Speech by Vice Chair Lael Brainard at Bank of England Conference, London, United Kingdom on July 08, 2022 | Recent volatility has exposed serious vulnerabilities in the crypto financial system.1 While touted as a fundamental break from traditional finance, the crypto financial system turns out to be susceptible to the same risks that are all too familiar from traditional finance, such as leverage, settlement, opacity, and maturity and liquidity transformation. As we work to future-proof our financial stability agenda, it...

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights the crisis and opportunity of the energy transition It is hard to look at a crisis like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and see a moment of opportunity. We—to say nothing of Ukrainians—are still very much in a crisis, and a compounding one at that, with potential long-lasting economic and political consequences. It is similarly clear that talk of “opportunity” cuts both ways. Vested interests are often the ones that benefit the most from swift political action,...

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The European Commission welcomes the decision by Canada to return a natural gas pipeline turbine to Germany after its repair, for use in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. With the return of this part, one of the excuses being used by Russia for reduced gas flows has been removed. The Commission has been in close contact with both Germany and Canada on this issue, and with Siemens, to ensure that we were well informed of the situation. The Commission continues...

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Among the most sensitive categories of data collected by connected devices are a person’s precise location and information about their health. Smartphones, connected cars, wearable fitness trackers, “smart home” products, and even the browser you’re reading this on are capable of directly observing or deriving sensitive information about users. Standing alone, these data points may pose an incalculable risk to personal privacy. Now consider the unprecedented intrusion when these connected devices and technology companies collect that data combine it,...

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Crypto-assets and markets must be subject to effective regulation and oversight commensurate to the risks they pose, both at the domestic and international level. In February 2022, the FSB published a risk assessment on crypto-assets, which outlined its concerns over the rapid growth in crypto-assets. The recent turmoil in crypto-asset markets highlights their intrinsic volatility, structural vulnerabilities and increasing interconnectedness with the traditional financial system. In addition to imposing potentially large losses on investors and threatening market confidence arising from...

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