The recent survey results published by the Bank of International Settlements produced bullish and bearish sentiments with regard to Central Bank Digital Currency adoption. While banks in Emerging Market Economies (EME) are moving more rapidly toward issuing government-sponsored CBDCs, those in established countries appear to be taking a more cautious stance on the transition from fiat currencies to digital. The irony here is that the banks that could potentially catapult the world into the digital currency age are the ones that are the least likely to be the early adopters. What’s driving — or not driving — their reluctance to …

While major industry actors argue that central bank digital currencies (CBDC) are years or decades ahead, the Bahamas plan to adopt a CBDC no later than 2020. John Rolle, the governor of the Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB), has reportedly confirmed that the Bahamian digital dollar initiative will be introduced across all islands in the second half of 2020. Bahamas has already launched a pilot in the Exuma region According to a Feb. 13 report by local publication The Tribune, Rolle has presented the plan addressing a Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation on the initiative, which is …

Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, the venture arm of the fourth-largest bank in the U.S., is contributing $5 million to Elliptic’s Series B funding round. According to a Feb. 13 press release, the investment will help the company build products for large financial institutions. The latest investment brings Elliptic’s Series B raise to more than $28 million. Previous investors include Japan’s SBI Group and Santander InnoVentures, an investment branch of the Spanish bank. The additional resources will be used to fuel Elliptic’s expansion in Asia. Additionally, the company hopes to accelerate development of Elliptic Discovery, a compliance solution for banks. The …

Bangladesh-based Bank Asia has joined Ripple’s RippleNet blockchain-based financial services network. The partnership was only recently discovered after a Twitter user pointed out the Bank Asia logo in an official Ripple document on Feb. 10. Still, the partnership must be well over a month old, given that the document in question was published in December 2019. Bank Asia’s logo is present on a page showing examples of RippleNet users, alongside Santander, American Express, MoneyGram, Send Friend, Standard Chartered, SABB and SBI Group. The LinkedIn profile of the bank’s head of foreign remittances Khandaker Mujahidul Islam shows that he is working …

Another major financial institution has partnered with blockchain-based payments firm Ripple. The National Bank of Egypt has signed a cooperation agreement with Ripple to establish new channels for inward remittances, according to a Feb. 11 report from local daily news site Youm7. The agreement reportedly makes the National Bank the country’s first to venture into the blockchain sector. Remittances: an almost $600 billion global market The global remittance market — referring to the money or goods that migrants send back to family and friends in their home countries — is expected to reach $597 billion in 2020, according to data …

Bitcoin (BTC) would benefit from global central banks issuing their own cryptocurrencies, the founder at the world's largest digital asset manager believes. Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of digital currency asset manager Grayscale Investments and blockchain venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG), has again expressed his bullish stance on Bitcoin in the latest Grayscale investor call on Feb. 12. During the call titled “The State of Digital Currencies,” Silbert spoke of a number of important digital asset-related issues including Bitcoin’s role in generational shift in wealth, stablecoins, decentralized finance and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). What are central bank …

The nature of cryptocurrency fraud is shifting away from exchange hacks, and toward Ponzi-style frauds, pyramid schemes and exit scams. A massive 533% rise in the value of such crimes means that as misappropriated funds are laundered, the traditional banking system is increasingly exposed to risk under upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rules. That’s the conclusion reached by CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency intelligence firm, in a report released today. The Travel Rule requires virtual currency businesses to “obtain, hold and transmit required originator and beneficiary information in order to identify and report suspicious transactions, monitor the availability of information, take …

The blockchain world may soon be seeing a major merger with the traditional financial sector. JPMorgan Chase, the United States’ largest bank, is reportedly considering merging its in-house blockchain unit Quorum with major Ethereum-focused firm ConsenSys. According to a Reuters report on Feb. 11, unnamed persons familiar with the matter claim that the merger is likely to be officially announced within the next six months. The financial terms of the deal reportedly remain to be worked out. Ethereum ties are a plus Quorum is JPMorgan’s private blockchain platform built on the Ethereum protocol, and reportedly has roughly 25 employees deployed …

On the heels of new Anti-Money Laundering laws, several German banks are reported to be seeking regulators’ go-ahead to offer digital assets services. Local newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Feb. 7 that Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is dealing with a cascade of applications from 40 banks seeking to become regulated cryptocurrency custodians. As of Jan. 2020, new legislation has permitted banks to extend their offerings beyond traditional securities such as stocks and bonds to include cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and XRP. “Both a blessing and a curse” As Handelsblatt notes, the new legislation gives those institutions that …

The deputy director of the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) says the cryptocurrency sector must not abet a “slide backward” in money laundering prevention. FinCEN deputy director Jamal El-Hindi made his remarks during a speech at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association 20th Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Financial Crimes Conference in New York City on Feb. 6. FinCEN won’t allow AML oversight to “slide backward” El-Hindi opened his speech noting the particular complexity of the securities and futures industry, which comprises a dense web of transactions and interactions between inter-related parties. This “amazingly complex” landscape includes but …

Another Japanese lawmaker has publicly called for the swift development of the digital yen. The head of the banking and finance systems research commission at Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, Kozo Yamamoto, said today that the country should create a digital yen in two to three years. Reuters reported on Feb. 10 that Yamamoto said that plans for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) should be included in the government’s mid-year policy guidelines. He explained that digital currencies could quickly spread in emerging economies and help China — who is working on a CBDC — advance its digital hegemony. Because of …

Six major central banks will meet in April to discuss the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The Japan Times reported on Feb. 6 that — according to a source familiar with the matter — the meeting will see the governors of several central banks discuss joint research on CBDCs. Furthermore, the group will share considerations on possible challenges such as cross-currency settlement and cybersecurity. The central banks of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland will reportedly meet in Washington D.C., when the participants will be there for an International Monetary Fund conference. The …