It turns out that crypto is not an independent parallel financial system after all and is closely tethered to the traditional financial system and its recent meltdown will see policy-makers double down on regulating the sector. By Justin Pugsley

Celsius blow-up highlights areas for improving crypto lending platforms
The volatile performance of cryptocurrencies has made significant headlines over the past year. This is hardly surprising given that bitcoin, easily the best-known crypto, has fallen by 70% in value since reaching its peak last November.

Policy-makers ponder tackling systemic debt vulnerabilities
Private sector debt ratcheted up during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now regulators want to figure out how this will hit countries facing a post-pandemic recession – and what policy-makers can do to ease the pain.

Onus on ESG funds to clean up act or face regulatory enforcements
Amid fears that a wave of greenwashing scandals could break, global regulators have launched a multi-layered strategy to combat mis-selling, spearheaded by dramatic enforcement actions that may yet target individuals.

IOSCO seeks to guide securities regulators on market data fees row
Traders in secondary markets argue they are getting short-changed on data – and global standard setter IOSCO agrees and is urging securities regulators to tackle the problem.

UMR threatens to bar smaller financial firms from OTC derivatives markets
Smaller financial firms could be frozen-out of parts of the over-the-counter derivatives market if they do not quickly implement the systems required under uncleared margin rules.

Gensler’s game-changing equity markets revamp faces tall hurdles
US equities markets face the biggest shake-up in decades if SEC chair Gary Gensler gets his way, but it will be a journey strewn with legal obstacles that could ultimately sink the whole project.
Stabilised Swiss unit of Sberbank allowed to repay non-sanctioned creditors
The Swiss subsidiary of Sberbank was allowed to settle claims with non-sanctioned creditors by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which said the Russian-owned bank had improved its financial stability.

EU brings crypto into regulatory perimeter
Crypto-assets, their issuers and crypto-asset service providers (CASP) have been pulled into an EU-wide regulatory framework for the first time following a provisional agreement between the European Council and the European Parliament announced on June 30.
Basel Committee gives ground on hedging crypto and introduces a risk add-on
A second consultation on crypto assets was launched on June 30 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), which introduces new features such as a risk-add-on, but also gives more recognition to hedging.