The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance staff have given new guidance on “Protocol Staking Activities” such as crypto-assets staked in proof-of-stake blockchains. According to the new guidance, such activities don’t need to register with the SEC, or fall within one of the Securities Act’s exemptions from registration. It added that staking rewards are compensation for a service provided by node operators, not profits earned from “others’ entrepreneurial or managerial efforts,” and do not fall under securities regulation. Custodial staking also can’t be classified as a securities offering as custodians don’t have a direct role in deciding how much is staked and only act as “agents in connection with staking,” according to the division’s staffers. [Read more at the SEC]
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) outlined its 2025–26 plans for its digital rupee central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilots in its 2024-25 Annual Report. In 2024-25 the pilots tested offline and programmable functionalities, including use cases such as direct benefit transfers, agricultural loans, and targeted employee allowances. These pilots have been extended to public schemes, like direct benefit transfers to farmers against generation of carbon credits and loans to tenant farmers in select locations. Looking ahead, discussions are ongoing with central and state agencies to scale programmable CBDC for defined-use fund transfers. Also, the RBI plans to explore both bilateral and multilateral cross-border CBDC pilots, especially given India’s role as a leading remittance recipient. The upcoming agenda also includes testing new designs, technologies, and use cases such as asset tokenization. [Read more at the RBI]
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper that outlines a proposed regulatory framework for the issuance of fiat-referenced stablecoins and the custody of qualifying crypto-assets. The framework focuses on establishing clear rules to ensure the stability, transparency, and redemption rights of stablecoins, mandating that issuers back tokens 1:1 with secure, liquid assets held in statutory trust by independent custodians. Custodians must also segregate and safeguard client assets under trust arrangements. The proposals aim to enhance consumer protection, market integrity, and innovation, while aligning with global standards. The FCA plans further consultations on conduct, prudential, and governance standards, and encourages industry feedback by July 31, 2025. [Read more at the UK FCA]
Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Rhee Chang-yong reportedly visited the nation’s six largest banks to advocate for the central bank’s two wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects, Project Hangang and Project Agorá, offering to cover a third of the costs for Project Hangang. This initiative coincides with these banks’ plans to launch a joint stablecoin, highlighting a competitive landscape between public and private digital currencies. The BOK’s strategy includes leveraging permissioned blockchains for tokenized deposits, contrasting with the banks’ preference for permissionless blockchain-based stablecoins. [Read more at The Korea Times]
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a paper that examines the impact of dollar-backed stablecoin flows on short-term US Treasury yields using daily data from 2021 to 2025. The results of the empirical analysis suggest that a 2-standard deviation inflow into stablecoins lowers 3-month Treasury yields by 2-2.5 basis points within 10 days, with limited to no spillover effects on longer tenors. It also finds evidence of asymmetric effects: stablecoin outflows raise yields by two to three times as much as inflows lower them. Decomposing the yield impact by issuer shows that USDT (Tether) has the largest contribution followed by USDC (Circle), consistent with their relative size. [Read more at the BIS]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
USDC stablecoin issuer Circle filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer 24 million shares for $24 to $26 each. The firm is targeting a $6.7 billion fully diluted valuation. Circle is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CRCL. USDC was launched by Circle and Coinbase in 2018 via the Centre Consortium. Coinbase, which went public in 2021, took an equity stake in Circle in August 2023 amid the dissolution of the consortium. In April, Bloomberg reported that Ripple made a $4-5 billion offer for Circle, but was rebuffed due to the offer being too low. [Read more at Businesswire]
In a University of Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) working paper, Jon Frost (BIS), Jean-Charles Rochet, Huyn Song Shin (BIS), and Marianne Verdier analyzed the competition between three digital payment instruments: bank deposits, private stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Using a theoretical model grounded in two-sided market economics, the authors explore how market structure and social welfare are affected by “walled gardens” (non-interoperable payment ecosystems) versus interoperable systems such as central bank-operated fast payment systems (FPS) or CBDCs. They find that both CBDCs and FPS can increase financial inclusion, raise trade volumes, and enhance welfare—though they may reduce the market share of traditional financial intermediaries and paradoxically lead to higher merchant fees due to decreased price elasticity. The paper concludes that, in many cases, a well-designed FPS may offer similar benefits to a retail CBDC, suggesting that countries with robust FPS infrastructure may not urgently need a CBDC. [Read more at the TSE]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) a consortium of the biggest U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, are in the early conceptual stages of exploring issuing a joint stablecoin. Early Warning Services, the operator of the Zelle peer-to-peer payment system, and The Clearing House payments network, are also reportedly involved. Early Warning Services, which runs the Zelle instant payments system, is owned by Bank of America, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. The Clearing House is owned by 22 banks which include the same ones as Early Warning Services, but also Bank of New York, Citigroup and many international banks such as Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Santander. [Read more at the WSJ]
