Economics Updates 6-28-2024

Supreme Court Ruling Boosts Ripple (XRP) in SEC Lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court has abolished the Chevron deference, altering the way federal regulations will be interpreted.

This landmark decision could influence the ongoing lawsuits faced by Ripple and Coinbase with the SEC.

Without Chevron’s deference, Ripple might gain ground by arguing that XRP tokens are not securities.

The Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Chevron deference marks a critical legal shift, potentially altering the landscape for Ripple and Coinbase in their battles with the SEC over digital asset classifications.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to dismantle the Chevron deference doctrine represents a seismic shift in how federal regulations are interpreted. Previously, courts often deferred to federal agencies on interpreting ambiguous statutory language, leaning on their expertise.

This landmark ruling empowers judges to now independently interpret regulations, reshaping the legal landscape across various sectors including environmental protection, consumer safety, and financial regulation.

The removal of Chevron deference significantly curtails the interpretative authority traditionally wielded by regulatory bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Agencies will face greater challenges in implementing and enforcing existing regulations as federal judges take on a more active role in interpreting the law. This shift could lead to an uptick in litigation, with companies and individuals seeking judicial clarification in the absence of agency expertise.

Read more: Coinotag

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ISO 4217
Currency codes
People around the world rely on almost 300 different currencies to do business with each other, which is why it pays to use ISO 4217.

This standard establishes internationally recognized codes for the representation of currencies that enable clarity and reduce errors. Currencies are represented both numerically and alphabetically, using either three digits or three letters. Some of the alphabetic codes for major currencies are familiar, such as “EUR” for Euros. Fortunately, ISO 4217 covers everything from Afghanis to Zambian Kwacha as well.

Maintaining ISO 4217
Periodically, amendments must be made to ISO 4217:2015 and these are managed by the Secretariat of the Maintenance Agency, in this case the SIX Financial Information AG on behalf of the Swiss Association for Standardization, SNV.

Read more: ISO Org

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“National Australia Bank kills off stablecoin project

One of the four largest banks in Australia, National Australia Bank (NAB) (NASDAQ: NAUBF), has pulled the plug on its AUDN stablecoin.

Citing a lack of customer demand, NAB canceled the project, causing the team to switch to independent Australian dollar stablecoin Ubiquity. The latter will join ANZ Bank and Novatti (NASDAQ: NTTIFI) as the race continues to create the AUD version of USDC.

NAB started work on the AUDN stablecoin in 2022 and thought clients would use it to settle cross-border transactions, among other uses.

Like many other countries, Australia is exploring the concept of an Australian Dollar CBDC. It has been working with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) to test the idea.

While Australia has yet to announce concrete plans to launch the eAUD, CBDCs are moving ahead full steam elsewhere, and national digital currencies will pose serious competition to private stablecoins.

Adding to the woes of private stablecoin issuers is the ever-worsening reputation of Tether, the largest one by market cap. Its ties to terrorism and trafficking and continued refusal to prove it is backed by real U.S. dollars continue to harm the image of private stablecoins generally. The Brookings Institute recently published a paper showing that the U.S. government views private stablecoins as a national security threat, and it’s a safe bet that other governments feel the same.

Why would anyone use bank-issued coins running on expensive blockchains like Ethereum when national digital currencies can be sent anywhere in the world in seconds through systems similar to mBridge? A betting man might wager that the National Australia Bank has asked itself the same question, and that’s why it has thrown in the towel on AUDN.”

Read more: Currency Insider

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“Crypto market faces $860M token unlocks in July

Around 40 crypto projects are set for token unlocks next month, with a combined value of roughly $860 million hitting the market. According to data from Token Unlocks, Xai, AltLayer, Arbitrum, and Aptos lead the charge with the largest token releases.

Token unlocks refer to the release of a chunk of tokens that were previously restricted from trading. Investors often fear price declines caused by selling pressure when a large amount of tokens enter the market.

However, token unlocks aren’t inherently bad. Small unlocks may have minimal impact. An annual report from Token Unlocks shows that tokens rise 34% on average after being unlocked for private investors.

Overall, the exact impact of token unlocks is often unpredictable. When considering a crypto investment, it’s important to be aware of upcoming token unlocks and their potential impact on the price.”

Read more: Crypto Briefing

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“Bolivia Revokes Ban on Financial Entities’ Use of Crypto

Bolivia’s central bank issued a resolution to allow financial institutions to use cryptocurrencies, banned since 2020, bank chief Edwin Rojas said in a press conference.

