Payments

Letters and Testimonies

Letters to Congress

Title Recipient Date
Sen. Josh Hawley 09/20/23
House Financial Services Committee 09/19/23
House Financial Services Committee 07/19/23
House, Senate Leaders 07/14/23
House, Senate 07/11/23
House Financial Services Committee 06/13/23
Senate, House leaders 06/09/23
House Financial Services Committee 05/05/23
House Financial Services Committee 04/19/23
Rep. Tom Emmer 03/08/23
Senate, House 11/17/22
House, Senate 10/11/22
Senate 10/04/22
House 09/27/22
House 09/21/22
Senate 08/31/22
House Financial Services Committee 07/22/22
Senate Judiciary Committee 05/04/22
Senate Judiciary Committee 05/02/22
Sens. Cruz, Braun, Grassley 04/04/22
Rep. Tom Emmer 04/04/22
Congress 07/27/21
116th Congress 10/15/20
U.S. House Task Force on Financial Technology 09/29/20

Letters to Regulators

Title Recipient Date
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision 03/28/24
Federal Reserve, Justice Department, Treasury Department 03/22/24
BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures 02/28/24
Letter to Regulators 01/30/24
FinCEN 01/23/24
Federal Reserve 11/27/23
IRS 11/13/23
Federal Reserve 10/20/23
IOSCO 10/18/23
White House, Treasury Department 10/12/23

Testimony

Title Committee Presenter Date
House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion Written Statement 09/13/23
Senate Banking Committee Written Statement 02/13/23
Senate Banking Committee Written Statement 07/28/22
House Financial Services Committee Written statement 05/25/22
Senate Banking Hearing 02/15/22
House Financial Services Committee Written statement 02/08/22
Senate Banking Committee Written Statement 12/14/21
House Financial Services Committee Written statement 12/07/21
HSFC 09/29/20

Payments News

Crypto acquisition amid liquidity scare reflects market turmoil

Nov. 09, 2022

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced an agreement to buy rival FTX amid reports of a liquidity crisis at the company, renewing concerns about volatility in the crypto sector.

Market Instability: The deal between two giants in crypto trading followed recent reports that the balance sheet of Alameda Research, a sister firm to FTX, was primarily composed of FTX's FTT token, raising concerns about FTX's solvency. Those concerns were exacerbated by an announcement from Binance chief Changpeng Zhao that it is liquidating its holdings of FTT, by reports of investment outflows from FTX, and by FTX users’ social media posts on delays in withdrawing assets.

New Sanctions: The news came the same day that Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended its sanctions on the Tornado Cash virtual currency mixer. OFAC’s redesignation of Tornado Cash accounts for additional information on how the entity has been used to launder virtual currency, including $455 million stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

ICBA Position: ICBA last week told the Treasury Department that protecting national security and implementing anti-crime measures should be primary drivers of cryptocurrency policymaking and regulation. Reflecting previous ICBA calls for regulators to prioritize national security in new crypto rules, ICBA noted that bad actors still use Tornado Cash despite it being federally sanctioned.

More Resources: Earlier this year, ICBA published a series of blog posts on volatility in the stablecoin market, including the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, its impact on financial markets, and how it affects community banks and the regulatory debate