The USDF Consortium, launched in 2022 to create a US dollar stablecoin-based interbank payment system on a permissionless blockchain, has reportedly closed down. The original idea was that its USDF tokens would be redeemable at any of the participant community banks. The banks involved were New York Community Bank, Synovus, Bank, Sterling National Bank, FirstBank, and NBH Bank. Under regulatory pressure, it moved to a private chain until it became clear that regulators still didn’t want it to proceed and so it reportedly shuttered late last year. However, its website (usdfconsortium.com) is currently displaying a “maintenance mode is on… site will be available soon” message, so maybe it’s not so dead? [Read more at Ledger Insights]
Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) published the second interim report of the joint task force with various government ministries and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) on central bank digital currency (CBDC). It’s currently available only in Japanese, but Norbert Gehrke has very helpfully provided a summary in English (see it here). The primary focus is on three main themes; (i) the legal framework (private law), (ii) privacy and data utilization, and (iii) the roles and division of labor with private payment systems. [Read more at the MOF]
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) published proposals in areas key to further scaling of distributed ledger technology (DLT) based capital markets. Both the ability to settle DLT transactions in central bank money and to use DLT-based securities as eligible collateral are key to building liquidity and attractiveness of DLT-based markets. Two of the key building blocks are the (i) availability of a well-designed solution for settlement in central bank money of DLT-based transactions; and (ii) eligibility of DLT-based assets to serve as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations. The report goes on to recommend concrete actions by the ECB and Eurosystem with respect to these two building blocks. [Read more at the AFME]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
The Atlantic Council has added 15 new countries and regulatory developments to their Cryptocurrency Regulation Tracker. Its interactive tracker now analyzes 75 economies, including G20 member states, European Union (EU) countries, and economies with the highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption. Of them, it finds that cryptocurrency is legal in 45, partially banned in 20 and generally banned in 10. In twelve G20 countries, representing over 57% of the world’s GDP, cryptocurrencies are fully legal. Regulation is under consideration in all G20 countries. However, only 28 of the 75 countries have regulations in place on taxation, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), consumer protection, and licensing. Just six of the emerging market countries studied have all the above regulations. [Read more at the Atlantic Council]
Hong Kong’s legislature passed the Stablecoin Bill that establishes a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong, providing regulatory clarity for upcoming stablecoin issuers. Under the new regime, any person who issues stablecoins in Hong Kong – or issues stablecoins backed by Hong Kong dollars, whether within or outside the city – must obtain a license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The relevant parties must satisfy the requirements in areas such as reserve asset management and redemption, including proper segregation of client assets, maintaining a robust stabilization mechanism, and processing stablecoin holders’ requests for redemption at par value with reasonable conditions. They must also comply with requirements in relation to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, risk management, disclosure and auditing, and fitness and propriety. The ordinance is expected to come into effect by the end of 2025. [Read more at news.gov.hk]
The World Economic Forum (WEF) published a report that assesses current asset tokenization use cases in issuance, securities financing and asset management, highlighting conditions and regional factors that determine successful implementation. It highlights that tokenization, through programmable ledgers, enhances transparency, accessibility, and efficiency, democratizing financial market access. It details five key differentiators: shared systems of record, flexible custodial arrangements, programmability, asset fractionalization, and composability. Despite its benefits, the report identifies barriers to adoption, including legacy infrastructure, a lack of global standards, limited cross-chain interoperability, insufficient secondary market liquidity, and privacy/compliance concerns. [Read more at the WEF]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
The paper “Stablecoin Self-Regulation” by Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Principal Economist Francesca Carapella proposes a self-enforcing, market-based alternative to traditional regulation for addressing the fragility of stablecoin issuers. It models an economy where stablecoins and banks coexist, both facing limited commitment to redeem liabilities. To mitigate this, the author introduces a voluntary, two-part mechanism: (1) a loss mutualization fund and (2) costly one-period membership titles that issuers must purchase to insure their obligations. This structure aligns with how central counterparties (CCPs) manage risk. The paper finds that this self-regulatory approach can improve financial stability more effectively than current legislative proposals, which often ignore the indirect impact of regulation on traditional financial institutions and lack key disciplining features. Notably, integrating stablecoin issuers under bank regulation may reduce banks’ incentive to offer insured deposits, potentially increasing systemic risk. [Download the paper at SSRN]
Banco de la República Colombia (BRC) published a paper that explores how central banks can optimize the design of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) by introducing multiple variants with varying degrees of anonymity and interest rates. The authors examine the trade-offs between anonymity and security and assess the welfare outcomes in economies with and without cash. They find that when anonymity-related externalities (e.g., illicit activity) are high, a cashless society with multiple optimally designed CBDCs maximizes welfare. Even when anonymity costs are absent, a cashless system with one additional CBDC still outperforms systems retaining cash. The study emphasizes the flexibility of multiple CBDCs in tailoring monetary instruments to diverse user preferences while minimizing societal costs, and argues that careful CBDC design can enhance financial stability and efficiency more effectively than static cash-based systems. [Read more at the BRC]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS) published a study that investigates