Today on the Brief:

• NFT volume cools down but interest remains strong
• Mastercard is acquiring CipherTrace
• European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve begin preparing for asset purchase tapers this autumn 

Our main discussion is about the flow of regulators from the U.S. government into the crypto industry. NLW looks in particular at Brian Quintenz, who is joining Andreessen Horowitz, and Chris Giancarlo, the former CFTC chair whose new book is “CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money.” 

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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Only in Time” by Abloom. Image credit: Toya Sarno Jordan/Bloomberg/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.