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Gensler said he had been focusing on cryptocurrency trading platforms because 95 per cent or more of the activity in this “highly speculative asset” takes place in such venues — with investor protections he described as “really sparse”.

He said cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms pose a challenge for regulators because they exist without traditional brokers, to whom laws can be easily applied. Instead, they offer opportunities for investors to deal more directly with each other.

But he said regulators would be able to exercise authority over even supposedly decentralised platforms.

From Crypto platforms need regulation to survive, says SEC boss | Financial Times.

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A government regulation issued on August 27 established that Salvadoran banks will have to offer the exchange of bitcoin for dollars and vice versa – when carried out through a government-backed wallet – without charging commissions;

From El Salvador’s bitcoin gamble is off to a rocky start | WIRED UK:

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In June, Bukele pushed a law through Congress, drafted in part by the American chief executive of a bitcoin-based cash application, that businesses will be required to accept the digital currency for goods and services by Sept. 7.

From El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as president dismantles democracy – Los Angeles Times:

Imagine if Elon Musk and some dogecoin bros could bribe enough legislators to get dogecoin made into compulsory tender in, say, Texas. Every store in Texas would have to accept dogecoin and if they refused it, they would go to jail. Then the Texas legislature cuts a deal with Paypal to give all Texans a Paypal wallet, so no-one can say they have no way to accept dogecoin. Freedom loving angry Austrian school digital gold libertarians would never put up with this.

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How can BlockFi offer such a high rate? In addition to charging interest on the loans it makes to consumers, it lends cryptocurrency to institutions like Fidelity Investments or Susquehanna International Group that use those assets for quick and sometimes lucrative cryptocurrency arbitrage transactions, passing on high returns to customers. And because BlockFi is not officially a bank, it does not have the large costs associated with maintaining required capital reserves and following other banking regulations.

From Crypto’s Rapid Move Into Banking Elicits Alarm in Washington – The New York Times:

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Chime, a “neobank” serving millions, is racking up complaints from users who can’t access their cash. The company says it’s cracking down on an “extraordinary surge” in fraudulent deposits. That’s little consolation to customers caught in the fray.

From A Banking App Has Been Suddenly Closing Accounts, Sometimes Not Returning Customers’ Money — ProPublica:

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It’s easy to see why Chime has caught on. Opening an account takes minutes. Chime’s app is intuitive and easy to use. The service welcomes customers with spotty credit histories and doesn’t require a credit check. It has no monthly fees and keeps other charges to a minimum.

From A Banking App Has Been Suddenly Closing Accounts, Sometimes Not Returning Customers’ Money — ProPublica:

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Decentralized finance is an umbrella term for a host of fintech products that function in a decentralized manner, without the need for an intermediary. The most known example of this is a cryptocurrency, with transactions recorded into a digital ledger called the blockchain, validated by a decentralized network of computers.

From Decentralized Finance: The Illusory Savior of the Underbanked:

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“Crypto is the new shadow bank,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts said in an interview. “It provides many of the same services, but without the consumer protections or financial stability that back up the traditional system.”

From Crypto’s Rapid Move Into Banking Elicits Alarm in Washington – The New York Times:

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Questions of identity, which are crucial to fighting financial fraud, could be addressed by flipping the old script. Instead of starting with specifics — collecting the identity of individuals — law enforcers could take the broad view, said J. Christopher Giancarlo, a former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, using artificial intelligence and data analysis to monitor suspicious activity and working back to track identity.

From Crypto Banking and Decentralized Finance, Explained – The New York Times:

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DeFi cuts out the third parties that U.S. financial regulators rely on to ensure market integrity. Licensed operators like banks and brokers play a quasi-governmental role in traditional finance, collecting and reporting data to the authorities, including information on capital gains on investments made by their clients, to ensure taxes are paid. Their participation in the market depends on following lots of rules.

By contrast, DeFi programs are unregulated apps created by coders interested in capital markets. Users’ assets can and have been hacked, and not all of the operations are built in good faith. “Rug pulls,” when developers abandon programs after investors contribute significant assets, are notorious in DeFi.

From Crypto Banking and Decentralized Finance, Explained – The New York Times:

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