Fed calls for regulation of stablecoins, and fintech startup Revolut’s valuation reaches $33 billion
Fed chair urged to develop a mechanism for regulating stablecoins
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is convinced that stable digital currencies need to be regulated in the same way as bank deposits. The official believes that control over stablecoins should be stricter.
According to Powell, “stablecoins are also an economic activity.” He believes that such assets will become part of the US financial system, so it is necessary to develop special regulations to control digital currencies.
“We have a tradition in this country where the public’s money is held in what is supposed to be a very safe asset. We have a pretty strong regulatory framework for bank deposits for example, or money market funds. That doesn’t exist for stablecoins, and if they’re going to be a significant part of the payments universe…then we need an appropriate framework, which frankly we don’t have,” Powell said.
Revolut valuation reaches $33 billion
The fintech company Revolut of Nikolai Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko raised $800 million from Vision Fund 2, which is a structure of SoftBank, and Tiger Global. In 18 months, the startup’s valuation has grown 6 times, now it is $33 billion.
The media report that the service, created by the Russians, is the most expensive British fintech project. According to Revolut’s own information, the startup has about 16 million customers and more than 150 million transactions per month.
Revolut was launched in 2014. The service operates in the UK and Europe. Startup products are an application and a card linked to multiple accounts in different currencies. At the beginning of last year, the fintech company raised $500 million from investors, and in July the service received another $80 million.
BlackRock: BTC is not of interest to our customers
Asset management company BlackRock has not recorded significant demand for digital currencies from customers. This statement was made by the CEO of BlackRock Larry Fink.
He stated that over the past 14 days, the company’s clients have shown no interest in BTC or other cryptocurrencies. At the same time, there was such a demand earlier, said Fink. BlackRock suggested that cryptocurrency investors are not customers of the service.
“If we could improve financial literacy. if we could help more people focus on not just speculating of markets and the ups and downs but translating that into investing in the long run,” Fink said.
