US regulators are rushing to get a handle on crypto: From “bank-like” institutions that hold and lend digital currency deposits, to the murkier world of decentralized finance — known as DeFi — where anonymous traders buy and sell on automated markets, the New York Times reports that US lawmakers have been confounded by the rapid rise in cryptocurrency financial services. The years-long process of building a regulatory framework is glacial compared to the pace of technological innovations in the field and consumers’ readiness to buy in.

Even crypto execs didn’t predict the explosion in the market: “At every juncture, the speed at which decentralized finance has just, like, started to work, has caught myself and everybody off guard,” said the founder of DeFi platform Compound — who is now worth tens of mns of USD on paper after starting the company three years ago. But while few can say how long integrating crypto into the formal banking system might take, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has joined other central banks globally in suggesting a shortcut: “You wouldn’t need stablecoins, you wouldn’t need cryptocurrencies if you had a digital US currency,” he said in July. “I think that’s one of the stronger arguments in its favor.”

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.3% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 1.7 bn (11.6% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net sellers. The index is up 2% YTD.

In the green: Fawry (+4.4%), Oriental Weavers (+2.5%) and T M G Holding (+1.2%).

In the red: Speed Medical (-13.5%), Egyptian for Tourism Resorts (-4.9%) and Raya (-4.9%).

Futures suggest traders are feeling optimistic about life after the Labor Day long weekend in the United States and Canada: Wall Street and Bay Street are both on track to open in the green later today. The outlook for European shares is mixed, and Asian markets are largely in the green as we head toward dispatch time this morning.