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CRYPTO ATM & PAYMENTSHow Ripple is Shaping The Cross-Border Transactions in Banking; The Crypto Times
In today’s interconnected world, cross-border payments play a pivotal role in global trade and commerce. However, traditional methods of transferring money across borders can often be slow, expensive, and error-prone. Ripple, a blockchain-based payment protocol, is emerging as a promising solution. It’s garnering attention in the banking industry for its potential to revolutionize cross-border transactions. (Read More) Walmart Has Quietly Begun Hosting Bitcoin ATMs; CoinDesk The retail giant is offering bitcoin through 200 of its Coinstar kiosks in a tie-up with crypto ATM firm Coinme. We made sure it’s real. (Read More) Visa’s Blockchain Based Innovations Can Take Small Businesses to the Next Level; Press Release Visa (NYSE: V), a world leader in digital payments, was one of nine finalists tasked with exploring innovative blockchain-based use cases for the Real Digital (Brazil’s central bank-issued digital currency, or CBDC) as part of the most recent LIFT Challenge. The company partnered with Agrotoken, Microsoft, and Sinqia to develop its submission. (Read More) Onchainpay.io: Pioneering the Future of Recurring Crypto Payments; Press Release
Onchainpay.io is leading the way in the future of recurring crypto payments with its innovative and secure payment solution. Recurring cryptocurrency payments are an essential aspect of managing ongoing expenses such as memberships, subscriptions, and services, and Onchainpay.io offers a reliable way for both consumers and businesses to process them. (Read More) Leading Financial Services Providers Sardine and Fortress Trust Announce Their Partnership to Power the Next Wave of Global Blockchain-based Payments and On/Off-Ramps; Press Release Sardine AI and Fortress Trust, two leaders in the financial services industry, have joined forces to enhance the safety and security of blockchain-based payments (“ePayments”) worldwide. The partnership will bring together the unique strengths of each company to provide safer, faster, and compliant ePayments for their clients. (Read More) What would happen if paper money became obsolete? Marketplace This is just one of the stories from our “I’ve Always Wondered” series, where we tackle all of your questions about the world of business, no matter how big or small. Ever wondered if recycling is worth it? Or how store brands stack up against name brands? Check out more from the series here. (Read More) Bitcoin ATMs Hacked, Millions in Crypto Stolen as Threat Actors Exploit an Upload Vulnerability; CPO Magazine
A vulnerability in the interface that General Bytes bitcoin ATMs use to upload videos was found and exploited by thieves, leading to the theft of at least $1.5 million in crypto from user accounts. (Read More) Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency ATMs Market 2023 | Future Exploration by 2030; Market Watch itcoin and Cryptocurrency ATMs Market Research 2023 provides key analysis on market growth strategies, recent and future developments, and industry trends, latest opportunity and challenges by top regions. It also covers current and future market scenario, investment strategies of top players- General Bytes, Lamassu, Global Funds Transfer, Genesis Coin, BitAccess, Coinsource | 124 Pages Latest Report. (Read More) Bitcoin cash machines ordered to shut down in UK; BBC All UK crypto-currency cash machines (ATMs) are operating illegally and must be shut down, the Financial Conduct Authority has announced. Crypto-ATMs look like regular cash machines and let people buy crypto-currency, such as Bitcoin, using their bank cards. But no company offering crypto-currency services in the UK has a licence to operate a crypto-ATM. The FCA said all such machines must be shut down or it will take action. (Read More) Visa, Mastercard pause crypto push in wake of industry meltdown - sources; REUTERS
U.S. payment giants Visa (V.N) and Mastercard (MA.N) are slamming the brakes on plans to forge new partnerships with crypto firms after a string of high-profile collapses shook faith in the industry, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. (Read More) The Fed is bearing down on crypto's on-ramps; AXIOS To regulate pirates, cut off access to their ports and see how long they last at sea. That's the playbook being used in the U.S. to rid the scourge that is crypto too, or so it would seem. Why it matters: For crypto, banks are its ports — vital on- and -off ramps for dollars to move on-chain. But banks cannot hold crypto as principal, the Fed's Board of Governors said in a bulletin made effective last week. (Read More) Nigeria Seeks Partners for Tech Revamp of Its eNaira Digital Currency; Bloomberg Nigeria is in talks with potential technology partners to develop a new system to run and manage its central bank digital currency, the eNaira. The Central Bank of Nigeria wants to develop its own software for the digital currency so that it can keep full control of the effort, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the matter is confidential. It has discussed the plans — which are in the early stages — with New York-based technology firm R3, one of the people said. (Read More) Mastercard, Binance launching prepaid card in Brazil; REUTERS
Mastercard Inc (MA.N) and Binance said on Monday they are lauching a prepaid card in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, as part of the crypto giant's efforts to "broaden the connection between traditional finance and crypto". (Read More) Project Icebreaker uses retail CBDC for instant P2P cross border payments; Ledger Insights There’s been considerable work on the concept of using wholesale (interbank) central bank digital currencies (CBDC) to address the frictions of cross border payments. So far, only one project has taken the alternative route of interlinking multiple retail domestic CBDCs to enable consumers or businesses to make direct person-to-person international payments. (Read More) Universal digital payments network for stablecoins, CBDCs launches at Davos; forkast The Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN) was launched today at the World Economic Forum to provide interoperability between regulated stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). (Read More) The Biggest Change to our Financial System in 50 Years is Happening in November; DataDrivenInvestor
Many cryptocurrency investors are looking to reap massive returns as the 50-year-old international payments system moves onto the blockchain beginning in November 2022. (Read More) China’s Digital Yuan App Can Now Link to Users’ Bank Accounts; Yicai Global The test version of China’s digital yuan payment app can now be linked to bank card accounts following an update yesterday. The new feature ensures that funds in the e-yuan wallet never run dry, industry insiders told Yicai Global. (Read More) PayPal Joins Coinbase's TRUST Network; Crypto Briefing According to a statement from Coinbase on August 22, the payments giant has joined Coinbase’s Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (TRUST) network. (Read More) Walmart upgrades Mexico digital payment app; Chain Store Age
Walmart Mexico and Central America, the discount giant’s Latin American subsidiary, is releasing a new version of its in-house digital payments app for Mexican consumers, Cashi more than just cash. The revamped app is focused on offering unbanked customers low-cost solutions and added flexibility to make digital payment needs. (Read More) House punts on stablecoin bill after Yellen raises flags over key provision; POLITICO House Financial Services Committee lawmakers will delay the markup of a widely anticipated bipartisan stablecoin bill this week after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushed for changes in a key provision of the legislation. (Read More) China struggles to launch digital yuan after 8 years of trials; NIKKEI Asia Eight years after China first embarked on the path toward a digital yuan, the central bank's pilot program for the digital yuan has been expanded to 23 cities covering nearly a fifth of the population. (Read More Three Arrows Capital falls into liquidation after crypto crash; The Washington Post
Three Arrows Capital plunged deeper into financial turmoil Wednesday after a court in the British Virgin Islands ordered the crypto-focused hedge fund into liquidation following its failure to repay creditors as the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have nosedived. (Read More) China NFT Weekly: WeChat Bans NFT Accounts; pandaily his week: WeChat bans NFT-related accounts, Chinese state media warns Bitcoin price is heading to zero, Hong Kong crypto platforms suspend withdrawals amid global crypto sell-off, and more. (Read More) Why Bitcoin ATMs are now everywhere: The real story; ATM Marketplace Today it isn't hard to find a Bitcoin ATM. Consumers can easily find them in gas stations and most convenience stores across the country. This wasn't the case just a few years ago. Indeed, over the past two years we have seen an absolute explosion of growth in the installation of Bitcoin ATMs. According to CoinAtmRadar, today there are more than 32,000 Bitcoin ATMs in the U.S. Compare that to 2020, when there were just a little over 4,000. (Read More) PayPal looks to embrace all possible crypto and blockchain services; Cointelegraph
PayPal is doing its best to bring all possible blockchain and cryptocurrency integrations to its platform, the firm's vice president Richard Nash said. Global payment giant PayPal is doing its best to bring all possible blockchain and cryptocurrency integrations to its services, according to a senior executive at the firm. (Read More) Paxos thinks the financial world will be dominated by digital assets. Here’s how; Mastercard News Room When PayPal wanted to let its hundreds of millions of users buy and sell crypto, it turned to Paxos to make it happen. Facebook’s Novi tapped Paxos to power remittances in digital currencies between Guatemala and the U.S. The company connected its crypto wallet services to Mastercard’s payment network to let people easily convert their cryptocurrencies into dollars so they can spend them anywhere payments cards are accepted. And when Interactive Brokers … you get the idea. (Read More) Meta Files “Meta Pay” Trademark Applications Hinting at Cryptocurrency Services; CryptoPotato Meta Platforms Inc. – the owner of the Meta (formerly Facebook) brand – filed for five trademark applications on Friday under the name of “Meta Pay”. They appear to be dedicated to a new digital payments platform that will integrate various cryptocurrency and blockchain-related products. (Read More) CBDCs in emerging market economies; BIS
In recent years, emerging market economy (EME) central banks have increasingly engaged in projects related to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The stage of their engagement – research, pilot or launch – varies according to differences in country circumstances, including the availability of digital infrastructure, their focus among different policy objectives, and the attendant motivations and concerns. (Read More) Germany's Commerzbank Applies for Local Crypto License; CoinDesk Germany's Commerzbank (CBK) applied for a crypto license earlier this year, a spokesperson for the bank said. This makes it the first major bank in Germany to move towards crypto adoption. (Read More) Fintech giant Stripe jumps into crypto with a feature that lets Twitter users get paid in stablecoin; CNBC Stripe will allow businesses to pay their users via cryptocurrencies, starting with Twitter, in the latest sign of how large financial firms are warming to digital assets. (Read More) Terra Adds $135 Million in Bitcoin Purchases to Back Stablecoin; Bloomberg
Do Kwon, the co-founder and chief executive officer of the firm behind the Terra blockchain, confirmed that it has purchased more than $1 billion in Bitcoin since the end of January. (Read More) US Lawmakers Introduce 'ECASH' Bill in New Push to Create a Digital Dollar; CoinDesk A group of U.S. lawmakers says the U.S. Treasury Department may be the right government entity to create a digital dollar – not the Federal Reserve. A new bill introduced Monday would authorize just that. (Read More) Coinbase makes India push with support for UPI payments; TechCrunch Coinbase is beginning to add support for payment instruments UPI and IMPS in India, making its crypto exchange broadly functional in the world’s second largest internet market for the first time in years. (Read More) Sweden completes Phase 2 Central Bank Digital Currency trails; Hindi News
Ahead of our NextGen Nordics convention on 27 April 2022, we can be placing collectively a weekly briefing of all the highest tales which are rising out of the area and setting the blueprint for funds innovation throughout Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. (Read More) Ukraine Central Bank Suspends Use of Electronic Money Following Russian Invasion; CoinDesk Ukraine's central bank banned the issuance of electronic money and the replenishment of electronic wallets following the invasion by Russia. (Read More) Stablecoins Soar in Value as Everything Else in Crypto Shrinks; Bloomberg Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies which peg their value to assets such as the U.S. dollar, have ballooned in size over the past few months as Bitcoin and other coins whipsaw. The total market capitalization of stablecoins currently stands around $180 billion, up from roughly $38 billion a year ago, Coin Metrics data compiled by The Block show. By comparison, the total crypto universe is largely stagnant over the past year. (Read More) China’s digital currency comes to its biggest messaging app WeChat, which has over a billion users; CNBC
