Decentralized finance, known as DeFi, is a new use of blockchain technology that is growing rapidly, with over $237 billion in value locked up in DeFi projects as of January 2022. Regulators are aware of this phenomenon and are beginning to act to regulate it. In this article, we briefly review the fundamentals and risks of DeFi before presenting the regulatory context. The fundamentals of DeFi DeFi is a set of alternative financial systems based on the blockchain that allows for more advanced financial operations than the simple transfer of value, such as currency exchange, lending or borrowing, in a …

During Jerome Powell’s Jan. 11 United States Senate confirmation hearings, Sen. Patrick Toomey posed a question to the incumbent-and-future Federal Reserve chief: “If Congress were to authorize and the Fed were to pursue a central bank digital dollar, is there anything about that that ought to preclude a well-regulated privately-issued stablecoin from co-existing with a central bank digital dollar?” “No. Not at all,” the central banker answered — a response that surely brought some relief to the crypto community. At least the Fed wasn’t seeking to ban stablecoins. That bullet had apparently been dodged. But, Toomey raised a significant and …

The U.S. Federal Reserve is opening comments to the public after releasing a discussion paper on the pros and cons of a potential central bank digital currency. In a publication released Thursday titled “ Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation”, the Fed said it would likely not be authorized to issue digital wallets or accounts capable of holding a U.S. central bank digital currency, or CBDC, but rather leave such matters to the private sector. In addition, the government body said it would be considering privacy concerns, whether a CBDC could be “readily transferable …

Around the time Binance.US announced former Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks would be leading the crypto exchange, former CEO Catherine Coley effectively dropped off the face of the digital world. Coley, who had regularly posted updates on Binance.US and her personal life to her Twitter account, has been inactive on the social media platform since April 19. Her job experience on LinkedIn ends with her two years as CEO of Binance.US in June 2021, and her online silence has led at least one news outlet to reach out to San Francisco authorities to determine if she had been reported …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has officially disapproved the application for First Trust SkyBridge’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund after several deferments. In a Thursday filing, the SEC rejected a proposed rule change from the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, Arca to list and trade shares of the First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF Trust. The SEC said any rule change in favor of approving the ETF would not be “‘designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices” nor “protect investors and the public interest.” The decision follows SkyBridge first applying to list a Bitcoin ETF …

United States cryptocurrency exchange Binance US, which operates separately from the global Binance platform, has officially opened its trading services to residents of Connecticut. Beginning Jan. 20, Connecticut residents can register to buy, sell and trade digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) on the Binance US platform, the company announced Thursday. Residents will also have access to the Binance US mobile app on Android and Apple devices. Binance US launched in 2019 to provide regulated crypto trading services to residents of the United States. Currently, the trading platform is approved to operate in 44 U.S. states and …

Interest in crypto continues to grow as Americans show their excitement in the future of digital assets. The first annual Crypto Confidence Survey published by publicly-traded cryptocurrency platform Voyager Digital examined Americans’ experiences with crypto and their perspectives on how crypto will perform in 2022. The report shows many positive sentiments. The survey's findings revealed that nearly two-thirds of respondents declared themselves to be crypto bulls while 61% mentioned that are likely to purchase crypto this year. While Voyager did not disclose the exact number of respondents, the results show a huge percentage increase compared to the results of an …

Associate law professor and member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee J.W. Verret is calling for the government agency to open for public comment in regards to digital asset regulation. In a petition addressed to SEC Secretary Vanessa Countryman, Verret said opening the floor to comments on digital assets could function as a Genesis Block for the SEC to reform its regulations on digital assets. Verret said he was a holder of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and “a number of layer 1 and layer 2 tokens readily available on top tier exchanges,” and was concerned how the …

Uncle Sam dominates the Bitcoin (BTC) trading arena according to a report published by Arcane Research. Bitcoins’ 90-day correlation to the S&P 500 is currently at its highest since October 2020 while the United States trading hours show the most Bitcoin activity. For 2022, the U.S. trading hours show a marked increase in trading volume, making up 43% of the 24-hour volume on average. Trading volumes have trended up during US market hours since late 2021. The 43% figure is up from 36% from the period from Nov, 1, 2021 to Jan. 16, 2022. In the graph, the U.S. market …

The National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), an American non-profit, onboarded its first crypto firm Binance to aid their ongoing battle against cybercrimes. Founded in 2002, the NCFTA partners with law enforcement and various business and academic entities to source threat intelligence to identify and mitigate cybercrime threats. By partnering with Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume, the NCFTA aims to tackle international cybersecurity investigations. According to Binance’s VP of Global Intelligence and Investigations, Tigran Gambaryan, the exchange aims to be the leading contributor in the fight against cybercrime, ransomware, and terrorism financing: “Joining the …

Last week saw an unlikely first move in the opening narrative battle around a prospective U.S. central bank digital currency: Congressperson Tom Emmer came forward with an initiative to legally restrict the Federal Reserve’s capacity to issue a retail CBDC and take on the role of a retail bank. This could be massively consequential as we are yet to see a similarly sharp-cut expression of an opposing stance. As a matter of fact, it is not even clear whether other U.S. lawmakers have strong opinions on the matter other than, perhaps, condemning privately issued stablecoins as a digital alternative to …

The Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael J. Hsu, highlighted the need for collaboration and coordination with large crypto intermediaries to better understand the risks within the growing $2 trillion cryptocurrency market. Speaking at the Transatlantic Finance Forum on the topic of “The Future of Crypto-Assets and Regulation”, Hsu pointed out the various venues — crypto exchanges, nonfungible tokens (NFT) and metaverse — where anyone with an internet connection can invest, adding: “The mainstreaming of crypto has occurred despite regulatory and legal uncertainty, and a series of scams, hacks, and other disruptive events. For financial regulators like me, this presents …