- Speaking at the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, BIS General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos questioned whether stablecoins can serve as a credible payment method at scale. He warned that stablecoin adoption could divert deposits from banks, increase funding costs and ultimately raise borrowing rates for consumers. He also cited conversion costs that could undermine the uniform value of money, limited interoperability among stablecoin platforms, inconsistent anti-money-laundering controls and risks to monetary sovereignty—particularly as dollar-backed stablecoins expand in other jurisdictions. De Cos argued that tokenized bank deposits offer a more direct way to capture the benefits of tokenization while preserving the foundations of the existing monetary system.
- The SEC is advancing two initiatives that could significantly affect crypto and tokenized securities. First, the agency proposed modernizing transfer-agent rules to recognize blockchain technology, potentially allowing distributed ledgers to serve as official transaction records as tokenized securities and on-chain settlement gain traction. The proposal also considers whether digital-wallet addresses could identify securityholders and introduces updated operational and cybersecurity requirements. Separately, the SEC will hold a September 17 roundtable on 24-hour securities trading, focusing on market surveillance, clearing, settlement and continuous-market operations. These issues are particularly relevant to crypto-native broker-dealers as traditional securities markets move closer to crypto’s round-the-clock model.
- The OCC granted preliminary approval for a national bank charter to OpenReserve Bank, a blockchain-focused institution backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital, Wintermute Ventures and other investors. Unlike firms pursuing limited-purpose trust charters, OpenReserve applied for a full national bank charter. It plans to serve institutional clients through treasury-management services, stablecoin issuance, tokenized deposits and integrated on-chain settlement. The bank is also being structured to comply with the forthcoming GENIUS Act stablecoin framework. OpenReserve applied in April and still requires final OCC approval. The agency also conditionally approved a national bank charter for UK fintech Revolut, which plans to operate from Connecticut.
Washington Crypto Weekly
Michael Cronan
- mike.cronan@etfinsight.net