Custodian Anchorage Seeks Charter From Crypto-Friendly US Bank Regulator OCC
Digital asset custodian Anchorage is seeking a national charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). A banking charter would give Anchorage the clear authority to act as a “qualified custodian” for institutional investors under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules. Most crypto custody firms in the U.S. have trust company licenses, but the SEC has signaled that it is unsure whether such entities, regulated at the state level and less stringently than banks, make the cut as qualified custodians.
Hacker steals $2 million from DeFi crypto-asset service Akropolis
Crypto-asset borrowing and lending service Akropolis says a hacker used a “flash loan” attack against its platform and stole roughly $2 million worth of Dai USD stablecoins. Flash loan attacks have become common against crypto-asset services running DeFi platforms that allow users to borrow or loan using crypto-assets, speculate on price variations, and earn interest on crypto-asset savings-like accounts. Flash loan attacks take place when hackers loan funds from a DeFi platform but then use exploits in the platform code to escape the loan mechanism and get away with the funds.
Brazil launches ‘Pix’ instant payments system, Whatsapp to enter ‘soon‘
The Central Bank of Brazil launched its instant payments platform Pix on November 16. Pix allows consumers and companies to make money transfers 24/7 without requiring debit or credit cards through a Pix alias or a QR Code. It is also free of charge for individuals. Central bank president Roberto Campos Neto said the central bank is in talks with Bigtech players such as Google and Facebook about entering the Brazilian payments services market, and that WhatsApp will start doing P2P soon.
Kyrgyzstan’s central bank developing draft law for cryptocurrency industry
The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic is developing a draft law that would regulate crypto-asset exchanges. The bank will accept proposals for the draft law until November 27, after which they will be published on the official register by December 4.