NFT Initiatives Launch Across Markets; US Banking Regulators Address Crypto; DOJ and

NFT Initiatives Launch in Ticket Sales, Social Media and College Football

According to a recent press release, a major ticket sales and distribution company announced that event organizers who sell tickets on its platform now can issue NFTs before, during and after live events. To date, the company has reportedly minted more than 5 million digital keepsakes on the Flow blockchain that can be activated to access additional engagement opportunities.

In a recent update to a May blog post, a major U.S. technology company announced that users of two of its social media platforms now can post NFTs by linking their digital wallets to their social media accounts. According to the blog post, “This will enable people to connect their digital wallets once to either app in order to share their digital collectibles across both.” The social media platforms support the posting and sharing of NFTs minted on the Flow blockchain or from wallets supporting Ethereum or Polygon.

In a final development, according to a press release, Fantastec SWAP, a technology firm focused on sports NFTs, recently launched limited-edition digital signature NFTs for two college football teams ahead of football season. Each athlete’s digital signature was reportedly recorded and authenticated on the Flow blockchain.

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US Banking Regulators Publish DeFi Analysis, Address Crypto in Speeches

By Joanna F. Wasick

Earlier this month, the U.S. central bank board published a paper that provides a broad overview of the DeFi ecosystem and analyzes the potential benefits and risks of DeFi adoption. The paper cautions that while DeFi “has not yet reached the point of becoming systemically important,” policymakers should assess DeFi’s impact on “financial stability” in the event DeFi increases in popularity and usage. That increase may occur, the paper finds, if cryptocurrency prices stabilize, if blockchain services gain greater interoperability with the existing payments and financial systems, or if crypto assets become a separate, parallel financial system that provides real economy services. The paper also examines how DApps, smart contracts, and other DeFi products and services operate in the DeFi ecosystem, and it emphasizes the need for greater regulatory oversight in the space overall. Following the paper’s publication, Michael Barr, the recently appointed vice chair of the U.S. central bank board, gave his first official speech, echoing some of the paper’s call for greater oversight in crypto. Specifically, Barr stated that greater transparency overall was needed and that banks engaged in crypto-related activities need to have appropriate measures in place to manage novel risks associated with those activities and to ensure compliance with all relevant laws, including those related to money laundering.

Earlier this week, Michael Hsu, acting chief of the Office of the…