The Oliver Wyman Forum, which brings together business, public policy, and social enterprise leaders to create solutions to the world’s toughest problems, and one of its focus areas is the “Future of Money”. Within this focus area, the topic of decentralized finance (DeFi) is a common subject. Its latest post discusses DeFi news from the following angles:
- Policy
- Market Developments
- Legal
The developments highlighted here align with Celent research that found interest from the institutional end of the markets remains strong. The Forum post shows regulatory activity is focused on increasing investor protections while leaving room for innovation by regulated financial institutions and market infrastructures.
As the Forum and Celent research highlights, regulated financial institutions representing traditional finance (TradFi) are continuing to enter the market. Traditional players entering the digital asset servicing and custody space include BNY Mellon, Nasdaq and State Street and as the Forum notes, in the latest cases, others are entering offering blockchain-based solutions for issuance and settlement of digital bonds. To learn more, Celent subscribers can access profiles of key global custodians’ digital asset servicing capabilities in our recent report titled, “Blurred Lines: TradFi Meets DeFi”.
On the policy front the Oliver Wyman Forum provides insight around the following headlines:
- US plans to tighten rules to control DeFI risks.
- French central banker makes case for DeFI innovation.
- IMF says failures underscore need for digital asset regulation.
- UK plans new effort to fight crypto crime.
The market developments discussed include:
- Bitcoin and Ether leads crypto’s first-quarter rebound.
- European banks to develop digital bond platform.
- Brussel’s-based settlement house Euroclear is aiming to launch a platform for trading digital securities with DLT as soon as this year.
- Disney scales back on the Metaverse but not marketers.
Developments flagged on the legal beat include:
- A new report details management failures behind FTX Collapse.
- US prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of paying a $40 million bribe to Chinese government officials.
- Crypto platform Beaxy closes after a US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit containing a range of charges, the first such action the SEC had taken against a digital currency platform.
More details and links to original source documents can be found on the Oliver Wyman Forum here along with thinking on other initiatives including Climate and Sustainability, Global Consumer Sentiment, Markets and Mobility.
