The Ford Motor Company is looking into blockchain technology and geofencing to accurately track the number of “green miles” driven by its energy-efficient vehicles. Analyzing real-world benefits of energy-efficient vehicles On Oct. 15, Ford announced that it is expanding its European plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) pilot project to Cologne in Germany. The United States car manufacturer aims to analyze the real-world benefits of these energy-efficient vehicles for the environment, commercial vehicle owners and operators. The pilot, which is also conducting tests on the streets of London and Valencia, will put nine Ford Transit Custom Plug-In Hybrid vans and one …

Coinbase is expanding its European foothold with an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland. “One of just a few companies” On Oct. 11, Zeeshan Feroz, the CEO of the United Kingdom arm of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, announced that the exchange had become “one of just a few companies,” to have received an e-money license in Ireland. Coinbase opened its first office in Dublin, Ireland, in October 2018 to help expand its operations in Europe and as a contingency plan for when the U.K. leaves the EU. The Coinbase U.K. CEO said: “Europe represents a huge opportunity …

The United Kingdom’s central bank has established provisions that Facebook’s yet-to-be-released Libra stablecoin must comply with in order to be issued in the country. The Bank of England presented its latest Financial Policy Summary and Record at a Financial Policy Committee (FPC) meeting held on Oct. 9. The document — which addresses the resilience of the U.K. financial system in general — discusses innovative developments in the payments sector, noting that Libra has the potential to become “a systemically important payment system.” Launch of new payment systems The FPC pointed out that it would require payment systems like Libra to …

Crypto wallet and debit card service company Cryptopay now offers transfers with the British pound (GBP) through the Faster Payments Scheme. Cryptopay revealed the development in a news release with Cointelegraph on Oct. 9, specifying that its United Kingdom-based users can now fund their accounts and make withdrawals with GBP, avoiding euro conversion charges. The release further explains: “Upon activation users will get their own sort code and account number, which means that the transfers will bear the account holder’s name, not Cryptopay. This is especially important as some banks may block crypto-related transactions resulting in money getting stuck with …

The European Union’s finance commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has pledged to propose new rules to regulate cryptocurrencies such as Facebook’s Libra. As Reuters reports, speaking before EU lawmakers on Oct. 8, Dombrovskis said: “Europe needs a common approach on crypto-assets such as Libra. I intend to propose new legislation on this.” Dombrovskis’s role Having served as Latvia’s prime minister and finance minister and as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009, Dombrovskis now seeks reappointment as the executive vice president of the European Commission. If reappointed, he would be tasked with a brief labelled "An Economy that Works …

Executive Vice President-Designate of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, has questioned the motives behind Facebook’s forthcoming Libra stablecoin. In an interview with the Financial Services Union of Denmark, a fragment of which was published on Oct. 1, Vestager addressed the possible impact from Libra’s launch — such as competition due to Facebook’s multimillion user base and distortion of competition in the payment services market. Vestager argued: "It's a pretty new thing that we are starting to question something that does not exist yet. But it is so far in the future that we cannot tell if this is going to …

Cryptocurrency trading platform Bittrex has announced Bittrex Global, a new platform headquartered in Liechtenstein. According to a news release shared with Cointelegraph on Sept. 30, Bittrex Global is set to be rolled out at the end of October in the city of Vaduz. Bittrex chose to establish a trading platform in Liechtenstein because of the small country's regulatory clarity toward digital currencies and blockchain technology. New products in accordance with EU law Bittrex Global is planning to develop new features and products, including customer reward programs, credit card interoperability, private token sales under EU law and a mobile app for …

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB) shares his views on stablecoins, the future of crypto assets, and possible digital form of the Euro. Monitoring developments in crypto On Sept. 27, in a letter addressed to European parliament member Eva Kaili, ECB president Mario Draghi noted that the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is closely monitoring developments in the cryptocurrency industry. Draghi added: “The ESCB is analysing crypto-assets and stablecoins with a view to understanding their potential implications for monetary policy, the safety and efficiency of payments and market infrastructures, and the stability of the financial system.” …

Facebook’s Libra has pushed central banks to consider two major issues in global payment systems, an exec at the European Central Bank (ECB) said. Benoit Coeure made his remarks at a hearing of the Committee on the Digital Agenda in the German parliament on Sept. 25. According to Coeure, an ECB board member and chair of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure, global payment systems still lack access and efficiency of cross-border retail payments. As such, 1.7 billion adults globally have no access to basic payment services despite 1.1 billion of them having a mobile phone and one in …

BitFlyer, a Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange, is adding 5 new altcoins to its platforms in Europe and the United States. Five new altcoins added in Europe, three in US On Sept. 23, cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer announced that it is adding five new altcoins in Europe: Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Lisk (LSK) and Monacoin (MONA), which will be available immediately to its European customers, while bitFlyer U.S. customers will have immediate access to three of these coins: BCH, ETC, and LTC. The exchange, which is one of the oldest in the industry, pointed out that these coins were …

Switzerland's SIX Swiss Exchange has postponed the launch of its “fully regulated” crypto trading platform SIX Digital Exchange (SDX). According to the official announcement published on Sept. 23, SIX has launched a prototype of its digital exchange and the central securities depository (CSD). The full launch is now expected in Q4 2020. The document explains: “The objective of the prototype is to showcase the future of financial markets to the community and obtain feedback as well as demonstrate that a distributed CSD – based on DLT – can be integrated with a central order-book stock exchange model to ensure fair …

Vakt, a blockchain-based post-trade platform for commodities, has signed a memorandum of understanding with essDOCS, a firm that develops paperless trade solutions, to put European shipping on the blockchain. As markets and technology-focused outlet Benzinga reported on Sept. 20, Vakt and essDOCS will work on a blockchain-based solution that will allow digitization of post-trade process in Europe’s barge shipping. Digitization of barge shipping data While the parties plan to launch the product in northwest Europe initially, they are hoping to expand further to global markets. A joint statement stated: "Trading parties would agree on information to send on to the …