The price of Bitcoin (BTC) in Nigeria has skyrocketed to well above market levels amid continued efforts by the central bank to push its citizens into digitalized cash. At the time of writing, the price of 1 BTC on Nigerian crypto exchange NairaEX is currently 17.8 million Naira, equating to a whopping $38,792. This represents more than a 60% premium over the current market price of Bitcoin, which is around $23,700 at the time of writing. It comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria has continued to impose limits on ATM cash withdrawals amid an ongoing effort to accelerate its …

The Federal Reserve Board has rejected Custodia Bank’s application to become a member of the Federal Reserve System. In its announcement, the Fed stated that the application was “inconsistent with the required factors under the law.” It also claimed Custodia had an “insufficient” management framework and cited an earlier joint declaration by the Fed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that found crypto assets to be at odds with sound banking practices. STATEMENT FROM CUSTODIA BANK about today's Federal Reserve action on its membership application. Its master account application remains pending: pic.twitter.com/QkMjcT508J …

Bitcoin (BTC) price had a mixed reaction on Jan. 25 after the United States reported a 2.9% gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter, slightly better than expected. Still, the sum of all goods and services commercialized between October and December grew less than 3.2% from the previous quarter. Albeit somewhat optimistic, another data set limiting investors' confidence was news that the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED) would revert its contractive measures anytime soon as U.S. durable goods orders jumped 5.6% in December. The indicator came in much higher than anticipated, so it could potentially mean that interest rates could …

ChatGPT is a powerful new AI tool, capable of problem-solving, advanced coding, answering complicated questions and now–spelling out the end of fiat currencies. Parman, a Bitcoin self-custody mentor and writer, taught ChatGPT that Bitcoin (BTC) would bring about the end of government-issued fiat currencies and shared the results in a Twitter thread. You're not going to believe this, but I just Orange Pilled #ChapGPT. It is now a Bitcoiner. See this conversation, it's incredible. (Thread) pic.twitter.com/HJOqezmjlG — Parman (public account) Bitcoin Pub Key Whisperer (@Parman_Public) January 26, 2023 Parman explains that he "orange-pilled," or convinced the bot about Bitcoin and …

Gabriel Makhlouf, the governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, reportedly supports legislation which would ban advertising crypto projects to young people. According to a Jan. 25 report from Bloomberg, Makhlouf said before the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach there was an “uncomfortable” level of crypto advertisements targeting young adults. The central bank governor reportedly referred to many cryptocurrencies as “unbacked” assets and suggested lawmakers “find a way” of banning related ads. Makhlouf cited the implementation of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, framework as one of the central bank’s milestones for 2023. …

The chief executive of credit card giant Visa remains confident that blockchain-powered solutions can be integrated into its services and offerings to power the next generation of payments. Speaking on a call at Visa’s annual stockholder meeting on Jan. 24, outgoing CEO Al Kelly — who will officially step down on Feb. 1 — briefly shared the firm’s plans for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and private stablecoins. According to a Jan. 24 report from San Francisco Business Times, Kelly said: “It’s very early days, but we continue to believe that stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies have the potential …

Over the last couple of years, numerous reports have surfaced regarding governments worldwide exploring the issuance of their very own central bank digital currency. In fact, to date, nine countries have rolled out an active CBDC offering. In this regard, China’s digital yuan witnessed widespread use during the 2022 Winter Olympics. Other countries that have initiated similar projects include the Bahamas, the Marshall Islands and Nigeria. However, it is being reported that Nigeria’s eNaira has witnessed poor uptake so far, and the others have fared somewhat similarly. Moreover, India too has launched a pilot scheme for its digital rupee, while …

A Hong Kong-based blockchain company has launched a digital payments system aimed at bridging the gap between stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Red Date Technology, the blockchain infrastructure firm which is also leading one of China’s blockchain efforts, launched the Universal Digital Payment Network (UDPN) on Jan. 19 during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 meeting in Davos, Switzerland. According to its whitepaper, the UDPN is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform that would serve a similar purpose to what the SWIFT network does for banks, but for stablecoins and CBDCs. Tech engineering company GFT Technologies and the …

The small Nordic country of Norway may not be particularly notable on the global crypto map. With its 22 blockchain solution providers, the nation doesn’t stand out even at the regional level. However, as the race to test and implement central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) accelerates every day, the Scandinavian nation is taking an active stance on its own national digital currency. In fact, it was among the first countries to begin the work on a CBDC back in 2016. Dropping cash In recent years, amid a rise in cashless payment methods and concern over cash-enabled illicit transactions, some Norwegian …

The financial sandbox ar of the Bank of Spain, or Banco de España, has reportedly approved a project from fintech firm Monei testing a token linked to the euro. According to a Jan. 18 report from Spain-based news outlet Cinco Días, the Bank of Spain gave the green light to Monei to issue its EURM token as part of a testing phase expected to last between 6-12 months. The sandbox was aimed at establishing a controlled testing environment for financial innovations projects in Spain under the supervision of central bank authorities. As part of EURM’s testing phase, eligible Spanish residents …

Tanzania's central bank says it is still considering the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) but will be a taking "phased, cautious and risk based approach" after identifying several challenges that could impact its implementation. According to a Jan. 14 public notice from The Bank of Tanzania, since its 2021 announcement about a possible CBDC rollout, the East African country formed a multidisciplinary technical team to explore the risks and benefits of CBDCs. The bank revealed its team has conducted research looking into different types of CBDCs, models for issuance and management and whether it could be token-based …

Bank of Thailand (BOT) has disclosed plans to allow virtual banks to operate in the country for the first time. Financial firms will be able to provide services by 2025, a Bloomberg report shows. The ‘Consultation Paper on Virtual Bank Licensing Framework’ has been published by the central bank, and applications shall be available later in 2023, allowing virtual banks to act as financial services providers. The move focuses on boosting competition and Thailand's economic growth. The BOT will issue three different licenses for interested companies by 2024. There are at least 10 parties interested in granting permissions, the report …