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Regulators struggle to determine oversight approach and Crypto CEOs of course already lobbying on the side of less regulation.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said the agency is working with a number of other financial regulators to coordinate digital asset regulation. Regarding cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance, Hsu "said it is necessary for regulators to 'ensure that crypto/DeFi activities that take place within the banking system or are facilitated by banks are trustworthy.'" However, since most DeFi activity "takes place outside of the regulated banking system, it is unclear whether Hsu's remarks can be interpreted as reflecting OCC's aspiration to extend its purview over DeFi platforms."

Global regulators worry the rise in privately operated currencies could undermine their control of the financial and monetary systems, increase systemic risks, promote financial crime and hurt investors. In the United States, President Joe Biden's regulators have launched several efforts to rein in cryptocurrencies.

Here are 12 critical facts about TTHM as the city's fight to reduce it continues: 1. Trihalomethanes are actually a group of four chemicals that are formed along with other disinfection byproducts when chlorine reacts with organic materials such as leaves or dirt in water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2. TTHMs are odorless and colorless, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. That means the high levels of TTHM in Flint water last year are not related to problems such as discoloration and odor in tap water. 3. The four trihalomethane chemicals are chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane and bromoform. 4. U.S. EPA regulates TTHM at a maximum allowable, annual, average level of 80 parts per billion. The standard has been in place since December 2001 for large public surface water systems and since December 2003 for small surface water and all groundwater systems. 5. Four of eight testing sites in Flint averaged more than the acceptable limit of 80 parts per billion of TTHM last year. 6. Testing for TTHM is done on a quarterly basis, which means that people who use the system are exposed to water for several months before public notice is required. That's because TTHM is a chronic -- not immediate --health threat, according to the DEQ. 7. U.S. EPA estimates the 80 parts per billion standard prevents an estimated 280 cases of bladder cancer each year out of a total of more than 330 million people who use public water supplies nationwide. 8. Since it started using the Flint River as its water source, three quarterly tests have produced these TTHM results in the city: 15 samples have been above the TTHM threshold. Nine samples have tested at less than 80 parts per billion. 9. The most recent quarterly test showed just one site of eight that was above the 80 parts per billion threshold. And a voluntary test of the same sites in late January by the city were all within were all within the limits. 10. The testin

After a crackdown on Binance and other cryptocurrency firms, regulators are now turning attention to the world of decentralized finance. Decentralized finance, or "DeFi," lets users take part in traditional financial activities like lending but with no middle men involved. Regulators are concerned about DeFi services marketing themselves as decentralized when that may not be the case.

"Facebook has agreed to pay a 500,000 pound ($644,000) fine for breaches of data protection law related to the harvesting of data by consultancy Cambridge Analytica, Britain's information rights regulator said on Oct. 30."

"It is not possible to, I think, destroy crypto, but it is possible for governments to slow down its advancement," Musk said at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California. Another indication of Musk starting to need government to go his way. What is the US government becomes anti- Musk or NASA pulls out or is de-funded?

As crypto evolves into a mainstream consumer product, complaints to the CFPB about the sector have already exceeded 1,700 this year, compared with 982 all of last year and 488 in 2019. With the industry's growth have come calls for regulatory checks. Many in the regulatory community believe the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is gearing up to launch enforcement actions against cryptocurrency firms. But that could revive a debate about the limits of CFPB power.

The Treasury Department is moving to rein in a new class of cryptocurrencies whose popularity as a payment method is skyrocketing, citing a need to head off potential risks to consumers and to the financial system. So-called stablecoins - payment tokens that differ from other cryptocurrencies because their value is often pegged to the U.S. dollar - are drawing scrutiny because they have already been used in trillions of dollars' worth of lightning-fast transactions and could transform the way Americans pay for things. Treasury and other regulators want to ensure that they're reliable, even during financial panics.

Six crypto leaders appeared at a House Financial Services Committee hearing that "explored how the government should oversee and improve regulation of the industry." The "general sentiment of the hearing was positive towards the cryptocurrency industry, a dramatic shift from past years. This disposition surprised some, but it reflects an evolving view of the benefits of cryptocurrency technology and the fear that the US is falling behind other countries such as China that have made noticeable progress towards launching a sovereign digital currency." The piece notes that the Senate Banking "has a hearing on stablecoins next Tuesday and it will likely be more skeptical towards this emerging asset class." The witnesses include Alexis Goldstein, Director of Financial Policy, Open Markets Institute; and Professor Hilary J. Allen, American University Washington College of Law.

The Economist reports on the pipeline of former American regulatory officials becoming lobbyists or advisers to the cryptocurrency industry. Perhaps the most prominent is Jay Clayton, former head of the SEC, but others include Brian Brooks, who until January was the acting Comptroller of the Currency, and Chris Giancarlo, head of the CFTC between 2017 and 2019. In Britain, Philip Hammond, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, joined Copper, a crypto startup, in October. The Economist notes that, worldwide, "reams of regulations are now in play," and people who know the enforcement systems intimately are in high demand, and paid accordingly. The magazine adds, "The rewards for walking through the revolving doors are only going up.

After the departure of the last Acting Comptroller of the Currency, who was looking to aggressively coordinate regulators and crypto companies, US regulators appear to be at odds with crypto and distributed ledger approaches. In Russia, on the other hand, Sber is purportedly working with Russia's central bank to register its digital assets platform, "which would pave the way for the launch of the digital assets trading platform in Russia." If the US appears hostile to crypto and Russia appears accommodating, Russia may be in a much stronger position as a world financial player if crypto continues to emerge.

DRIVER-PUBLICNOTICE-TTHM-TREATMENT When a PWS exceeds the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for both Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) and Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) it must issue a public notice to inform the consumers of its water that the levels of Total Trihalomethanes and Haloacetic Acids detected in their water have exceeded the MCLs set by Federal Regulations. You can use this template as a guide to prepare that public notice

"I have seen one fool's gold rush from up close in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis. It feels like we may be on the cusp of another with cryptocurrencies (crypto) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The 2008 crisis holds lessons that can help industry and regulators chart a better path and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past."

"A landmark legal case is laying the groundwork for communities to sue parent companies for the damages of their subsidiaries... "The [supreme court] ruling, in my view, was a watershed moment in the accountability of multinational companies, and which would, in my view, most likely increase the ability of impoverished communities in Africa to hold powerful companies to account," said Charles Adeogun-Phillips, a former UNwar crimes prosecutor and international legal expert. "I also think that this will mark the beginning of a more regulated global environment in which subsidiary companies will be made responsible for human rights abuses, happening abroad.""

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has listed a bill for the upcoming Parliament session that reportedly seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies with certain exceptions in India and to create a centrally controlled cryptocurrency under the control of the national bank.

A report on stablecoins, now circulating among top officials, will kick off a Biden administration bid to bring federal oversight to digital assets