After similar efforts from the U.S. Federal Reserve on March 10, the European Central Bank, or ECB, announced a $135 billion stimulus — a number that dwarfs Bitcoin’s (BTC) entire market cap. The ECB, in an effort to combat struggling markets, decided not to cut interest rates further. Instead, the central bank announced the allocation of 120 billion Euros, or $135.28 USD, to its asset purchase program, a CNBC report detailed on March 12. The ECB decided not to cut rates, but inject massive capital Amid recent interest rate cuts from U.S. and English central banks, the public anticipated similar …
A blockchain lending firm has seen the value of total loans funded surge to $1 billion since the United States Federal Reserve announced its emergency stimulus interest rate cut last week. In an announcement on March 10, Figure Technologies — which claims to be the industry’s first fintech to bring lending to the blockchain — said loan applications with the firm had soared by 300% since the Fed’s action. Unprecedented low interest rates Since its launch in 2018, Figure Technologies has used its blockchain, Provenance, to process consumer loans; one year on, the firm claims it was originating $85 million …
One of the financial hubs of the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is continuing to expand blockchain-driven developments. The Department of Economic Development (DED) of Dubai has established a Know Your Customer (KYC) blockchain consortium with six major banks. Dubbed “KYC Blockchain Consortium,” the new blockchain-powered regulatory platform is designed to accelerate processes like exchange of digital customer data and documents while ensuring security. The project also intends to bring a unified platform of KYC efforts among existing and future ecosystem members like qualified financial institutions and licensing authorities. UAE’s first KYC blockchain platform to launch in Q1 …
China continues to pull ahead in the central bank digital currency race as more details on its secretive digital yuan project intermittently surface. As a result, more countries are beginning to worry about the potential implications. Over the past few weeks, a number of Japanese lawmakers have publicly expressed their preference for a CBDC controlled by the Bank of Japan. The general idea is to counter the soon-to-be-released digital yuan from neighbouring China and prevent it from disrupting the global economy. According to a senior ruling party lawmaker, the development of a Japanese CBDC might take “two to three years.” …
Two executives at Coinbase and Ripple are leading a push for smart regulations and transparency in the crypto-sphere that would arguably drive adoption and take blockchain technology mainstream. Market integrity must improve The Market Integrity Working Group’s co-chairs want regulators to grasp how they can advance the cryptocurrency industry. In an official company statement, Coinbase senior director and associate general counsel Rachel Nelson, in conjunction with Ripple’s head of global institutional markets Breanne Madigan, wrote: “To improve market integrity and provide consumers the confidence they deserve, Congress may need to enact legislation to support the orderly and secure functioning of …
China’s nationwide blockchain network, the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), will launch in April 2020, six months after it was rolled out for testing. Backed by Chinese government policy think tank the State Information Center (SIC), the ambitious project aims to provide a trusted and scalable infrastructure for supporting new blockchain projects as well as the development of smart cities and the digital economy. BSN is a joint initiative of China’s state policy think tank and state-run companies Tang Sisi, deputy head of the Smart City Development Research Center of the China’s State Information Center (SIC), announced the news at the …
The Department of Economic Development in Dubai has announced its move to a blockchain-based unified business registry platform (UBRP). According to a Saudi Gazette report on Oct. 7, the platform aims to improve the ease of doing business in Dubai and enable license issuers to manage trade licenses and corporate registries. The Silicon Oasis Authority, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, and Dubai Multi Commodities Centre have already joined the platform. The UBRP eventually aims to host a total of 40 government entities. The solution is hosted on the blockchain-as-a-service platform called Dubai Pulse, which is a joint initiative of …
A Switzerland-based company says its goal is to empower enterprises with the tools they need to use blockchain in a sustainable way. CoreLedger’s token economy operating system (TEOS) has enjoyed success stories with real-world applications. One of them is Smartmo — a startup manufacturing and operating innovative solutions for bike parking and helmet storage. The added value that Smartmo brings to the biking ecosystem is that users can reserve a parking space in advance. It also provides increased safety, especially for expensive bikes such as E-Bikes. Crypto is integrated into the system in that users pay parking fees in digital …
Any country seeing widespread use of Facebook’s proposed Libra digital currency could find that its central bank monetary policy is severely undermined. This is the view of Hiromi Yamaoka, former Bank of Japan executive, who oversaw research into digital currencies for the organization. “The emergence of Libra would pressure policymakers to discipline themselves” Issues are likely to arise “if Libra becomes more widely used than the sovereign currency of a particular country,” according to Yamaoka. But while this should not cause too much concern for countries with a strong market trust in their currencies, Libra could trigger or accelerate capital …
Despite concerns expressed by many United States regulators during the recent House Committee on Financial Services’ hearing on Facebook’s proposed digital currency, Libra, an increasing number of U.S. lawmakers are speaking out in favor of developing a permissive regulatory apparatus to prevent stifling innovation in the cryptocurrency sector. Several days prior to the hearing, the passing of the Blockchain Promotion Act signposted the government’s intention to develop a prudent legislative framework to oversee possible implementation of blockchain technology in various public sectors. Skepticism pertaining to the operation of Facebook and its stablecoin project aside, the month’s regulatory proceeding indicated that …
The head of a major Brazilian trade association, the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP), said that Brazilians could start using crypto to evade taxes. Paulo Skaf, the president of the FIESP, expressed concern over the recent tax reform proposal by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Cointelegraph Brazil reports on July 25. He reportedly warned that the new tax system could force citizens to use crypto such as Bitcoin (BTC) for tax evasion purposes. In a recent interview with local newspaper Folha de São Paulo, Skaf criticized the upcoming tax reform, calling it a mistake that would …
This month alone, at least three separate countries have reported on their prospective central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs): The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) announced the creation of a specially dedicated nonprofit organization to support its digital currency that is already being developed. Meanwhile, the central bank of Russia said it was considering its own cryptocurrency (albeit not in the near future), while the National Bank of Ukraine released a report on the matter. The concept of CBDCs has been steadily drawing the attention of numerous jurisdictions worldwide, but will it prove to be an efficient solution? It is …