[News Brief] May 14, morning | U.S. Senate Confirms Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair, Raising Expectations for Crypto Policy Impact

Watcher.Guru reported that the U.S. Senate has officially confirmed Kevin Warsh, widely regarded as crypto-friendly, as Federal Reserve Chair succeeding Jerome Powell.

The Fed chair is a key position responsible for setting benchmark interest rates and monetary policy. Markets are closely watching how this appointment may affect crypto policy and liquidity expectations.

Source: Watcher.Guru

Odaily reported that the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will review the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill, at 11:30 PM KST on the 14th.

If it passes the committee stage, the bill will move on to a full Senate vote. The latest amendment includes provisions aimed at providing clearer legal protections and a better development environment for DeFi protocol developers in the United States.

Bipartisan negotiations in the U.S. Senate over the CLARITY Act failed to reach an agreement due to disagreements surrounding the BRCA provision. Some Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns over ethics and conflict-of-interest provisions related to the president’s family, as well as protections for non-custodial software developers.

According to Odaily, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett cited sources saying that a small group of senators from both parties discussed the CLARITY Act the previous night but failed to reach a final agreement.

Senator Cynthia Lummis said there was agreement on 99% of the bill and expressed hope that Democrats would continue resolving the remaining issues after the committee review. She warned that lawmakers would have difficulty avoiding responsibility if another FTX-like collapse were to occur.

Reports said Democratic Senators Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego had been seeking a compromise on ethics standards and conflict-of-interest provisions involving the president’s family before the committee review.

Some Democratic lawmakers also voiced concerns about the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) provision. The clause would prohibit the prosecution of non-custodial software developers under money transmission laws.

A source said both sides had made substantial progress on ethics and conflict-of-interest issues, but negotiations broke down over disagreements on amendments related to the BRCA.

Watcher.Guru reported that the United States and China have begun trade talks in Beijing.

Trade tensions between the two countries have been a major variable affecting global financial markets and investor sentiment toward risk assets.

Odaily reported that U.S. financial services firm Charles Schwab has begun rolling out its ‘Schwab Crypto’ service in phases for eligible U.S. individual clients.

The service supports direct trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Users can view and manage their crypto assets through their existing Schwab accounts.

Custody is handled by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, while Paxos provides sub-custody and trade execution services.

The trading fee is 0.75% of the transaction amount. External wallet deposits and withdrawals are not currently supported, and residents of New York and Louisiana are not eligible to use the service.

Charles Schwab oversees approximately $12 trillion in client assets. Its clients are said to hold about 20% of U.S. spot crypto ETF assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $79,000, declining 1.67% in a day.

PANews, citing OKX market data, reported that Bitcoin was trading at $78,986.10.

TAC, a TON network expansion project, said that the TON side of its cross-chain layer was hit by an external attack, resulting in losses of about $2.8 million.

The attack affected USDT, BLUM, and tsTON tokens. However, TAC said the TAC token, TON, and ERC-20 tokens bridged from Ethereum were not impacted.

The cross-chain bridge has currently been suspended. TAC said it will release a detailed incident analysis within 48 hours and plans to work with law enforcement to trace the stolen funds.

TAC added that it will sell foundation-held TAC tokens through lawful means to fully compensate users and restore bridge liquidity.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Michael Saylor’s Strategy is estimated to have purchased more than 4,708 BTC today through STRC.

This amounts to more than 10.5 times the daily newly mined BTC supply. Strategy, which has long held Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset, is often seen as a major source of demand support when it announces large purchases.

According to @pete_rizzo, Morgan Stanley said Bitcoin and crypto are now a firmwide priority.

The post said this initiative covers Morgan Stanley’s 18 million clients and 16,000 financial advisers. The remark comes as the market focuses on whether major financial institutions will expand crypto advisory and product offerings.

The Bank of England is expected to begin accepting applications for systemic stablecoin issuance by the end of the year.

According to PANews, Bank of England official Sasha Mills said the central bank views stablecoins as a new form of money and will not prioritize either tokenized deposits or stablecoins over the other.

Systemic stablecoins are subject to central bank regulation because they could be widely used for payments and affect financial stability. Matthew Long, the Financial Conduct Authority’s head of payments and digital assets, said there is room for pound-denominated stablecoins to play a role.

Mills noted that most stablecoins globally are denominated in U.S. dollars and said the U.K. is preparing its own framework in line with related legislative developments in the United States.