With Britain reeling from a parliamentary showdown aimed at thwarting the government’s threat to pull the country out of Europe in a no-deal Brexit, Bitcoin (BTC) is relatively stable as compared with the British pound sterling. The United Kingdom’s liberal-leaning daily newspaper The Independent reported on Sept. 3 that Bitcoin has, amid the country’s parliamentary drama and the pound’s tribulations, by contrast, seen a solid and protracted period of growth. By press time, the top cryptocurrency is trading above $10,500 — up 8.36% on the week. The British pound, meanwhile, was at one point yesterday trading below $1.20 — a …

The nominee to be the next president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, has said central banks and financial bodies should protect consumers but be open to innovations such as cryptocurrencies. Changes are opportunities Lagarde, who is currently head of the International Monetary Fund, told the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament that central banks and financial regulators should embrace the opportunities presented by change. In her opening statement, shared with Cointelegraph via an IMF news release, Lagarde said: ”In the case of new technologies – including digital currencies – that means being alert to …

Yves Mersch, European Central Bank’s key legal official, said that Facebook’s Libra stablecoin is “beguiling but treacherous” during a speech at the ECB’s legal conference in Frankfurt on Monday. Bloomberg reported on Mersch’s remarks in an article published on Sept. 2. Per the report, he said that private currencies have little or no prospect of establishing themselves as viable alternatives to centrally-issued legal tenders. Mersch: Only central banks can be trusted He believes that only independent central banks can grant sufficient institutional banking to make a currency reliable and win public trust. He further noted: “I sincerely hope that the …

Seychelles-based securities exchange MERJ — which listed the first regulated security token on a national stock market — plans to distribute its equity to Europe via a partnership with blockchain service provider Globacap. A Globacap press release published on Aug. 29 revealed that MERJ now plans an initial public offering (IPO) to distribute company equity in the form of equity-security tokens. Global first: an IPO of security tokens The IPO, planned for next month, will be offering 16% of the company’s share capital. 8.7 million of MERJ’s shares are listed on the Seychelles exchange in tokenized form, the press release …

Stablecoins with a clear governance framework may be hampered by the uncertainty of the lack of regulation, according to the European Central Bank (ECB). Four major types of stablecoins outlined On Aug. 29, the ECB released a new paper devoted to stablecoins, which it describes as digital units of value that are not a form of any specific currency but rather rely on a set of stabilization tools in order to minimize fluctuations in their price. The ECB’s paper is called “In search for stability in crypto-assets: are stablecoins the solution?” and proposes a classification of stablecoins based on different …

Multinational banking giant HSBC has reportedly become the first bank to complete financing transaction on European blockchain trade platform we.trade. Since we.trade started the project back in 2017, HSBC recently financed a transaction on the platform within a second round of pilots that started in June 2019, economics magazine Global Trade Review (GTR) reported on Aug. 22. The transaction involved HSBC’s client Beeswift, a Midlands-based producer of protective equipment, and their sale to a Rabobank-banked Dutch firm, the report notes. Based in Dublin, we.trade provides a Hyperledger Fabric-based tool for managing, tracking and securing open account trade transactions between SMEs …

Binance’s fiat-to-crypto conversion branch for euros and British pounds, Binance Jersey, has entered into a partnership with the crypto investment service Caspian, which provides trading, portfolio and risk management on its platform. Caspian shared news of the partnership with Cointelegraph on Aug. 14. The partnership will purportedly result in improved security for crypto investors, as well as a lower barrier to entry for the crypto market. The managing director of Caspian Chris Jenkins elaborated: “I am delighted for us to partner with Binance Jersey, a substantial step forward in helping move the wide adoption of cryptocurrency trading forward for the …

The Congressional Research Service has released a report that examines, among other things, the potential advantages and disadvantages of pursuing blockchain-based solutions for the energy sector. The Congressional Research Service released their findings in a report on Aug. 9, entitled “Bitcoin, Blockchain, and the Energy Sector.” In its report, the research group noted that launching a blockchain solution which allows consumers to purchase energy services within a distributed system, in particular, could make for an energy system that is more transparent, efficient and flexible for the consumer. However, releasing such a service also comes with potential issues related to distribution …

The United Kingdom pension and welfare agency has identified blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) as technologies that could disrupt the payments industry. In an Aug. 9 blog post, Richard Laycock, the deputy director of digital payments and banking systems at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) — an agency that manages the U.K.'s welfare and pension policies — said that the DWP is looking to transform its payments infrastructure. In a bid to make its payment system “efficient, modern, fast, scalable, flexible, innovative and available 24/7,” the DWP is monitoring blockchain and DLT as possible disruptors to the …

The Czech Republic is expected to enforce stricter oversight of cryptocurrencies than that required by the European Union’s bloc-wide Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) regulatory regime. According to a report from local newspaper Hospodářské Noviny on Aug. 8, the Czech Republic’s transposition of the European Union (EU)’s Fifth AML Directive (AMLD5) looks set to impose yet stricter requirements on cryptocurrency firms than those established by Brussels. Above and beyond EU regulations As an indication of the stringent measures ahead, Hospodářské Noviny reveals that Czech regulators plan to impose a hefty fine — up to half a million koruna or roughly $20,000 — on …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Facebook warns investors that the Libra stablecoin may never launch The Libra storyline is fast becoming a never-ending soap opera — and we might be reaching the season finale. Facebook used its latest quarterly report to warn investors that its controversial cryptocurrency may never launch at all. The admission at least shows that the social …

Andorra Telecom has entered into partnership with Spanish digital economy-focused non-profit Alastria to integrate blockchain technology into its internal processes, Spanish-language news outlet Diari d’Andorra reported on Aug. 1. Alastria is a consortium of over 800 non-profit organizations that launched Spain’s first national multi-sector blockchain network in a bid to facilitate the development of digital economy through blockchain. “To reinforce the technological pillar” Alastria will enable Andorra Telecom to deploy its blockchain network with its own node. Jordi Nadal, director general of Andorra Telecom, said that "the agreement with Alastria allows us to reinforce the technological pillar and allows developments …