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In late July, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) issued a request for comment on the current uses of digital assets and their potential impact on the financial system. The NCUA plans to use this input to help shape its role in safeguarding consumers and the system as these emerging technologies evolve.

The request largely mirrors previous outreach by bank regulators, although the NCUA expanded its scope to include the rapidly growing field of decentralized finance (DeFi). Unfortunately, the credit union response has been muted, so the NCUA extended its deadline for comments to October 27. SRM encourages credit unions to make their voices heard on this strategically important issue.

SRM responded to the NCUA, which you can read here. Our NCUA letter serves as a solid primer on the cryptocurrency topic and includes several examples of existing banking initiatives, the highlights of which we’ll summarize below.