The United States Federal Reserve Board announced Monday that it had finalized guidelines for factors reserve banks are to consider when reviewing requests for Federal Reserve accounts and payment services. The guidelines create a three-tiered review framework with the level of due diligence to be provided depending on the applicant’s risk level. Guidelines were first proposed in May 2021, with a supplemental proposal released in March, and the final guidelines, which come into force after their publication in The Federal Register, are “substantially similar” to them. The Fed said in a statement that: “Institutions that engage in novel activities and …

Nuri, a German start-up crypto bank with 500,000 customers filed for insolvency on Aug. 9, citing major crypto sell-offs, insolvency of Celsius and other crypto funds earlier this year as a reason for the move. The crypto bank said the move will “ensure the safest path forward” for all its customers, but also stressed that the insolvency will not affect its services, customer funds, investments, or the ability for customers to withdraw their assets from the platform. Nuri filed for insolvency on Tuesday, August 9th, 2022. This does not affect our services, customer funds or investments. You can find a …

A survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Board of the United States suggested that the majority of officials at major banks did not consider crypto-related products and services a priority in the near future. According to the results of a Fed survey released on Friday, more than 56% of senior financial officers from 80 banks said distributed ledger technology and crypto products and services were “not a priority” or were “a low priority” for their growth and development strategy for the next two years, while roughly 27% said they were a medium or high priority. However, roughly 40% of respondents …

Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), is down nearly 40% against Bitcoin (BTC) since December 2021. But, even more pain is possible for the ETH/BTC pair in the coming weeks, based on a classic technical indicator. Ethereum price risks technical breakdown The ETH/BTC chart has been forming a bear flag since early June 2022 on the three-day timeframe. In detail, bear flags are considered bearish continuation patterns that form as the price consolidates higher inside a range defined by two ascending parallel trendlines after a sharp decline. They resolve after the price breaks below the lower trendline, i.e., in the direction …

The introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) may increase the stability of a banking system, according to a paper released Tuesday by the United States Treasury Office of Financial Research. This finding counters concerns that a CBDC may encourage runs on weaker banks. According to the Tuesday paper, researchers often claim that the public may in times of financial stress “pull funds out of banks and other financial institutions” meaning that a “CBDC could make runs on financial firms more likely or more severe.” The authors, however, argued that a well-designed CBDC could mitigate that risk and also …

ING Group, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation, has spun out its digital asset business Pyctor to multi-asset trading infrastructure firm GMEX. GMEX has acquired ING’s institutional-grade digital asset custody solution Pyctor in a multi-million dollar deal, the companies said in a joint announcement on Monday. The Pyctor offering compliments GMEX’s MultiHub service, an institutional cross-platform business launched last year with the mission to bridge the gap between centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), GMEX CEO Hirander Misra told Cointelegraph. Pyctor expands MultiHub with a number of digital asset-focused capabilities, including smart contract features, post-trade custodial and …

Prominent economist Peter Schiff, who is well-known in the community for his anti-crypto sentiments, had his bank shut down by Puerto Rico regulators. The revelation, however, led to Crypto Twitter pointing out the “irony” as Schiff’s prediction for Bitcoin (BTC) came true for his own traditional bank. Puerto Rico regulators closed down Schiff’s bank for not maintaining the net minimum capital requirements, which further impacted the customers as they lost access to their accounts following a subsequent freeze. Despite no evidence of crimes, Puerto Rico regulators closed my bank anyway for net capital issues, rather than allow a sale to …

The last 13 years have seen blockchain technology evolve into numerous use cases — finance, data, logistics and security, among others. However, the idea of using blockchain’s immutable capabilities to ID humans got new life when Changpeng “CZ” Zhao visited the island country of Palau to kick off its digital residency program. The blockchain identity management market is estimated to grow by $3.58 billion in the span of five years from 2021 to 2025. Key factors include the rising demand for digitalization and privacy-respecting identity solutions. As a result, a myriad of solutions breached the market serving this need in …

Alameda Research is a cryptocurrency trading firm and liquidity provider founded by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). Before founding his firm in 2017, SBF spent three years as a trader at the quantitative proprietary trading giant Jane Street Capital, which specializes in equity and bonds. In 2019, SBF founded the crypto derivatives and exchange FTX, which has quickly grown to become the fifth-largest by open interest. The Bahamas-based exchange raised $400 million in January 2022 and was valued at $32 billion. FTX’s global derivatives exchange business is separate from FTX US, another entity controlled by SBF, which raised another $400 …

Professional services giant Deloitte is getting increasingly serious about Bitcoin (BTC) amid the ongoing market downturn, setting up a major initiative to promote BTC adoption. Deloitte has partnered with the Bitcoin-focused financial services firm, New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), to help companies of all sizes implement digital assets. According to a joint announcement on Monday, NYDIG and Deloitte are launching a strategic alliance to create a centralized approach for clients seeking advice to adopt Bitcoin products and services. The companies will work together to enable blockchain and digital asset-based services across multiple areas involving Bitcoin-related products, including banking, loyalty …

Global banking network as a DAO Imagining a DAO-based global banking network may seem far-fetched at the moment, but not impossible. If blockchain technology is widely adopted within the financial industry, it is not hard to imagine a future in which banks are run as DAOs. In such a scenario, bank management would be decentralized, with power vested in the hands of the network’s members. Furthermore, the adoption of DAOs will likely result in a more equitable distribution of power within banks and financial institutions. It could lead to a more democratic form of governance, one that can better meet …

The major stablecoin company Tether is looking to eventually get rid of commercial paper backing for its United States dollar-based stablecoin Tether (USDT). Tether issued an official statement on Wednesday to deny reports alleging that Tether’s commercial paper portfolio is 85% backed by Chinese or Asian commercial papers and is being traded at a 30% discount. The stablecoin firm called such allegations “completely false,” reiterating that more than 47% of total USDT reserves are now the “United States Treasuries.” In its latest assurance opinion issued in May, Tether reported that commercial paper makes up less than 25% of USDT’s backing, …