Tencent-owned WeChat, China’s largest messaging app and one of the country’s biggest payment services, will begin supporting the country’s sovereign digital currency. (Read More) RBI Told Board It Wants Blanket Crypto Ban, Economic Times Says; Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India said it favors a complete ban on cryptocurrencies at a meeting of its central board on Friday, the Economic Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the deliberations. (Read More) The Biggest Threat to Trust in Cryptocurrency: Rug Pulls Put 2021 Scam Revenue Close to All-time Highs; Chainanlysis Scams were once again the largest form of cryptocurrency-based crime by transaction volume, with over $7.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency taken from victims worldwide. (Read More) World leaves behind the U.S. on central bank digital currencies; Axios The world is moving ahead with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The U.S., it increasingly appears, isn’t. Since the summer, a host of countries leaped forward in their development of CBDCs. The largest economy in Africa — Nigeria — launched one that’s now in use. And new collaborations between nations took shape. (Read More) Shinhan Bank to Conduct Stablecoin International Remittance PoC on Hedera Network, in Partnership with Major Multinational Bank; Press Release
Shinhan Bank, the leading bank in South Korea that it has completed the development of a proof-of-concept, with a global megabank outside of Korea, built on the Hedera network, leveraging stablecoins and focused on international remittances. Utilizing the Hedera Token Service (HTS) and Hedera Consensus Service (HCS), the project aims to test the issuance and distribution of stablecoins, applied to a financial use case that typically suffers from high fees, longer waits, and the absence of tracking features. (Read More) Coinbase Acquires Crypto Wallet Firm BRD for Undisclosed Amount; CoinDesk “BRD’s unique expertise in self-custody crypto wallets, will be invaluable in our goal of enabling more people to safely and securely access the decentralized world of crypto,” a Coinbase spokesperson told CoinDesk on Wednesday. “We’ll be sharing more information in the coming months about how BRD and Wallet teams will unite.” (Read More) Indian Government Submits Bill to Ban Most Cryptocurrencies, Dashing Hopes for Friendlier Measure; CoinDesk The Indian government is still seeking to ban most cryptocurrencies under a long-awaited cryptocurrencies bill that will be submitted for consideration at Parliament’s so-called “Winter Session” this year. (Read More U.S. regulators exploring how banks could hold crypto assets - FDIC chairman; REUTERS
A top U.S. bank regulator said U.S. officials are looking to provide a clearer path for banks and their clients that are looking to hold cryptocurrencies, in order to keep control over the fast-developing asset. (Read More) Don't subject stablecoins to new rules, crypto lobby tells U.S. regulators; REUTERS Asset-backed stablecoins do not pose a systemic risk to the U.S. financial system and should not face a new set of rules, a major cryptocurrency lobby group told U.S. regulators on Monday, as tighter oversight of the fast-growing technology looms. (Read More) FinCEN Links More Than $5 Billion in Bitcoin Transactions to Ransomware; Bitcoin News FinCEN, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, linked more than $5 billion in bitcoin transactions to the most common ransomware variants out there. The organization stated in a report issued last week that the mean average total monthly suspicious amount of ransomware transactions was $66.4 million during the first two quarters of 2021. FinCEN also determined that the most used cryptocurrency associated with these activities was bitcoin. (Read More) Affirm to Debut Crypto, Debit Products in Push Toward Super App; Bloomberg
Affirm Holdings Inc. is planning to debut a debit card and allow customers to buy and sell crypto directly from savings accounts they have with the company as part of a broader push to become a one-stop shop for consumers’ financial needs. (Read More) BitPay and Verifone Partner to Exclusively Enable Cryptocurrency Acceptance on Payment Terminals and In-App/eCommerce; Press Release BitPay, the world’s largest provider of bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services, and Verifone, a global FinTech leader and payment solution provider to the world’s largest retail brands, today announce the extension of BitPay’s blockchain payment technology to enable consumer cryptocurrency payments on Verifone’s in-store and eCommerce Cloud Services platforms in the United States. The new solution enables merchants to broaden their customer base and promote crypto acceptance while being protected from the price volatility of the cryptocurrency markets. Merchants will begin rolling out the solution later this year. (Read More) Coinbase dives deeper into banking by letting users deposit paychecks into their accounts; CNBC “With direct deposit, customers can more easily access our crypto-first financial services and be ready for any trade or purchase,” Max Branzburg, vice president of product at Coinbase, said in a blog post. “We’re determined to deliver the most trusted full suite of crypto-first financial services to our 68 million users.” (Read More) Microsoft Is Awarded US Patent for Crypto Token-Creation Service; Coindesk
The patent describes a ledger-independent system for helping users to create and manage tokens across different networks. (Read More) Coinbase slammed for what users say is terrible customer service after hackers drain their accounts; CNBC For Tanja Vidovic, it was a moment of panic: She had received a series of alerts about someone changing access to her cryptocurrency account. And she realized, as she stared at her computer screen, that nearly all of her $168,000 in holdings was gone, vanished before her eyes. (Read More) Visa buys a CryptoPunk as it takes first steps into 'NFT commerce'; The Block Payments technology company Visa announced Monday that it has bought a CryptoPunk as it enters into the world of non-fungible token (NFT) commerce. (Read More) Crypto allies rally against ‘ignorant’ new tax rules in bipartisan infrastructure deal; The Wall Street Journal
The Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal includes new tax-reporting requirements on cryptocurrency and digital-asset transactions, and the industry’s supporters in Washington are warning of the severe impact it could have on the nascent industry. (Read More) IMF sees "critical role" as world transitions to digital money; Reuters The International Monetary Fund must ramp up its resources as it seeks to "monitor, advise on, and help manage this far-reaching and complex transition" to digital money, according to an IMF paper published on Thursday. (Read More) Paxos Adds Bank of America, Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund & FTX to Series D Funding Round; Press Release Paxos, the first regulated blockchain infrastructure platform, today announced it has added strategic investors including Bank of America, Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund and FTX to its Series D round of funding. This follows the initial announcement of $300 million in Series D funding on April 29, 2021, led by Oak HC/FT with participation from previous investors Declaration Partners, PayPal Ventures, Mithril Capital and more. To date, Paxos has raised more than $540 million in funding. With a valuation of $2.4 billion, Paxos is one of the fastest growing fintech startups in the world. (Read More) RocketFuel Introduces Industry-First "Price Settlement Guarantee" to Protect Merchants from Crypto Volatility; Press Release
RocketFuel a global provider of crypto payment solutions, announced what it believes to be the industry's first "Price Settlement Guarantee," which allows merchants to always receive deposits equal to the listed price of goods sold without ever being affected by crypto-to-fiat exchange rate fluctuations. With RocketFuel, merchants can now fully capitalize on their sales without having to worry about rejecting orders due to a lower value of final settlements. (Read More) Circle wants to help companies access DeFi lending markets with new API; TechCrunch Cryptocurrency company Circle has announced that it plans to launch a new API for companies using Circle accounts to manage crypto assets — and in particular USDC stablecoins. The new API will let companies access decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols starting with Compound lending pools. (Read More) Crypto Sleuthing Firm Chainalysis Raises $100M, This Time at $4.2B Valuation; Coindesk Chainalysis has added another $100 million in venture capital as crypto’s role in ransomware becomes a mainstream concern. The firm announced Thursday that the Series E round of funding was led by Coatue Management and brings it valuation to $4.2 billion. Chainalysis also raised $100 million in a Series D funding round that was announced in March. (Read More) PayPal Will Let Customers Withdraw Crypto, Exec Says; Coindesk
Global payments giant PayPal plans to let users withdraw cryptocurrency to third-party wallets, its blockchain lead said. Speaking Wednesday at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 conference, Jose Fernandez da Ponte told moderator Jeff John Roberts that a withdrawal function is in the works. At present, PayPal does not let users move cryptocurrency holdings off-platform, though it has let customers buy bitcoin (BTC, +2.45%) and other cryptocurrencies since October 2020. (Read More) South Africa's central bank begins preliminary study for retail CBDC; Cointelegraph South Africa is the latest country to begin exploring the possibility of creating its own sovereign digital currency. According to a release issued on Tuesday, the South African Reserve Bank has begun preliminary feasibility studies about the “desirability and appropriateness” of a retail central bank digital currency. (Read More) Fed’s Brainard Breaks Down CBDC Policy Considerations, Sees Price Pressures Waning in the Future; Coindesk Digital payments and the growth of private money are two factors helping drive an increasing focus on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), said Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard. A number of policy considerations remain before the U.S. can assess issuing a digital dollar, she said, speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 on Monday. They include: preserving access to “safe central bank money,” increasing financial inclusion, payment and clearing efficiency, reducing cross-border frictions, complementing bank deposits and protecting both financial stability and personal privacy. (Read More) Ripple wants go public after settling SEC lawsuit, SBI CEO says; CoinTelegraph
The largest outside-Ripple shareholder believes that the XRP-related firm will go public shortly after settling its lawsuit with the SEC. Major cryptocurrency company Ripple has not given up on its plans to go public despite its ongoing legal battle with United States regulators, according to SBI Group’s CEO. (Read More) Paxos raises $300 million to build a cryptocurrency infrastructure giant; TechCrunch Paxos has raised a $300 million Series D funding round led by Oak HC/FT. With today’s funding, the company is now valued at $2.4 billion. The company has been building infrastructure and white-label services for enterprise clients that want to offer cryptocurrency products to their own customers. (Read More) Coinbase now lets US users pay for cryptocurrency through a PayPal account; engadget In case you needed a sign cryptocurrency has gone mainstream, here it is. Starting today, PayPal users in the US can link their accounts to Coinbase to make it easier to buy digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. Previously, funding those purchases often meant using a debit card or a more time-consuming method like a wire transfer. With today's update, Coinbase says you can fund your purchases "instantly." It also means there's one less platform with your debit and bank account information. (Read More) Ripple to acquire 40% stake in Asia's Trianglo; Finextra
Ripple says the deal will help it to meet growing customer demand in the region and expand the reach of On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), which uses the digital asset XRP for instance money transfers and working capital. (Read More) Finance Department sees issues with Facebook's digital currency, documents show; CBC Internal Finance Department documents show officials have deep concerns about the effect of Facebook's planned digital currency on Canada's financial stability. Officials wrote in the briefing note last summer that they believed the social media company had yet to address multiple concerns and risks its digital currency posed to the financial system. (Read More) PayPal Launches "Checkout with Crypto"; Press Release PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) today announced the launch of Checkout with Crypto, a new feature which significantly expands the utility of cryptocurrency. Available at millions of global online businesses and continuing to expand over the coming months, PayPal customers with cryptocurrency holdings in the U.S. will be able to choose to check out with crypto seamlessly within PayPal at checkout. (Read More) State Bank of India joins JPMorgan's blockchain-based payment network; The Economic Times
