Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is circulating a letter among her Senate colleagues that would withdraw legal guidance for banks holding and trading cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg News reported Aug. 4. The letter reportedly calls the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to work with the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)…
The European Central Bank’s (ECB) latest study regarding an ideal cross-border payment system claims central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are superior to Bitcoin, stablecoins, and other traditional banking means including SWIFT. ECB is not a fan of Bitcoin for international transfers Titled “Towards The Holy Grail of Cross-border Payments,” the paper seeks to help the…
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has concluded that it is not technically feasible for the government to release a central bank digital currency (CBDC) at the moment. Cash rules everything around Japan Like many other central banks, the Bank of Japan started flirting with the idea of a Yen-backed CBDC in 2021, and the project’s…
Earlier in March, the company announced the launch of token-backed loans for Argentinian farmers. The deal was facilitated in conjunction with the S.American agri-commodities tokenization platform Agrotoken. The bank also launched an initiative designed to help foster the growth of startups associated with the global blockchain ecosystem called “Santander X Global Challenge — Blockchain and Beyond.”…
Nigerian banks are reluctant to promote Nigeria’s low-cost central bank digital currency, e-Naira, due to concerns of losing revenue. E-Naira offers a commission-free alternative to traditional money transfers. However, only 700,000 users have created an e-Naira wallet since the currency launched in October 2021. This number is incredibly low, given that Nigeria has nearly 55…
Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) CEO Eddie Yue recently said that cryptocurrencies are likely to play a central role in the financial systems in the future, despite the recent problems in the sector. Yue spoke during the G20 meetings on July 17 and said that he didn’t think crypto and DeFi would disappear, even after…
Three executives of JPMorgan, Eric Wragge, Samir Shah, and Puja Samuel, left the financial giant last week for jobs in the crypto industry. JP Morgan, the most powerful bank in the world, the bank that influences governments around the world, lost three Executives to the crypto industry this week. Why would they leave? Because crypto…
Social media footage shows crowds of angry people in Zhengzhou, the largest city in Henan province, protesting the freezing of accounts by some rural banks. Local media reported that the deposits held by affected banks could be worth up to $1.5 billion. Some observers point out that self-custody of assets takes away control from banks….
Financial infrastructure provider Banking Circle said July 8 that it has started offering payment acceptance, process, and settlement in USDC. Banking Circle’s Head of Virtual Asset Services Mishal Ruparel said it would be critical for banks to have the ability to process certain crypto assets as casually as they do fiat currencies. That’s why Banking…
The consultation paper proposes dividing crypto assets into Groups 1 and 2. Group 1 consists of tokenized traditional assets such as stocks issued on the blockchain and stablecoins that meet classification requirements. The classification requirements include passing a redemption risk and basis risk tests. The redemption risk test ensures that the stablecoins are redeemable at…