Today in crypto, major banks including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Citi are entering the stablecoin race. Prediction platform Kalshi secured $300 million for a global expansion, while Democratic senators faced backlash over a proposed DeFi restriction list.
Banks explore launching a stablecoin linked to G7 currencies
A group of banks is in the process of exploring the launch of stablecoins focused on some of the world’s biggest fiat currencies, including the US dollar, euro and Japanese yen.
According to a Friday statement from BNP Paribas, banks including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Citi said that they had launched a project to explore the “issuance of a 1:1 reserve-backed form of digital money that provides a stable payment asset available on public blockchains” linked to currencies from the Group of Seven (G7) countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
“The objective of the initiative is to explore whether a new industry-wide offering could bring the benefits of digital assets and enhance competition across the market, while ensuring full compliance with regulatory requirements and best practice risk management,” said the banks.
The statement did not suggest a timeline for the project, which would likely face competition from Tether’s USDt (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization.
Among US banks, their efforts would likely be facilitated by the recent passage of the GENIUS Act, a bill to regulate payment stablecoins, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in July. Though already law, GENIUS is not expected to take effect for another 15 months, or 120 days after the US Treasury and Federal Reserve finalize regulations around the bill.
Kalshi raises $300 million to expand prediction markets to 140 countries
United States-based prediction marketplace Kalshi closed another major funding round to bring its platform to more than 100 countries worldwide.
Kalshi completed a Series D funding round of over $300 million led by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation by Paradigm, the company announced on Friday.
The platform is immediately available in over 140 countries, Kalshi said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph, adding that it has now emerged as the “world’s only unified global prediction market and instantly added billions of new potential customers.”
The latest $300 million raise came months after Kalshi closed a separate $185 million funding round in June, which was led by Paradigm and also featured Sequoia.
Kalshi’s Series D funding brought the company’s valuation to $5 billion, up $3 billion from its previous raise in June.
In addition to Sequoia, a16z and Paradigm, the new funding round attracted additional investors, including CapitalG, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst and Spark Capital.
On the heels of a fundraising round valuing Kalshi at $5 billion, the platform also announced its international expansion with an immediate launch in several new markets.
“International users can now access the platform via the Kalshi website with an identical product experience to American users,” the company said.
Backlash as Democrats propose “restricted list” for DeFi protocols
Despite previously supporting a crypto market structure bill, several Democratic Senators have reportedly introduced a counter-proposal that could see decentralized finance protocols placed on a “restricted list” if deemed too risky.
This move, among others they proposed, could “kill DeFi,” according to its critics.
The Senate Banking Committee Democrats sent a proposal to the committee’s Republicans on Thursday seeking to impose Know Your Customer rules on the frontends of crypto apps — including non-custodial wallets — and stripping protections from crypto developers, several industry commentators said on Thursday, citing a report from Punchbowl News.
Among those commentators was crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky, who said the counter-proposal could kill any chance of establishing a crypto market structure framework, noting that it could undermine the bipartisan support the CLARITY Act had already secured in the House in July, where it passed 294-134.
“It’s so bad. It doesn’t regulate crypto, it bans crypto,” Chervinsky said, pointing to a suggested measure permitting the Treasury Department to create a “restricted list” for DeFi protocols it considers are too risky, making it a crime for anyone who uses them.
Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger said the proposal, if implemented, would make it impossible for industry players to comply and push local innovators offshore.
