PayThink

The government should allow and encourage financial institutions to deploy advanced technologies to protect customers from fraud enabled by agentic AI, instead of punishing them for innovating in response to new threats.

The creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve creates a tempting target for bad actors, and raises the stakes for everyone in the areas of anti-money laundering, cybersecurity, market-volatility and sanctions-screening.

The STATES 2.0 Act, currently pending in Congress, would go a long way toward giving banks confidence that they can provide services to legal cannabis businesses without putting themselves in legal jeopardy.

The probability of a trade war-induced recession is unclear and fluctuates almost daily. However, the possibility is real enough that banks have a responsibility to prepare for a serious economic downturn on par with the 2008 financial crisis.

The GENIUS Act, in its current form, fails to account for the substantial risk of stablecoin runs and blocks regulators from imposing necessary oversight. It also lacks measures to prevent their use in illicit transactions.

A new stablecoin bill threatens to balloon federal borrowing and increase the deficit, while a change to bank capital rules would vest the Treasury with power that should rest with the Federal Reserve.

As banking customers' expectations for digital experiences rise and fintech competition grows, the cloud has become essential to staying relevant.

Until a regulatory perimeter is established, banks should tread carefully — and so should everyone else.

If you are still thinking of blockchains as slow, clunky and expensive, do not feel badly. As is the story of many emerging technologies, they evolve quickly.