A handful of government-backed financial institutions have been exploring tokenization use cases to revolutionize traditional financial systems. For instance, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Volcanic bond project has been in the works for over a year and aims to raise $1 billion from investors with tokenized bonds to build a Bitcoin city. The Central Bank of Russia has also expressed interest in tokenized off-chain assets. In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Finance, together with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), recently announced the testing of a blockchain-backed platform for digital bond trading. Cointelegraph Research’s 2021 Security Token Report found that most securities …

Mexico has announced that it would introduce a new national central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2024, according to a tweet posted on Thursday. The tweet by an account representing the Mexican presidency highlighted that "new technologies and next-generation payment infrastructure" will help Mexico become more financially inclusive. El @Banxico informa que hacia 2024 tendrá una moneda digital propia en circulación, por considerar de suma importancia estas nuevas tecnologías y la infraestructura de pagos de última generación como opciones de gran valor para avanzar en la inclusión financiera en el país. — Gobierno de México (@GobiernoMX) December 30, 2021 The …

Crypto users in the U.S. have taken to Twitter to express their confusion and frustration over the wording of a question about virtual currencies on this year’s tax return form. On Dec. 11, the IRS published a new Form 1040 return for the 2020 tax year which needs to be filed by all U.S. taxpayers. It contains the following question: “At any time during 2020, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” The virtual currency question is similar to one that first appeared on the 2019 form, but has this year …

Giving the opening remarks during a U.S. House meeting on illegal digital activities, Representative and subcommittee chair Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) noted a major jump for online crime in 2020. "We are seeing a 75% spike in daily cybercrimes, reported by the FBI since the start of the pandemic,” Cleavor said in his opening statements of the June 16 virtual hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy. Speaker dials into specific attacks and sectors After COVID-19 prevention measures caused business closures and shelter-in-place orders in mid-March, many companies looked to remote work. As droves of people …

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 …