The largest investment bank in Japan, Nomura, is set to establish a new subsidiary company to help institutional clients invest in cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that people with knowledge of Nomura’s plans said the firm will bring together several crypto services under one single company with a staff of about 100 people by 2023. Nomura is one of Japan’s ten largest banks, with $569 billion in assets under management as of Q1 2022. Nikkei Asia, a Japanese news outlet, reported that the subsidiary company will be established abroad, but the board will start …
The Central Bank of Chile has delayed its plans for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) saying the issuance of a digital Chilean peso requires a deeper analysis of the benefits and risks, promising a new report toward the end of the year. A report from the bank published on May 11 included a preliminary evaluation of a Chilean CBDC. It explored the country’s current payment system, along with the benefits, risks and principles of issuing a digital peso. The bank stated while the current payment system “works adequately” and has been able to “adapt well to recent challenges,” a …
The Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) has put the kibosh on financial institutions offering crypto trading only days after two of the country’s largest banks signaled they were opening up to digital assets. On Thursday, the BCRA said the move was to mitigate the risks crypto poses to users and “to the financial system as a whole,” citing crypto’s high volatility, use in money laundering and absence of regulatory safeguards. The news came hot on the heels of an announcement on Monday from two of the country’s largest banks, Banco Galicia and Brubank, that they would allow their customers to …
LGT Group, a top family-owned private banking and asset management group, is moving into cryptocurrency by launching Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) investments at LGT Bank in Liechtenstein. Managing over $292 billion of assets, LGT Bank has debuted digital asset custody and trading services in cooperation with Swiss cryptocurrency bank Seba, according to a joint announcement released on Wednesday. “LGT Bank has been offering direct investments in Bitcoin and Ether since May. The private bank has entered into a partnership with Seba Bank, which will act as broker and custodian to provide this service,” Seba Bank’s chief marketing officer Sandra …
The crypto community and Wall Street converged last week in Nassau, Bahamas, to discuss the future of digital assets during SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference. The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT) was also co-hosted this year by FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, kicked off Crypto Bahamas with a press conference explaining that the goal behind the event was to merge the traditional financial world with the crypto community: “Crypto Bahamas combines the crypto native FTX audience with the SkyBridge asset management firm audience. We are bringing these two worlds together to create a …
Argentina’s largest and second-largest private banks, Banco Galicia and Brubank, have announced that they will allow customers to make crypto purchases. Bloomberg reported on Monday that a resounding 60% of respondents to an Argentinian poll asked for more access to crypto, which catalyzed the banks’ decisions to begin allowing crypto trading. Affiliate at market research firm Americas Market Intelligence, Ignacio Carballo, tweeted confirmation on Tuesday with screenshots of Banco Galicia’s online interface that it had begun supporting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), USD Coin (USDC) and Ripple (XRP) purchases. .#IMPORTANTE: El Banco Galicia incorpora función de comprar #criptomonedas! Se transforma así …
The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, has said it intends to pursue cease and desist proceedings against cryptocurrency custody bank Anchorage Digital for violating certain Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements. In a Thursday announcement, the OCC said it issued a consent order against Anchorage Digital based on its “failure to adopt and implement a compliance program” in accordance with the required Bank Secrecy Act, or BSA, and AML standards. The government bureau said such actions placed Anchorage Digital in violation of its operating agreement with the OCC, established in January 2021. “The OCC holds all …
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, or APRA, published a letter to regulated entities Thursday setting out risk management expectations and a policy roadmap for the regulation of crypto-assets through 2025. “While activities associated with crypto assets are still relatively limited in Australia, the potential scale and risks of such activities could become significant over time,” chairman Wayne Byres said in the letter. The letter instructed the regulated entities undertaking activities with crypto assets to engage with their supervisory agencies, and it outlined risk management measures and standards specific to a variety of cases. The foreseen regulatory framework encompassed banking exposure …
One of the largest banking institutions in Germany has confirmed that it applied for a local crypto license earlier this year, marking the first time a major bank has made a move toward cryptocurrencies in the country. A spokesperson from Commerzbank confirmed to local media outlet Börsen-Zeitung on April 14 that it “applied for the crypto custody license in the first quarter of 2022.” If approved, it would be authorized to offer exchange services along with custody and protection of crypto-assets. Commerzbank serves over 18 million customers and over 70,000 institutional clients, and the cryptocurrency offering will reportedly target its …
On Tuesday, Silvergate Bank, a crypto-fiat gateway network designed for financial institutions, announced its results for the first quarter of 2022. During this period, its revenue and net income grew by 93% and 94% year-over-year, respectively, to $59.9 million and $24.7 million. The company is most notable for its Silvergate Exchange Network, or SEN, which facilitates U.S. dollar and euro transfers between cryptocurrency exchanges and institutional investors. Despite its growth, however, institutional interest in crypto took a significant hit in Q1 due to the ongoing bear market. As told by Silvergate, the amount of SEN transfers it facilitated decreased from …
A major Russian banking association wants to criminalize keeping your own cryptocurrency keys. The Association of Banks of Russia, an organization that includes more than 300 Russian banks and financial institutions, has called on lawmakers to criminalize storing crypto outside of centralized exchanges on noncustodial wallets, local news agency Izvestia reported on Monday. In contrast to accounts at centralized crypto exchanges, noncustodial or self-custodial wallets allow users to store crypto without relying on a third party that is able to freeze, block or seize the user's crypto assets. This essentially enables investors to “be their own bank” by getting full …
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has become a stress test for crypto in many tangible ways. Digital assets have emerged as an effective means of directly supporting humanitarian efforts, and the crypto industry, despite enormous pressure, has largely proved itself a mature community — one ready to comply with international policies without compromising the core principles of decentralization. But there is another vital role that crypto has filled during these tragic events: It is becoming more and more familiar to those who have found themselves cut off from the payment systems that had once seemed unfailing. Traditional financial infrastructures don’t …