The latest articles and analysis in Commentary & Review.
Crypto promised to replace traditional finance. Washington has other plans. The OCC's new stablecoin regulations prioritize financial stability over speculation, while the unresolved rewards debate could reshape bank deposits and lending.
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On October 21, 2026, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) became the first federal banking regulator to finalize regulations implementing the GENIUS Act for payment stablecoin issuers under its jurisdiction. Scheduled to take effect on January 18, 2027, the regulations cover stablecoin issuance, reserve assets, redemption, custody, risk management, regulatory reporting, and supervision.
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USDC is the first stablecoin to receive the EU's highest regulatory classification and will be denominated in U.S. dollars rather than euros, further underscoring the dollar's dominance worldwide.
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Finance is moving beyond banks and trading floors. From embedded payments to DeFi and AI agents, financial infrastructure is being rebuilt across everyday digital platforms.
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Korea Blockchain Week and TOKEN2049 Singapore pointed to three priorities shaping crypto’s next phase: tokenization, AI agents and stablecoin infrastructure.
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On October 5th, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced plans to establish a federal regulatory framework for crypto exchanges offering leveraged and margined trading. With the CLARITY Act failing to pass, the agency is moving ahead under its own rule rather than waiting for Congress.
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Crypto’s merge into traditional finance is creating a new question. Who gets to hold digital assets, and under what rules? This week, the SEC proposed allowing investment advisers to self-custody certain crypto assets while opening custody to state trust companies. At the same time, community banks sued the OCC over its decision to let crypto firms operate as national trust banks. Together, the two developments show how crypto is beginning to redefine one of the oldest functions in finance: custody.
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At Sibos 2026, digital assets were no longer a side topic. KASmedia’s review found roughly one in six substantive sessions centered on blockchain, tokenization, stablecoins or digital money—showing how deeply TradFi is adopting crypto’s infrastructure, even when it avoids the word ‘crypto.’
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BlackRock argues that AI agents could become a new source of demand for stablecoins and digital assets. But where do blockchain-based payments offer a real advantage over existing rails—and is an agent-driven stablecoin boom actually close?
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As argued in my previous article, blockchain technology is increasingly being integrated into the existing financial plumbing system rather than replacing it. Recent moves by the Federal Reserve, SEC, and CFTC point toward this future.
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What if crypto’s greatest innovation isn’t cryptocurrency at all? Recent developments suggest that blockchain technology may have a future independent of the thousands of tokens it created, becoming infrastructure for traditional finance rather than its replacement. This week offered a glimpse of that future through new regulatory moves from the SEC and CFTC, alongside the launch of Circle’s new stablecoin-powered blockchain, Arc.
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Robinhood’s AMC-linked Stock Token offers economic exposure without making its holder an AMC shareholder. The dispute exposes unresolved questions around issuer involvement, investor rights and regulation as traditional financial instruments move onchain.
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Harmony is considering winding down its Layer 1 network, moving ONE to Ethereum and redirecting the project toward AI-generated video. The proposal raises a larger question: as AI competes with crypto for capital, talent and computing power, could other blockchain projects follow?
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Much of money’s history and social significance has been lost. In this article, I will revive that history by analyzing thick money versus thin money and how NFT-based memecoins merge the two to pave the way for the next supercycle narrative.
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Ethereum faces two distinct forms of complexity. In a previous article, I examined its architectural complexity: the combination of Casper FFG and LMD-GHOST to solve proof-of-stake’s nothing-at-stake problem. The Strawmap introduces a different form—statistical complexity—as Ethereum brings more stateful and interconnected economic activity onto its base layer. This article examines the tradeoffs between Bitcoin’s low-complexity model and Ethereum’s increasingly complex one. Is Bitcoin too simple for the economic system it seeks to replace? Can Ethereum successfully internalize that complexity without becoming unstable itself? And ultimately, will the Strawmap succeed?
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Michael Saylor’s “Bitcoin Reformation” challenges some of the movement’s deepest orthodoxies—from founder worship and self-custody dogma to its distrust of institutions. His argument is that Bitcoin’s next phase will be defined not by retreating from banks, corporations and governments, but by becoming the digital capital they increasingly build around.
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This year, Justin Drake released a strawman proposal roadmap for Ethereum on behalf of the Ethereum Foundation, known as the Strawmap. It is not meant to be a plan carved in stone but a concrete blueprint offered to the community for examination, critique, and potential modification. Thus, I will offer my own critique founded in problems concerning liveness and complexity.
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The SEC’s proposed Regulation Crypto Assets would give qualifying crypto startups new pathways to raise capital and distribute tokens while developing their networks—but the rules have not yet taken effect.
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Du dix-huitième siècle et de la révolution, comme d’une source commune, étaient sortis deux fleuves: le premier conduisait les hommes aux institutions libres, tandis que le second les menait au pouvoir absolu. —Alexis de Tocqueville.
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Banks and asset managers are bringing deposits, funds and settlement infrastructure on-chain—without surrendering their role as financial intermediaries.
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