United States Financial News

The United States says the first shipment of military aid promised by President Joe Biden to Ukraine amid the standoff with Russia has arrived in Kyiv.

During Jerome Powell’s Jan. 11 United States Senate confirmation hearings, Sen. Patrick Toomey posed a question to the incumbent-and-future Federal Reserve chief: “If Congress were to authorize and the Fed were to pursue a central bank digital dollar, is there anything about that that ought to preclude a well-regulated privately-issued stablecoin from co-existing with a central bank digital dollar?”

Round two of US-Russia talks over Ukraine and security start on Friday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is opening comments to the public after releasing a discussion paper on the pros and cons of a potential central bank digital currency.

Around the time Binance.US announced former Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks would be leading the crypto exchange, former CEO Catherine Coley effectively dropped off the face of the digital world.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has officially disapproved the application for First Trust SkyBridge’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund after several deferments.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned of "massive consequences" in the event of any Russian military incursion into Ukraine, or any hybrid attacks on the country.

United States cryptocurrency exchange Binance US, which operates separately from the global Binance platform, has officially opened its trading services to residents of Connecticut. 

Interest in crypto continues to grow as Americans show their excitement in the future of digital assets. The first annual Crypto Confidence Survey published by publicly-traded cryptocurrency platform Voyager Digital examined Americans’ experiences with crypto and their perspectives on how crypto will perform in 2022.

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday he thinks Russia will invade Ukraine and warned President Vladimir Putin that his country would pay a “dear price” in lives lost and a possible cut off from the global banking system if it does.

Associate law professor and member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee J.W. Verret is calling for the government agency to open for public comment in regards to digital asset regulation.

Uncle Sam dominates the Bitcoin (BTC) trading arena according to a report published by Arcane Research. Bitcoins’ 90-day correlation to the S&P 500 is currently at its highest since October 2020 while the United States trading hours show the most Bitcoin activity. 

The National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), an American non-profit, onboarded its first crypto firm Binance to aid their ongoing battle against cybercrimes. 

Last week saw an unlikely first move in the opening narrative battle around a prospective U.S. central bank digital currency: Congressperson Tom Emmer came forward with an initiative to legally restrict the Federal Reserve’s capacity to issue a retail CBDC and take on the role of a retail bank. This could be massively consequential as we are yet to see a similarly sharp-cut expression of an opposing stance. As a matter of fact, it is not even clear whether other U.S. lawmakers have strong opinions on the matter other than, perhaps, condemning privately issued stablecoins as a digital alternative to the dollar. By framing a potential Fed CBDC as a privacy threat first, Emmer could tilt the conversation in the direction that is friendly to less centralized designs of digital money.

The Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael J. Hsu, highlighted the need for collaboration and coordination with large crypto intermediaries to better understand the risks within the growing $2 trillion cryptocurrency market. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin to meet with him amid tensions with Russia along the border, one of his close advisers said Friday.

The White House has officially tapped former Fed governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as the vice chair for supervision for the Federal Reserve, as well as economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to fill two empty seats on its board of governors.

A top Russian diplomat on Thursday refused to rule out a military deployment to Cuba and Venezuela if the US and allies don't stop military activities on Russia's doorstep.

At her confirmation hearing in front of members of the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve board of governors member Lael Brainard said Congress would ultimately have to decide to move forward with a central bank digital currency, or CBDC.

Crypto exchange Gemini announced Thursday that it had agreed to purchase Bitria, a San Fransisco-based start-up that provides traditional portfolio management tools for use in crypto investments. The goal of Bitria is to provide a platform for traditional asset managers and financial advisors to use in helping their clients invest in cryptocurrencies. 

Back in 2021, a study showed that there is a high demand for cryptocurrency payment abilities among both crypto holders and non-holders. However, in the same study, 50% of participants noted that there are not enough businesses that accept crypto. This may change very soon.