The European Parliament continued to keep crypto users and advocates at the edge of their seats last week as yet another piece of potentially harmful legislation — this time, a set of demanding data disclosure requirements for digital asset service providers — was rushed to a vote mere days after a near miss on banning proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies. Unlike the relatively happy resolution of the Markets in Crypto Assets framework situation, the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering rules retained all the crypto-hostile language as they are going into the next round of consideration, the so-called trialogue negotiations. If the rules are enacted …

A senior official from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has warned G7 nations that a common framework for regulating digital currencies needs to be put in place as quickly as possible. G7 refers to the Group of Seven, an inter-governmental political forum made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The statement comes in response to the continued conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as cryptocurrencies and their potential applications for skirting economic sanctions falls under increasing scrutiny. The head of the BOJ's payment systems department, Kazushige Kamiyama, told Reuters that using stablecoins makes …

Kyrgyz member of parliament (MP) Karim Khanjeza called for the legalization of cryptocurrency in the country during a parliamentary committee meeting on law and order and combating corruption. During his speech, MP Khanjeza advocated for developing a legal framework for the crypto market and suggested amendments to the draft law to incorporate virtual assets. He said, "nothing is growing as fast as cryptocurrency." He added that their country is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the growing crypto popularity and suggested launching their own national cryptocurrency. He said the government should focus on developing a sovereign national digital currency overlooked …

A new survey by polling agency Morning Consult found that fewer than one third of ordinary Americans have heard of DeFi compared with 77% of crypto owners. Considering that about 87% or 290.9 million Americans did not yet own crypto through 2021 according to Statista, awareness of decentralized finance (DeFi) among non-owners is limited to about 90 million Americans and still has a long way to go. Morning Consult’s survey also found that the level of awareness of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and Web3 is even lower at 30% and 21% of non-owners, respectively. The survey was conducted between …

Austria has been actively transforming into an attractive location for providers of blockchain-based products, with the government itself experimenting with the technology and trying to create a legal basis upon which companies can use it. With regard to blockchain-based applications in the economy, however, Austria is still in the experimental phase, with most firms still running pilot projects. Still, politicians and economists alike see potential for select industries. Public administration reform via blockchain The Austrian government is quite open to blockchain innovations, cryptocurrencies aside, and has supported various projects in the public and private sectors. In 2019, a consortium of …

The Bank of England announced Friday that it had reached an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative, or DCI, on a joint twelve-month research project on Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC. The bank said in a statement that the new project was for research purposes only, and not intended to develop an operational CBDC. The bank began studying CBDC in 2020, releasing a discussion paper in March of that year, which the DCI responded to with a discussion of how a CBDC could meet the objectives stated in the paper. The bank and …

Bank of International Settlement (BIS) Innovation Hub has completed an experimental central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform pilot for international settlement with the central banks of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa. The multi-national experimental CBDC project, dubbed Project Dunbar, has been developed to facilitate direct cross-border transactions between financial institutions using multiple currencies connected across multiple central banks. The joint CBDC pilot was announced in September 2021, and a final report regarding the same was released on Tuesday. The experimental joint CBDC program turned out to be a success and proved financial institutions can use CBDCs issued by central …

The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is reportedly investigating the possibility of launching a digital currency and issuing digital bank licenses. According to the head of the fintech section at QCB, Alanood Abdullah Al Muftah, the central bank is expected to set a direction for its future focus soon on a range of fintech verticals. Al Muftah noted that QCB will also determine whether Qatar can establish a central bank digital currency (CBDC). She explained: "Each central bank should study digital banks, considering their growing significance in the global market. We also see the direction of the market moving towards having …

In January 2022, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) proposed a number of measures aimed at curtailing the country’s cryptocurrency market, which included a blanket ban on the use and mining of all cryptocurrencies. It pointed out risks posed by the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies to the financial stability of the country, the extensive use of crypto in illegal activity and the energy costs involved in crypto mining. However, the utility of blockchain technology didn’t escape the CBR. The following month, it announced that it had started the pilot stage of the digital ruble, its planned central bank digital currency …

The director of the Science and Technology Supervision Bureau of China’s Securities Regulatory Commission Yao Qian has called for a special focus on Web3, deeming it to be the future of the internet. Yao published an article titled "Web 3.0: A New Generation of Internet that is Approaching," talking about the significance of the evolving tech and how the world is at a crucial transition from Web2 to Web3. The article talked about the significance of forward-looking research and strategic infrastructure development. Yao predicted that Web3 will reconstruct the organizational form and business model of the Internet economy and is …

The Bank of Canada has partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to work on a 12 month research project focused on the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency. According to a March 16 announcement, the bank will work alongside the MIT Media Labs’ Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) team to examine how “advanced technologies could affect the potential design of a CBDC.” The Bank of Canada stated that the project is part of a broader development agenda on digital currencies, fintech and how CBDCs could work in a Canadian context. It cautions that “no decision has been made …

Jake Chervinsky, head of policy at crypto advocacy group the Blockchain Association, said the United States should be careful to avoid a “totalitarian nightmare” in its potential launch of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Speaking at Austin’s SXSW festival on Tuesday in a panel on ‘Financial Surveillance in a Cashless Society’, Chervinsky said though U.S. President Joe Biden had issued an executive order establishing a national strategy for cryptocurrencies in the United States, there were potential privacy concerns over the country launching a CBDC. Empowering a government to surveil its citizens using a CBDC, “sounds like the kind …