The US securities regulator scheduled a meeting this week with the potential to step up on digital asset policies without congressional action. Update (Aug. 10 10:40 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from the SEC. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced a meeting to consider “new rules to create a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets.” According to the SEC’s agenda, the commission will hold an open meeting on Friday that has the potential to address policies and regulations affecting the crypto industry in the absence of action from US Congress. Last week, lawmakers in the Senate failed to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, also known as CLARITY, which was expected to provide a comprehensive framework for financial regulators on the oversight of cryptocurrencies. Read more
The bank will test tokenized fixed-income securities and investment funds as part of an ANBIMA-led industry pilot. Itaú, Latin America’s largest private sector bank, has partnered with digital asset infrastructure provider OpenAssets to participate in an industry-led pilot testing the tokenization of fixed-income securities and investment funds in Brazil. The initiative is led by the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (ANBIMA), which is testing the issuance, trading and settlement of capital markets instruments using distributed ledger technology (DLT). According to Tuesday’s announcement, the companies will develop technical proofs of concept and assess the operational, compliance and technology requirements for tokenized assets, with debentures and investment funds among the use cases being explored. Read more
MoneyGram’s Ramps service now connects Solana wallets and applications to its global cash network, with Rift becoming the first wallet to integrate the service. Global remittance company MoneyGram has expanded its Ramps service to Solana, allowing wallets, exchanges and developers on the network to offer cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash conversions through its payments network. Ramps previously operated on Stellar, making Solana its second supported blockchain. Rift is the first Solana (SOL) wallet to integrate the service, allowing users to move between crypto and local currencies through MoneyGram. In an X post announcing the launch, Solana said MoneyGram serves more than 60 million customers through nearly 500,000 retail locations across more than 170 countries, with the network now accessible to Solana developers through a single API. Read more
After an August recess, lawmakers in the Senate will have just 36 days in session before the end of the year to pass the CLARITY Act. The Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act is expected to be held for a cloture vote in September upon the US Senate’s return, but it still faces significant hurdles on the path to becoming law. Just before the Senate broke for a month-long recess last week, Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture for the crypto market structure bill to go to the floor for consideration. Lawmakers will return from recess on Sept. 14, but only have 14 days scheduled to be in session before breaking for a recess before the November election and another 22 days before the end of the year. This 36-day window for the CLARITY Act still has many crypto industry advocates publicly expressing their optimism for the bill’s chances in Congress, but lawmakers had not announced any deal on many of the provisions still at issue. These included ethics language affecting US President Donald Trump’s ties t...