On June 3, the Utility Settlement Coin (USC) project, one of the most ambitious crypto-based initiatives in mainstream finance, announced that it had taken the next step in its progression: the creation of a new company called Fnality International and the completion of a 50 million British pound ($63.2 million) Series A financing round. The momentum for USC has been growing since 2015, when the initiative was launched by financial giants UBS, BNY Mellon, NEX, Santander and Deutsche Bank, along with blockchain startup Clearmatics. It’s important to note that USC is not a digital currency that individuals can invest in …

Fintech startup SoFi — known for its online lending services — has seen three of its top executives depart from the company, the Wall Street Journal reports on June 4. As Cointelegraph reported at the time, SoFi partnered with major United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase in February to roll out crypto trading support. Per the WSJ report, head of risk, Kevin Moss, the lender’s top capital markets executive, Ashish Jain, and marketing chief, Joanne Bradford, recently told CEO Anthony Noto about their plans to abandon their positions. All three have reportedly been working at the company before Noto took place …

Dutch bank Rabobank has reportedly canceled its plans to develop a cryptocurrency wallet, technology news outlet The Next Web states on May 23. As Cointelegraph reported, the bank had announced a cryptocurrency wallet service dubbed “Rabobit” as a part of the Rabobank Moonshot fintech innovation program in February last year. Still, a spokesperson of the bank reportedly told the outlet that: “After careful consideration with our customers in mind we recently decided that now is not the time to develop the idea further and bring it to the next phase of innovation.” The Rabobank representative also reportedly stated that the …

Dutch bank ABN AMRO announced that it is launching a blockchain inventory tracking platform dubbed Forcefield in a press release published on May 17. Per the announcement, the platform is an Internet of Things solution that allows the monitoring of physical trade inventories with sensors and near-field communication chips. Forcefield was developed over the past year as a stand-alone product and became an independent company following a successful proof-of-concept that was conducted with consulting firm Accenture. The bank claims that the system can lead to more secure physical handling processes and a reduction of costs in the management of commodities …

Dutch bank ABN AMRO abandoned its plans to launch a custodial bitcoin (BTC) wallet dubbed “Wallie” because of risk concerns, according to a report published on May 20 by tech news outlet The Next Web. Per the report, the bank’s senior press officer, Jarco de Swart, said in an email to the outlet that the bank decided not to continue its plans after it “concluded that cryptocurrencies because of their unregulated nature are at the moment too risky assets for our clients to invest in.” The rumors concerning alleged tests of the wallet first started spreading in January. Still, according …

Goldman Sachs-backed crypto finance startup Circle has published the latest third-party audit of its USD-pegged stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). The company reported the update in a blog post published on May 17. USD Coin is an Ethereum-based token compliant with the ERC20 standard that was first announced in May last year and released in September. Per this week’s announcement, the audit of the coin’s fiat reserves was conducted by major Chicago-based accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP. The report released by the firm states that as of April 30, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time there were 293,184,174 USDC issued, and …

The company behind the Paxos Standard (PAX) stablecoin announced that its users can now instantaneously redeem unlimited amounts of its tokens for United States dollars. The development was described in a blog post published on May 13. Per the announcement, every PAX deposited on the company’s platform can now be immediately sent as USD to a bank account without minimal redemption requirements or fees for deposits or withdrawals. The company claims: “We launched PAX with a 1 day redemption window, which was groundbreaking. Then we moved to four-hour windows. Now, we’re setting precedence again by offering immediate redemptions today. ” …

A direct descendant of an Italian dynasty that ran a banking empire in the 1400s is launching a new bank focusing on “digital-centric commerce and investing,” according to a news release published on May 8. Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici, president of the eponymous Medici Bank, said he has been motivated by advancements in blockchain technology to start the new venture, which aims to “create seamless, digital customer experiences and expand financial opportunity across global markets.” He argued that little innovation has come from the banking sector ever since his family’s original institution, the Florence-based Banco de’ Medici, pioneered the use …

Dave Ramsden, deputy governor of the United Kingdom’s central bank, has said that crypto assets are too volatile to be a store of value. Ramsden made his comments in an interview with CNBC published on April 30. Bank of England (BOE) deputy governor Ramsden noted that over a year ago, the U.K.’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) had concluded that cryptocurrencies’ volatility meant that they could not be a store of value. Furthermore, the FPC also came to the conclusion that cryptos are not a practical medium of exchange because the cost of the transactions was too high. Ramsden told CNBC …

Saudi British Bank (SABB) has launched an instant cross-border transfer service powered by Ripple, according to a news release on April 25. The bank said the technology, unveiled at the Financial Sector Conference in Riyadh on April 24 and 25, formed part of its “strategic plan towards digital transformation and enriching customer experience.” According to SABB, it was one of the first banks in Saudi Arabia to join Ripple’s network in January 2018. The technology was then successfully activated through a pilot transaction in December 2018 using Indian rupees. Majed Najm, the bank’s deputy managing director of corporate and institutional …

Thailand’s largest commercial bank, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), and state oil company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) performed a successful test of blockchain use for cross-border business-to-business payments. The bank recently announced the successful pilot on its website. Per the announcement, the project, which has been ongoing since mid-2018, aims to optimize operational efficiency. The bank claims that earlier this year, it has successfully carried out payments on blockchain within one minute. The post also points out that conventional methods require a wait of one to two days for the settlement to be carried out. SCB SEVP …

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is expanding the use of its blockchain technology to help reduce the number of global payments rejected by errors, the Financial Times reported on April 21. The United States financial giant is adding new features to its Interbank Information Network (IIN,) which is now used by more than 220 banks around the world. The technology was initially designed to help institutions share payments data in real time — cutting delays in processing times. John Hunter, JPM’s head of global clearing, said it has built a new feature that can instantly verify whether a payment is heading to …