The Carbon Bankroll Report was released on May 17 as a collaboration among the Climate Safe Lending Network, The Outdoor Policy Outfit and Bank FWD. The collaboration made it possible to calculate the emissions generated due to a company’s cash and investments, such as cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. The report revealed that for several large companies, such as Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce, the cash and investments are their largest source of emissions. The energy consumption of the flagship proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain network, Bitcoin, has been a matter of debate in which the network and its participants, especially …

Wyoming based digital asset bank Custodia is suing the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, claiming an “unlawful delay” in processing an application for its master account. Custodia, formerly known as Avanti, was one of the first Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDIs), also known as “blockchain banks,” made under a Wyoming regulatory framework. The bank was founded by Caitlin Long, an early advocate of Bitcoin (BTC) who established the institution in 2020 to provide accounts for crypto companies and serve as a bridge for them to the U.S. dollar payment system. Custodia submitted …

Most people who have dealt with cryptocurrencies in any capacity over the last couple of years are well aware that there are many projects out there offering eye-popping annual percentage yields (APY) these days. In fact, many decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols that have been built using the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol offer ridiculous returns to their investors in return for them staking their native tokens. However, like most deals that sound too good to be true, many of these offerings are out-and-out cash grab schemes — at least that’s what the vast majority of experts claim. For example, YieldZard, a …

Japan is moving forward with legislation regarding the issuance of stablecoins, i.e., digital assets with their value pegged to fiat currencies or stabilized by an algorithm. On Friday, Japan’s parliament passed a bill to ban stablecoin issuance by non-banking institutions, local news agency Nikkei reported. The bill reportedly stipulates that the issuance of stablecoins is limited to licensed banks, registered money transfer agents and trust companies in Japan. The new legislation also introduces a registration system for financial institutions to issue such digital assets and provides measures against money laundering. According to the report, the bill aims to protect investors …

Capital Union, a Bahamas-based bank that reportedly holds a portion of reserves by the Tether (USDT) stablecoin issuer, has been actively involved in the cryptocurrency industry. The banking institution has rolled out crypto trading and custody services to its professional clients as part of the bank's trading desk, a spokesperson for Capital Union told Cointelegraph on Tuesday. “We work with a few selected trading venues and liquidity providers and a handful of custodians and technology providers, which allows us to support a large variety of digital assets as part of our trading and custody services,” the firm's representative said. Capital …

Executives at two of Australia’s “big four” banks have ruled out allowing retail customers to trade cryptocurrency on their platforms, with one reasoning that customers don’t understand “basic financial well-being.” Speaking at the Australian Financial Review Banking Summit on Tuesday Maile Carnegie, executive for retail banking at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), said that from speaking to retail customers, she believed “the vast majority of them don’t understand really basic financial well-being concepts.” “Are we really going to make it easier and less friction and implicitly endorse speculating on crypto when they don’t understand basic financial well-being? The …

On Tuesday, the United States Federal Reserve released a study on the possible effects of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) on U.S. monetary policy implementation. The study, dated April, was a staff working paper titled “Retail CBDC and U.S. Monetary Policy Implementation: A Stylized Balance Sheet Analysis.” The paper considered four scenarios that illustrate the potential effects of a retail CBDC on monetary policy from the perspective of three stakeholder groups: the Fed, commercial banks and U.S. households. The first scenario involved exchanging cash for CBDC, which affected the categorization of assets at the Fed and in the …

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision met Friday and discussed cryptocurrency, among other topics. The committee stated that it would soon publish its second consultative paper with the intention of finalizing guidelines on the prudential treatment of crypto exposure by banks by year-end. In a Tuesday press release, the committee issued the following statement, which was likely in reference to the recent collapse of the Terra ecosystem: “Recent developments have further highlighted the importance of having a global minimum prudential framework to mitigate risks from cryptoassets.” The committee began consultations on the banking sector's risk exposure to cryptocurrency in 2021 …

Panama’s path to crypto adoption is stepping up a gear. Towerbank, a Panamanian financial institution with over 200 employees and 40 years of banking experience, has declared itself Bitcoin-friendly, paving the way for crypto accounts. Gabriel Campa, vice president of product for Towerbank, told Cointelegraph that “We believe that as a bank, we have much to offer to this community,” asserting the group’s status as “crypto-friendly.” “We want to become part of the community and build a service platform together, to satisfy the opportunities arising from their current needs, pains, and priorities. Within the next 90 days, as we implement …

JPMorgan has placed Bitcoin’s (BTC) fair price at $38,000, which is 28% higher than its current level of around $29,500, according to a note the bank issued to clients on Wednesday. “The past month's crypto market correction looks more like capitulation relative to last January/February and going forward we see upside for Bitcoin and crypto markets more generally," the note said. Bank strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou was the lead author of that document. A bank investors’ note placed Bitcoin’s fair value at the same level in February. It was trading around $43,000 at that time. Crypto has surpassed real estate as …

Indian crypto businesses are struggling with the new tax policies as trading volumes have dried up and many established crypto firms are looking to relocate to more crypto-friendly jurisdictions. While many developed countries and even several of its Asian counterparts are actively studying and formulating better crypto regulations, the Indian government has maintained a “blockchain, not crypto” stance. It might seem like the government is taking a cautionary step to focus on the underlying technology while keeping its distance from the volatile and risky crypto market. However, going by the recent policies and statements from the finance minister as well …

Currently, trialogue for the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) and Transfer of Funds (TFR) regulations is underway in the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, which will be concluded in a few weeks. If adopted, the TFR would, according to experts, impose a vast financial surveillance regime on the European decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible token (NFT) and metaverse spaces. This could then lead to companies in those sectors moving elsewhere to avoid regulation. The German DeFi community has not remained silent and has written an open letter to EU decision-makers, which supporters can sign. One of …