State Bank of India has tied up with JPMorgan to use the US bank’s blockchain technology to speed up overseas transactions. The tie up is expected to reduce SBI customers’ transaction costs and time taken for payments, sources said. Time taken to resolve cross-border payments-related inquiries can be reduced to a few hours from up to a fortnight, they said. This will help cross-border payments reach beneficiaries faster and using limited steps. (Read More) Versabank to Launch VCAD, World's First Bank-issued, Deposit-based Digital Currency; Press Release VersaBank a North American leader in business-to-business digital banking and technology solutions for cybersecurity, today announced it plans to launch a strong encryption based digital currency (cryptocurrency) represented one-to-one by a Canadian dollar bank deposit with the Bank, to be known as VCAD. VCAD is expected to be the first digital currency to represent a fiat currency, as well as the first in the world digital currency issued by and backed by deposits with a North American bank. As such, VCAD will offer the highest level of stability and security amongst all digital currencies in the market today. (Read More) Square buys $170 million worth of bitcoin; CNBC The company said it purchased approximately 3,318 bitcoins, expanding on its October 2020 buy of 4,709. Square said it represents about 5% of the company’s total assets as of the end of 2020. (Read More) Stellar Development Foundation Invests $5M in Crypto Payments Firm Wyre: Coindesk
The Stellar Development Foundation has invested in blockchain payments company Wyre to boost support for financial applications in the Stellar ecosystem. (Read More) Coinbase announces proposed direct listing; Press Release Coinbase Global, Inc. announced its intent to become a publicly-traded company pursuant to a proposed direct listing of its Class A common stock. Such proposed listing is expected to be pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Coinbase Global, Inc. previously announced on December 17, 2020 that it had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC. The Form S-1 is expected to become effective after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions. (Read More) President Biden freezes FinCEN's proposed crypto wallet regulations; Ciontelegraph President Joe Biden has frozen all regulatory processes including proposed FinCEN rules detrimental to the crypto industry. (Read More) Bitcoin payments startup BitPay wants to create a national bank in Georgia; The Block
Bitcoin payments company BitPay has filed paperwork with the top U.S. banking regulator to create a national bank. (Read More) Facebook’s long-awaited libra currency to reportedly launch in a limited form early next year; CNBC Libra, a new cryptocurrency being created by Facebook and others, could launch as soon as January but in a limited format, according to a report from The Financial Times, which cited sources familiar with the matter. (Read More) With bitcoin near all-time high, this is where Visa’s CEO sees crypto going; CNBC Every day, in every corner of the Earth, people have a choice of how to spend, whether it is cash, checks, or using Visa, Mastercard or a local card in their market, and new fintech platforms. The post-Covid world does not look great for cash and checks — just look at the stock price of a payments fintech Square this year versus that of a cash security company like Brink’s. (Read More) Coinbase launches its cryptocurrency Visa debit card in the US; The Verge
Coinbase has announced that US customers can now join the waitlist for its Coinbase Card, a debit Visa card that allows customers to spend cryptocurrency anywhere Visa cards are accepted. Coinbase claims it’s “the easiest, quickest way to spend your crypto worldwide.” Previously, the card was only available in Europe. (Read More) Russia launches public consultation on digital ruble; NFCW The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has begun a public consultation on the launch of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that would allow citizens to use “mobile devices and other media” to make payments using a digital ruble. (Read More) PayPal in Talks to Buy Crypto Firms Including BitGo; Bloomberg PayPal Holdings Inc. is exploring acquisitions of cryptocurrency companies including Bitcoin custodian BitGo Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would expand its embrace of digital coins. (Read More) FinCEN director warns banks about cryptocurrency risk exposure; COINTELEGRAPH
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) director Kenneth Blanco has warned banks to think seriously about their cryptocurrency risk exposure. During the virtual 2020 ACAMS anti-money laundering Conference in Las Vegas this week, Blanco discussed the obligations of banks in implementing effective anti-money laundering (AML) policies. (Read More) Federal Reserve Bank reveals details of digital dollar research; COINTELEGRAPH The President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has revealed details of the Fed’s ongoing research into a potential digital dollar. Speaking in a keynote address on September 23, Loretta Mester emphasized that the Federal Reserve has been exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDC) since before the pandemic, noting that its Board of Governors has been “building and testing a range of distributed ledger platforms to understand their potential benefits and tradeoffs.” (Read More) Ant Group launches blockchain based-platform to help SMEs with cross-border trade; South China Morning Post Ant Group, China’s largest digital payments provider by volume, has launched a blockchain-backed smart contract platform for cross-border trade by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), helping them and banks to speed up the secure processing and settlement of orders. (Read More) China's digital currency implemented in small retail transactions; Global Times
China's central bank said an experimental test of the sovereign digital currency is now only focused on small retail transactions and has not expanded to scenarios that require large volume transactions. (Read More) Rise of the central bank digital currencies: drivers, approaches and technologies; BIS Report Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are in the limelight. But the reasons for issuing them vary between countries, as do the policy approaches and technical designs. This paper looks at the economic and institutional motives behind current CBDC projects and asks how they might shape the design of such currencies. (Read More) Andhra Pradesh teams up with NPCI for digital payments in hinterlands; The Economic Times Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh government has announced teaming up with the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) and Canara Bank NSE -6.36 % to empower over 15,000 village and ward secretariats with digital payments in the rural areas. (Read More) First Mover: Sleepy Fed Meeting Belies Tense Economic Reality (Brrr) That May Buoy Bitcoin; Coindesk
After a two-day closed-door meeting this week, the Federal Reserve issued a six-paragraph statement on Wednesday and held an hour-long press conference. (Read More) Airwallex adds Deutsche Bank for cross-border collection and API-enabled FX services; Press Release Deutsche Bank today announced that it will enable global fintech unicorn Airwallex to provide virtual account collections and API-enabled foreign exchange services in Japan and Hong Kong respectively. (Read More) Alibaba payments arm Ant launches new technology brand to help speed up digital transformation of traditional industries: South China Morning Post Ant Group, which operates the online payment platform for the world’s largest e-commerce company Alibaba, launched a new blockchain solution on Thursday to help strengthen transparency and build trust in industries that traditionally involve large numbers of participants and complex processes. (Read More) BIS encourages central banks to continue adapting to the challenge of digital payments; Press Release
Central banks, as guardians of the safety and integrity of the payment system, must keep evolving to meet the challenge of rapidly accelerating digital innovation, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) writes in its Annual Economic Report. (Read More) Ethereum Developers Consider New Fee Model as Gas Costs Climb; CoinDesk The cost to use Ethereum has increased some 500% since April. That’s not very helpful for people running programs on it. And while average gas fees are not at the all-time highs seen in July 2018, the problem will need fixing if decentralized applications (dapps) can be run reliably on the world’s leading smart-contract blockchain. A potential technical savior is on the horizon, however – and it’s not the Eth 2.0 overhaul or Rollups, the latest en vogue scaling solution. (Read More) Facebook, IoTeX, R3 Among New Members of Confidential Computing Consortium; CoinDesk Facebook, Accenture, IoTeX, Nvidia and six other companies are joining the Linux Foundation’s Confidential Computing Consortium (CCC), increasing the size of the privacy-focused group by 60 percent. (Read More) Square Unveils Bitcoin Auto Payments Tool; Coindesk
A mobile subsidiary of Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square now allows users to make automatic purchases of bitcoin. Dorsey said on Twitter – that other company he runs – that Cash App had, from Monday, enabled automatic purchases of bitcoin at regular intervals, such as daily, weekly or fortnightly. (Read More) A New Digital Wallet for Libra; Press Release We’re excited to introduce Novi — the new name and brand for the digital wallet that will help people send and hold Libra digital currencies. While we’ve changed our name from Calibra, we haven’t changed our long-term commitment to helping people around the world access affordable financial services. Whether you’re sending money home to support the family members who supported you, or you’re receiving money from your friends no matter where they are, the Novi wallet will make money work better for everyone. (Read More) Reddit Launching a Cryptocurrency to Reward Users for Engagement; Bloomberg Reddit Inc., the often-controversial website and discussion platform that is a favorite of many cryptocurrency enthusiasts, is launching its own digital token. (Read More) Bad U.S. jobless data pulled markets lower Thursday, affecting even bitcoin. But there may be a silver lining for the cryptocurrency; Coindesk
At press time, the world’s largest cryptocurrency was up just 1% over 24 hours at $8,864, with 10-day and 50-day technical indicator moving averages converging, thus signaling sideways sentiment. After bitcoin prices jumped to their highest levels in nearly two months, up as much as $9,478 on Coinbase in early trading Thursday, dismal unemployment numbers cut the gains down to size. (Read More) China starts major trial of state-run digital currency; The Guardian China will begin trialing payments in its new digital currency in four major cities from next week, according to domestic media. In recent months, China’s central bank has stepped up its development of the e-RMB, which is set to be the first digital currency operated by a major economy. (Read More) Japan's Financial Watchdog Certifies Two Cryptocurrency Regulatory Organizations; Cointelegraph Japan's financial watchdog has accredited two crypto-focused associations as Certified Financial Instruments and Exchange Associations. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has certified two local organizations as Certified Financial Instruments and Exchange Associations. (Read More The Digital Dollar Project Names 22 New Advisory Group Members; Press Release
The Digital Dollar Project today announced its first advisory group members, who will help guide the framework for practical steps that could be taken to establish a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). (Read More) Russian Prime Minister Introduces Bill to Allow Fintech Sandboxes, Blockchain Included; coindesk The Russian government may soon allow the creation of regulatory sandboxes for companies working on cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and distributed ledgers. (Read More) Coronavirus will not delay the launch of China’s national blockchain network; FX Street Despite the outbreak of coronavirus, China has clarified that it will be launching its national blockchain network in April 2020, as scheduled earlier. The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform developed by the Chinese government in conjunction with tech companies and financial institutions. (Read More) Uptrend Broken? Bitcoin Tumbles Below $10K as Greed Hits 6-Month High; Cointelegraph
Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets data show Bitcoin has fallen below the $10,000 big-even, to a press time price of $9,884. “Good response by the bulls but 10k needs reclaiming,” commented Cointelegraph Markets contributor filbfilb in his Telegram channel after BTC price initially rebounded back over the $10,000 mark. (Read More) ‘Best Brand’ Bitcoin Can Hit $20K by May Halving, Says Mike Novogratz; Cointelegraph Bitcoin (BTC) has the potential to reach and even surpass its all-time highs of $20,000 by May’s block reward halving. That was the opinion of Mike Novogratz, the serial venture capitalist who has stayed consistently bullish on BTC. (Read More) BitPay and Poynt Take Bitcoin to the Streets; Press Release BitPay, the world’s largest provider of blockchain payment services, together with Poynt, the world’s first open commerce platform, today announced the integration of BitPay’s Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments with Poynt’s Smart Terminal point-of-sale devices at more than 100,000 Poynt retailers worldwide. (Read More) Central bank group to assess potential cases for central bank digital currencies; BIS
