Multinational banking group Santander has placed a limit on all crypto transactions for its customers in the UK. The group cited cryptocurrency fraud warnings from regulators as the reason behind its decision. According an announcement on Nov. 3, the bank plans to protect its customers from the risks associated with investing in crypto assets, sharing that: “money held in customers’ crypto wallets is unlikely to be protected by the Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Services Compensation Scheme if something goes wrong.” In an alleged effort to shield its customers from crypto-related risks, Santander UK said it believes that the best …

Major global bank Santander continues exploring the benefits of blockchain technology, with a local branch implementing blockchain for vehicle trading and car registration. Santander Brasil has launched testing of a blockchain-based tokenization platform for transferring ownership of used cars in Brazil, Cointelegraph Brasil reported on Oct. 19. The platform is designed to automate the process of transferring property registration by deploying smart contracts based on a delivery versus payment (DVP), a settlement method guaranteeing the ownership transfer after successful payment. Santander’s latest vehicle registration solution is developed in partnership with Parfin, major digital custody and Web3 infrastructure provider in Latin …

Spain-based bank Santander’s U.K. business will no longer be allowing its customers to send payments to Binance, citing warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority. Several replies from Santander’s U.K. Twitter help account today said the bank has “decided to prevent payments” to the world’s biggest crypto exchange in an effort to prevent fraud. The bank reportedly told customers they would still be able to withdraw cash from Binance, but it would be “following the FCA’s warning to consumers” in banning payments. Many Santander account holders expressed negative feelings about the bank’s decision: “As one of your long standing account holders, …

The European Investment Bank, an international financial institution owned by European Union member states, is reportedly exploring blockchain technology for issuing digital bonds. According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, the EIB has hired major global banks such as Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander and Société Générale to look at a potential deal involving a euro-denominated bond issued on a blockchain. Citing a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg states that the EIB is planning to deploy blockchain technology for the registration and settlement of digital bonds. Investor meetings for the inaugural sale will reportedly start on Thursday and continue for several …

Mainstream banking giant Santander added available regions for its One Pay FX international payments app built in collaboration with blockchain and crypto payments outfit Ripple. A forward-thinking entity, Santander constructed One Pay FX as a borderless blockchain-based payment channel, in the form of an app, according to a statement posted by Ripple on July 9. Building the app alongside Ripple, Santander launched the app in 2018. Formerly only available in the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland and Brazil, One Pay FX now enables users from additional regions. "One Pay FX has been launched in six countries and payments can be sent …

A $5 million online heist in Brazil targeting Spanish multinational financial institution, Banco Santander was thwarted after the funds were seized with local over-the-counter (OTC) crypto exchanges. The perpetrators immediately moved to convert the stolen funds into Bitcoin (BTC), however, the cash triggered many of the bank accounts of the exchanges to be frozen upon receipt, according to local press The Bitcoin Portal. The media outlet claims to have obtained internal documents from Santander detailing an investigation into the incident, revealing that the institution is uncertain as to exactly how the funds were stolen. $5 mln stolen from Banco Santander …

Major Spanish bank Santander plans to roll out its Ripple-powered international payments system One Pay FX in Mexico in 2020. In a Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on March 6, the bank revealed that Mexico will be offering the service in early 2020. The One Pay FX system Based on Ripple’s RippleNet technology, One Pay FX is independent from XRP and does not need the digital currency to function, as a Santander spokesperson previously outlined to Cointelegraph. In its Form 20-F filing — an annual report that must be submitted to the SEC by …

London-based cryptocurrency compliance firm Elliptic has launched a new tool that allows banks to work more closely with crypto exchanges. Dubbed Elliptic Discovery, the product collects detailed profiles of more than 200 global crypto exchanges to enable banks to manage risks associated with crypto transactions, Business Insider reports Dec. 11. Elliptic Discovery includes data collected since 2013 Designed specifically for banks, Elliptic Discovery reportedly provides compliance teams with necessary insights to identify flows of funds on crypto assets and assess risks including money laundering. The tool is reportedly based on Elliptic's data that was collected since 2013 and offers a …

Spain’s multinational banking giant Banco Santander has just redeemed a $20 million bond using the Ethereum blockchain. The firm has performed an early repayment of the blockchain-based bond that was issued on Sept.10, 2019, which purportedly shows that the public Ethereum blockchain can be applied to securities issuance across the full lifecycle of a security. “Debt security can be managed through its full lifecycle on a blockchain” John Whelan, head of Digital Investment Banking at Santander, tweeted on Dec. 10: “We just performed an early redemption of our blockchain-based bond that we issued on September 10th, 2019. This unequivocally proves …

Securitize, a Coinbase-backed token issuance protocol, has raised $14 million in a funding round led by the venture capital (VC) wings of major commercial banks. The San Francisco-based startup has conducted an extension of its Series A round to continue developing its technology platform. According to a news release on Sept. 24, the three major investor banks were Santander’s VC arm Santander InnoVentures, Japanese investment group Nomura Holdings and MUFG Innovation Partners, a fully-owned VC subsidiary of Japan’s bank holding MUFG. The new investment round brings Securitize’s total financing up to $30 million after the company secured $12.75 million in …

Major Spanish bank Banco Santander has issued what it claims is the first end-to-end blockchain bond. In a Sept. 12 news release, the bank revealed that it had issued a $20 million bond directly onto the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, where it will remain until the end of its one-year maturity. Faster, cheaper and simpler than legacy systems Santander has claimed that its use of blockchain technology for end-to-end bond issuance represents a first step towards a potential secondary market for mainstream security tokens. As the news release outlines, Santander issued the $20 million bond — which carries a quarterly coupon …

Spanish banking giant Santander plans to expand Ripple-powered global payment solution to Latin America, a Santander spokesperson told Cointelegraph on Aug. 19. Citing rising transaction volume, Santander wants to expand Ripple’s xCurrent technology to a number of Latin American countries after first introducing the technology in Spain, Brazil, Poland and the United Kingdom in April 2018. U.S. payment corridor Specifically, the bank intends to enable zero-fee transactions from unspecified Latin American countries to the United States via a service included in banking apps called One Pay FX. To date, only customers in the U.K. and Spain can send money to …