Caitlin Long, a former Wall Street executive who has helped Wyoming enact 13 blockchain-enabling laws, is taking advantage of the progressive Wyoming legislature to establish a first crypto-native bank in the U.S. The bank’s name is Avanti, which means “forward” in Italian. Long made this announcement earlier today in a series of 29 tweets. She believes that “a critical piece of U.S. market infrastructure is missing – a regulated bank that can act as a bridge to the Federal Reserve for payments and [offer] custody for BIG institutional money.” 1/ INTRODUCING AVANTI BANK, a new US #bank to serve #digitalasset …

A recent report by a Major United States bank JP Morgan Chase suggested that current blockchain developments are lying down the foundation for digital money, but adoption is still years away. A report published by JP Morgan on Feb. 21 suggests that the finance industry is moving beyond blockchain technology. Blockchain in banking still years away Per the paper, the groundwork for mainstream adoption of blockchain, fast payments and digital currencies is already in place. According to JP Morgan, the adoption of blockchain in banking is three to five years away. Still, the bank also believes that project’s like Facebook’s …

The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) has announced a plan to launch a new near-instant payment system during November. Cointelegraph Brasil reported on Feb, 20 that the platform, called the Brazilian Instant Payment Scheme (PIX), will facilitate peer-to-peer and business-to-business transactions in 10 seconds or less via mobile phone, internet banking, or select ATMs. According to a press release published Feb. 20, It is mandatory for all financial and payment institutions licenced by the BCB to provide their 500,000 active customer accounts with the functionalities required to facilitate PIX transfers. The release states that transactions will be executed by using …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission is to demolish bankers’ fear of cryptocurrencies and get them on board with the new asset class. During a recent interview with CNN, Garlinghouse explained that “once regulators understand you're not circumventing regulatory frameworks they get very comfortable very quickly.” Garlinghouse said that someone at the World Economic Forum in Davos told him that “crypto is still a bad word here.” Because of this attitude in traditional finance, a big part of his work is explaining to bankers how crypto can solve real-world problems while staying compliant: “A lot of what I am doing [...] …

Israeli banks should not deny services to firms involved with cryptocurrencies, according to Israel's attorney general Avichai Mandelblit. Instead of halting financial services for all crypto firms, banks should closely examine each case for indicators of money laundering risks or other illicit financial practices, Mandelblit told the Tel Aviv District Court. Mandelblit’s stance purportedly opposed to a position by Israeli central bank Mandelblit’s stance — reported by Israeli news agency Globes on Feb. 19. — is in opposition to the view of the country’s central bank, the Bank of Israel. During 2019 a number of Israeli banks froze the accounts …

In an earnings call held on Tuesday, Feb. 18, an HSBC executive revealed the bank plans to cut 35,000 jobs by the end of 2022 and invest more in digital systems. The plan for HSBC in the next three years is to cut down on staff and branches and simplify the operation by investing in technology. Noel Quinn, group chief executive added in the earnings call that: “In Retail Banking, we will expand our products offering and increase our investment in digital. We'll refocus our Retail Banking presence to serve globally mobile clients, reducing our branch network in the US …

Kahina Van Dyke, former senior vice president of business and development at blockchain firm Ripple, took on the role of Global Head, Digital Channels and Client Data Analytics at major bank Standard Chartered. According to an official announcement published by Standard Chartered on Feb. 19, Van Dyke joined the bank’s Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking (CCIB) division. Improving Standard Chartered’s data analytics The CCIB division focuses on corporate clients, financial institutions, and investors. The experts working on the team connect those clients with each other, and provide them advice and access to financing. CCIB chief executive Simon Cooper explained in …

One of the financial hubs of the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is continuing to expand blockchain-driven developments. The Department of Economic Development (DED) of Dubai has established a Know Your Customer (KYC) blockchain consortium with six major banks. Dubbed “KYC Blockchain Consortium,” the new blockchain-powered regulatory platform is designed to accelerate processes like exchange of digital customer data and documents while ensuring security. The project also intends to bring a unified platform of KYC efforts among existing and future ecosystem members like qualified financial institutions and licensing authorities. UAE’s first KYC blockchain platform to launch in Q1 …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has appointed heads at the BIS Innovation Hub’s centers in Singapore and Switzerland. In a Feb. 19 announcement, the BIS revealed that Andrew McCormack — who currently serves as chief information officer at payment clearing and settlement firm Payments Canada — will now be the head of the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Singapore. At the same time, Morten Bech, Head of Secretariat for the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) at BIS, will manage the Hub Centre in Switzerland. Fostering cross-border cooperation on fintech McCormack gained experience in policy and strategy with …

Blocknox, a subsidiary of Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures GmbH that has provided cryptocurrency custody service on an escrow basis, is looking to expand the service to its institutional clients. Boerse Stuttgart revealed the plans in a Feb. 18 tweet, detailing that Blocknox’s crypto custody offer will also be available to fintech companies, banks and asset managers. In a separate announcement on the exchange’s website, managing directors at Blocknox Raphael Polansky and Dr. Ulli Spankowski said: “With regard to the new legal regulation of crypto custody in Germany as of 1 January 2020, blocknox has already announced its intent to the …

Global central banks are increasingly looking at blockchain technology as a tool to make interbanking processes more efficient and transparent. Following the World Bank’s exemplary experience of blockchain bond transactions, South Korea’s central bank is working on its own blockchain-based bonds, Cointelegraph Korea reports Feb. 18. Bank of Korea started the project in late 2019 According to a report by local publication Yonhap Infomax, the Bank of Korea has been seeking a blockchain services provider in order to build a blockchain bond system that would allow distribution of the bond records among all participants. The Bank of Korea reportedly launched …

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) published a new set of rules for suspicious transactions, Russian finance publication RBC reported on Feb. 17. The update broadly categorizes any cryptocurrency-linked transaction as a potential money laundering risk. The bank issued an update to directive 375-P, which lists all signs of suspicious activity that may be linked to money laundering. This is the first such update since 2012, when the initial regulations were introduced. The manual was developed in collaboration with the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring). A central bank representative explained that this was done to “add new schemes of …