The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), have created a group to share experiences as they assess the potential cases for central bank digital currency (CBDC) in their home jurisdictions. (Read More) Libra Association Forms Steering Committee to Guide Technical Development; Cointelegrach The Libra Association — the government body of the eponymous stablecoin introduced by Facebook in late 2019 — has formed a new committee to guide the network’s technical development. (Read More) Bux acquires ‘social’ cryptocurrency investment platform Blockport; TechCrunch Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, although Bux says the move paves the way for the company to launch its own branded cryptocurrency investment app. Dubbed “BUX Crypto,” it will be available in the nine countries in which Bux operates, and is planned to go live in Q1 this year. (Read More) CULedger completes blockchain identity pilot with three US credit unions; Fintech Futures
Three credit unions in the US have completed a pilot project with CULedger focused on the utilisation of blockchain in digital identity. According to CULedger, Unify Financial Credit Union, Desert Financial Credit Union, and TruWest Credit Union all successfully implemented its MyCUID identity platform in their call centres. (Read) A blockchain firm advised by Nobel laureate Myron Scholes just launched a rival to Facebook’s libra; CNBC One blockchain company thinks it has an alternative to Facebook’s digital currency proposal. With an advisory board that includes top economists like Nobel Prize-winner Myron Scholes, U.K.-based firm Saga hopes to introduce a global currency that regulators find agreeable. (Read) Mnuchin, Powell see no need for Fed to issue digital currency; BNN Bloomberg Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell don’t expect the U.S. to create a digital currency. (Read) Wyoming’s New Crypto Banking Law Could Defang New York’s BitLicense; Coindesk
At least, so say members of the team that drafted the 13 crypto-friendly laws enacted by the Western state this year. One of those laws allows Wyoming to charter Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDIs), a new type of fully-reserved fiat bank that can also custody crypto assets. (Read More) China Central Bank to Set Standards for 17 Fintech Categories, Including Blockchain; Coindesk Speaking at a meeting of the National Technical Committee, PBoC vice president Yifei Fan said the bank aims to better regulate new technologies applied across the financial industry, according to a report from state media Xinhua News Agency. (Read More) Fed Reserve Evaluating Digital Dollar But Benefits Still Unclear, Says Chairman; Coindesk In a Nov. 19 letter responding to questions from lawmakers Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) in late September, Powell said the Fed has noted the efforts of other nations to explore a CBDC option, and that it continues to "carefully analyze the costs and benefits of pursuing such an initiative in the U.S." (Read More) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Will Tell Congress That Embattled Libra Crypto Project Will ‘Extend America’s Financial Leadership’; CNBC
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, telling lawmakers that the Facebook-backed libra cryptocurrency “will extend America’s financial leadership as well as our democratic values and oversight around the world.” (Read More) It’s Too Soon to Write Libra’s Crypto Obituary; coindesk To paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of the nation-state’s demise are greatly exaggerated. The exits of Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and four other firms from the Libra consortium came after France and Germany moved to block the global “stablecoin” cryptocurrency project and after U.S. lawmakers delivered stern warnings to Libra members. This was more than a major setback for Libra founder Facebook; it was also a reminder that government power remains unrivaled. Ten years into the bitcoin revolution, it remains extremely difficult to challenge the state’s monopoly over money. (Read More) Lock BTC, Get DAI: Lending Firm Bridges Bitcoin-DeFi Divide in Latin America; coindesk Canadian startup Ledn, which offers bitcoin-backed fiat loans, now also offers dollar-pegged DAI loans, connecting bitcoin users with ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Ledn co-founder Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, a Venezuelan expat, told CoinDesk this new partnership with stablecoin promoter MakerDAO was driven by customer demand. (Read More) BoE’s Mark Carney: Digital currency “could dampen the domineering influence of the U.S. dollar”; FX Street
The influence of the US dollar has been felt for over a century. A looming recession in the United States economy is sending jitters around the world. In his latest comments at the Economic Policy Symposium, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney believes that a central bank-backed digital currency could displace the US dollar as the domineering currency in the world. (Read More) In first, Swiss regulator issues banking license to two blockchain firms; The Block Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has issued banking and securities dealers’ licenses to two new blockchain firms - SEBA Crypto and Sygnum. (Read More) SEC Chief’s Crypto Skepticism Sets Up Facebook Clash Over Libra; Bloomberg The scene was straight out of the era of Bitcoin mania: a man on an Amtrak train to New York speaking loudly into his mobile phone, discussing a digital token he was promoting and bragging about how he planned to pump up the price. (Read More) US President Donald Trump Says He’s ‘Not a Fan’ of Bitcoin; Coindesk
Donald J. Trump tweeted Thursday that he is “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies, saying they were “not money” and referencing their price volatility relative to the dollar in his first public comments on crypto since becoming president of the United States. (Read More) Facebook answers how Libra taxes and anti-fraud will work; TechCrunch Facebook provided TechCrunch with new information on how its cryptocurrency will stay legal amidst allegations from President Trump that Libra could facilitate “unlawful behavior.” Facebook and Libra Association executives tell me they expect Libra will incur sales tax and capital gains taxes. They confirmed that Facebook is also in talks with local convenience stores and money exchanges to ensure anti-laundering checks are applied when people cash-in or cash-out Libra for traditional currency, and to let you use a QR code to buy or sell Libra in person. (Read More) Visa, Blockchain Capital, a16z Back $40 Million Series B Round for Crypto Custodian Anchorage; Coindesk Anchorage, a company providing crypto custody services for institutional investors, has just raised $40 million in a Series B funding round. (Read More) $19 Million: Ethereum Foundation to Fund Work on 2.0 Upgrade, Plasma and More; CoinDesk
The Ethereum Foundation detailed Tuesday how an estimated $30 million will be spent by the organization on key projects within the ethereum ecosystem. The group said that $19 million has been earmarked over the next 12 months to be put towards “building the ethereum of tomorrow.” (Read More) Exclusive: Banks to invest around $50 million in digital cash settlement project - sources; Reuters Several of the world’s largest banks are in the process of investing around $50 million to create a digital cash system using blockchain technology to settle financial transactions, according to people familiar with the plans. (Read More) Bitcoin has surged above $8,000 and theories around why abound; TechCrunch The cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise is reminiscent of its rocketing growth in the latter half of 2017, when prices reached more than $18,400 on the back of buoyant capital markets, rampant speculation and a turbulent political climate in Northern Asia spurred by saber rattling between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un. (Read More) Binance’s hotly-anticipated Singapore crypto exchange is now live — and underwhelming; TechCrunch
The new Singapore service, however, bears more of a resemblance to U.S. rival Coinbase than a classic Binance exchange. Binance’s rapid ascent is thanks to a service that lets users trade a range of crypto tokens with very little verification or individual data required. It’s Singapore venture is quite the opposite: it allows customers to purchase Bitcoin only and at fixed prices. Initially, it appeared that purchased Bitcoin could not be moved out of the exchange at this point but that issue seems to be fixed now. (Read More) JPMorgan Expanding Blockchain Project With 220 Banks to Include Payments; Coindesk Investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase is planning to expand an existing blockchain project to include settlement features as it seeks to fend off competition from payments upstarts such as TransferWise and Ripple. (Read More) Cryptocurrencies are ‘clearly shaking the system,’ IMF’s Lagarde says; CNBC Financial technologies such as digital currencies are “shaking” the banking system and must be monitored to maintain stability, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund. (Read More) IBM Launches A Blockchain-Based Global Payments Network Using Stellar's Cryptocurrency; Forbes
IBM is paving the way for banks and other regulated financial institutions to join the blockchain revolution. Rather than going through a series of intermediaries when sending money across borders, IBM has created a real-time, global payments network to support cross-border transactions and foreign exchange in more than 50 countries using digital assets, also known as cryptocurrencies or “stable coins.” (Read More) Banking Startup Launching Visa Card That Lets You Spend 7 Cryptos; Coindesk In an announcement, 2gether said customers will be able to use the card to pay with either euros or any of the following seven cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), XRP, bitcoin cash (BCH), EOS, Stellar (XLM) and litecoin (LTC). The card “instantly” converts the cryptos to fiat currency and, it said, and can be used fee-free by customers in any of the 19 eurozone nations. (Read More) IBM Blockchain World Wire, a New Global Payment Network, to Support Payments and Foreign Exchange in More Than 50 Countries; Press Release IBM announced IBM Blockchain World Wire, a real-time global payments network for regulated financial institutions, is officially accessible in a growing number of markets. (Read More) The plot to revive Mt. Gox and repay victims’ Bitcoin; TechCrunch
It was the Lehman Brothers of blockchain: 850,000 Bitcoin disappeared when cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox imploded in 2014 after a series of hacks. The incident cemented the industry’s reputation as frighteningly insecure. Now a controversial crypto celebrity named Brock Pierce is trying to get the Mt. Gox flameout’s 24,000 victims their money back and build a new company from the ashes. (Read More) Users in Argentina Are Now Able to Pay for the Public Transport Using Bitcoin; Bitcoin Exchange Guide In Argentina, users are now able to pay for public transport using Bitcoin (BTC). In order to offer this service, two Argentinian companies, Alto Viaje and Bitex decided to work together and connect the public transport to the crypto industry. The information was released by the local news site Cripto247. (Read More) Crypto exchange Kraken acquires Crypto Facilities; TechCrunch Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken just closed its biggest acquisition to date. The company is buying Crypto Facilities in a nine-figure deal. Crypto Facilities is an exchange and index provider regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. In particular, Crypto Facilities lets you trade futures on multiple cryptocurrency pairs. (Read More) Leutz: The Victims of Venmo; The Dartmouth
Over winterim, I was Christmas shopping on Michigan Avenue, nicknamed the magnificent mile, in the heart of downtown Chicago. Nothing out of the ordinary, as I grew up a 20-minute train ride from the city. After making my final stop at stores requested by my mom and sister, I was approached by a homeless man asking for a few extra bucks. I pulled out my wallet, noticed it was empty, and then in one of the more ridiculous moments of my life I asked if he had Venmo. I asked if a homeless man had Venmo. I then realized I hadn’t used or seen cash in weeks. I couldn’t imagine a situation when I would absolutely need it, unless I found myself in the unique predicament into which I had just stumbled. (Read More) Mizuho to launch digital currency to promote cashless payments in March; Nikkei Asian Review Japan's Mizuho Financial Group plans to introduce a proprietary digital currency that can be used for shopping and remitted at no cost, starting next March. Under the plan, retail shops using the currency will be charged fees significantly lower than for credit card services. The banking group aims to promote cashless payments by bringing about 60 regional banks on board. (Read More) New York Forms Blockchain Study Task Force, Hints at BitLicense Update; Coindesk New York State is officially launching a cryptocurrency task force aimed at helping the state understand cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill last month creating the task force to study cryptocurrencies, other forms of digital currency and blockchain technology, according to a press release issued Wednesday by the bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Clyde Vanel. (Read More) Finablr's UAE Exchange, Ripple to begin blockchain payments by first quarter; REUTERS
