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"How long will regulators allow pseudonymous usage of stablecoins to continue? FATF regulations are supposed to be technology-neutral. So far FATF hasn't had much to say on stablecoins. But you can be sure that something is in the works, and it isn't likely to be good for stablecoin operators. The problem is that granting permissioned-pseudonymity to stablecoin operators contradict technology-neutrality. It sets one set of standards for bank accounts and another for stablecoins."

The IMF published a paper that considers stablecoin tax treatment and associated challenges, and the challenges of achieving neutrality. Without greater tax certainty and tax neutrality than what is currently available, stablecoins will not be able to properly fulfill their promise as an alternative means of payment. Gaps and mismatches in tax treatment between tax jurisdictions may create distortions and opportunities for abuse.

Neutral Dollar is a metastable basket of stablecoins. The result is a digital dollar designed to have lower volatility than individual stablecoins by combining fragmented pools of liquidity.

Neutral's stablecoin basket instrument has added a new layer or reliability and security to the space. By combining stablecoins together, represented by one overarching coin, Neutral reduces the overall risk exposure to one individual coin's volatility and can produce a more stable token that fluctuates more closely to the intended value.

To maintain its value, NUSD rebalances the basket's composition according to price fluctuations and allows on-chain swapping between stablecoins within its aggregated constituent basket.

"Binance could establish themselves as the preferred exchange, defaulting themselves into being the top exchange in the rankings, or use CMC as a funnel to obtain new users," said CoinMetric's Nic Carter. "While the move may cause some to question CMC's ability to remain a neutral data provider, it could potentially be very productive for Binance."

Citi's researchers believe bitcoin could evolve into an international trade currency, helping to simplify global trade. But a number of issues - including concerns over scalability and potential regulatory backlashes - stand in the way. The report, entitled "Bitcoin: At the Tipping Point", charts the evolution of bitcoin from a form of payment to its current status as a store of value. The authors forecast that bitcoin's core properties combined with its global reach and neutrality could see it morph into the "currency of choice" for international trade in around seven years.

"The Czech National Bank has always promoted its technological neutrality. It cannot therefore force the population to innovate that is not driven by societal demand. However, Covid-19 showed us how quickly the population can change their habits. Crises are generally a catalyst, an accelerator of development that would otherwise take many years. Although we are at the beginning in this area, it is possible that digital cash will in some form be part of the future of the Czech koruna as well."

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report on RegTech in the EU financial sector. The report assesses the overall benefits and challenges faced by financial institutions and RegTech providers in the use of RegTech. It also identifies potential risks arising from RegTech solutions that supervisors will need to address and proposes actions designed to enhance knowledge and skills in competent authorities. These actions also aim to ensure technological neutrality in regulatory and supervisory approaches to RegTech, whilst addressing any inadvertent obstacles within the Single Market to facilitate the adoption of RegTech across the EU.

This European Central Bank (ECB) paper summarises the outcome of an analysis of stablecoins undertaken by the ECB Crypto-Assets Task Force. At the time of writing, the stablecoin debate lacks a common taxonomy and unambiguous terminology. This paper applies a definition that distinguishes stablecoins from existing forms of currencies - regardless of the technology used - and characterises stablecoin arrangements based on the functions they fulfil. This approach emphasises the role of technology-neutral regulation in preventing arbitrage, as well as comprehensive Eurosystem oversight, irrespective of stablecoins' regulatory status. Against this background, this paper assesses stablecoins' implications for the euro area based on three scenarios for the uptake of stablecoins.

Prediction markets are a subject that has interested me for many years. The idea of allowing anyone in the public to make bets about future events, and using the odds at which these bets are made as a credibly neutral source of predicted probabilities of these events, is a fascinating application of mechanism design. Closely related ideas, like futarchy, have always interested me as innovative tools that could improve governance and decision-making. And as Augur and Omen, and more recently PolyMarket, have shown, prediction markets are a fascinating application of blockchains (in all three cases, Ethereum) as well.

The U.S. Fed announced the core features of its new FedNow end-to-end 24/7 fast payments service, set to go live in 2023 or 2024. It is seen as "a catalyst for innovation in the market by providing a neutral platform on which the private sector can build to offer safe, efficient instant payment services to users across the country." It will operate alongside the private-sector Clearing House RTP instant payment service.