the factors that drive countries to develop central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects. The research combines quantitative analysis of data from 68 countries with a qualitative analysis of CBDC white papers. The findings indicate that a country’s political regime, economic freedom, and perceived corruption significantly influence its decision to develop CBDCs. Specifically, countries with more autocratic political systems, less economic freedom, and higher perceived corruption are more likely to pursue CBDC projects. [Read more at AIS]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres denied a joint bid by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs to approve their recent agreement to drop their appeals and end a four-year legal battle, citing procedural errors. The SEC and Ripple had filed for an indicative ruling, a non-binding signal from the court that it would accept a deal dissolving Ripple’s injunction and reducing its $125 million fine to $50 million. But it bypassed Rule 60 of civil procedure, which governs relief from final judgments, and failed to demonstrate the “exceptional circumstances” required under that standard. However, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said that “Ripple and the SEC are fully in agreement to resolve this case and will revisit this issue with the Court, together”. [Read more at X]
The European Central Bank (ECB) has postponed a deadline for allowing non-bank payment service providers (PSPs) to access central bank-operated payment systems, including the TARGET settlement and the TIPS instant retail payment systems. This decision is a result of delays in some euro area countries in transposing the required amendments to the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) and Payment Services Directive (PSD2) into their national legislation. The postponement to October 2025 necessary to avoid legal risks. [Read more at the ECB]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a joint research study that explored if and how central banks could continue to implement monetary policy operations in hypothetical tokenized wholesale financial markets. Project Pine found that central banks could customize and deploy policy implementation tools using programmable smart contracts in a potential future state where commercial banks and other private sector financial institutions have widely adopted tokenization for wholesale payments and securities settlement. The project generated the prototype of a generic monetary policy implementation tokenized toolkit for potential further research and development by central banks across jurisdictions and currencies. The prototype was designed to be technically modifiable for different central banks’ monetary policy frameworks and calibrated to conduct standard or emergency market operations. [Read more at the BIS]
Project Pine is not intended to advance any specific policy outcomes, nor does it represent any work by the Federal Reserve to establish, issue or promote any central bank digital currency within the United States or abroad.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a paper that examines how total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) is computed, identifies key challenges that hinder its verifiability, and proposes solutions to improve its computation. Its findings indicate limits to verifiability and transparency, and introduces a “verifiable Total Value Locked” (vTVL) metric measuring the TVL that can be verified relying solely on on-chain data and standard balance queries. A case study on 400 protocols shows that its estimations align with published figures for 46.5% of protocols, pointing to the potential for further TVL standardization. [Read more at the BIS]
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) published a paper outlining two critical steps needed to scale distributed ledger technology (DLT) in capital markets in the European Union. First is the urgent need for a settlement solution for tokenized assets using central bank money. Secondly, AFME wants to see tokenized securities being considered eligible as collateral when banks borrow money from their central bank. [Read more at the AFME]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
The Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), a joint enterprise of the Australian Treasury, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), academic institutions, banks and other Australian private sector financial organizations, published an update on its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) backed asset tokenization experiments. There are currently about five proof-of-concept and about twenty pilot tokenization experiments being considered, and they are considering four different networks for the CBDC, one of them being public permissioned (Redbelly). On the private permissioned side, they are looking at Ethereum (or EVM-compatible), Hedera, and R3 Corda. [Read more at the DFCRC]
The Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust (LFDT) published a report on open source development’s role in central bank projects, and examples of the tech in action in CBDC implementations around the world. LFDT is the umbrella organization launched in September 2024 for the open development of a broad range of ledger, identity, security, interoperability, scale, implementation, and related technologies at the Linux Foundation. It encompasses the growing portfolio of Hyperledger projects and hosts new open source software, communities, standards, and specifications that are critical to the macro shift toward decentralized systems of distributed trust. [Read the report at LFDT]
Coinmetrics published a report that report that examines the stablecoin sector, now over $230 billion in total market cap, and break down the wide range of stablecoin types, reserve models, issuing entities, and blockchain networks facilitating their use. It maps the evolving stablecoin landscape, identify key use cases, and assess the opportunities and risks that lie ahead. [Read more at Coinmetrics]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
The CB+DC Conference (Nassau, Bahamas, September 9-11) is a premier gathering centered on CBDCs, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. It provides a forum for central bankers, commercial bankers, technology innovators, policymakers, and academics to explore the latest advancements in digital currency, engage with experts and peers, and discuss the future of digital currency. [Register here but before you do, email me at john@kiffmeister.com for a 15% discount]
And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only)if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
