Federal Governor Assures Banks That DeFi Is Nothing to Fear

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller has stated that decentralised finance, or DeFi, is not something to be feared. In a speech at a blockchain symposium, he expressed DeFi technologies as similar to smart contracts, tokenisation, and digital ledgers as new means of processing payments and records, not a threat to the financial system. He called on policymakers and banks to collaborate in developing payment systems that will be able to harness these technologies well.

Waller illustrated his perspective using a straightforward analogy. Paying for a digital token with a stablecoin, he explained, does not differ in principle from drawing against a debit card to buy apples at the supermarket. Both are transactions that involve only different technologies.

He cited the just-signed GENIUS Act as a significant milestone. The law sets guidelines for stablecoins, hoping to enable them to realise their full potential. To him, they can contribute substantively to nations with inflation problems or without access to US dollars while enhancing domestic transactions and cross-border payments.

Waller's remarks are made as the Fed has softened its previous tough line on crypto. It has retreated from guidance discouraging banks from dealing with digital assets and shut down a program overseeing crypto-related risks. His increased position of policy-making has also precipitated speculation that he might replace Jerome Powell as Fed Chair when the term of Powell ends in 2026. Such an act must be renominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate.

Kanye West's YZY Memecoin Rises Quickly Then Drops on Insider Fears

Kanye West, or Ye as he is now commonly referred to, introduced a new memecoin named YZY on the Solana network. The price of the token skyrocketed upon release, reaching almost $3 billion within a span of 40 minutes. But not long after, insider holdings and sell-off issues led to the price severely declining.

On his socials, Ye shared the address of the contract and website of "Yeezy Money," calling it a product of a digital economy based on blockchain. The website indicates YZY is used for transactions in that system but also cautions users that they should be ready to lose all their investment.

According to Cointelegraph, experts identified a number of dangers. Stories revealed that the liquidity pool held just YZY tokens, so developers could control liquidity and offload at will. One review revealed that insiders held 94 per cent of the supply prior to redistribution, with one wallet carrying 87 per cent.

Some of the early buyers lost money. One user accidentally purchased an incorrect token and lost $710,000 before recovering the funds. Others ended up with large profits. A buyer who invested with high-priority fees earned around $3.4 million, while some early holders temporarily experienced profits of around $6 million.

Even with these warnings, big traders stepped in anyway. One investor described it as a short-term play that could double or quadruple, and even a co-founder of a leading exchange bought in.

DBS Introduces Tokenised Structured Notes on Ethereum to Enhance Investor Access

Singapore's largest bank, DBS, has launched tokenised structured notes on the Ethereum blockchain. These are sophisticated financial products meant to mirror assets such as cryptocurrencies but have previously had a minimum of $100,000 investment and were customised for individual customers. By tokenising them in $1,000 units, DBS makes these products more versatile, tradable, and easier to manage in portfolios.

These new notes are only offered to accredited and institutional investors through channels like ADDX, DigiFT, and HydraX. The structured notes linked to crypto provide cash payments when prices of digital assets rise and come with protections to cap losses if prices decline. 

DBS customers conducted more than $1 billion worth of transactions in crypto-linked structured notes during the first six months of 2025, with volumes increasing nearly 60 per cent between Q1 and Q2. The effort also underpins Singapore's increasing leadership in tokenised finance and aligns with initiatives such as Project Guardian to mass-market token-based financial products on public blockchains such as Ethereum. DBS aims to expand tokenisation from crypto-linked notes to equity-linked and credit-linked variants in the future.