The U.S. agency that had once been the great hope of the cryptocurrency world is now issuing strong warnings to the industry that it's in danger of echoing the toxic culture before the 2008 financial crisis.

Michael Hsu, the acting chief of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), argued Tuesday that cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) may be evolving into threats to the financial system in much the same way certain derivatives brought it near collapse more than a decade ago. Notorious credit default swaps (CDSs) were engineered by math wizards in much the same way that crypto has emerged, he said.

"Crypto/DeFi today is on a path that looks similar to CDS in the early 2000s," Hsu told the Blockchain Association in a webcast. "Fortunately, this group has the power to change paths and avoid a crisis."