On Monday, the Comptroller of the Currency, under the U.S. Department of the Treasury, issued official guidance declaring that national banks and federal savings associations can hold reserve funds for stablecoin issuers.
The new ruling, the first federal guidance issued regarding stablecoins, adds legitimacy to the booming market sector and paves the way for more banks to enter the ecosystem, say industry commentators.
"If you don't have guidance from the banking regulator about how banks can participate in those schemes - or arrangements, rather - that would limit growth. It paves the way for growth," Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle said over Zoom.
With the "Greater regulatory certainty" his agency has provided will come billions of dollars more in stablecoin issuances and transaction volumes, the reasoning goes.
In the guidance, the OCC writes that it is allowing banks to manage funds kept in a "Hosted" wallet, an address that would essentially represent the relevant stablecoin's reserves.
"The OCC does not regulate peer-to-peer transactions, they regulate transactions involving minting and burning stablecoins," she said - an activity that would involve a hosted wallet.
In a world where stablecoins are part of "Mainstream, everyday use," there will have to be "a balance between meeting needs of national security and keeping personal and business transactions private," Smith said.
It's a frame of reference that seems to comport with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's stance on fiat-backed stablecoins as a type of "Store-of-value" rather than an investment.
"The SEC is saying fiat-backed, fully-reserved stablecoins are not securities," Allaire said, adding that it is taking a "Come talk to us and we'll verify" approach.
"You can't read too much into it because it says so little," he said, adding, "This raises more questions and concerns." A wide range of stablecoins may in fact be securities, including those that are algorithmically derived and those that are not provably fully-backed.
OCC's First Issued Guidance for Stablecoins Brings More Questions
Publicado en Sep 25, 2020
by Coindesk | Publicado en Coinage
Coinage
Noticias recientes
Ver todo
Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Run, Uniswap's Hemorrhaging Value, Anchorage's Banking Bid
Bitcoin is nearing all-time highs in price and market cap last set three years ago.
Japan's megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen
We have, in order, Cheese Bank with a $3.3 million theft, Akropolis with its $2 million loss, Value DeFi with a whopping $6 million exploit and finally Origin Protocol's loss of $7 million.
Number of new Bitcoin addresses spikes amid growing FOMO
Japan's three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen.
Not just Wall Street: Quant trader explains why Bitcoin price is going up
Sam Trabucco, a quantitative trader at Alameda Research, believes four general factors are pushing up the price of Bitcoin.