The central bank of France continues actively exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), completing a significant trial of a blockchain-based CBDC in the country’s debt market. Over 500 institutions in France have participated in a 10-month experiment testing a CBDC issued by Banque de France for government bond deals, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The CBDC trial was led by Belgium-based financial services firm Euroclear and used a system developed by American technology giant IBM. The CBDC test also involved the French public debt office alongside the central bank and a consortium of major financial companies operating in …

Cryptocurrency platform Voyager Digital has been granted an official licensing approval from French regulatory bodies Autorité des marchés financiers and the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution to facilitate a trading platform of 60 digital assets in the French and European Union markets under the subsidiary LGO Europe SAS. Voyager, a United States-based, Canadian-listed company under ticker symbol VYGR.V, is reportedly the first organization outside of Europe to be designated a “Fit and Proper” approval status of this kind. In early August, Voyager penned an agreement with crypto payments firm Coinify at an estimated value of $85 million with …

Financial regulators in the Baltic country of Estonia want to revoke all crypto exchange licenses in an effort to start the entire regulatory regime anew. Matis Mäeker, head of the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has urged the state to “turn the regulation to zero and start licensing all over again,” local state-run news agency Eesti Ekspress reported on Wednesday. Mäeker claimed that the public is unaware of the risks of the cryptocurrency industry. Formerly the head of the Anti-Money Laundering department at the Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority, the official pointed out a number of related concerns, including illegal …

2B4CH, a Swiss non-profit think tank assisting the state in exploring cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain technology, is launching an initiative that could make Bitcoin one of the country’s reserve assets. On Friday, the association announced plans to start a popular federal initiative by collecting 100,000 signatures for the introduction of Bitcoin to article 99 clause 3 of the Swiss federal constitution. The initiative specifically proposes to add Bitcoin to the list of assets held by the Swiss central bank, which would change the constitutional clause to: “The Swiss National Bank shall create sufficient currency reserves from its revenues; …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) continues investigating the development of the global central bank digital currency (CBDC), publishing a new joint report with seven central banks. Released on Thursday, BIS’ latest CBDC report refers to joint efforts with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the United States Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank to explore a retail CBDC. The report provides an executive summary of progress made by the investigation since the October 2020 publication of a report that pointed out the common foundational principles and …

Cryptocurrency adoption continues gaining momentum in Switzerland as local financial authorities grant more regulatory approvals for crypto investment instruments. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has approved the Crypto Market Index Fund as the “first crypto fund according to Swiss law,” the authority officially announced on Wednesday. The fund is launched by Swiss asset manager Crypto Finance and is administered by investment management firm PvB Pernet von Ballmoos AG with custody by regulated custodian SEBA Bank AG. FINMA noted that the newly approved fund is restricted to qualified investors, investing primarily in cryptocurrencies or digital assets “based on the …

Institutional investors are increasingly looking to move into cryptocurrency investment to grow their revenues in the long term, a new survey revealed. As many as 62% of global institutional investors with zero exposure to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) said they expect to make their first investments in cryptocurrencies within the next year, according to a new survey by European investment manager Nickel Digital Asset Management. Released Tuesday, the survey interviewed 50 wealth managers and 50 institutional investors across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. Nickel conducted the survey online in May and June …

The region of central, northern and western Europe, or CNWE, has emerged as the world’s most active cryptocurrency block, receiving over $1 trillion worth of digital assets over the past year, according to new research from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The report, which was released Tuesday, found that the CNWE region accounted for 25% of global crypto activity between July 2020 and June 2021. The region witnessed a sharp uptick in transaction volume across all crypto sub-categories, especially decentralized finance, or DeFi. Chainalysis describes crypto transactions as anything involving trade, investments and business dealings. Europe has also become a hotbed …

Governments are tasked with bringing fair and efficient services to the public. Unfortunately, providing transparency and accountability often results in a reduction in efficiency and effectiveness or vice versa. Governments are usually forced to choose to improve one at the cost of the other. On rare occasions, technology comes along that enables governments to improve fairness and efficiency. The move from paper-based record keeping to computer databases was one such technology. The internet was another. Blockchain is the next. Like the internet before it, blockchain will not only improve how the public interacts with government services, it will have broad …

The legal status of cryptocurrencies remains a mixed bag of regulatory positions, depending on the jurisdiction being considered. While some countries move toward blanket prohibitions or stringent regulations, others elect to go with a more open approach to crypto. For Ukraine, the latter path appears to be the case, with the government encouraging legalized crypto operations within the country. Ukraine’s seemingly positive stance on cryptocurrencies also stands in stark contrast with neighboring Russia where officials are enacting regulatory roadblocks against the ownership and use of digital currencies. While Ukraine enacts laws to recognize and regulate crypto, the country’s central bank …

Nine banking industry associations have submitted a letter to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in response to its proposal to introduce stringent capital requirements for banks looking to hold crypto assets on their books. In June of this year, the BCBS had published a consultation paper that assigned a 1,250% risk weight to Bitcoin (BTC), meaning that banks would need to hold $1 in capital for each $1 worth of exposure they have to Bitcoin. In their letter this week, industry groups — among them, the derivatives associations ISDA and FIA, the Institute of International Finance, European markets …

PayPal officially announced on Friday that all eligible customers in the United Kingdom can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies using their PayPal accounts. Customers can trade four major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). As announced previously, crypto trading will only be available to PayPal customers with verified identities. PayPal announced plans to move into the British cryptocurrency market in late August, immediately proceeding with a partial rollout of crypto trading services. The move marks the first expansion of PayPal’s cryptocurrency services beyond the United States. Speaking to Cointelegraph, a PayPal spokesperson said, “PayPal …