There are technical limits to even the most technologically ambitious of central banks. So says Sky Guo, CEO of Cypherium — an enterprise blockchain platform that has partnered with a number of Chinese cities and has worked with projected central bank digital currencies. “CBDC is definitely really hot with central banks these days,” said Guo. CBDCs are all the rage this year, largely due to a surge in fiat-pegged stablecoin value and a sudden interest in upgrading non-cash systems amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But while the talk surrounding CBDCs involves language taken from the world of blockchain-backed digital currencies, even …

As global interest in stablecoins explodes, a number of key players are pushing especially hard for more adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa. On Thursday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Africa Program published new analysis advocating more options for crypto users in sub-Saharan Africa. CSIS is a well-known Washington, DC-based think tank. The authors of the analysis, Judd Devermont and Topaz Mukulu, are extremely optimistic about the future role of crypto, specifically predicting that "Digital currencies almost certainly will become more common in general and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular." They conclude their analysis with a series of recommendations, including …

A new bill introduced to the United States Congress on Wednesday could enforce blanket regulation on all stablecoins. If passed, any service provided in relation to these types of cryptocurrencies would become illegal without first receiving approval by multiple government bodies: “It shall be unlawful for any person to issue a stablecoin or stablecoin-related product, to provide any stablecoin-related service, or otherwise engage in any stablecoin-related commercial activity, including activity involving stablecoins issued by other persons, without obtaining written approval in advance, and on an ongoing basis, from the appropriate Federal banking agency, the Corporation, and the Board of Governors …

Senior officials at the Bank of Russia have come out against the issuance of private stablecoins pegged to the Russian ruble. Sergei Shvetsov, a first deputy governor of the Russian central bank, said that the bank aims to ban private firms from offering stablecoins backed by the country’s fiat currency. Russian crypto developers will only be able to use the Bank of Russia’s digital ruble, Shvetsov said. According to a Nov. 30 report by local news agency Prime, the he said that this approach follows the “philosophy of the means of payment’s uniqueness.” Shvetsov referred to China’s digital yuan-related regulations …

Centre Consortium, the company behind USD Coin (USDC), has hired former State Street and JPMorgan Chase executive David Puth as its new CEO. Centre made the announcement early Tuesday in a Medium post that praised Puth for his leadership credentials. The new hire will help Centre expand its global partnerships across the fintech, crypto and traditional financial services industries. Puth said that he is excited to be joining Centre “at this critical time in the industry,” adding: “The growth of USDC over the course of 2020 is indicative of what I expect will be the path for Centre business activities …

According to a press release posted today, the Libra Association is changing its name to the Diem Association. The shift is likely in the hopes of turning the page on Libra’s PR. Facebook initially announced its planned global stablecoin Libra in June of last year to immediate regulatory uproar that has swamped the project since. Facebook’s involvement has proved especially controversial. The new name makes use of the Latin word for “day,” best known in the saying, “Carpe diem.” The Association’s press release upon the announcement alludes obliquely to the need to change the narrative on the project: “Now transitioning …

With a new law coming into effect in Russian, the country's largest bank is planning a new blockchain platform for trading, as well as a native token. According to a Monday report from Russian business news outlet RBC, Sberbank is planning to jump into crypto come 2021 when a new law "On Digital Financial Assets," or DFA, is set to come into effect. The news came from Herman Gref, the CEO and chairman of Sberbank. With over 96 million clients, the state-owned bank is the largest bank in Russia. There was speculation several months ago that Sberbank was looking into …

The market cap of Tether (USDT), a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, has surged in recent weeks, potentially helping to fuel the recent Bitcoin (BTC) rally that drove prices to near all-time highs. Paolo Ardoino, who serves as dual CTO to Bitfinex and Tether, tweeted Thursday that the supply of USDT increased by 1 billion over nine days, marking the second-fastest expansion in its history. The record was set on Sept. 4, 2020 when, over eight days, USDT's circulating supply increased by 1 billion. At press time, Tether had a market cap of nearly $19 billion, meaning that there are roughly 19 …

Editor’s note As many of you were certainly following in real time, a bull market gave way to a bloodbath yesterday, which happened to be Thanksgiving in the United States. Personally, I’ve never thought that Bitcoin’s (BTC) price was any sort of proof of its value proposition, but for many, its retreat yesterday certainly dashed many a planned gloat to family members more receptive to massive gains than concepts like censorship resistance. But obviously, volatility is part of the game with cryptocurrencies. One of the more prominent solutions to this problem has been the rise of stablecoins, especially following the …

The long-awaited digital currency Libra could finally see the light of day as soon as January 2021, according to a new report. Following more than a year of scrutiny from global financial regulators, Libra will launch in the form of a U.S. dollar-backed digital currency, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 27. Citing three people involved in the Libra project, the Financial Times wrote that the Libra Association plans will eventually add more fiat currencies to the basket of assets that back Libra’s value. Expected in January, the exact launch date is still not known and would depend on when …

On Friday, the International Monetary Fund published a new working paper on central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, and their legal ramifications. In the paper, researchers including IMF legal counsel Wouter Bossu and Catalina Margulis argue that current frameworks are inadequate for issuing public-facing CBDCs. The researchers are particularly concerned about how existing definitions of money can apply to such a new technology, but, optimistically, suggest the problem is simple enough to fix: "The absence of an explicit and robust legal basis for the issuance of token-and/or account-based CBDC can be relatively easily remedied through targeted central bank law reform." …

Hackers were reportedly able to exploit savings pools at Gibraltar-based decentralized finance protocol Akropolis, getting away with more than $2 million in stablecoins. The firm stated on Twitter on Nov. 12 that it had identified a hack “executed across a body of smart contracts in the savings pools.” Akropolis said the areas targeted by the hackers had already been audited twice, and only included “Curve Y and Curve sUSD savings pools.” Ethereum blockchain records show the hackers got away with more than 2,030,850 Dai by exploiting these savings pools. They then moved the funds to a different address. Akropolis has …