United Arab Emirates-based UAE Exchange and U.S. startup Ripple plan to launch cross-border remittances to Asia via blockchain by the first quarter of 2019, UAE Exchange’s group CEO said in an interview. (Read More) One Month Later, Which Crypto Is Winning the Bitcoin Cash Split? Coindesk One month has officially passed since the bitcoin cash blockchain underwent a hard fork on November 15, resulting in the creation of two distinct networks. They’re now commonly referred to as Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin SV. Yet in the weeks that followed the mid-November fracture, there is still no favorite in terms of overall price. (Read More) Coinbase Revamps PayPal Withdrawals for US Crypto Users; Coindesk According to a blog post, U.S. customers can withdraw their Coinbase balances to PayPal immediately and without any fees. The new arrangement allows customers to quickly convert their cryptocurrency holdings to cash, wrote Allen Osgood, who works on product at the exchange. (Read More) TransferWise Won't Buy Into Blockchain Until More Banks Use Ripple; Fortune
Blockchain may not be the revolutionary payments system its supporters have made it out to be—at least not yet. While blockchain—the technology that underlies Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies—has been hailed by companies including IBM and Mastercard as a way to more quickly move money around the world, not everyone is sold. (Read More) Bank of America Wins Crypto Storage Patent; Coindesk A patent awarded to the Bank of America outlines how enterprise-level institutions may be able to store cryptocurrencies owned by their customers. The filing, awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Tuesday, contends that large companies – specifically enterprise-level institutions – may want to store cryptocurrencies for customers should they see wider adoption. (Read More) Winds of Change: The Case for New Digital Currency; IMF Press Release In Singapore, it is often windy. Winds here bring change, and opportunity. Historically, they blew ships to its port. These resupplied while waiting for the Monsoon to pass, for the seasons to change. (Read More) Blockchain Startup Algorand Bags $62M, Hires Fuze & LogMeIn Execs; Xconomy
The blockchain and cryptocurrency industry has produced a lot of hype, but it is still working to deliver practical applications that are widely used by businesses. (Read More) Coinbase and Circle announce the launch of USDC — a Digital Dollar; Coinbase Starting today, Coinbase customers in supported jurisdictions can buy, sell, send and receive the USD Coin stablecoin (USDC) at Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase iOS and Android apps. US customers outside New York state can buy and sell, and customers around the world can send and receive. More geographies will be available in the future. (Read More) Startup Bringing Blockchain Privacy to Central Banks Wins $15 Million Funding; coindesk Blockchain startup Adhara, which boasts a stellar line-up of former banking innovators, has secured $15 million in new funding from Consensys, the ethereum design studio. (Read More) Crypto Exchange Zaif Hacked In $60 Million Bitcoin Theft; Coindesk
Yet another Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange has been hacked, losing a 6.7 billion yen (about $60 million worth of cryptocurrency), including 5,966 bitcoins. (Read More) Gemalto and R3 launch blockchain-based digital ID platform; Fintech Futures Gemaltohas partnered with R3to launch the Gemalto Trust ID Network, which allows users to create their own digital identity, and carry it over to digital service providers. (Read More) US Banking Giant PNC Becomes Latest to Adopt Ripple's xCurrent; Coindesk American banking giant PNC has joined the growing number of financial institutions using payments products from blockchain startup Ripple. (Read More) Square Expands Cash App Bitcoin Service to All 50 US States; Coindesk
Mobile payments firm Square now lets customers buy and sell bitcoins via its Cash App in all 50 U.S. states. The company – which was co-founded by Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey – announced the service expansion through a Tweet, months after the firm initially rolled out the bitcoin service to investors in the country. (Read More) POSaBIT Lands 9-Store Deal with Top Colorado Cannabis Retail Brand; Press Release Starbuds has entered into an agreement with POSaBIT to roll out its compliant payment platform to all nine of their Colorado retail cannabis stores. (Read More) As No-Deal Brexit Looms, UK Blockchain Startups Are Weighing Options; Coindesk From longer approval processes to the threat they might lose access to the European market, it's safe to say U.K. blockchain startups are looking for contingency plans. (Read More) Coinbase gets approval from U.S. regulators to start listing tokenized securities; TechCrunch
Coinbase shared big news Monday that federal regulators are allowing the popular cryptocurrency exchange to proceed with plans to sell cryptocurrency tokens that are deemed securities. (Read More) Mastercard patents method to manage blockchain payments; Cards International Mastercard has secured a patent for a method, which will enable it to manage fractional reserves of blockchain currency. The system will connect blockchain-based assets including Bitcoin to fiat currency accounts in order to allow cryptocurrency payments through credit cards. (Read More) BitPay granted virtual currency license by NY regulator; Reuters The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) said on Monday it had granted a virtual currency license to bitcoin payments processor BitPay. BitPay, which was founded in 2011, is authorized to offer clearing and settlement services to merchants willing to accept payment in bitcoin or issue payments in bitcoin. (Read More) Banks unlikely to process payments with distributed ledgers for now, says Ripple; REUTERS
Banks are unlikely to use distributed ledgers to process cross-border payments for now because of scalability and privacy issues, according to Ripple, one of the most prominent startups developing the technology. (Read More) Norway, Like Sweden and Switzerland, Wants Its Own Cryptocurrency; blokt Norges Bank decided to tag along with other central banks and create its own cryptocurrency, as stated in its preface. The bank sees the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as a complement to fiat currency, not a replacement. (Read More) Wirecard launches supply chain payment platform based on blockchain technology; Press Release Wirecard, the international innovation leader in digital financial technology, is expanding its B2B portfolio with services based on blockchain. The blockchain forms the basis for a highly efficient global network. For example, between producers and processors of raw materials such as coffee, crude oil or steel – markets in which agreements on payments can be made in future without intermediate steps. (Read More) Coinbase’s first investment, Compound, earns you interest on crypto - A money market so you can short-sell coins you hate; TechCrunch
Compound wants to let you borrow cryptocurrency, or lend it and earn an interest rate. Most cryptocurrency is shoved in a wallet or metaphorically hidden under a mattress, failing to generate interest the way traditionally banked assets do. But Compound wants to create liquid money markets for cryptocurrency by algorithmically setting interest rates, and letting you gamble by borrowing and then short-selling coins you think will sink. It plans to launch its first five for Ether, a stable coin, and a few others, by October. (Read More) Goldman Sachs-backed start-up Circle introducing a crypto version of the US dollar; CNBC The Goldman Sachs-backed start-up announced a new cryptocurrency pegged to the dollar and a $110 million investment round led by profitable crypto-mining company Bitmain, which brings Circle's value near $3 billion, the company announced Tuesday. (Read More) Ripple Is Going After Startups To Build An Ecosystem Around The XRP Cryptocurrency; TechCrunch It’s finally happening. Ripple is making a push to expand the use of the XRP cryptocurrency into new verticals and segments beyond the payment and banking space where the company is focused. (Read More) Ripple calls for more crypto regulation in the UK; Business Insider
Ripple, the company that owns the world's third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, XRP, has urged British regulators to develop more crypto regulation in the country, according to the Telegraph. (Read More) Mastercard files blockchain identity patent: NFC World Method and system for identity and credential protection and verification via blockchain — USPTO — “The present disclosure relates to the storage and verification and identity and credential data, specifically the use of distributed storage and storage via blockchain for protection of identity and credential data and the verification thereof.” (Read More) Bitcoin Under The Skin – Why People Are Using Subdermal Microchip Wallets; CCN Dutchman Martijn Wismeijer is very cautious when it comes to storing Bitcoin – so much so that in 2014, he had two NFC (near field communication) chips surgically implanted into each hand to store his encrypted Bitcoin keys. (Read More) Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to allow Faster Payments; Money Saving Expert
UK users of the digital currency exchange Coinbase could find it easier to withdraw their money after the company announced it will support the Faster Payments Service used by most UK banks. (Read More) Lightning Labs Launches Beta with Twitter CEO Backing; Coindesk California startup Lightning Labs has officially launched a beta version of its software (LND), making available what investors and project leads say is the first thoroughly tested version of the tech to date. This means that users can now leverage LND to send bitcoin and litecoin to other users, all without settling those transactions on the blockchain. (Read More) American Express Patent Filing Touts Blockchain for Faster Payments; Coindesk In a patent application released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, the credit card company's travel arm - the American Express Travel Related Services Company - describes using the tech to facilitate payments between two parties by using transaction requests as a proxy. (Read More) Google will ban all cryptocurrency-related advertising; CNBC The company is updating its financial services-related ad policies to ban any advertising about cryptocurrency-related content, including initial coin offerings (ICOs), wallets, and trading advice, Google's director of sustainable ads, Scott Spencer, told CNBC. (Read More) UK Treasury Launches Inquiry Into Cryptocurrency; Coindesk
The U.K. Treasury has today announced that it will conduct an inquiry into issues around cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. (Read More) Blockchain is entering the valley of despair phase, and that’s a mistake; TechCrunch I’ve had a number of conversations with blockchain-focused people over the past few weeks. In some of those conversations — particularly with engineers — there is a palpable excitement and a belief that this technology is going to end up being their life’s work. As one blockchain hacker told me this past week, “It’s going to be a multi-decade long battle against the technologies that have been weaponized against us,” referring to the technology of the attentional economy. (Read More) Venezuela launches oil cryptocurrency; BBC News Venezuela has launched a cryptocurrency in an attempt to bypass tough economic sanctions imposed by the US government. The "Petro" is intended to bolster the country's crumbling economy, which has been suffering from hyperinflation and devaluation for years. (Read More) Ripple and MoneyGram Test XRP Currency Transfers; Fortune
Ripple, a blockchain company and rival to bitcoin, on Thursday announced a tie-up with Dallas-based money transfer giant MoneyGram. (Read More) Line Explores Cryptocurrencies for Payment Services, Sources Say; Bloomberg Technology Line Corp. is working to integrate cryptocurrencies into its messaging platform as the Tokyo-based company seeks to differentiate its products and services, according to people with knowledge of the matter. (Read More) Indian banks are choking bitcoin exchanges by blocking payments and withdrawals; QUARTZ India As the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges deal with the manic rush, banks have become a stumbling block. Possibly taking cue from the uneasiness shared by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Narendra Modi government, some of the lenders are no longer comfortable with virtual currencies. This has led to issues with deposits and withdrawals. (Read More) Coinbase Wants Wall Street to Resolve Its Bitcoin Trust Issues; Bloomberg
A cheer went up in the San Francisco offices of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc. when bitcoin breached $10,000 in November. But the 225-employee startup has a goal beyond price. The company wants to use digital money to reinvent finance. (Read More) Beyond Bitcoin: How Technology Could Help Fix Our Broken Financial System; Scientific American On a spring day more than 5,000 years ago in the Mesopotamian city of Ur, a foreign merchant sold his wares in exchange for a large bundle of silver. He didn't want to carry the bundle home because he knew he'd be back in Ur again to buy grain at the end of harvest season. Instead the merchant walked to the local temple, where valuables were often stored, and asked the priest to hold onto the silver for him. (Read More) Hyperledger’s Sizzle Cools As Members Downgrade Memberships; PYMTS Hyperledger, the blockchain consortium, has seen more than 15 members either reduce their financial stake in the group or quit during the course of the past few months, reported Reuters. (Read More) About $30M In Cryptocurrency Just Went Up In Hacker Smoke; PYMNTS.com
