On Tuesday, February 8, in two separate rulings, a California federal district court upheld the “valid when made” rules promulgated by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), against challenges brought by the Attorneys General for several states.[1] We previously discussed the significance of the OCC’s then-proposed rule to provide certainty to…
Originally Published: February 17, 2022 Update: February 22, 2022 Last week, in a speech at the U.S Monetary Policy Forum in New York, FRB Governor Lael Brainard continued to tout the potential of a CBDC in the U.S. digital payment infrastructure, while also highlighting potential risks. Though the topics she discussed reiterated key issues, Governor Brainard highlighted a number of topics…
On February 8, 2022, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services (“HFS”) hosted a virtual hearing entitled, “Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets’ Report on Stablecoins.” The hearing focused on the Report on Stablecoins, which are crypto-assets pegged to real assets (usually the U.S. dollar), that the President’s Working Group on Financial…
One of the biggest regulatory barriers facing cryptocurrency and fintech companies is inconsistency across regimes. In September 2021, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (“CSBS”) attempted to remove one of these barriers, the lack of uniformity in money transmission regulation, with its Money Transmission Modernization Act (the “CSBS Act”). Money transmitters are currently regulated separately under state and federal law.…
Although the policy outlook remains uncertain, more policymakers are encouraging bank-like regulation for stablecoin issuers. Following on the November 2021 stablecoin report (the “Stablecoin Report”) issued by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which recommended new stablecoin legislation, Congressional Democrats, led by House Financial…