Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposed legislation on Monday that would ban central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from the Sunshine State, portraying it as a measure to safeguard Floridians’ financial privacy. The legislation would prohibit in Florida any CBDC that the U.S. Federal Reserve could introduce and any created by a foreign government, outlawing the technology entirely from being used as a form of money within the state.

“Federal bank regulatory agencies today issued a statement highlighting key risks for banking organizations associated with crypto-assets and the crypto-asset sector and describing the agencies’ approaches to supervision in this area. In particular, the statement describes several key risks associated with crypto-assets and the crypto-asset sector, as demonstrated by the significant volatility and vulnerabilities over the past year. Given these risks, the agencies continue to take a careful and cautious approach related to current and proposed crypto-asset-related activities and exposures at banking organizations.”

“In recent years, the financial sector has introduced payment systems that allow users to send and receivefunds almost instantly, at any time of the day, on any day of the year. These systems—which allow a payment’s transmission and the availability of funds to payees to occur almost in real-time (referred to herein as “instant payment systems”)1 —are being developed both in the United States and abroad. The high velocity of instant payments, along with increasing values and volumes of such payments, have led to questions across the financial sector, particularly from participating banks, about how best to implement sanctions compliance measures in this context. Each instant payment system has its own unique characteristics; for example, some allow for domestic payments only, while others permit cross-border payments. Accordingly, as the financial system innovates to improve efficiency, OFAC continues to encourage financial institutions to adopt a risk-based approach to ensure their sanctions compliance controls and related technology solutions remain commensurate with the sanctions risks presented by instant payment systems. To that end, in the context of instant payment systems, OFAC is issuing this guidance to: (i) reaffirm that financial institutions should take a risk-based approach to managing sanctions risks; (ii) highlight key factors that may be relevant in determining that risk-based approach;(iii) encourage the development and deployment of innovative sanctions compliance approaches and technologies to address identified risks; and (iv) encourage developers of instant payment systems to incorporate sanctions compliance considerations as they develop new payment technologies. This guidance should aid financial institutions in determining how best to allocate their compliance resources consistent with their particular sanctions risks.”

“New York is taking a first-in-the-nation step to tap the brakes on the spread of cryptocurrency mining, under legislation that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Tuesday. The measure comes amid growing scrutiny of the cryptocurrency industry following this month’s collapse of the FTX exchange. But New York’s measure, which passed the state Legislature in June, is specifically concerned with the environmental aspects of crypto. “I will ensure that New York continues to be the center of financial innovation, while also taking important steps to prioritize the protection of our environment,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in a message explaining her approval. The new law sets a two-year moratorium on new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants used for energy-intensive “proof-of-work” cryptocurrency mining — a term for the computational process that records and secures transactions in bitcoin and similar forms of digital money. Proof-of-work is the blockchain-based algorithm used by bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies.”

“In October 2021, the CFPB ordered six large technology and peer-to-peer platforms that operate payment services (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal and Square) to provide information about their business practices, including their data collection and use, their policies for removing individuals or businesses from their platforms, and their policies and practices for adhering to key consumer protections like addressing disputes and errors. Today, the CFPB is announcing that it will re-open the public comment period for 30 days and add additional questions. Faster payment systems are increasingly popular and offer many benefits to consumers, like sending money directly to other consumers or engaging in quicker transactions. But the scale and market power of large technology companies raise concerns about potential new risks to consumers and to broader competition in the marketplace. The CFPB continues to analyze the responses to the October 2021 orders and public comments and to share our insights with the public. For example, in August, the CFPB released a report , The Convergence of Payments and Commerce, that outlined consumer risks stemming from financial services companies’ ability to aggregate and monetize consumer financial data.”

“Britain would have the power to regulate all cryptoassets under a proposal the UK financial services minister has added to a draft law before parliament that will almost certainly pass. Andrew Griffith, re-appointed as City Minister on Thursday by Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, put forth the amendment to the financial services and markets bill, which parliament has begun approving. The bill, as originally drafted, gives the Financial Conduct Authority powers to regulate stablecoins only, but the amendment broadens the remit to cover promotions for all cryptoassets.”

“The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will move forward this week with an “open banking” rule that could dramatically boost competition in the consumer finance industry and increase Americans’ access to financial services. In a speech on Tuesday, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said the agency expects to propose requiring financial institutions that offer transaction accounts to set up secure methods for data sharing, and will develop requirements to limit the misuse and abuse of personal financial data.”

“A code of conduct outlining best practices for “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) providers was introduced on Thursday following seven months of discussions among industry players, and will take effect on Nov 1. The code was developed by the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and eight industry players including Atome, Grab Financial Group and Shopback, with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) guidance. It was initiated following concerns that the emerging payment option was luring people into debt, given that BNPL allows consumers to defer payment on goods or services without having to pay interest. They either repay the purchase price in one lump sum or in three to four equal instalments, usually over two to three months.”