House Democrats are pressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over World Liberty Financial’s push for a national trust bank charter, citing systemic risk. Democrats in the US House of Representatives are pressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over how regulators are handling World Liberty Financial’s bid for a national trust bank charter to issue a dollar-backed token. In a letter on Thursday, 41 House Financial Services Committee Democrats led by Representative Gregory Meeks cited systemic risk, foreign ownership and potential political pressure on the bank chartering process. They asked Bessent to explain what safeguards exist to prevent foreign government officials or politically connected investors from using the charter process to gain leverage over the US financial system. Read more
New Keyrock research finds not all newly created money impacts risk assets due to how fresh liquidity flows through the economy. Treasury bill issuance is the primary liquidity metric that impacts Bitcoin’s (BTC) price and not the Federal Reserve or any other central bank’s balance sheet, according to a new report from crypto investment firm and market maker Keyrock. Every 1% change in global liquidity levels impacts BTC’s price by 7.6% the following business quarter in which new money is created. However, not all liquidity impacts risk asset prices equally, Keyrock researcher Amir Hajian said. Treasury bill issuance has about an 80% correlation with BTC prices since 2021, and this metric leads BTC prices by about eight months, according to the report. Hajian wrote: Read more
The NYSE-listed BTYB allocates most of its assets to US Treasurys while using options strategies to provide weekly income and Bitcoin-linked exposure. VistaShares has launched BTYB, an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) listed on the New York Stock Exchange that allocates most of its assets to US Treasurys while using options strategies to provide weekly income and Bitcoin-linked price exposure. According to the Tuesday announcement, the fund allocates about 80% of its portfolio to US Treasury securities and related instruments, with the remaining 20% tied to Bitcoin (BTC) price movements through a synthetic covered call strategy. Holdings data shows the fund’s Bitcoin-linked exposure comes from call options on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). In this particular context, a synthetic covered call strategy uses derivatives to create Bitcoin price exposure and sells call (buy) options against that exposure to generate income, rather than holding Bitcoin directly. As a result, BTYB does not trac...
The US Treasury has sanctioned two UK-registered crypto exchanges tied to Iran’s financial system, marking the first time Washington has targeted digital asset platforms. The United States Treasury has sanctioned two cryptocurrency exchanges linked to Iran’s financial system, marking the first time Washington has directly targeted digital asset platforms as part of its Iran sanctions program. In a statement on Friday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the sanctions are part of a wider move against Iranian officials and networks accused of violently suppressing people at home while using alternative financial channels to get around international sanctions. Among those sanctioned was Eskandar Momeni Kalagari, Iran’s minister of the interior, who oversees the country’s Law Enforcement Forces. “Treasury will continue to target Iranian networks and corrupt elites that enrich themselves at the expense of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Read more
Institutional compliance costs and higher Treasury yields are reshaping stablecoin issuance as growth shifts from rapid expansion to balance-sheet discipline. After a period of rapid expansion, the global stablecoin market has largely stalled, signaling a consolidation phase as new regulation, liquidity constraints and higher real-world yields weigh on new issuance, according to Jimmy Xue, co-founder of quantitative yield protocol Axis. In a note shared with Cointelegraph, Xue said that while stablecoin regulation has advanced, tighter frameworks in the United States and Europe have forced institutional issuers to hold higher-quality reserves and absorb rising compliance costs, slowing the pace of net issuance. At the same time, elevated real yields on US Treasurys have increased the opportunity cost of holding stablecoins that offer no direct yield. That dynamic has dampened speculative minting and reinforced stablecoins’ role as infrastructure for payments, settlement and short-duration liquidity, rather th...
F/m Investments seeks SEC relief to record ownership of its $6 billion Treasury ETF on a permissioned blockchain as tokenization spreads on Wall Street. F/m Investments asked the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow it to tokenize shares of its flagship Treasury exchange-traded fund (ETF). The $18 billion asset manager filed Wednesday for exemptive relief to let the F/m US Treasury 3 Month Bill ETF (TBIL) record ownership of its roughly $6 billion in shares on a permissioned blockchain, while remaining a standard 1940 Act exchange‑traded fund. In its press release, F/m describes the filing as the “first of its kind” from an ETF issuer seeking US regulatory relief specifically for tokenized shares of a registered investment company. Read more
DTCC’s move to bring US Treasurys onchain highlights growing institutional momentum behind tokenized real-world assets. Canton Coin has climbed about 27% over the past week, Cointelegraph data shows, outpacing the broader cryptocurrency market as traders reacted to fresh signals of institutional adoption. The gains follow a Dec. 17 announcement from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) outlining plans to tokenize a portion of US Treasury securities held at its Depository Trust Company subsidiary on the Canton Network. DTCC operates post-trade infrastructure for US securities markets, with its subsidiaries processing about $3.7 quadrillion in securities transactions last year. Read more
Coinbase insists that the US Treasury cannot override Congress’s intent on the GENIUS Act, but banks continue to press for a blanket ban on stablecoin interest. The US Department of the Treasury is facing conflicting feedback from crypto companies and traditional banking groups over how to implement the GENIUS Act, the law that regulates stablecoin payments in the US. In a letter on Tuesday, Coinbase urged the Treasury to limit a ban on stablecoin interest payments exclusively to stablecoin issuers, while allowing it for non-issuers, such as crypto exchanges. Coinbase said its proposal aligns with Congress’s intent when passing the legislation. At the same time, several banking groups, led by the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), have pressed the Treasury to extend the prohibition to non-issuers, advocating for a blanket ban on stablecoin interest payments. Read more
As the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, Jonathan McKernan can influence policies on banking and a US digital dollar. A majority of lawmakers in the US Senate voted to confirm Jonathan McKernan as Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the Department of the Treasury. In a Tuesday vote of 51 to 47, the Senate confirmed McKernan to the US Treasury, serving under Secretary Scott Bessent. Though the US government has been shut down since lawmakers failed to pass a bill extending funding beyond Sept. 30, Congress can essentially continue to operate. McKernan, nominated to the Treasury by US President Donald Trump in June, has previously suggested opposition to debanking policies in the government, but did not explicitly tie the alleged practice to any association with digital assets. In a December X post, he cited an article from economist Tyler Cowen questioning whether the US banking system could “integrate with crypto.” Read more
The bill to establish rules for payment stablecoins was signed into law by US President Donald Trump in July and awaits final regulations before implementation. The US Department of the Treasury on Thursday opened a second period of public comment on the implementation of the GENIUS Act, legislation aimed at regulating stablecoin payments in the US that was signed into law by US President Donald Trump. In a Thursday notice, the Treasury said that, though the advance notice of proposed rulemaking was not required to implement the GENIUS Act, it invited the public to comment on the stablecoin law, saying it would build upon its work. The Treasury officially opened up comment in August, giving the public until Oct. 17 to submit concerns or feedback related to illicit activity. The Thursday notice provides a 31-day window for comments. Read more