Stablecoin creator and crypto services provider Paxos filed an application to open a national bank on Wednesday. If approved, the pioneering Paxos General Trust will be headquartered in New York, licensed to hold cryptocurrencies and execute the duties of a regular trust bank. According to a blog post on the Paxos website, being granted a national trust bank charter from the U.S. government would broaden both the range of services offered by the company and the geographic area to which it can offer services: “Our mission is to modernize financial market infrastructure and enable the movement of any asset, any …

In a panel last week for the London Bullion Market Association, Paxos founder and CEO Charles Cascarilla discussed the growth of Paxos’ gold-backed ERC-20 token, PAXG, and the future of asset tokenization more generally — a future that could well involve his company’s recently-announced integration with financial giant PayPal. Speaking alongside Fidelity Labs director of product management Raghav Chawla and the LBMA’s Sakhila Mirza, Cascarilla told viewers that an asset-backed gold token was a natural fit for Paxos’ vision: “It was really a very logical thing for us to launch a gold token given what we’re trying to do at …

A line from immortal comic strip Calvin & Hobbes goes “a good compromise leaves everybody mad.” When it comes to laws governing crypto, authorities are usually asking for pretty major compromises because they are, at their very best-intentioned, trying to work things out. While it’s a fast-developing area of law — honestly a treat to cover — that means it’s fast-developing relative to law, not tech. There is an innate conservatism to anything having to do with how people handle their money. That extends to laws governing how money and investments function. Consequently, everything regulators touch in crypto develops slower …

Earlier today, PayPal confirmed that it would be adding crypto payments to its global platform over the coming months. The rollout will begin in the United States, where PayPal also became the first recipient of the New York Department of Financial Services', or NYDFS, conditional Bitlicense, a program that the regulator announced this past summer. The devil in the details While the news is huge for crypto, PayPal will be under intense scrutiny. The nature of the conditional Bitlicense is that conditional licensees have to pair off with firms that have full Bitlicenses (in this case, Paxos) that will act …

Digital payments giant PayPal reportedly plans to facilitate cryptocurrency trading through a new partnership with stablecoin operator Paxos. Industry news outlet Coindesk reported on Monday that PayPal plans to introduce crypto trading through Paxos’ new brokerage service. As of press time, it is unclear which crypto assets will be supported by PayPal. Cointelegraph reached out to Paxos for comment but has not received an answer as of press time. The report follows the July 15 announcement of Paxos’ launch of a crypto brokerage that enables other firms to integrate crypto trading functionalities. The service can be used through a simple …

Crypto market data aggregator Messari reports that the market cap of leading stablecoin Tether (USDT) has surpassed $10 billion for the first time. Alongside Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), Tether is now one of three crypto assets with an eleven-figure capitalization. Tether’s reported $10 billion market cap comes after year-to-date growth of 144% — with Tether representing $4.1 billion at the start of 2020. However, data aggregators are at odds on Tether’s capitalization, with CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap estimating USDT’s market cap to be just over $9 billion. USD Coin and Binance USD post strong growth The second-largest stablecoin by market …

In a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee today on Tuesday, central bank digital currencies took center stage before an audience of Senators looking to upgrade financial infrastructure and expand financial inclusion in the country. The witnesses and the concerns The banking committee welcomed Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla, financial inclusion professor and researcher at Duke Nakita Cuttino, and former CFTC Chair and current champion of the Digital Dollar Project Chris Giancarlo as witnesses. Cascarilla provided expertise on how existing stablecoins operate and the gaps in current finance that they fill. In his words, “Stablecoins address the antiquated plumbing of our …

Crypto-lending platform Nexo has today, March 25, opened up the option of using PAX Gold (PAXG) as collateral against its loans to retail investors. A pilot scheme in late 2019 was limited to institutional clients and purportedly saw immediate demand for its gold-backed credit lines. Nexo’s announcement means that collateralized borrowing against high-grade gold is now no longer the preserve of the ultra-rich. Launched in September 2019, Paxos’ PAX Gold token is fully-backed by and redeemable for physical gold, stored in secure vaults. Each token represents one fine troy ounce of London Good Delivery Gold, and enables ownership of gold …

While global stock markets are experiencing extreme turmoil, cryptocurrency projects keep introducing more ways to trade gold-backed assets twenty-four hours a day. PAX Gold (PAXG), a major cryptocurrency pegged to physical gold, has now rolled out for trading against two European fiat currencies — the Swiss franc (CHF) and the British pound (GBP). The new trading pairs became available when Switzerland-based digital asset exchange Smart Valor listed PAXG on its platform on March 19. As announced by Paxos, the New York-based company that launched the gold-backed token in late 2019, PAX Gold can now be traded on Smart Valor against …

On March 10, the Binance Dollar’s (BUSD) market cap crossed the $100 million mark. This is the first time that the stable coin, created in partnership between Binance and Paxos Trust company, has achieved this milestone. BUSD growth Currently, BUSD has the sixth highest market cap amongst stable coins. BUSD had a slow start, but has picked up steam (no pun intended) recently ‒ with a 400% monthly growth, going from $22 million to $115 million in market cap. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao believes this growth will continue due to the ever-increasing utility of the stable coin: “We are looking …

Amid the ongoing growth of the cryptocurrency lending industry, major crypto wallet service Blockchain.com launches a new lending product for all users, not just institutions. After first launching an institutional crypto lending desk in August 2019, Blockchain.com is now rolling out its crypto lending service to all users across more than 180 countries, the United Kingdom-based firm announced to Cointelegraph on March 10. Borrow allows users to borrow Paxos Standard against Bitcoin at the launch The new lending product from Blockchain.com, dubbed Borrow, allows to users borrow Paxos Standard stablecoin (PAX) against Bitcoin (BTC) directly from the platform’s native cryptocurrency …

Paxos, a New York-regulated financial firm and the issuer of a USD-pegged stablecoin, has launched its blockchain-based settlement platform. After announcing Paxos Settlement Service in late 2019, Paxos Trust Company has launched the product to settle select United States-listed equity trades between the two broker-dealers, Swiss financial services firm Credit Suisse and Nomura Group-owned Instinet, according to a Feb. 20 announcement. Paxos to apply with the SEC for clearing agency registration later in 2020 As reported, Paxos Settlement Service is being launched under no-action relief from the U.S. major financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The no-action relief …