An Argentinian consortium of banks and technology companies under the patronage of the Central Bank of Argentina is promoting a pilot program implementing blockchain. The system would be used to handle direct account debit claims. The pilot was announced on April 21 by IOV Labs, the developer of the RSK blockchain. The company is part of the 2019 Financial Innovation Roundtable, which also includes Sabra Group, Banco de la Provincia de Córdoba, BBVA, ICBC, Banco Santander and others. The group has worked for several months since the end of 2019 to create a system that would track bank account transactions …

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has released a white paper on blockchain technology applications in finance. According to Sina Finance, the paper is the first of its kind in the banking sector. The document analyzes the current pain points in the financial sector, and compares Chinese trends in blockchain development to those taking place overseas. It pointed out that finance is the most commonly explored area for blockchain-powered applications: “There are 420 blockchain information and services providers registered in China. There are 72 firms offering blockchain-based financial services, 17 percent of the total, and they have registered …

Payments of $1,200 from the CARES Act to Americans in need have begun to go out to those who authorized the Internal Revenue Service to make direct deposits into their bank accounts. However, the money may never reach its targets. Intended to help families through the coronavirus crisis, the payments were not exempted from private debt collection, which means banks and other creditors could lawfully intercept the emergency payments. If ever there was evidence that cryptocurrencies were a safer way for people to receive funds, CARES Act payment interceptions and garnishments are surely proof. The indifference of bank and creditor …

Very few banks, or even countries, emerged unscathed from the rubble of the 2008 global financial crisis. The aftermath of the worldwide recession coincided with profound technological innovation and breakthroughs that have forced banks and other financial service providers to reconsider their approach to doing business. New regulation and investor demands have forced banks to move toward a more efficient, transparent and compliant operating model. Although Wall Street has cottoned on to these developments, the big question still remains: Are banks ready to leave old business processes behind to embrace new blockchain-based technological breakthroughs? Now, more than ever, distributed ledger …

Blockchain’s varied applications are becoming more useful for global banking institutions with each passing day. Yesterday, Polish retail banks rolled out a blockchain-based customer data platform developed by the Polish Credit Bureau, also known as Biuro Informacji Kredytowej, or BIK. BIK, the biggest credit bureau in Central and Eastern Europe, has enabled banks in Poland to send notifications of commissions and fees changes on blockchain via its new document management product. Polish Credit Bureau and Billon were developing the platform since 2018 Developed in collaboration with Polish-British fintech firm, Billon, the BIK Blockchain Platform has been in development since the …

Some U.S. banks have been unable to handle the increased demand generated by the stimulus checks being distributed to 80 million Americans. On April 15 the online platforms for US Bank, PNC, and Fifth Third Banks went down, apparently unable to handle the inflow of stimulus funds. On April 16 some users of the online-only Ally Bank reported outages, with US Bank customers reporting ongoing problems as well. Banks have shown they are unable to scale with the increased demand. Ironically, the “lack of scalability” is a typical criticism of Bitcoin (BTC) and other blockchain networks, that have been happily …

Blockchain and cryptocurrency venture capital firm Multicoin Capital has led a $1.5 million seed round for Chinese decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol dForce. Mable Jiang, the principal of crypto venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, told Cointelegraph that dForce’s plan to launch a "super-app"-styled DeFi platform in the Asian market was a major factor in the firm’s decision. An Asian super app like WeChat Jiang emphasized dForce’s presence within the Asian and Chinese markets as a draw, stating, “We always believed that Asia, and more specifically China, will become a pivotal market for the adoption of Open Finance.” She said that dForce's …

Financial institutions all over the world are increasingly experimenting with emerging technologies like blockchain to streamline payment systems and achieve financial inclusion. In a new study, the World Bank has once again emphasized blockchain’s potential for financial inclusion. Issued by the Bank for International Settlements on April 14,the new report from the World Bank Group on “Payment aspects of financial inclusion in the fintech era” outlines a wide number of crypto and blockchain-related concepts like stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). In the 70-page report, the bank provided a detailed overview of selected advances in technology that are considered …

Main Street businesses hit by the COVID-19 crisis now have access to a lifeline from fintech lenders. On April 9, the United States Small Business Administration released its application form for nonbanks to sign on as lenders under the federal Paycheck Protection Program. Speaking to Cointelegraph on April 10, John Pitts, head of policy at San Francisco-based fintech Plaid, said the development was “a critical step” that would broaden the reach of the relief program and ensure that as many firms as possible get access to the help they urgently need. Fintech in the spotlight The PPP — first announced …

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, recently posted a video urging the public not to rush to banks for cash withdrawals. Does this relate to crypto? “Your money is safe at the banks,” FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said in a video posted on Twitter by the government agency. “The last thing you should be doing is pulling your money out of the banks now, thinking that it’s going to be safer someplace else.” “When I first watched the video, I thought it was from SNL [Saturday Night Live] or The Onion – that’s how ridiculous it is,” Wilshire Phoenix …

Morgan Creek Digital co-founder and partner, Anthony Pompliano, expressed his view that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not quite be what it seems. His statement came in response to Robert Kiyosaki’s own claims about the Federal Reserve. “Robert's belief that the Federal Reserve is not a bank, not federal, and has no reserve is directionally correct,” Pomp told Cointelegraph when asked of his own opinions on Kiyosaki’s claims about the Fed. “This is an important point to make sure that people understand as they pursue a deeper understanding of how the economy and money works,” Pomp added. The Fed is …

Russian authorities have detained a group of online criminals that reportedly sold massive amounts of counterfeit banknotes on the dark web in return for cryptocurrencies. According to an April 7 report from Russian news agency Kommersant, the criminal group has managed to sell more than 1 billion counterfeit Russian rubles, worth around $13 million as of press time. Criminals operated via Russia’s largest darknet marketplace As the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported to Kommersant, the online perpetrators were operating currency counterfeiting via a darknet store on Russia’s largest darknet marketplace, Hydra. According to the report, the store was operating …