People in China have conducted roughly 20,000 transactions through e-commerce company JD.com in a trial of the country’s digital yuan. According to local media outlet Global Times, JD.com reported that 80% of participants born in the 1980s and 1990s used the platform to conduct transactions in the digital currency starting on Friday evening, with at least one transaction larger than $1,527. The e-commerce site also reported the numbers as the city of Suzhou conducted a real-world trial for digital yuan at the “Double Twelve” shopping festival, in which 10,000 physical storefront locations participated. The trial in Suzhou is one of …

The Swedish government is progressing with its central bank digital currency, or CBDC, by launching a formal review of a potential transition to the digital currency. According to a Bloomberg report published Friday, the review will explore the feasibility of moving the country's payments infrastructure to a digital currency. The country features one of the most cashless economies in the world. Sweden’s financial markets minister, Per Bolund, reportedly said that the government expects to complete the digital currency review by the end of November 2022. Anna Kinberg Batra — a former chairwoman of the finance committee at Sweden’s central bank, …

On Dec. 9, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies soared past $535 billion. This is a significant increase from last year, when the cumulative market capitalization of cryptocurrencies was just over $199 billion. With such impressive growth underway, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that companies operating in the cryptocurrency sector are taking additional measures to ensure trust among investors. For instance, some cryptocurrency platforms have begun to publicly announce audits to confirm the number of digital assets held under management. Most recently, the crypto lending and borrowing platform Celsius Network announced the completion of an audit of just over …

Speaking at Singapore Fintech Festival, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that "third-generation blockchain technology" would see digital currency "in the hands of hundreds of millions, if not billions of users." Allaire featured on a panel alongside the CEO of Facebook’s 'Diem' Association (formerly Libra Association) Stuart Levey, Coinbase CPO Surojit Chatterjee, and Soramitsu CEO Makoto Takemiya, to discuss the question: Can Digital Currencies Birth the Next Generation of World-Class Payment Systems?. Allaire argued that digital currencies are still very early in their development but are about to take a leap analogous to that from dial-up internet to broadband. “We’re right …

The public and private sectors should work closely together to bring about the future of money, according to a former leader of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Chris Giancarlo, a former CFTC chairman and initiator of a blockchain-based digital dollar project, joined the Singapore Fintech Festival 2020 to discuss the future of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. At a Tuesday panel called “Will CBDCs disrupt stablecoins?,” Giancarlo declared that the future of money depends on close government collaboration with the private sector. Addressing Iliana Oris Valiente’s question on the potential coexistence of the emerging rise of CBDCs …

Russia’s digital ruble is expected to reduce business costs but could also cut profits for commercial banks, according to Elvira Nabiullina, chairwoman of the Bank of Russia. At a Thursday meeting of “Opora Russia,” a nongovernmental organization of small- and medium-sized businesses, Nabiullina said that a digital ruble could undercut commercial bank profits from commissions and transaction fees. Furthermore, she stated that a central bank digital currency is a natural development in making financial services more streamlined: “This is a natural move in the financial system development: Financial intermediaries should become less burdensome for the economy and earn money with …

Financial authorities in Europe could form an investigation plan for a digital euro as early as next year, according to an executive at the European Central Bank. Holger Neuhaus, head of market innovation and integration at the ECB, joined the Singapore FinTech Festival 2020 on Monday to discuss the global development of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. During the online discussion, Neuhaus claimed that the ECB expects European financial authorities to assess whether to launch a digital euro initiative by mid-2021: “In mid-2021, the euro system will consider whether to launch a digital euro project. But just to highlight, …

China’s central bank and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, or HKMA, are in the preliminary stages of piloting the digital yuan for cross-border payments — underscoring another key development in the rollout of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. In a media release that appeared on the HKMA website on Friday, chief executive Eddie Yue provided an update on the ongoing work surrounding cross-border payments. He indicated that HKMA is in dialogue with the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC, to begin pilot testing the e-CNY. Yue said: “The HKMA and the Digital Currency Institute of People’s Bank of …

The Bank for International Settlements and the Swiss National Bank and are exploring the benefits of implementing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, using blockchain technology. According to a Dec. 3 announcement, the BIS Innovation Hub Swiss Centre, or BISIH, has successfully completed two proofs-of-concept linking existing payment systems to a distributed ledger and settling tokenized assets with a wholesale CBDC. Known as “Project Helvetia,” the new initiative is a joint venture from the BISIH, the SNB and Switzerland’s top stock exchange, Six Group. The exchange stated that Project Helvetia explored the technological and legal feasibility of transferring digital …

Spotify, one of the world’s largest streaming audio providers, is looking for candidates with a crypto background to fill a new role at the company. According to a recent job post, the company is looking for an outstanding associate director to join its payments strategy and innovation department. According to an announcement on LinkedIn, the new job listing was published on Wednesday. The new position is expected to play a key role in defining and implementing Spotify’s payments strategy as well as furthering the company’s involvement in Facebook's recently rebranded crypto project, Diem. The position will also focus on wider …

Cryptocurrencies are commonly known for being a store of value, but as the blockchain space continues to mature, utility tokens are being created that extend their benefits beyond mere financial gains. Scott Gralnick, director of global partnerships for ShapeShift — a Swiss cryptocurrency exchange — told Cointelegraph that cryptocurrency can help launch Web 3.0 as more utility tokens are designed to provide functions beyond market value: “At ShapeShift, we are looking past the idea of whether a token has value and can be traded or held. Moving forward, we hope that tokens will have functionality beyond being just a digital …

A nonprofit initiative that leverages decentralized finance as a means to offer a digital income for its users has announced that people have now claimed more than 14 million of its tokens. According to a Wednesday announcement, the universal basic income, or UBI, project from GoodDollar has reached more than 40,000 people from 180 countries since it launched in September. The project reported that more than half of the participants were claiming its reserve-based token, G$, every day. 14 million tokens have been claimed so far. The project mints its G$ tokens through interest generated by third-party permissionless protocols from …