CoinDesk reports that a now-deleted post on the Tether site said the firm had been hit by a “malicious action by an external attacker” that resulted in the tokens being boosted. The removed post also reportedly reflected Tether’s efforts to recover the lost tokens before they filtered into the broader digital currency marketplace (and are presumably lost forever). (Read More) SBI to use blockchain for smart contracts and KYC by next month; The Economic Times India's largest lender State Bank of India will roll out beta launches of blockchain-enabled smart contracts by next month, according to Sudin Baraokar, head of innovation, SBI. Blockchain-enabled Know Your Customer (KYC) will soon follow suit. These applications are part of BankChain, a community of 27 banks, which have joined hands to explore and build blockchain solutions for banking. (Read More) Ripple boss predicts central bank adoption of blockchain; Finextra Central banks will use distributed ledger technology (DLT) to settle high-value interbank payments within the next five to ten years, predicts the chief executive of Ripple. (Read More) Bye-Bye Bitcoin: Morocco Bans Cryptocurrencies; Morrocco World News A few days after the digital services company MTDS announced that it would accept Bitcoin as payment for the first time in the kingdom, Morocco’s Foreign Exchange Office and central bank have issued a public statement stating that transactions made via cryptocurrencies are banned and will be punishable by fines. (Read More) Overstock.com to launch massive ICO; AXIOS
E-commerce veteran Overstock.com is planning to sell up to 500 million digital tokens via an initial coin offering that will launch next month, CEO Patrick Byrne announced today at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas. (Read More) Bitcoin Pioneer Says New Coin to Work on Many Blockchains; Bloomberg Jeff Garzik, one of a handful of key developers who helped build the underlying software for bitcoin that is known as blockchain, has seen its shortcomings firsthand. So he decided to create a better digital currency. (Read More) Sony Seeks Blockchain Patent for User Authentication System; Coindesk Released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Oct. 26, the document outlines how the electronics maker might use two different blockchain platforms in conjunction with each other as part of a multi-factor authentication system (MFA). (Read More) Blockchain Needs To Cover More Ground, Says Gates Foundation Rep; BlockTribune Bitcoin and other blockchain technology does offer an innovative and modern way of aiding financial-related transactions, but is far from perfect, according to Gates Foundation Deputy Director for Financial Services Kosta Peric. (Read More) Japanese banks plot national digital currency; Finextra
Japanese banks are fighting back against the threat from China's Alibaba with plans to introduce their own digital currency in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. (Read More) Barclays Joins CLS Blockchain Consortium in Search of Swift Alternative; Coindesk Barclays has become the latest major financial institution to join the foreign exchange-focused blockchain consortium founded by cash settlement system provider CLS Group. Revealed today, the London-based bank will now work alongside the group's other members, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of China, in a bid to bring new levels of efficiency and security to the forex settlements industry. First revealed last year, the CLS consortium specifically aims to use the open-source Hyperledger Fabric blockchain to create new channels for foreign exchange. (Read More) Uruguayan Central Bank to Test Digital Currency; Latin American Herald Tribune The head of the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) announced on Wednesday a plan to explore the creation of digital currency. “We are fairly close to launching from BCU a pilot program for a limited number of digital-currency users, which is an experiment in transforming physical bills into electronic ones,” Mario Bergara said. (Read More) Mastercard Hints at Plans for Blockchain Settlement System; Coindesk The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a new application from the financial giant this week that outlines a solution for a "uniform settlement system" – one that would help ease some of the friction involved with business-to-business payments. Specific issues cited in the application include growing data storage demands and the overall volume of transactions. (Read More) Square founder Jack Dorsey talks bitcoin and says blockchain is the ‘next big unlock’; The Verge
If you’ve been hearing or reading a lot about blockchain but you still aren’t entirely certain how to define it, you’re not alone. It’s something that Jack Dorsey, the chief executive officer and chairman of Square (and CEO of Twitter), describes as the “next big unlock,” something that, he notes, is normally applied to accounting terms but has the potential to “be applied to so much more.” (Read More) BankThink Community banks stand to gain from blockchain — if they work together; American Banker Blockchain is poised to disrupt financial services and beyond. For community bankers, this is a good thing so long as we start thinking about the ways we can benefit from distributed ledger technology sooner rather than later. In some respects, this will mean pooling our efforts. (Read More) Coinbase raises $100M at a $1.6B valuation amid explosive growth; TechCrunch It may be hard to remember, but at the beginning of 2017 the cryptocurrency world was a different place. Bitcoin was below $1000 per coin and the entire market cap for all cryptocurrencies was about 7x less than it is today. Since then, the market has surged. And as arguably the most established wallet and exchange service that exists today, Coinbase has been in the right place at the right time to capitalize on the excitement in the industry. (Read More) $110 Million: BTC-e Fined as US Vows Crackdown on Bitcoin Exchanges; Coindesk
The US government has unsealed an indictment against BTC-e and one of its alleged operators, levying a $110 million fine for violations allegedly committed by the long-running bitcoin exchange. In the 21-count indictment released earlier this evening, the Department of Justice alleged that BTC-e and Alexander Vinnik, the Russian national who was arrested earlier today in Greece and later linked to the long-running exchange, committed a laundry list of crimes throughout the exchange's six-year history. (Read More) The SEC has finally weighed in on the crypto-token frenzy, and nobody’s going to jail—yet; QUARTZ The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday found that the “initial coin offering” last May that kickstarted the current cryptotoken gold-rush was subject to US securities laws. That means the token sale, for something called the Decentralized Autonomous Organization, was an unregistered securities offering, which is prohibited under US law. (Read More) Bitcoin Options Will Be Available This Fall; Bloomberg The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission granted LedgerX LLC, a cryptocurrency trading platform operator, registration as a clearing house for derivatives contracts settling in digital currencies, according to a statement by the regulators Monday. With the approval, LedgerX is set to become the first federally regulated digital currency options exchange and clearinghouse in the U.S. as interest and volatility in the method of exchange surges. (Read More) Blockchain Payments Startup Veem Integrates with Intuit QuickBooks; Coindesk
Intuit QuickBooks customers can now send international payments via blockchain payment provider Veem as an alternative to traditional wire transfers. Announced yesterday at Money2020 Europe, the integration is aimed at helping accounting professionals streamline operations, while reducing fees. Veem claims users of the service will now be able to obtain such services at a reduced cost, as opposed to paying $40–$50 through alternative payments providers. (Read More) Razer makes virtual currency push with $20M investment in Asian payment firm; TechCrunch Razer has invested close to $20 million into Malaysia-based online payment firm MOL Global as part of a push to establish its virtual currency for gamers in Asia. The deal sees Razer subsidiary ZV-Midas buy equity from existing backers MOL Investment and Hotel Resort Enterprise in a deal that values the MOL Global business at around the $100 million mark. (Read More) Gemalto Seeks to Patent Method for Secure Blockchain Identity; Coindesk Digital security vendor Gemalto is looking to stake its claim in the burgeoning blockchain identity sector. According to a patent application recently published by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Gemalto is seeking to protect a method for securing a user's trusted identity by using paired public and private keys, and creating blockchain transactions to store, verify and retrieve identity information. (Read More) Bitcoin just surged past $2,000 for the first time; TechCrunch
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency is now worth over $2,000 per coin. That’s according to a range of bitcoin exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken. That valuation puts the total market cap of bitcoin — the total number of coins in circulation — at $32.92 billion. (Read More) From Kill Switch To Bitcoin, 'WannaCry' Showing Signs Of Amateur Flaws; NPR Cops have a decent shot at catching run-of-the-mill online scammers — say, the guy selling a car that's just too good to be true on Craigslist. But catching ransomware attackers is generally much more difficult — unless they slip up. (Read More) Xapo to Pass On Bitcoin Network Fees to Users; Coindesk Bitcoin wallet provider Xapo has told its customers that they will soon have to pay the network fees for outbound transactions from their accounts. (Read More) BBVA Taps Blockchain to Make International Payments in Seconds; Bloomberg
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Spain’s No. 2 lender, has executed its first cross-border payments through a system based on the software that supports bitcoin, the company announced Friday. Using a program built by Ripple, a San Francisco firm, BBVA has transferred about 50 euro-denominated payments to Mexico from Spain in seconds. Such transactions normally take up to four days to clear, the bank said. (Read More) Blockchain for IoT: Promising, But Caution Needed; CoinDesk Joe Pindar is CTO and director of product strategy at Gemalto, where he formulates roadmaps and prioritizes development to align the digital security provider with market trends. In this opinion piece, Pindar argues that while emerging blockchain technologies will gain traction in Internet of Things (IoT) applications, more work is needed to realize opportunities. (Read More) Bitcoin miners have collectively earned more than $2 billion; QUARTZ Media Bitcoin mining has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Bitcoin miners have collectively earned over $2 billion in revenue since the cryptocurrency was established in 2008, according to an estimate from a new report published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. (Read More) Circle Urges User Caution As Bitcoin Hard Fork Looms; CoinDesk
Payments startup Circle suggested in an email to users today that, in order to avoid the potential negative consequences of a hard fork on the network, they may want to to sell their bitcoins. (Read More) Keep Calm and Bitcoin On? Developers Aren't Worrying About a Fork; CoinDesk Amidst one of the more turbulent phases of bitcoin's two-year scaling debate, calm and collected might not seem like adjectives you'd use to describe bitcoin developers. (Read More) This Bitcoin Botnet is Vying to Be Future of Secure IoT; CoinDesk Strong claims need strong proof, so when the founders of NeuroMesh described their bitcoin-based product as an "unhackable botnet", there were a lot of questions to be asked. (Read More) SAP Ariba Inks Blockchain Supply Chain Partnership With Everledger; CoinDesk SAP Ariba, the US software and IT firm owned by tech giant SAP, has integrated its services with blockchain startup Everledger. (Read More) Swift is Recruiting Banks for Blockchain Tests; CoinDesk
Global financial messaging service provider Swift is seeking to recruit other financial institutions to join its ongoing blockchain R&D initiative. (Read More) Bank of Canada: Digital Currencies Need Regulation to Succeed; CoinDesk Researchers from Canada's central bank argue that private digital currencies like bitcoin won't succeed in the long-term without some kind of government involvement. (Read More) State Bank of India Launches New Blockchain Finance Consortium; CoinDesk India’s largest bank is spearheading a newly unveiled consortium focused on blockchain applications. (Read More) JP Morgan, Santander Said to Join New Ethereum Blockchain Group; CoinDesk Dubbed Enterprise Ethereum, the project's founding membership is said to include major financial institutions, tech giants and natural resources companies. According to sources, participating firms include JP Morgan, CME Group, BNY Mellon, Banco Santander, Microsoft, Red Hat, Cisco, Wipro and British Petroleum, among others. (Read More) Blockchain Can Fundamentally Reshape Banking Says Bank Of England Governor Mark Carney; Blockchain News