The InterWork Alliance (IWA) launched operations as a platform-neutral, non-profit organization dedicated to creating the standards frameworks needed to increase innovation across token-enabled ecosystems. The new organization already has 36 members, including tech firms such as Accenture, IBM, and Microsoft; banking and exchange firms ING, Nasdaq, SDX, and UBS; and, blockchain companies Digital Asset, Neo Global Development, Hedera Hashgraph and R3.

This IMF paper reviews how central banks have been reacting to the challenges posed by fintech to the legal foundations of their governance. It finds that fintech calls for reconsidering the adequacy of the legal formulation of currency issuance and payment systems functions and powers. Fintech may impact the functional autonomy for some key central bank functions. For example, the role claimed by governments in designing CBDC will be an important issue to consider; the legal framework will need to carefully delineate the respective roles and responsibilities between the government and the central bank. The authors suggest that central bank law reform must be sufficiently broad to achieve appropriate levels of "agility" to provide a "future-proof " legal framework. For instance, legislation (and by extension the legal framework to which the central bank is subject) should to the maximum extent possible be technology-neutral.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said that while the SEC remains neutral on the innovative technology involved in Bitcoin and DeFi, he is concerned about the risks that the sector poses to investors. He argues that some decentralized platforms "actually have a lot of centralization" and that crypto projects should register their products with the regulatory agency. "This field is not going to reach any of its potential if it tries to stay outside of our laws."

"Open and harmonised APIs have allowed network-neutral and cross-technology platforms to carry out financial data exchange while tackling system sustainability issues by providing them a single, standardised set of APIs rather than customised APIs. Through open and harmonised APIs, improved and expanded financial services can be offered to the public. These financial services could enable a higher level of financial inclusion globally, thus reducing the digital access gap within and between countries."

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its global regulatory framework for crypto-asset activities and markets, and "global stablecoin" arrangements, to promote the comprehensiveness and international consistency of regulatory and supervisory approaches. They build on the principles - 'same activity, same risk, same regulation'; high-level and flexible; and technology neutral. The recommendations focus on addressing risks to financial stability and do not comprehensively cover all specific risk categories related to crypto-asset activities.

SUERF published a paper that suggests that central banks and policymakers start with trigger solutions when considering wCBDC. Trigger solutions connect the distributed ledger technology (DLT) world with conventional settlement systems and enable the settlement of tokenised assets in central bank money. By connecting DLT networks with conventional payment systems, they combine the advantages of decentralised infrastructures with the reliability of the central bank. No new form of (tokenised) money needs to be introduced. The trigger solution can play a neutral role and is agnostic across three dimensions: use cases, payment systems and asset systems. Furthermore, trigger solutions are characterised by comparatively low technical and operational complexity, and are a convenient way to test the case for wCBDC and observe market adaptation.

"We study how the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) interacts with ongoing monetary policies. We distinguish two policies: standard policy, where the central bank holds treasuries, and quantitative easing, where the central bank holds risky securities. We introduce an interest-bearing CBDC in each scenario and study the equilibrium allocations. We reach three main conclusions. First, the equilibrium impact of a CBDC depends on the ongoing monetary policy. Second, when the central bank conducts quantitative easing, the introduction of a CBDC is neutral under two conditions: the cost of issuing a CBDC is equal to the interest on reserves, and the demand for CBDC deposits is smaller than the amount of excess reserves in the system. Third, the introduction of a CBDC might render quantitative easing a quasi-permanent policy, as commercial banks optimally use their excess reserves to accommodate retailers' demand for switching from bank to CBDC deposits."

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) published an English version of its Liaison and Coordination Committee on Central Bank Digital Currency interim report. While the BOJ "currently has no plan to issue CBDC, the BOJ considers it important to prepare thoroughly to respond to changes in circumstances in an appropriate manner".  The report noted the strong preference for cash and high ratio of bank account holding in Japan, as reasons for cautiousness. However, as privately-issued digital currencies proliferate, a CBDC might be called for to provide broadly secure and neutral payment instruments to avoid fragmentation and monopolization of payment services, and to enable private businesses to utilize these as a source for creating new services.