While this market structure bill is very much a draft, it is important to note that it diverges from the CLARITY Act, which was passed by the House last week. This draft moves away from the “mature blockchain system” concept provided for in CLARITY. It is unclear how much this draft bill is intended to replace language from CLARITY as opposed to supplementing it—notably, the draft bill still retains CLARITY-like language around “digital commodities.”

The “ancillary asset” definition…

One month after it passed in the Senate, stablecoin legislation passed in the House. The GENIUS Act still raises important questions as to: (1) the prohibition on yield-bearing stablecoins as "payment stablecoins," and (2) the exception for foreign issuers.

On the former, the GENIUS Act does not treat yield-bearing stablecoins as "payment stablecoins"—ostensibly, because these tokens are more akin to interests in an investment fund. (Previously, the SEC's Division of Corporate Finance…

Crypto week cometh, and it brings with it the potential for the House to pass the GENIUS Act. The CLARITY Act, though showing some promise as far as votes go, is not as primed as the GENIUS Act, which has already passed in the Senate. Former Commissioner Mersinger’s op-ed calls on the House to “expand dollar accessibility globally while preserving the transparency and rule-of-law advantages that make the American financial system attractive.” The GENIUS Act would be Congress’ first big step…

This joint statement from the OCC, Federal Reserve and FDIC, while not groundbreaking, is a positive development for the cryptocurrency industry. By clarifying that existing fiduciary, BSA/AML and cybersecurity regulations apply to crypto-asset safekeeping, the agencies are ultimately reinforcing the expectation that banks must approach these services with the same rigor as traditional asset custody, but with special attention paid to crypto’s unique characteristics.

The explicit…