Speaking at the Deutsche Bundesbank G20 conference on “Digitising finance, financial inclusion and financial literacy”, Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney said that the BoE is looking into the policy and technical issues posed by Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and developing Blockchain proof-of-concepts. (Read More) PayCommerce Transacts the First Live Real-Time Cross-Border Payment, Clearing and Settlement, Leveraging Its Federated Ledger™ Technology PayCommerce, the leading enterprise cross-border payments network and banking consortium for payments disbursement and acceptance; today announced the completion of its real-time, cross-border payment, clearing and settlement testing. It is the first phase of its multi-country global roll out strategy. (Read More) Blockchain Wallets Are Coming (Maybe Soon) to a Car Near You; CoinDesk It's no secret cars have become more connected, but a new concept from a trio of big-name institutions is taking today's futuristic ideas further with a new blockchain prototype that envisions how transportation could be driven by automated payments. (Read More) Making Blockchain Real for Enterprises: The Importance of Tokenization; CoinDesk
Julio Faura is Head of R&D and Innovation for Banco Santander, and is one of the bank's key leaders on blockchain technology development. In this CoinDesk 2016 in Review feature, Faura looks back on what he calls a "remarkable" year for blockchain development in the financial industry, and examines the challenges ahead for 2017. (Read More) Bitcoin’s price is surging again, but there’s another measure that really shows its value; QZ.com The value of a single bitcoin has skyrocketed this year, and hit $874 today (Dec. 22). It’s not the highest price ever for bitcoin, which traded at $1,165 in November 2013. But with the 2016 rally, the cryptocurrency has achieved a different but related milestone: The value of all bitcoin in circulation is now at an all-time high. (Read More) BNP Paribas applies blockchain technology to corporate payments; Finextra BNP Paribas has completed its first live cross-border B2B payments between corporate clients using blockchain technology. (Read More) 6 Takeaways From CoinDesk's Q3 State of Blockchain; CoinDesk
CoinDesk's Q3 2016 State of Blockchain report summarizes key trends, data and events in the public and enterprise blockchain sectors from the third quarter of 2016. (Read More) Blockchain startup R3 cuts fund-raising target to $150 million; Reuters Blockchain company R3 CEV has reduced the amount it aims to raise from bank members in its first large round of equity funding to $150 million from $200 million and is changing the structure of the deal, according to a person familiar with the plans. R3, a New York-based startup that runs a consortium of more than 70 financial institutions, now plans to give bank members a 60 percent equity stake in exchange for the funding, the source said. (Read More) Santander Quits R3 Blockchain Consortium; CoinDesk The news comes hours after it was revealed that Goldman Sachs, one of the original 12 members of the consortium effort, would depart the group. At press time, Goldman Sachs has not yet stated its reason for leaving, though it is known R3 is now soliciting as much as $150m in funding from its members. (Read More) China Pushes for Blockchain Cooperation With New Research Report; CoinDesk
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has published a new white paper that explores various applications of the technology. Its release this week coincided with a forum on blockchain hosted by the Chinese government aimed at encouraging cooperation among industry stakeholders and members of the country's business community, according to a speech by Ministry Secretary Xie Shaofeng. (Read More) Visa Introduces International B2B Payment Solution Built on Chain’s Blockchain Technology; Presss Release Blockchain infrastructure helps to deliver a faster, more transparent way for corporate clients to exchange payments across the world. (Read More) Social payments app Circle adds two more European markets; TechCrunch Circle has lit up two more European markets as it works to rapidly build out its presence in the region. Users of the P2P payments app in Spain and Ireland can now connect any Spanish or Irish bank account to the app to send and receive money within their own countries and across borders (with native Euro support in those markets). (Read More) IBM, China UnionPay Develop Blockchain Loyalty Points Exchange; CoinDesk
IBM is working with a Chinese credit card company to to create a blockchain-based system for trading loyalty points. (Read More) US Central Bank Chair: Blockchain Could Have 'Significant' Impact; CoinDesk During an appearance before a House of Representatives committee hearing today, Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen remarked that the US central bank is “trying to understand” financial technologies like cryptocurrencies and blockchain. (Read More) Blockchain Adoption Moving Rapidly in Banking and Financial Markets: Some 65 Percent of Surveyed Banks Expect to be in Production in Three Years; Press Release Commercial blockchain solutions are rapidly being adopted throughout banking and financial markets, dramatically faster than initially expected, finds two new IBM (NYSE: IBM) studies. Fifteen percent of banks and 14 percent of financial market institutions interviewed by IBM intend to implement full-scale, commercial blockchain solutions in 2017. Mass adoption isn’t that far behind with roughly 65 percent of banks expecting to have blockchain solutions in production in the next three years. (Read More) 8 R3 Banks Test Intel Blockchain Platform; CoinDesk A group of eight R3 member-banks have successfully tested a blockchain prototype that simulated the exchange of US Treasury bonds. (Read More) Ethereum Scaling Advances With 'First' Off-Blockchain Payments; CoinDesk
A team of ethereum developers has successfully completed what they say is the first off-blockchain transaction on the decentralized application network. (Read More) Bank of America, HSBC Unveil Blockchain Supply Chain Project; CoinDesk Banking giants Bank of America and HSBC have teamed up with the Singapore government’s IT and telecom agency on a project that applies blockchain to trade finance. (Read More) Marwan Forzley, Align Commerce, and the Evolution of Blockchain Business; Payments News Bitcoin’s reliability and transaction-level security has inspired today’s explosion of blockchain pilots, companies, and consortia. But the bitcoin rails already have solid commercial applications. (Read More) Central Bank Digital Currencies Could Boost GDP, Bank of England Says; CoinDesk
The Bank of England has released new research suggesting that a central bank-issued digital currency could lead to an increase in gross domestic product. (Read More) JPMorgan: Blockchain Tech is an ‘Opportunity’ for Asset Managers; CoinDesk A new report from JPMorgan Chase and consultancy firm Oliver Wyman argues that blockchain technology presents an opportunity for asset managers. (Read More) BNP's Ex-Blockchain Lead is Now Coding Smart Contracts for Clearinghouses; CoinDesk Even if centralized clearinghouses are eventually built into or replaced by a blockchain, some services will inherently require the aid of a middleman, according to Collin Platt, the former lead blockchain developer at BNP Paribas who earlier this year launched his own blockchain startup to test this market thesis. (Read More) A $79 million cryptocurrency heist just happened, and it’s threatening the future of blockchains; Quartz
The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is a radical experiment in crowdsourced investing, and it raised over $150 million in ether, a cryptocurrency that’s starting to rival bitcoin. The funds were stored at an address on the ethereum blockchain (the protocol underpinning ether) where they would sit until members of the DAO decided how they wanted to spend these funds, by collectively voting on proposals put before them. (Read More) Blockchain technology: Redefining trust for a global, digital economy; Medium.com It seems everyone is talking about blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Google Trends data show that searches for the word “blockchain” have exponentially increased. News articles tout the blockchain’s unique “digital ledger technology” as a solution for everything from bypassing Wall Street’s rent-seeking middlemen to reforming developing-world democracy. (Read More) Bitcoin Hits Two-Year High Ahead of Key Event; The Wall Street Journal The price of the digital currency bitcoin hit a two-year high, trading above $700 on Monday morning after it spiked 21% over the weekend as traders raced in front of an unusual event called the “halving,” an adjustment to bitcoin’s protocol designed to control the creation of new coins. (Read More) New York Regulators Grant Second BitLicense to Ripple; CoinDesk Nearly nine months after the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued its first BitLicense, it has awarded a second to distributed ledger startup Ripple. (Read More) World’s largest payments network Visa plans blockchain push from India; The Economic Times
Visa , the world's largest payments network, is planning to ramp up its brand new technology centre in India significantly in the near term and have up to 1,000 employees at the centre, even as it looks to aggressively tap into the local startup ecosystem for disruptive ideas, a top company executive said in an interview. (Read More) The Top 5 Takeaways from CoinDesk’s State of Blockchain Q1 2016; CoinDesk The first quarter of 2016 saw a number of notable changes in the blockchain industry, the most obvious and contentious of which may have been the evolving language used to describe the industry itself. (Read More) Thunder, Lightning and Interledger; Press Release It’s still very early to tell, but on first appraisal, it looks like Blockchain has taken a great stride in fixing a major limiting factor of Bitcoin and one that made it very difficult to use Bitcoin with Interledger; transaction speed. (Read More) Confused By Blockchain? Separating Revolution from Evolution; CoinDesk In this article, Lewis attempts to explain the difference between the revolutionary disruptive innovation of bitcoin and the evolutionary innovations of blockchain industry workflow tools. (Read More) Barclays' Smart Contract Templates heralds first ever public demo of R3's Corda platform; International Business Times
The Smart Contract Templates application developed by Barclays has heralded the first ever public demonstration of the R3 Corda "fabric" for shared banking ledgers, which took place before an audience of over 800 people at The O2 in London. (Read More) Airbnb just brought on a team of bitcoin experts from a tiny startup; Business Insider ChangeCoin was best known for letting people tip each other with bitcoin, but now the majority of its team has joined home-rental startup Airbnb. (Read More) State of Delaware Unveils Blockchain Initiative to Leverage Potential of Smart Contracts; Press Release Governor Jack Markell announced today the establishment of the Delaware Blockchain Initiative, a suite of programs that aims to encourage expanded use and development of distributed ledger and smart contract technologies by Delaware-incorporated businesses. (Read More) Ripple Continues Global Growth With New London Office to Serve European Bank Demand; Press Release
Ripple, the global provider of financial settlement solutions, today announced the opening of its European headquarters to better serve growing bank demand in the region. The office will be located in London, and led by newly appointed Managing Director of Europe, Daniel Aranda. New hire and industry veteran Patricia Pittomvils will join him as Sales Director of Europe. (Read More) It’s Not All About the Benjamins: IEEE Global Cybersecurity Survey Reveals Death of Cash by 2030; Press Release IEEE, the world’s largest professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, today announced the findings of an online survey that detail more than 1,900 technology enthusiasts’ views on digital safety and the future of cybersecurity. According to the results, when asked what year mobile payments would be secure enough to the point where traditional methods (such as cash and credit cards) would no longer be required, 70 percent of respondents indicated a major shift by 2030. (Read More) 21 Inc’s Bitcoin Vision Becomes Clearer With Announcement of Ping21; Bitcoin Magazine 21 Inc has announced the launch of ping21, a service that allows users to check the uptime or latency of any given website from Bitcoin Computers on the 21 network. This is the first release in a series of projects related to the Internet of Things that the company plans to release in the coming weeks. (Read More) How Can Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology Play a Role in Building Social and Solidarity Finance? UNRISD
The decentralized digital currency Bitcoin—and its underlying “blockchain” technology—has created much excitement in the technology community, but its potential for building truly empowering social and solidarity-based finance has yet to be tested. This paper provides a primer on the basics of Bitcoin and discusses the existent narratives about the technology’s potential to facilitate remittances, financial inclusion, cooperative structures and even micro-insurance systems. (Read More) Why Microsoft Wants 'Every Blockchain' on its Azure Platform; CoinDesk While Microsoft tested the waters with bitcoin at the tail end of 2014, the tech giant appears poised to be a far bigger player in the burgeoning market for solutions that harness its underlying blockchain technology. (Read More) ASX Details Blockchain Strategy in Financial Update; CoinDesk The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has revealed new details about its effort to innovate in the Australian equities market with blockchain technology. (Read More) MasterCard on blockchain: 'We don't want to be blindsided'; Business Insider
