SEC issues crypto guidance, safety regulators investigate airbags, Yellen and Malerba sign banknotes

Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman explains Friday's leading headlines as the SEC issued new guidance on crypto risk disclosure, safety regulators look into Arc airbags, and Treasury officials become the first women to have their signatures appear on U.S. banknotes.

Video transcript

- Let's get down to business now with some other headlines that we are watching. In response to FTX's collapse, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued new guidance yesterday. It's now advising companies to disclose their involvement with digital commodities firms as well as any risks for material exposure related to crypto assets. They're expected to release that in their public filings. And this comes after SEC Chair Gary Gensler defended the agency from accusations that it failed to prevent crypto businesses from misusing customer funds. He said the SEC would take more enforcement actions if businesses fail to comply within existing rules.

Federal safety regulators are digging into potentially explosive air bag inflators estimated to be in millions of cars made between 2002 and 2017 after a string of recall campaigns and accidents. In a letter this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was seeking information on inflators made by Knoxville, Tennessee-based company ARC Automotive. The letter marks the latest step into the over seven year investigation. ARC's components have exploded at least six times in vehicles driving in the US, leaving two dead and four injured according to NHTSA documents.

And then, finally, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the first woman to head the Treasury and chair of the US Federal Reserve, was joined in Fort Worth yesterday by US Treasury chief Lynn Malerba, the first Native American in that role to see $1 and $5 bills being printed with their signatures at the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing. When asked how she felt, a beaming Yellen told reporters she was excited, honored, and thrilled. Malerba said, oh my gosh, here we are. Those notes will be delivered to the Federal Reserve this month and will go into circulation next year. Pretty cool, Sozz.

- Pretty cool, indeed.