Speaking publicly for the last time as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Randal Quarles urged regulators to exercise restraint on stablecoins. In a prepared statement for his speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Dec. 2, Quarles expressed concern that regulations could hamper innovation in the digital asset space, particularly when it comes to stablecoins. According to the Fed governor, some of the approaches on stablecoin regulation from the President's Working Group on Financial Markets’ November report are unnecessary, including “limiting wallet providers' affiliation with commercial entities.” “It is one thing to say …

United States-based companies are increasingly listing cryptocurrency-based investment products in Europe, with asset manager WisdomTree getting another listing for its crypto basket exchange-traded product (ETP). On Dec. 2, WisdomTree listed its Crypto Mega Cap Equal Weight ETP on Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam. Trading under the ticker symbol MEGA, the investment product is backed by physical crypto assets including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) with a quarterly rebalance. Launched in November 2021, MEGA was previously listed on Deutsche Boerse’s digital exchange Xetra and Swiss SIX exchange. Apart from MEGA, WisdomTree also launched two more crypto ETPs recently, including WisdomTree …

The White House has reportedly begun interviews for possible candidates to fill the empty seats on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 2022. According to a Wednesday report from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter, U.S. President Joe Biden is considering qualified candidates including Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray, and Duke University law professor Sarah Bloom Raskin to take over positions from Fed board members leaving in early 2022. Others under consideration reportedly include a former Treasury Department official under President Barack Obama, Karen …

Maxine Waters, the chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, has announced several chief executive officers at major crypto firms in the United States will speak at a hearing to discuss digital assets and the future of finance. According to a Wednesday announcement, Waters said Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks, Paxos CEO Chad Cascarilla, Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon, and Alesia Haas, the CEO of Coinbase Inc. and the CFO of Coinbase Global, will be witnesses at a full House committee hearing held on Dec. 8. The hearing, named Digital Assets …

Global crypto exchange Crypto.com is looking to strengthen its foothold in the United States with the acquisition of IG Group's stakes in two exchange platforms. Crypto.com announced that it is purchasing the U.S.-regulated North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) and the Small Exchange for a reported $216 million. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022, following regulatory approval. Both based in Chicago, Nadex offers retail investors derivative products while the Small Exchange is known for its futures offerings, enabling Crypto.com to provide traditional instruments to its U.S. customers. Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said that …

Aarika Rhodes, a Democrat running to represent California's 30th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, has begun to accept campaign contributions in Bitcoin using the Lightning Network. In a Tuesday message to her more than 21,000 Twitter followers, Rhodes said her campaign website had started using Lighting for campaign contributions in addition to the BitPay options for Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). According to the congressional candidate, the move was aimed at making her campaign more accessible for voters, who will consider Rhodes in California’s primary election in June 2022 and potentially the general election later that …

The use of cryptocurrencies to evade international sanctions from various international governmental organizations like the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, among others, has been a concern for regulators ever since the creation of cryptocurrencies. The rapidly increasing adoption of digital currencies in the last two years makes this discussion more important than ever, especially with the advent of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) like the digital yuan. In an interview on Nov.17, United States Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said that the efficacy of U.S. sanctions would not be undermined by central bank …

United States-based digital asset exchange Kraken has announced it will begin supporting the viral meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) as of Nov. 30. There will be a minimum deposit of 373,000 SHIB ($16 USD), and the minimum trading volume is 50,000 SHIB ($2 USD). SHIB will initially be tradeable against the USD and Euro pairs, however, Kraken Futures and Margin Trading for SHIB won’t be available at launch. New Listing on Kraken: @Shibtoken $SHIB deposits begin NOW! Trading is live November 30. ➡️ Learn more: https://t.co/yUUKaBXKBq pic.twitter.com/L2IUHugyG0 — Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) November 29, 2021 Australian managing director at Kraken Jonathon …

Soon after dropping a filing for a Bitcoin (BTC) futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, asset manager Invesco is launching a spot BTC exchange-traded note (ETN) in Europe. On Nov. 29, German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse officially announced the listing of the Invesco Physical Bitcoin ETN on its digital stock exchange, Xetra. The new product will trade under the ticker symbol BTIC. Admitted to the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the new ETN product is physically backed by Bitcoin and is centrally cleared via Eurex Clearing. “Through central clearing, investors benefit from significantly reduced risks …

On Oct. 19, 2021, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) launched on the New York Stock Exchange. On its first day, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) saw an influx of close to $1 billion in natural volume and, within 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) itself would reach a new all-time high for its price in U.S. dollars. This comes a week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allowed the ETF’s application to expire, which effectively gave the okay for the product to move ahead. This marks a significant step for the United States, but has also sent ripples into other markets …

A group of five Democratic senators has reportedly rejected President Joe Biden’s nominee, Saule Omarova, to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Omarova’s nomination as a bank regulator was initially opposed by three members of the Senate Banking Committee — Senators Jon Tester, Mark Warner, and Kyrsten Sinema — on a phone call with panel chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown, as reported by Axios. The opposition was further supported by Senators John Hickenlooper and Mark Kelly. Omarova is known for anti-crypto sentiments who has previously worked as Special Advisor for Regulatory Policy to the Under Secretary, Domestic …

From the rise of the Metaverse to major brands announcing nonfungible token (NFT) drops, cryptocurrency mass adoption is well underway. Americans in particular have taken a growing interest in crypto, as recent findings from the Pew Research Center found that nearly a quarter of 10,371 adults in the United States were familiar with cryptocurrency, while only one-eighth (13%) were entirely unfamiliar with the concept. Additional research from online broker firm, BrokerChooser, discovered that the U.S. is the third most interested county in NFTs, falling behind Canada and Australia. Given America’s curiosity for crypto, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that …