Blockchain, the technology that underpins bitcoin, is one of the most exciting areas of technology at the moment. It has the potential to strip out huge amounts of administrative costs, and companies around the globe are signing up to get a piece of the action through consortiums and direct investment. (Read More) Blockchain raises fundamental questions; Financial Times Blockchain — which is seen by many as the next big thing in the financial service sector — has many potential uses, from transforming money to modernizing the banking system to digitizing legal processes. Many of these uses raise questions about a changing relationship between the individual and government, but the debate is complicated by misunderstandings about how the technology works. (Read More) Relax, The Slowdown In Bitcoin Investment Isn’t As Bad As It Looks; mattermark After a surprising rally in the final months of 2015, bitcoin is back in the public discourse — and not for positive reasons. Following the very public exit of prominent bitcoin developer Mike Hearn, a flurry of news stories came to life. His comments became instant fodder for all sorts of hot takes rapid commentary. Unsurprisingly, Hearn’s argument that bitcoin is a failed experiment proved controversial. You can weigh the importance of Hearn’s decision yourself. (Read More) Moving Hyperledger to the Linux Foundation; Press Release Last month we demonstrated Digital Asset's commitment to open source by moving Hyperledger to the independent Linux Foundation. We are excited to collaborate with global leaders across finance and technology: Accenture, ANZ Bank, Cisco, CLS, Credits, Deutsche Börse, DTCC, Fujitsu Limited, IC3, IBM, Intel, J.P. Morgan, London Stock Exchange Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, R3, State Street, SWIFT, VMware, and Wells Fargo. (Read More) How Blockchain Will Transform Business and Society; Press Release
The Linux operating system started as a gleam in the eye of a Finnish university student, Linus Torvalds, who simply wanted to find a better way to connect his new PC to his school’s computer system. Now it’s one of the underpinnings of the 21st century economy. Linux is all the proof we need of the power of open source software to change the world. (Read More) 10 New Bank of America Cryptocurrency Patents Published; CoinDesk The US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) published 10 patent applications yesterday that were filed by Bank of America in June of last year. To date, Bank of America has submitted 11 patent applications related to cryptocurrencies, suggesting that the firm may be looking to build, or at least conceptualize, a fully realized cryptocurrency network. Today's release follows the publication of a patent application for a cryptocurrency wire transfer system in September. (Read More) Bitcoin soars 25 percent, above $500 for first time since Aug. 2014; REUTERS
Bitcoin soared over 25 percent on Wednesday to hit $500 for the first time since August last year, with demand from China cited as behind the surge in the web-based "cryptocurrency". (Read More) Heartland CEO: Blockchain Could Power Trillions in Bank Transactions; CoinDesk It’s the first thing Heartland CEO Bob Carr says as he sits down in the media room at Money20/20, the modern white leather couch clashing with his holiday sweater. We’re talking about the buzz around the bitcoin blockchain, the technology’s decentralized ledger, and how it relates to the future of his New Jersey-based payments firm. (Read More) MoneyGram: Bitcoin Will Fail to Disrupt Remittances; CoinDesk About halfway through the conversation at Money20/20, discussion turns to Kodak.It’s not without merit. The photography giant once boasted more than 145,000 employees and $16bn in global revenues, but its empire all but crumbled due to rise of digital photography. To digital currency proponents, this shift has been held up as an example of what happens when incumbents fail to innovate when new technologies lead to the creation of new behaviors. (Read More) USAA and Coinbase Partner to Bring Bitcoin to USAA Members; Press Release We’re excited to announce that USAA has launched a pilot that allows a limited group of USAA members to view their bitcoin balance on USAA.com and the USAA Mobile App. This pilot was rolled out to USAA employees in September and is now being extended to a select group of USAA members. (Read More) What's the real worth of a BitLicense? The winner of the first one explains it all; New York Business Journal
Two years after New York initiated its research into bitcoin, the state on Wednesday awarded the first "BitLicense" officially allowing the recipient participate in the business of crypto-money-transmission. (Read More) Banks Embrace Bitcoin’s Heart but Not Its Soul; MIT Technology Review Major financial institutions like some technical features of Bitcoin but are building their own versions that leave out the digital cash and built-in economics. (Read More) With Bitcoin's Price Down, VCs Turning to Blockchain Technology; CoinDesk The rising interest in use cases for bitcoin's underlying distributed ledger, the blockchain, is influencing the investment strategies of venture capitalists, new interviews indicate. (Read More) Get serious about this blockchain thing; Financial Services Club Blog
Having noted that most bankers are now saying bitcoin bad, blockchain good, here’s a nice set of quotes I’ve been gathering of what banks are actually saying. (Read More) Inside the Fight Over Bitcoin’s Future; New Yorker A terrific rumpus broke out in the world of Bitcoin last week, when veteran developers Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn published Bitcoin XT, a competing version of Bitcoin Core, the open-source program that generates new bitcoins, verifies all transactions, and records them on the massive distributed ledger known as the blockchain. (Read More) Gates Foundation's Kosta Peric on Blockchain Tech and the Unbanked; CoinDesk
For Kosta Peric, overcoming finance's last mile means looking for ways to do so from the ground up. As deputy director of the Financial Services for the Poor initiative for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Peric is the forefront of the organization’s efforts to build what he calls a digital financial system that, if successful, would connect everyone to financial services. (Read More) Bitcoin Trends In The First Half Of 2015; coinbase blog It’s already past the halfway mark in 2015 and we thought it would be a good time to provide an overview of the trends that we’re seeing in Bitcoin this year. While the price of bitcoin is down 9% year-to-date, if you look below the surface it is clear that Bitcoin had a strong first half and is making great strides as digital money for people around the world and a payment network for innovation. (Read More) Tourists Are Left in Lurch by Greek Crisis; The all Street Journal
Foreign visitors to Greece might find themselves unable to pay for services or meals as ATMs are running out of cash. (Read More) Cash overtaken by ‘non-cash’ payments in 2014; Payments Council
Figures published today (21 May) show that the total number of cash payments made by consumers, businesses and financial organisations in the UK fell to 48% last year (from 52% in 2013). This is the first time that ‘non-cash’ payments have exceeded those made with cash, reflecting the steady trend to use automated payment methods and debit cards rather than pay by notes and coins. However, cash remains the most popular payment method by volume, followed by the debit card, which accounted for 24% of all payments last year. (Read More) Nasdaq Becomes Latest Firm to Trial Blockchain Technology; CoinDesk Nasdaq OMX Group Inc is reportedly exploring how a blockchain-based solution could change the way shares are transferred and sold manually. The company will trial the technology in Nasdaq Private Market, a capital marketplace launched in January 2014, which sets out to connect private companies and global investors, allowing the latter to purchase shares which may eventually go public before they do so. (Read More) Announcing Xapo's Advisory Board; Xapo Blog Today Xapo is proud to announce the formation of its advisory board with three visionary leaders, Dee Hock, John Reed and Lawrence H. Summers. (Read More) MIT aims to give bitcoin research, development a stable home; beta Boston Bitcoin survived a wild youth marked by drug trafficking, money laundering, theft, bankruptcy, and political spats. Now, the digital currency is getting cleaned up and heading to grad school. (Read More) Indonesians Start to Embrace Bitcoin; The Wall Street Journal Indonesians are increasingly embracing the digital currency known as bitcoin as a payment solution for online transactions and to send and receive money, despite some known flaws. (Read More) The Death of Cash; Could negative interest rates create an existential crisis for money itself? BloombergBusiness
JPMorgan Chase recently sent a letter to some of its large depositors telling them it didn’t want their stinking money anymore. Well, not in those words. The bank coined a euphemism: Beginning on May 1, it said, it will charge certain customers a “balance sheet utilization fee” of 1 percent a year on deposits in excess of the money they need for their operations. That amounts to a negative interest rate on deposits. The targeted customers—mostly other financial institutions—are already snatching their money out of the bank. Which is exactly what Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon wants. The goal is to shed $100 billion in deposits, and he’s about 20 percent of the way there so far. (Read More) Santander InnoVentures Chief on Blockchain Tech's 'Bigger Picture' CoinDesk Financial innovation is the topic of the hour, so it is hardly surprising that banks are being increasingly judged on their capability – and willingness – to implement change. (Read More) Exclusive: IBM looking at adopting bitcoin technology for major currencies; Reuters
International Business Machines Corp is considering adopting the underlying technology behind bitcoin, known as the "blockchain," to create a digital cash and payment system for major currencies, according to a person familiar with the matter. (Read More) FNB Expands Cardless Features With Cardless Cash Withdrawals On App; payments africa FNB announced that the cardless cash withdrawal feature is available on the latest version* of the FNB Banking App. The feature allows customers to withdraw money at an ATM without using their bank cards. (Read More) Ecuador becomes the first country to roll out its own digital cash: CNBC
In 2000, Ecuador moved to ditch its stumbling currency for the U.S. dollar. Now more than 15 years later, the South American country is revamping its monetary system again—using digital currencies. (Read More) Streamlining the Lowly Wallet in a Digital Age; The New York Times At companies like Square, Apple, Google, Amazon and PayPal, to name just a few, some of the smartest programmers in the world are doing everything they can to virtualize cash registers, credit cards, receipts, coupons and probably even pockets. It is not a great time for the old-fashioned wallet. And yet apparently even Square’s founder himself is not quite ready to go out into the world completely devoid of some physical money-carrying device. “Keep it tight,” Jack Dorsey tweeted a while back, with a link that led to the Americana 2.0. (Read More) U.S. Consumers' Holdings and Use of $100 Bills; Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Conventional wisdom asserts that $100 bills are often associated with crime and foreign cash holdings, leading some commentators to call for their elimination; in light of this proposal, it is useful to examine the legal, domestic use of cash. This report uses new data from the 2012 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (DCPC) to evaluate consumer use of $100 bills as a means of payment. (Read More) Fujitsu to Exhibit Integrated Retail Currency Handling and PalmSecure Biometric Solutions at the National Retail Federation Annual Event in New York; Press Release Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc., a leader in innovative technology and front-end solutions will be demonstrating the state-of-the-art G750L bill recycling unit in booth number 1334 during the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Annual 2015 Convention & Expo at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, January 11-13, 2015. The G750L features unparalleled bill validation and counterfeit detection technology combined with the highest reliability in its class. Fujitsu will show how the intelligent integration of currency handling and security solutions can deliver compelling value to retailers. The NRF Annual Convention, “Retail’s Big Show,” is the largest retail event held annually in the world with over 30,000 attendees and over 620 exhibitors expected for this year’s event. (Read More) Mobile Payments Won't Replace Cards And Cash Anytime Soon; InformationWeek
Paper as a currency goes back to the 7th century when the first banknotes were issued in China during the Tang Dynasty. With each of these ideas, it took time and changes to the original form to achieve today's wide acceptance. (Read More) Cashless Society? It’s Already Coming; The New York Times I’ve spent the past few weeks using Apple Pay, the mobile payments app on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as much as possible. I sought out every opportunity to press my thumb to the smartphone’s screen to make a payment at a store. (Read More) With Cardless ATMs And VR, Banks Are Vying To Out-Nerd Each Other For Your Attention; Fast Company Heartbeat passwords, computer goggles, and nagging fridges. But what of the banks' future visions will actually stick? (Read More) |
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