coincodex.com
US financial industry watchdogs, comprised of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Reserve (Fed), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), have released a joint statement on the cryptocurrency industry on Tuesday. The regulators outlined key areas requiring further legislative action in 2022; however, they have not committed to changing existing regulations.
Key takeaways:
- The joint statement comes as an outcome of a so-called "policy sprint," which was put in motion by the OCC’s chief Michael Hsu. Hsu has been critical of the crypto sector in the past, comparing cryptocurrency industry leaders to incompetent financial executives that brought about the 2008 financial crisis.
- The newly released statement can be viewed as a crypto oversight road map for 2022 instead of a binding legal document that seeks to change the existing regulations outright.
- Federal agencies working on the report examined key areas of focus. "Throughout 2022, the agencies plan to provide greater clarity on whether certain activities related to crypto-assets conducted by banking organizations are legally permissible,” an excerpt from the agencies’ statement reads.
- The regulators discussed crypto asset custody, crypto trading, crypto-collateralized loans, stablecoins, and how these cryptocurrency products and services fit into the existing US banking regulatory framework.
- The joint statement comes on the heels of Binance’s push towards the industry’s more proactive regulatory compliance. Last week, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange released a list of 10 fundamental rights for crypto users, calling on industry leaders and policymakers to work together to create a beneficial legislative environment for the average crypto user.