Two blockchain-related bills — on tokenization and issues with compliance — have been passed in the United States state of Wyoming on Feb. 19, according to the official website of the state legislature. As Cointelegraph reported, the bill on tokenization, House Bill 185, was introduced on Jan. 16. The bill lays the groundwork for storing so-called certificate tokens representing stocks on a blockchain “or other secure, auditable database,” and permits the digital transfer of them. The bill is sponsored by Representatives Olsen, Brown, Hunt, Lindholm, Western and Zwonitzer and Senators Driskill and Rothfuss and is set to become effective on …

New York-based fintech company TrueDigital Holdings (TDH) announced the appointment of former Bridgewater Associates chief operating officer Thomas Kim as its new CEO through a post on its website on Feb. 19. Before his time at Bridgewater Associates, which had almost $125 billion assets under management in 2018, Kim worked at now-defunct global financial services firm Lehman Brothers in charge of the Townsend Analytics Electronic Trading franchise. According to today’s post, Kim will manage TrueDigital’s existing initiatives, such as the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) swaps planned for this year. In January of this year, blockchain platform Qtum also announced that …

Japan’s central bank has examined the role of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the current monetary system in a report released on Feb. 19. In the document, the bank describes the possible ways to implement a CBDC and the hypothetical consequences of different approaches. The report divides possible CBDCs in two categories, the first being those accessible to the general public in a form like banknotes, and the other as those limited for large-value settlements. The source of this categorization is attributed to the report released by the Bank for International Settlements in March 2018, which divided CBDCs in …

Terry Duffy, CEO of leading derivative market CME Group, has said that until governments start to accept cryptocurrencies, it is very difficult for major commercial banks to get involved in the market. Duffy made his comments during an interview with Bloomberg published on Feb. 14. When asked if Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has hit its bottom, Duffy said that he is not sure. The interviewer also brought attention to the JPM Coin, the cryptocurrency soon to be launched by United States banking giant JPMorgan to increase settlement efficiency, as recently reported by Cointelegraph. Duffy outlined a change in JPMorgan Chase’s attitude …

Major Philippines bank Union Bank is launching the country’s first two-way cryptocurrency ATM, local media outlet Philstar reported Feb. 6. The move will reportedly let customers buy and sell cryptocurrencies for cash via the ATM as part of the bank’s “sandbox” — a framework for conducting experiments in a controlled environment. The report did not specify which digital currencies will be supported in the experiment. According to Philstar, the system complies with current regulations and is the result of a collaboration between Union Bank and the country’s central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The article cites a statement released …

Henri Arslanian, the Asia fintech and crypto leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Hong Kong, has predicted that many institutional players will enter the crypto industry in 2019. Arslanian made this claim during an interview with Bloomberg published on Dec. 24. When asked about his outlook on crypto for the next year, Arslanian said that he thinks “there’s a lot of exciting things that the crypto ecosystem is looking forward to in 2019.” Arslain explained that he expects the next year to be different from 2018 because of the increasing regulatory clarity. Arslanian also declared that he expects “many more big banks” …

Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group plans to introduce a digital currency to be used for remittances and payments in March, English-language Asian media Nikkei reports Dec. 26. According to the article, the fees that the retail shops will be required to pay for accepting the currency will be significantly lower than the fees charged for credit card usage. The transfer of funds back and forth between the digital wallet and the bank account will reportedly be free, as will be sending funds to other users. Furthermore, according to Nikkei, the bank brought “about 60 regional banks on board” to promote cashless …

Crypto-friendly fintech startup Revolut has obtained a banking license in Lithuania, technology news outlet TechCrunch reported Dec. 12. As the report states, the startup obtained a license through the Bank of Lithuania and “is leveraging passporting rules to operate in other European countries.” The mentioned “passport rules” are laws permitting the operation of banks that are part of the European free market on the territory of other member states. In the coming months, Revolut’s users in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Poland are expected to get a “true current account and a non-prepaid debit card.” Additionally, users’ deposits will …

The director and chief executive of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has expressed concerns about cryptocurrencies and disintermediation, English-language Nigerian news outlet The Sun reported Dec. 12. Disintermediation is when consumers begin investing directly in markets, rather than through intermediates like banks. The NDIC was established in 1988 to ensure safety in the just-liberalized banking sector. This corporation has a supervisory role over insured banks and it reports to the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Finance. During an NDIC forum, Ibrahim Umaru described his concerns about Bitcoin (BTC), disintermediation and fintech in general: “The partial disintermediation of the banking system …

The Department of Financial Services of New York (NYDFS) has authorized a blockchain-based digital platform offered by a local bank, an official NYDFS press release states Dec. 4. NYDFS superintendent Maria T. Vullo announced today that the department authorized New York-based Signature Bank to offer its digital payment platform Signet in the state. The approved system reportedly uses blockchain technology to allow the bank clients to “transfer ‘Signets’ to make payments with no transaction fees, at any time of the day, year-round.” The system purportedly allows funds “to be transferred in real-time between two commercial clients of Signature Bank, eliminating …

Sberbank and Interros Group have carried out an over-the-counter OTC foreign exchange repurchase agreement (repo) transaction employing smart contracts on a blockchain, Reuters Russia reports Nov. 30. The Interros Group is a Moscow-based private equity firm founded by Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin in 1990, with stakes in Norilsk Nickel, pharmaceutical company Petrovax Pharm, and ski resort development firm Rosa Khutor. Head of global markets department and vice president at Sberbank, Andrei Shemetov, informed Reuters that the transaction is real, legally binding, and has been “concluded in electronic format using a smart contract and digital signatures through the IT platform of …

Stablecoin Tether (USDT) should create more “transparency” about its operations, cryptocurrency investor and entrepreneur Michael Novogratz told Bloomberg Oct. 18. Speaking in an interview, Novogratz, whose Galaxy Digital investment company is active in the cryptocurrency space, said he favored alternative stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar with known U.S. banking connections. “I think Tether didn’t do a great job in terms of creating transparency," he told the publication discussing Tether’s offshore activities. “The concept of stablecoins makes sense,” Novogratz nonetheless countered, singling out the Winklevoss twins’ Gemini Dollar, which launched in September. Tether has found itself at the source of …