PayPal gets state charter
Payments company PayPal, and its PayPal Digital subsidiary, have received a limited purpose trust charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) according to Ledger Insights.
It was just last August that PayPal launched its PYUSD stablecoin.
Shortly thereafter, House Financial Services (HFS) Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D, CA) expressed strong reservations in an August 9 statement: “I am deeply concerned that PayPal has chosen to launch its own stablecoin while there is still no Federal framework for regulation, oversight, and enforcement of these assets” – keyword “Federal” because there is one in New York State, for example.
Ledger Insights explains the weeds if yesterday’s announcement, “The stablecoin issuer is Paxos Trust Company which also has an NYDFS limited trust charter. Paxos has also been PayPal’s partner for its cryptocurrency offering since its launch. Hence, there’s a possibility that the aim of the Trust charter is to take on the custody of PayPal client crypto-assets and move the issuance of the stablecoin in-house.” Read more.
what you should know: Is this yet another piece of news which pushes stablecoin legislation over the line in Congress?
stablecoins and trade
Bloomberg reports that Chinese and Russian commodity traders are increasingly turning stablecoins – Tether’s USDT stablecoin, in particular – to facilitate international payments.
The alternative to stablecoins, according to Bloomberg “is often slower transactions, or worse, risking an overseas bank account that could be frozen, the executives said. Some unsanctioned companies opened dozens of accounts in different countries only to see them frozen one after the other.'” Read more.
SEC spanked again
Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s woes continued with the DEBT Box fiasco. As you may recall, Commission lawyers misled the court in the case against the crypto company which resulted in sanctions against the Commission and its lawyers.
It’s a stunning story. Read the recap in March from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Yesterday, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal caught sight of a new ruling from the same judge overseeing the DEBT Box case and notes that new penalties of $1.75 million have been meted out against the Commission. Grewal quotes from the ruling: “….the Commission engaged in bad faith conduct in obtaining and defending the [temporary restraining order] and imposed a sanction against the Commission of all attorney fees and costs arising from the improvidently entered ex parte relief…” See his tweet and a screenshot of the ruling on X.
ETH ETF surprise
The approval of the first leg of the Ether Exchange-Traded-Fund (ETF) applications last Thursday continues to make heads spin. Fortune’s Leo SchwartzThe SEC’s surprise blessing of Ethereum ETFs is the crypto makeover no one expected.
Schwartz comments on the speed of the decision saying, “As quickly as a memecoin goes to zero, the SEC seemed to change its mind right before its deadline for a decision, engaging with both the issuers and the exchanges that would list the products on crucial forms…” Read more on Fortune (on Yahoo).
more tips:
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- Ether will continue to outperform bitcoin in near term, says crypto asset manager – The Block
conference & crypto policy
CoinDesk’s Consensus conference in Austin, Texas will kick-off today with the participation of Congressional leaders.
At around noon ET today, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R, MN) will share his perspectives on digital assets legislation momentum after seeing his Securities Clarity Act passed as part of the Financial Innovation And Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT 21) [H.R.4763] as well as his CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act [H.R.5043].
On Friday morning, Senator Ron Wyden (D, OR), Chair of Senate Finance, will appear in a fireside chat on crypto.
what you should know: Will Chair Wyden finally reveal next steps on his Committee’s exploration of digital assets and taxation last summer with Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R, ID)?
bursting on to the scene
In his weekly newsletter, CoinDesk Managing Editor Nikhilesh De makes special note of the events in DC these past few weeks: “The phrase I’ve heard thrown around these last few weeks is ‘sea change.’ Between former U.S. President (and current Republican frontrunner) Donald Trump openly appealing to people who might have crypto as an important election issue to the votes over the last few weeks, this industry is (finally?) bursting onto the political scene in a way we haven’t seen before.”
Read more from De’s “State of Crypto” newsletter.
crypto voter poll
A new poll by investment firm Grayscale takes a look at “likely voter” interest in crypto. See the Grayscale poll (access required). Sample insight: “Half of young voters, who own crypto at higher rates than equities, are considering candidate positions on crypto before casting their votes.”
Politico notes that the poll was taken prior to the legislative transformation around digital assets in Washington of the past month including passage of the Financial Innovation and Technology Act (FIT 21) in the House.
Read “American voters are becoming crypto investors, Grayscale survey posits” on Blockworks.
podcasts
Why Many Democrats, Including The White House, Have Come Around Crypto – Unchained
Second Order Impact of ETH ETFs – Blockworks’ Empire
Stablecoins And National Security With Former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad (April 17) – Bankless
still more tips
IOSCO Board Re-Elects CFTC Chairman Behnam as Vice Chair – CFTC.gov
Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame Sentenced To 90 Months In Prison – Justice.gov
How Researchers Cracked an 11-Year-Old Password to a $3 Million Crypto Wallet (subscription) – Wired
Ledger starts shipping its high-end hardware crypto wallet – TechCrunch