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In addition, the OCC also withdrew its participation in the joint statement on crypto-asset risks to banking organisations and the joint statement on liquidity risks for banking organisations resulting from crypto-asset market vulnerabilities. Combined, the measures point to a fundamental shift in regulatory policy surrounding digital assets and tokenised finance.“ For the first time since I’ ve been involved with this – and I’ ve been at it for a while – I can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel,” says Nadine Chakar, global head of digital assets at the DTCC.“ With regulatory priorities shifting in the US, we see a potential opportunity to sit down with the regulators to distil the latest thinking into industry proof points. The financial services industry is finally in a position where it can demonstrate that leveraging tokenisation and digital assets can do things better, with more transparency, benefitting not only the industry, but also the regulators and end investors.”
Excitement and urgency There were exactly 1,029 days between SAB 121’ s enactment and its rescission on 23 January. In that time, we saw countless industry letters and dialogues, whole digital asset units and strategies come screeching to a halt, a bipartisan repeal resolution pass through both the House and the Senate before being struck off at President Biden’ s desk, and a subsequent attempt to overturn the veto.
Frustration rippled through the securities services industry during that three-year period, reaching a peak in January 2024 when traditional custodians had to take somewhat of a back seat( they still won administration contracts, just not the custody aspect) during the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETFs, while predominantly retail providers swept up the majority of custody mandates. That frustration has now turned to eager enthusiasm, as State Street’ s chief product officer and head of digital asset solutions, Donna Milrod, points out:“ The general mood within State Street is one of excitement and urgency, which we see across market participants.“ Once it was clear that there would be a change in administration, we did
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