Research from European blockchain company Guardtime suggests that the current pandemic may have accelerated the launch of a major central bank digital currency by up to five years. According to Guardtime, the company said the growth of many technology companies, improved use of networking and telecommunications platforms, and digitalization of the world in general could mean the first central bank digital currency, or CBDC, from a major economy could be rolled out within three years. The firm works with several central banks around the world in exploring the development of a CBDC. “There is an increasing sense of a ‘race …

The European Union is looking to launch a new agency designated with cracking down on money laundering at the regional level, with increased reporting requirements around crypto transactions listed among its principal objectives. A Thursday report from Reuters citing leaked EU documents asserts that the European Commission is proposing to form a new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) that would act as the “centerpiece” of an oversight system also including national regulators. The report also states that European lawmakers are drafting new requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) mandating stringent data collection standards surrounding parties making cryptocurrency transfers. Data collected …

Cryptocurrency payment provider Simplex has added SEPA Instant to its list of payment methods, giving European partners the ability to move funds into digital assets with greater ease and flexibility. SEPA stands for Single European Payment Arena, which enables payment harmonization across the European Union. With SEPA Instant, credit transfers are processed and settled within seconds. The fully automated process is connected to the traditional payment system but is much faster than traditional bank wires. For Simplex, SEPA Instant is considered a major milestone in promoting seamless adoption of digital assets. Under the new partnership, European users will have the …

As Binance faces scrutiny from regulators around the globe, Poland’s finance watchdog has issued a consumer warning about the cryptocurrency exchange. On Wednesday, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (PFSA) published a statement on Binance’s growing regulatory issues around the world, stressing that the company’s operations are unregulated in Central European countries. The crypto market is “neither regulated nor subject to supervision” by the PFSA, the regulator noted, cautioning the public about the risks associated with trading on Binance, given the growing pushback to the exchange from global financial regulators, stating: “In line with the protection of financial market participants and …

Regulatory constraints facing Binance have forced the popular cryptocurrency exchange to temporarily halt bank transfers denominated in euros, according to an email sent to its customers on Tuesday. Specifically, euro deposits via the Single Europe Payments Area, or SEPA, have been put on hold indefinitely due to circumstances beyond the exchange’s control, Binance said in the email: “Due to events beyond our control, we are temporarily suspending EUR deposits via SEPA Bank Transfers from 8 am UTC on July 7, 2021.” Although Binance didn't specify the reason for temporarily halting SEPA transfers, the decision likely stems from the onslaught of …

Phil Hogan, who served the European commissioner for trade for less than a year, will be joining the advisory board of the Astra protocol. In a Tuesday announcement, Astra said Hogan would be coming onto its board as an executive adviser, citing his experience in the European Commission and international relations. The project said the addition of the former European Union trade commissioner would provide strategic guidance in partnerships aimed at driving growth to the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. “Decentralised finance is becoming increasingly prominent across the world, but the lack of robust, legal protection has hindered progress within major …

Europe knows it will have to embrace a digital euro soon. To become a global digital leader and avoid dependence on American and Asian technological infrastructures, European policymakers and regulators have to make progressive decisions. A critical stumbling block for Europe’s digital economic thinking is so-called stablecoins. Stablecoins can be privately issued and have the potential to become globally accepted and systemically relevant, disrupting long-established financial systems. Consequently, today’s political discussions surrounding stablecoins are dominated by concerns over financial stability and orderly monetary policy. Related: Stablecoins present new dilemmas for regulators as mass adoption looms Current regulatory plans undercut innovation …

The Ripple and XRP community has been long-betting on mainstream adoption growth rather than its market price. In this continued effort, Ripple has announced the appointment of Sendi Young as managing director of its European operations. Strengthening Ripple’s vision to rule the cross-border payments landscape, Sendi brings over 15 years of fintech experience to “oversee strategy and champion the expansion of Ripple’s global financial network technology, RippleNet.” Most recently Young worked at Mastercard where she spent five years in “strategy, commercialization, bank-fintech partnerships and business development.” RippleNet general manager Asheesh Birla said, “Sendi’s appointment represents a huge opportunity for our …

Crypto-friendly trading platform eToro is expecting regulators to ratchet up their oversight of the crypto industry, given the increasingly high levels of participation by retail traders and smaller investors. In comments for the Financial Times, eToro CEO Yoni Assia said: “We are seeing a significant increase in the interest of retail investors and traders in the crypto market. As a part of that growth we should expect also regulators to carefully look at this growing business of retail investors in the crypto markets.” At the start of this year, eToro had itself struggled to keep up with “unprecedented” demand from …

An executive at major Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has raised concerns about the digital euro and questioned what customer demand it would meet. Pablo Urbiola of BBVA’s digital regulation team has called on European financial authorities to carefully explore the possible issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Urbiola said Friday at a European Banking Federation seminar that, despite the increasing need for a European CBDC, it is not yet exactly clear what kind of customer demand the digital euro is supposed to meet: “Considering all the innovation that is taking place in the payments market, …

Thibault Verbiest, chairman of the IOUR Foundation, expert at the World Bank and the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum: “As long as our societies live in a state system, with rule of law, regulators will always look for legally responsible entities in case of illegal or reprehensible acts, even if it means prosecuting the wrong person. We have seen this attitude since the beginning of the internet when access and hosting providers were prosecuted while they were not the actual perpetrators. The United States, and then Europe, had to legislate some 20 years ago to protect these intermediaries. Today, this …

The central bank of France — Banque de France — is continuing its work on the development of a European central bank digital currency (CBDC). On Monday the bank officially announced the successful completion of a CBDC experiment with major Switzerland-based cryptocurrency bank SEBA. Conducted in collaboration with SEBA, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, and Luxembourg central securities depository LuxCSD, the experiment used a CBDC to simulate the settlement and delivery of listed securities on TARGET2-Securities (T25), a European securities settlement engine. SEBA purchased securities from Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, with post-trade settlement managed by LuxCSD. Related: Digital euro offers better …