Leading decentralized exchange, or DEX, platform Uniswap continues to lead the sector as it nears an average of $1 billion a day trading volume for the month of January. Only two-thirds of the way into the month and the platform has already surpassed the previous monthly trade volume record of $15.3 billion set in September during the DeFi boom. The DEX passed $17 billion as of this morning and is on track to surpass $25 billion by the end of January with a daily average of $855 million. Uniswap traders are spoilt for choice with 1,558 coins traded in more …

COTI, a blockchain-powered fintech startup, has launched a new cryptocurrency index enabling traders to profit from the market volatility. The new Crypto Volatility Index, or CVI, brings the traditional “market fear index” to the crypto market, allowing users to deposit and open positions with Tether (UDST). Gibraltar-based COTI explained that the new index allows traders to open CVI positions for high and low volatility. “Users who expect volatility to increase can open a CVI position. If correct, they can take profit by selling their position once the index has risen,” COTI wrote. In contrast, traders who expect volatility to remain …

The Bank of France successfully piloted a central bank digital currency — or CBDC — experiment in December, using the technology to settle monetary fund shares on a private blockchain platform for the first time. As announced by Le Banque de France on Jan. 19, the pilot commenced on Dec. 17, and saw 2 million euros ($2.4 million) worth of simulated shares purchased and sold by investors using a CBDC. The pilot took place with distributed ledger technology provided by SETL — a UK-based regulated blockchain services provider, which also provided the CBDC stablecoin. SETL’s IZNEZ record-keeping platform was used …

Over the course of 2020, numerous countries across the globe raced toward their own digital versions of their currencies, known as central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. The crypto industry still has its selling points, however, even if most countries launched CBDCs, according to Jake Yocom-Piatt, co-founder of crypto project Decred. “I expect many nation states will create their own CBDCs in the not-so-distant future, but there is a key differentiator between CBDCs and cryptocurrencies,” Yocom-Piatt told Cointelegraph. “Cryptocurrencies, e.g. Bitcoin and Decred, are fundamentally fairer systems than fiat currencies, so while CBDCs may adopt many cryptocurrency features, they cannot …

In previous years, we have seen numerous attempts to bring real-world assets to the crypto market. However, none of them has proven to be massively adopted among retail crypto users and traditional financial players. So, why hasn’t real-world asset tokenization become a massive trend? You’ve probably heard how almost anything can be tokenized — securities, art, real estate, to name a few. And there were so many projects that promised to change the way we invest in assets, no matter the type. At the same time, no projects managed to get massive adoption on the market. Traditional market professionals haven’t …

As the team behind Morph.Finance can attest, developing an algorithmic stablecoin project can be every bit as frustrating and thrilling as investing in one. While algorithmic assets have retreated from mid-December marketcap highs, the space has nonetheless continued to attract intrepid investors and developers aiming to position themselves at the forefront of a new financial vertical — though it remains an open question if such projects will ever achieve stability. Largely formed in the mold of defunct 2018 project Basis, algorithmic assets are designed to automatically adjust the total circulating supply of a token based on preset conditions, such as …

During JP Morgan Chase’s Q4 2020 earnings call, CEO Jamie Dimon and CFO Jennifer Piepszak weighed in on the OCC’s recent approval of banks using stablecoins for payments, as well as whether or not the approval will have any impact on the development of JPM Coin. During the question-and-answers portion of the call, Portales Partners analyst Charles Peabody asked about the approval from the OCC for banks to use public blockchain networks for payments. “That guidance enables an offering of stable going on a public blockchain. So that doesn't impact JPM coin. JPM coin, you should think about as the …

The COVID-19 crisis has done little to dampen China’s interest in becoming the first major economy to distribute a central bank digital currency. Quite the contrary, its digital currency/electronic payment project appears to be picking up speed. In the Shenzhen region, for example, 100,000 local citizens this month received for free a total of $31 million digital yuan via lottery, and now residents can use ATMs to convert digital yuan to cash on a test basis. Meanwhile, the Postal Savings Bank of China has reportedly developed physical wallet cards on which to store digital yuan, something useful for the elderly …

Cryptocurrency stablecoins could become systemically important overnight, says United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and that’s why the Fed is determined to get its own central bank digital currency right. CBDCs are the banking industry’s answer to cryptocurrency stablecoins. While they are often hosted on the blockchain, they share little in the way of philosophical parity with their decentralized counterparts. CBDCs will be overseen by the banks that issue them and will be regulated under the laws of their respective jurisdictions. Speaking in an interview with Yahoo Finance, Powell said advances in technology had enabled private entities to create …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has extended its recovery on Jan. 14, reclaiming the $38,000 level. What's more, the weekly candle has now turned green for the fifth consecutive week despite the 28% crash earlier this week. Meanwhile, stablecoin deposits are flooding into cryptocurrency exchanges, according to data from CryptoQuant. This inflow may act as a short-term catalyst for Bitcoin as it suggests that sidelined capital is moving back into BTC. Why are stablecoins indicative of strong buyer demand for Bitcoin? In the cryptocurrency market, many traders sell crypto assets, like Bitcoin, to stablecoins rather than cash. Stablecoins, such as …

The departing leader of the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is convinced that the future of finance is blockchain-native, per a conversation with crypto analytics firm Elliptic on Wednesday. Described by Elliptic CEO Simone Maini as "a fairy godfather to the crypto industry," Brian Brooks has been a leading light in U.S. federal policy toward crypto since taking over for Comptroller Joseph Otting in May 2020. Today, he outlined views that follow an opinion piece he wrote for the Financial Times yesterday. Namely, Brooks took the opportunity to promote his vision of an OCC that checks …

Her Majesty's Treasury requests and requires the crypto industry's input on prospective regulation. In a Thursday announcement of open consultation, the United Kingdom's finance policy department is asking the crypto community to weigh in on a series of proposals: "The government invites views from a wide range of stakeholders, and particularly firms engaged in cryptoasset activities." While Brexit formally came into effect early last year, New Year's Eve was the end of freedom to work and live between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The question lingers in today's consultation as to how much the nation's crypto rules should …