Speaking to Cointelegraph on March 1, Federa said the New York Department of Financial Services — NYDFS, one of the state regulators responsible for licensing crypto firms — was essentially setting up roadblocks for many projects looking to issue stablecoins or similar blockchain services. He added that Solana had heard from projects facing “pretty draconian” rules in the European Union related to liability around illicit transactions.

“DFS has not certified Solana yet,” said Federa. “We're trying to get it under way, but I think that what we've seen is a lack of appetite from DFS anywhere. If a new entrant — let’s say, a large financial services web2 company — feels like they want to start issuing a stablecoin, they feel like they need DFS approval in order to do something like that.”