Rojas said Bolivian citizens trade around $10m in cryptocurrencies per month, a number that is expected to increase with the rule change.”

Read more: Bloomberg Law

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“Coinbase partners with payments firm Stripe

The partnership means Stripe will incorporate Coinbase’s Layer 2 network Base into its crypto payout products.

In addition, users can use Stripe’s fiat-to-crypto onramp to buy digital assets with credit cards or Apple Pay inside the Coinbase Wallet.

The crypto exchange giant Coinbase and payment firm Stripe have penned a partnership.

Stripe will incorporate Coinbase’s Layer 2 network Base into its crypto payout products, and Coinbase will add Stripe as a way for its customers to buy crypto with credit cards or Apple Pay inside the Coinbase Wallet, according to a Coinbase release published Thursday.

“Crypto is the future of money because it is unrestricted by international borders or banking hours, and reduces both friction and fees for users. These three key integrations lay a strong foundation for Stripe and Coinbase to begin building a better payments future for users around the world,” Coinbase wrote in a statement.”

Read more: The Block

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“Worldcoin’s WorldID to arrive on Solana via Wormhole grant

The Worldcoin Foundation announced 16 grants worth over $800,000 at current WLD prices.

In a June 27 statement, Worldcoin said the ID integration effort will “equip the Solana ecosystem with a much-needed tool” for proving humanness.

The grant awards 25,000 WLD to Wormhole.

Wormhole described the grant in greater detail, stating that it will seamlessly allow Solana-based protocols to verify user IDs previously authenticated on the Ethereum blockchain.

Wormhole described several benefits related to the integration. The approach will allow for new use cases and demonstrate the versatility of Wormhole’s multichain infrastructure.

Furthermore, the integration aims to make verification easy for developers and ensure forward compatibility with future updates and improvements in verification methods.

The effort also aims to enhance security and decentralization by ensuring ID verification is carried out in a manner that preserves privacy. It will also improve cross-chain interoperability by allowing more decentralized apps to interact with identity verification systems on Ethereum.

Finally, the initiative aims to grow financial inclusion by supporting Worldcoin in providing universal access to the digital economy by serving ID users worldwide.”

Read more: Crypto Slate

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“JPMorgan Chase says its stress test losses should be higher than what the Fed disclosed

JPMorgan Chase said late Wednesday that the Federal Reserve overestimated a key measure of income for the giant bank’s recent stress test, and that its losses under the exam should actually be higher than what the regulator found.

The bank took the unusual step of issuing a press release minutes before midnight ET to disclose its response to the Fed’s findings.

The error means that JPMorgan might require more time to finalize its share repurchase plan, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

JPMorgan Chase said late Wednesday that the Federal Reserve overestimated a key measure of income in the giant bank’s recent stress test, and that its losses under the exam should actually be higher than what the regulator found.

The bank took the unusual step of issuing a press release minutes before midnight ET to disclose its response to the Fed’s findings.

“Should the Firm’s analysis be correct, the resulting stress losses would be modestly higher than those disclosed by the Federal Reserve,” the bank said.

The error means that JPMorgan might require more time to finalize its share repurchase plan, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who declined to be identified speaking about the regulatory process. Banks were expected to begin disclosing those plans on Friday after the market closes.

The news is a wrinkle to the Federal Reserve’s announcement Wednesday that all 31 of the banks in the annual exercise cleared the hurdle of being able to withstand a severe hypothetical recession, while maintaining adequate capital levels and the ability to lend to consumers and corporations.”

Read more: CNBC

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“Japan Fires Its Top Currency Diplomat As Yen Disintegrates, Another Intervention Looms

It is hardly a coincidence that literally minutes after the USDJPY hit 161 for the first time in almost two generations that Japan’s Nikkei reported the man who had been tasked to explain away Japan’s absolutely catastrophic currency policy, one which has made the yen the worst performing currency of the world and the envy of banana republics everywhere, Japan’s top currency “diplomat”. Masato Kanda, has been fired.

Kanda will be replaced with Atsushi Mimura, a director-general of the Finance Ministry’s international bureau, who will take over as vice finance minister for international affairs on July 31.

And while no amount of intervention will prevent the yen from imploding further – to do that the BOJ will have to raise rates to 4% or higher, setting of a cataclysmic collapse of the entire Japanese bond market – the outrage among the populace at the runaway inflation in Japan in large part due to the plunging currency, is finally being addressed now that Japan is facing election in a few months, and scapegoat time has arrived.”

Read more: ZeroHedge