Crypto payments are becoming increasingly popular as Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets continue to go mainstream. This has become the case for both crypto holders and non-crypto owners who are primarily interested in the concept of using cryptocurrencies for payments. Recent data has found that 93% of crypto users surveyed would consider making purchases in crypto. The report further revealed that 59% of consumers who don’t hold crypto would be interested in using it to make purchases in the future. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that major payment providers like Mastercard have been ramping up their …

Latin American stablecoin issuer Anclap is expanding its Stellar-based stablecoin network by launching a new stablecoin in Peru, Cointelegraph en Español reports. Pegged to Peru’s official fiat currency, the Peruvian sol (PEN), the new stablecoin is designed to enable instant transactions across Anclap’s network, including conversions to other fiat currencies as well as “any other digital asset,” the firm announced Saturday. Called the “digital sol,” the stablecoin is said to be 100% backed by local fiat currency and is available on the Stellar network to be integrated into any platform. According to the announcement, the digital sol is already available …

A new stablecoin is arriving on the Cardano blockchain to provide a tool for decentralized finance (DeFi) operations and avoid transaction fees. Cardano’s payment gateway provider, Coti, will be the official issuer of Djed, a new DeFi-focused stablecoin for the Cardano network, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and Coti CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen announced Sunday at the Cardano Summit. The new stablecoin will be based on an algorithmic design using smart contracts to ensure price stability and providing an instrument for DeFi transactions. The stablecoin is designed for paying transaction fees on the Cardano network in order to avoid “volatile and exorbitant …

The growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has been a recurrent headline throughout 2021 and to date, hundreds of billions of dollars in crypto assets are locked on protocols across numerous blockchain networks and earning a yield for their holders. What started off as a simple Ethereum-based swap interface that allowed ERC-20 tokens to be exchanged in a decentralized manner, called Uniswap, has exploded into a vast ecosystem full of decentralized exchanges, yield farms, lending protocols and staking platforms. As development continues and older protocols become more established, newer projects have emerged to incorporate more pieces from the traditional …

The rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) poses a major challenge for the traditional financial system, an executive at the Chinese central bank has warned. Wen Xinxiang, director of the payment and settlement department at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has expressed concerns over the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and fiat-pegged stablecoins. Pointing to Bitcoin’s market value now surpassing $800 billion and the total stablecoin market capitalization exceeding $120 billion, Wen outlined major risks associated with the crypto market at a payment and settlement forum on Friday, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported. According to the official, one of …

Stablecoins have emerged as significant players in the crypto market this year, driven by user demand for flexible liquidity in fiat currency times. These currencies are defined as a type of digital currency that can be pegged to underlying real-world assets or backed by them. These assets can be anything from fiat money, commodities like gold or silver, or even another cryptocurrency. As their name suggests, stablecoins are designed to have a value that stays (rather) stable like cash, a contrast to the volatility common in cryptocurrency trading today. To further illustrate this scenario, a typical fiat-backed stablecoin might involve …

As financial authorities around the globe become increasingly concerned about stablecoin regulation, a jurisdiction in China is preparing to pilot a new yuan-pegged stablecoin for international trade. Chris Banbury, head of global operations at permissionless blockchain project Conflux, told Cointelegraph on Sept. 21 that the firm will provide its technology to launch an offshore renminbi (RMB) stablecoin pegged to China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan. “This is going to be pegged to the digital yuan in price only with no formal integration,” Banbury noted, adding that the project will be exploring how the token trades against other …

HSBC, the largest European bank with total assets of $3 trillion, maintains a skeptical stance on cryptocurrency while promoting the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn penned an article titled “New forms of digital money could spur growth,” in which he outlined the firm’s commitment to supporting the concept of a CBDC, as it provides transparent legal tender designed to avoid “many risks” associated with cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Released on Tuesday, the piece argues that global CBDC efforts like the Chinese digital yuan are the “new form of digital money,” while private money itself, …

United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has doubled down on his “Wild West” analogy for cryptocurrencies, calling stablecoins instruments for gambling at old-timey casinos. Speaking to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on Tuesday, Gensler said most projects in the crypto space dealt with securities that fall under the regulatory purview of the SEC, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, was better suited for enforcement for others. The SEC chair described the authority of both agencies as “robust” but said there were gaps in the coverage, particularly for stablecoins, which “may have attributes of investment contracts.” …

The central bank of Ukraine has moved to support the development of the cryptocurrency industry after the Ukrainian parliament adopted a major crypto law in early September. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) issued an official statement on the basic principles of monetary policies for the upcoming year in which it paid particular attention to the regulation of cryptocurrencies on Sept. 13. The central bank emphasized that the NBU recognizes the importance of technological innovations associated with virtual assets and sees “many promising opportunities,” like improving access to financial services and increasing competition in the payments market. According to the …

One of the familiar themes seen in previous crypto market cycles is the shifting market caps, popularity and ranking of the top 10 projects that see significant gains during bull phases, only to fade into obscurity during the bear markets. For many of these projects, they follow a recognizable boom-to-bust cycle and never return to their previous glory. During the 2017–2018 bull market and initial coin offering (ICO) boom, which was driven by Ethereum network-based projects, all manner of small smart contract-oriented projects rallied thousands of percentage to unexpected highs. During this time, projects like Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), …

The United States Treasury Department is reportedly preparing a review highlighting challenges posed by stablecoin redemptions and the effect of a possible run on the crypto asset market. According to a Sept.1 report from Bloomberg citing anonymous sources, Treasury officials are readying policy recommendations designed to ensure stablecoin holders can freely convert between their tokens and other assets. The report states the lawmakers hope to mitigate “the most urgent risks” associated with Tether (USDT) and other stable tokens, also emphasizing the threats of a “fire-sale run” on crypto assets could wreak for financial stability broadly. Critics have long scrutinized Tether’s …