Jelena McWilliams, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), has hinted at allowing banks to hold Bitcoin (BTC) among other virtual currencies.
While speaking to Reuters, she said that the entrance of conventional financial institutions in the cryptocurrency space will be done “while appropriately managing and mitigating risk.”
The FDIC’s chair comments come at a time when financial regulators in the United States are preparing to jointly release a framework to guide US banks interested in cryptocurrency.
McWilliams noted that her goal at the multiagency “group is to basically provide a path for banks to be able to act as a” cryptocurrency custodian. The group consists of staff from the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
She’s also keen on enabling traditional financial institutions to accept virtual currencies “as some form of collateral” or include them on their balance sheets as conventional assets.
From “Safe-deposit Boxes to Virtual Vaults”
According to McWilliams, the main aim of bringing such functionalities “inside the banks” is to avoid their development in spaces that would be difficult to regulate.
The FDIC executive observed that the main issue with holding Bitcoin and other cryptos on a balance sheet is the assets’ valuation and price volatility.
The coming together of the top-three bank regulators in the US comes over a year after the OCC said that financial institutions need to shift from “safe-deposit boxes to virtual vaults,” alluding to cryptocurrency custody.
Last year, the OCC said that banks have to evolve to meet their customers’ “financial services needs.” However, the green light for banks to hold crypto on behalf of their customers was dimmed when the OCC welcomed a new boss, Michael Hsu, in April.
According to Hsu, the previous “initiatives” allowing banks to hold crypto failed to involve “full coordination with all stakeholders.”
As the multiagency team works to allow banks to hold Bitcoin, an NFL (National Football League) player has given a fan 1 BTC for not hesitating to hand over the ball. The player had mistakenly passed the ball to a fan dressed as a fellow player.
One Bitcoin Isn’t Enough, The Ball Has More Value
Tom Brady, the Buccaneers quarterback and a seven-time Super Bowl champion, performed his 600th touchdown throw, which ended in the hands of a fan, Byron Kennedy, who was dressed like Brady’s teammate. The Buccaneers were playing with Chicago Bears.
While Kennedy had agreed to hand over the ball for an in-person meeting with the Super Bowl champion, Brady disclosed that he had given the fan one Bitcoin worth approximately $59K at the time of writing. The quarterback revealed he had to negotiate “to get the ball back.”
According to Goldin Auctions’ founder, Ken Goldin, the fan could have sold the ball “easily [for] $500,000.” He added, “it could [also] easily go for $900,000. […] This is one of a kind.”
Apart from 1 BTC, reports indicate that the lucky fan will receive signed team jerseys, a helmet, season tickets to games up to the end of next year, among other goodies.
However, social media users were divided on whether Kennedy received enough compensations. For example, a Twitter user noted that they would have demanded for a lifetime of “season tickets.”
While replying to Rick Stroud’s tweet, Kalvin McClain noted that he “would have kept the ball and went to court” if he were the fan.
FTX Exchange Purchase Ad Space On Super Bowl LVI
“If you are that fan, don’t you run out of the stadium as soon as you are (mistakenly) handed that ball? No chance. I’m just handing it back to the NFL,” @SomrakBrad wrote.
Brady is among professional athletes actively investing in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. For instance, he owns Autograph, an NFT (non-fungible token) platform. Also, he has an equity stake in FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange.
In other news, FTX bought an ad spot on NFL’s championship game scheduled for February next year.
Bloomberg reported that FTX was targeting a wider audience with the ad space on Super Bowl LVI. According to the exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, “there is no bigger, more mainstream event to share a message like that than the Super Bowl.” A past event attracted more than 90 million viewers.
How much FTX paid for the ad space is yet to be disclosed. However, it may run into millions of dollars going by available statistics. For example, a 30-second ad space in this year’s event went for $5,500,000.