part of that equation, the Coinbase CEO emphasized. “Decentralized arrangements do not involve intermediaries [and] open-source code and …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared three “huge" opportunities yet to be realized in crypto, including mass crypto wallet adoption, inflation-resistant stablecoins, and Ethereum-powered website logins. During an interview with Bankless co-owner David Hoffman, Buterin shared his outlook for the crypto industry in 2023, responding to Hoffman’s raised concern that the “adoption wave” for decentralized applications is now over and that there’s “less opportunity” for developers to come in and build new decentralized applications. Buterin instead shrugged off the “limbo period” that Hoffman eluded to, firstly suggesting that more developments need to be made on cryptocurrency wallet infrastructure in order …

Staffers at the Bank of Canada released an analytic note on fiat-referenced crypto assets, otherwise known as stablecoins, Dec. 19. In addition to a review of mechanisms for creating and distributing stablecoins and a list of the potential risks and benefits they involve, the note expressed the authors’ support for further regulation of the crypto asset. The global market for fiat-referenced crypto assets increased 30-fold between the beginning of 2020 and mid-2022, reaching $161 billion in U.S. dollars. They are mainly used on crypto-trading platforms, the note states, but they have the potential for a wide variety of other uses, …

After the collapse of Terraform Labs’ cryptocurrency, Terra (LUNA), and its stablecoin, Terra (UST), the notion of “algorithmic stabilization” has fallen to a low point in popularity, both in the cryptocurrency world and among mainstream observers. This emotional response, however, is strongly at odds with reality. In fact, algorithmic stabilization of digital assets is a highly valuable and important class of mechanism whose appropriate deployment will be critical if the crypto sphere is to meet its long-term goal of improving the mainstream financial system. Blockchains, and other similar data structures for secure decentralized computing networks, are not only about money. …

A global standard for banks' exposure to crypto assets has been endorsed by the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The standard, which sets a limit of 2% on crypto reserves among banks, must be implemented on January 1, 2025, according to an official announcement on Dec. 16. The report, dubbed "Prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures", introduces the final standard structure for banks regarding exposure to digital assets, including tonenized traditional assets, stablecoins and unbacked cryptocurrencies, as well as feedback from stakeholders collected in a consultation launched in June. …

The province of San Luis in Argentina approved a legislation allowing the issuance of its own stablecoin pegged to the United States dollar. The token, dubbed the "Activo Digital San Luis de Ahorro", will be available to all citizens of the province over the age of 18 and 100% collateralized in liquid financial assets of the province. The bill authorizes the province to issue the stablecoin up to 2% of its annual budget. It also stipulates that assets can be transferred between parties, but it does not specify which chain will be used for the transactions. The province of San …

Financial product comparison website Finder.com is being sued by Australia’s financial services regulator for allegedly offering a cryptocurrency yield-bearing product without the required license. It’s the second local provider of a crypto yield product to be targeted by the regulator, following action against Block Earner in November The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) began court proceedings on Dec.15 local time against Finder.com’s subsidiary and locally registered digital currency exchange Finder Wallet. ASIC alleged the Finder Earn product was an unlicensed financial product and that theFinder Wallet breached product disclosure requirements and failed to comply with obligations pertaining to distributing …