ByteDance, the Beijing-based multinational tech group behind TikTok, is looking into adding banking to its line of products and services. It is currently bidding for a digital bank license in Singapore, according to the Financial Times on Monday. Competition is stiff ByteDance is likely to compete with a few other Asian tech giants including Alibaba’s Ant Financial and electronic leader Xiaomi to obtain one of the five virtual banking licenses that the Monetary Authority of Singapore is about to issue later this year. The news reported, while citing sources familiar with the matter, that the company has applied for one …

A major Turkish bank completed the country’s first-ever international trade finance transaction based on distributed ledger technology, or DLT. This adds another milestone to the country’s increasing blockchain efforts. İşbank, the first Turkish bank to join R3’s Corda platform earlier this year, now became the first bank in Turkey to use blockchain technology on trade finance transactions, Cointelegraph Turkey reported on Jun. 5. Using Corda blockchain technology, İşbank and Commerzbank secured payments by digitally processing the related data transfer. The transaction took place on 27 May 2020 between İşbank, Şişecam, Kuraray Europe GmbH, and Commerzbank AG and supported the trade …

The Philadelphia branch of the United States Federal Reserve has published a new report that warns about the potential effects of issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In the report, the Fed said that — after the introduction of a CBDC — the central bank would become “a deposit monopolist, attracting all deposits away from the commercial banking sector.” This monopolization could endanger maturity transformation, according to the Fed, which is the practice of financial institutions borrowing money on shorter time frames than they lend it out. The Federal Reserve also states that if competition from commercial banks is impaired, …

Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, a representative from the International Monetary Fund, believes that a synthetic private-public partnership could be the best way forward for a central bank digital currency. Mancini-Griffoli, the IMF’s Monetary capital markets department deputy division chief, joined the Money Movement’s latest live session on May 26. The show, which is hosted by Circle CEO Jeremy Allair, explores various themes relating to economics and technology. Mancini-Griffo said that the idea of creating a CBDC solely backed by a central bank's reserve and completely under the control of a central bank, is outdated. A synthetic private-public partnership CBDC, on the other …

A recent report suggests that the lack of traditional financial infrastructure makes Africa a place where cryptocurrency adoption is likely. The report — shared with Cointelegraph by a Luno representative on May 27 — sheds light on Africa’s financial infrastructure and the role that cryptocurrencies play in it. The author of the research, which was jointly conducted by market analysis firm Arcane Research and crypto exchange, Luno, wrote that the financial landscape seen on the continent plays a role in forming appetite for crypto in Africa: “Although it is a diverse region, African nations share some key similarities and trends. …

Leading cryptocurrency fund manager Grayscale Investments explained some fundamental differences in the nature of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and Bitcoin (BTC). In a recent report, Grayscale suggests that CBDCs are an upgrade to the traditional digital payment infrastructure, while Bitcoin is an upgraded version of money itself. The document reads: “CBDCs are sometimes viewed as synonymous to, or as replacements for, digital currencies like Bitcoin, but they represent a meaningful departure from the decentralized protocols inherent to many cryptocurrencies. CBDCs attempt to upgrade payment infrastructure while Bitcoin is an attempt to upgrade money. If CBDCs gain traction, they may …

The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), an independent global think tank for central banking and economic policy, announced the launch of its Digital Monetary Institute earlier this month. The Institute intends to build bridges between the worlds of digital currencies and traditional banking, and has a focus on payment instruments in wholesale and retail markets, and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Central banks’ interest in digital currency is growing The OMFIF itself has already been publishing in-depth reports on digital currency and CBDCs since 2018. Regarding the key focus of the new Institute, Bhavin Patel, OMFIF’s head of …

Consumer-facing digital currency solutions will not be taken seriously by central banks, according to a Visa executive. Visa head of crypto Cuy Sheffield tweeted on May 18 that he does not believe central banks are interested in providing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) directly to consumers, stating: “If a central bank decides to offer a digital wallet directly to consumers then by default CBDC and the central bank would have to become a household brand but this approach seems unlikely to be taken seriously by most major central banks due to operational challenges.” Sheffield’s remarks follow a report released …

German blockchain banking firm Bitwala has partnered with pioneering decentralized finance, or DeFi, platform Celsius to offer annual interest on Bitcoin (BTC) holdings of up to 4%. Funds deposited from customers who opt to use Bitwala’s Bitcoin Interest Account will be loaned to institutional borrowers via Celsius, earning weekly interest on their Bitcoin in the form of BTC. German blockchain bank integrates Celsius Bitwala frames DeFi as “a new way to generate wealth,” emphasizing the opportunity for passive income to be generated from crypto holdings. Users can deposit from $12 worth of Bitcoin into Bitwala’s interest accounts, and are able …

A number of countries such as China and Sweden are already experimenting with central bank digital currencies, which are also referred to as CBDCs. The implementation of this new type of money requires a number of aspects including technology advancement and specific regulation. According to a key official at the European Central Bank, the main challenge of CBDC is philosophical rather than technological. Yves Mersch, an executive board member at the ECB, has again discussed CBDC issues at an "ask me anything" session hosted by Consensus: Distributed on Monday. At the session, the ECB executive reiterated that the central bank …

Major cryptocurrency event, Consensus 2020, has officially kicked off in virtual mode. Consensus: Distributed, Coindesk’s first ever fully virtual conference, featured European Central Bank (ECB) key legal official, Yves Mersch, as the first speaker. On May 11, ECB board member Mersch delivered an exclusive keynote devoted to central bank digital currencies (CBDC), a central bank digital currency that can be used by consumers. Speaking at 6:45 a.m. ET, the ECB official outlined that the bank is mainly focused on a retail implementation of CBDC. The ECB voices its focus on retail CBDC implementation Opposing retail CBDCs to wholesale central bank …

Swiss crypto broker Bitcoin Suisse is seeking almost 50 million Swiss francs ($51.5 million) in funding to support its plans for expansion into the banking sector. According to a new report published on May 8, the company is telling investors that it could reach unicorn status, i.e. have a valuation of 1 billion francs ($1.03 billion) by 2025. Ambitions to bank Switzerland and the EU The company has already raised 20 million francs ($20.5 million) in an initial funding round, and has now opened funding up to other investors until mid-June. It hopes to secure at least 46 million francs …