On Wednesday, Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, issued the following statement to the Treasury Committee when asked about the risks of the much-unregulated cryptocurrency sector in the country: When we talk about the compensation scheme, we have to draw some pretty clear lines. I would suggest anything is crypto-related should not be entitled to compensations, and consumers should be clear about that when investing. In the passage, Rathi refers to the FCA's Financial Services Compensation Scheme, or FSCS, which pays out compensation to consumers when certain authorized financial institutions cannot meet claims against …
The UK Government's economic and finance ministry, HM Treasury, is recruiting for a Head of central bank digital currency (CBDC) to lead the development of a digital pound. The work is described as "Important, complex, and cross-cutting" and will "require extensive engagement across and beyond the HM Treasury." According to the Linkedin post, the Treasury and the Bank of England are working together through the CBDC Taskforce to explore the case for a digital pound. The role of the Head of CBDC may bring the UK government closer to its aim of rolling out a CBDC. Danny Scott, CEO of …
Famous pizza chain Papa John’s has begun giving away cryptocurrency rewards for customers in the United Kingdom. According to the online offers of Papa John’s in theU.K., pizza lovers can receive 10 euro ($12) worth of Bitcoin (BTC) by spending 30 euro ($36) or more at select locations in the U.K. and Ireland. Users can claim the coins through cryptocurrency exchange Luno before Sunday. Though it was not specified why the BTC offer is available now, the franchise has a notable history with cryptocurrency. On May 22, 2010 — known as Bitcoin Pizza Day — Laszlo Hanyecz became the first …
The Lightning Network (LN) just got a bit faster, as the suitably named Bolt Card now enables Bitcoin (BTC) enthusiasts to pay for goods and services using contactless technology. A data analyst at the company behind the card, CoinCorner, took the Bolt card on a trial run on the Isle of Man, a British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea. “MSW” — as he is known — tapped to pay at more than eight point-of-sale (PoS) devices during his lunchtime investigation. It worked like this: For any PoS device showing a Lightning invoice, MSW simply hovered the NFC-enabled Bolt Card …
What are the pros and cons of accepting Bitcoin payments? Accepting Bitcoin payments is advantageous due to lower fees than credit and debit cards, expansion of customer base and real-time bank balances. However, risks like volatility and cybercrime may undermine these benefits. Cryptocurrency payments help save excessive credit and debit card processing fees as they are decentralized and do not need intermediaries to verify the transaction. Moreover, merchants do not incur overseas currency exchange changes if payments are made in BTC or other cryptocurrencies. High transaction speed is another benefit of accepting Bitcoin payments, allowing businesses to receive payments in …