DFC

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Facebook Financial to Pursue Payments and Commerce, Led by Libra's David Marcus
Facebook Financial to Pursue Payments and Commerce, Led by Libra's David Marcus
Facebook is forming Facebook Financial (called F2 internally) to oversee the all of the payment services Facebook has announced in the past year, including Novi and WhatsApp payments. Novi oversees the digital wallet for Facebook's proposed Libra digital currency. Novi head David Marcus will be in charge of the initiative, and former PayPal executive Stephane Kasriel is being brought in to head Facebook Pay and serve as payments vice president of Facebook Financial. Facebook Pay, launched in November 2019, can be used for P2P payments on Messenger and purchases from select Pages and businesses on Facebook Marketplace. Facebook has plans to add it to Instagram and WhatsApp in the future.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#Stablecoins#PaymentSystems#Facebook#Libra#DFC
·bloomberg.com·
Facebook Financial to Pursue Payments and Commerce, Led by Libra's David Marcus
Design Choices for Central Bank Digital Currency: Policy and Technical Considerations
Design Choices for Central Bank Digital Currency: Policy and Technical Considerations
An NBER paper enumerates the fundamental technical design challenges facing CBDC designers, with a particular focus on performance, privacy, and security. Through a survey of relevant academic and industry research and deployed systems, it discusses the state of the art in technologies that can address the challenges involved in successful CBDC deployment. It also present a vision of the rich range of functionalities and use cases that a well-designed CBDC platform could ultimately offer users.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#DFC
·nber.org·
Design Choices for Central Bank Digital Currency: Policy and Technical Considerations
The future of retail payments in the United States
The future of retail payments in the United States
The U.S. Fed announced the core features of its new FedNow end-to-end 24/7 fast payments service, set to go live in 2023 or 2024. It is seen as "a catalyst for innovation in the market by providing a neutral platform on which the private sector can build to offer safe, efficient instant payment services to users across the country." It will operate alongside the private-sector Clearing House RTP instant payment service.
#Fintech#PaymentSystems#FastPayments#CBDC#DFC
·federalreserve.gov·
The future of retail payments in the United States
West Africa launches new currency in break with France
West Africa launches new currency in break with France
The central banks of West Africa have taken a major step towards breaking their monetary ties with Europe, launching their long-awaited “eco” currency and cutting some historic ties with France. On December 21, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) declared the bloc’s currency would be renamed from the CFA franc to the eco, to be overseen by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). Those adopting the eco are currently Benin, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.https://www.bceao.int/fr/communique-presse/communique-de-presse-reforme-du-franc-cfa
#Fintech#CBDC#DFC
·centralbanking.com·
West Africa launches new currency in break with France
Cash and COVID-19: The impact of the pandemic on demand for and use of cash
Cash and COVID-19: The impact of the pandemic on demand for and use of cash
This Bank of Canada study examines how the pandemic has influenced the demand for and use of cash using data from its Bank Note Distribution System. These data show that the value of notes in circulation grew sharply in March and April. Part of the increase reflects precautionary steps taken by financial institutions to increase their cash inventories during the pandemic, given concerns about possible disruptions to cash transportation services, and to reduce the risk of cash stockouts from potential customer demand. The flow of cash deposits from retailers to financial institutions, which would typically help replenish institutions’ note inventories, was disrupted during the pandemic. As a result, financial institutions compensated for this shortfall by drawing cash from the Bank of Canada.
#Fintech#Cash#Payments#Pandemic#DFC
·bankofcanada.ca·
Cash and COVID-19: The impact of the pandemic on demand for and use of cash
Fed report shows consumers are keeping more cash on-hand during the COVID-19 pandemic
Fed report shows consumers are keeping more cash on-hand during the COVID-19 pandemic
70% of U.S. consumers say that COVID-19 concerns have not caused them to avoid carrying or storing cash, according to a recent Fed survey. indicates that survey participants more than doubled the amount of cash they store at home and also increased the amount of cash they carry in their wallets.
#Fintech#Cash#Pandemic#DFC
·frbsf.org·
Fed report shows consumers are keeping more cash on-hand during the COVID-19 pandemic
Two Ex-Fed Officials Offer a Faster Way to Make Stimulus Payments
Two Ex-Fed Officials Offer a Faster Way to Make Stimulus Payments
Simon Potter and Julia Coronado have proposed the creation of recession insurance bonds (RIBs). RIBs would be zero-coupon securities distributed to households with payouts that are recession contingent - eg if policy rates reach the zero lower bound or there is a 0.5% increase in the unemployment rate. Basically it's narrow bank-type model that’s small and fit for purpose, with a per person cap (e.g., $10,000). https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/reviving-potency-monetary-policy-recession-insurance-bonds https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/securing-macroeconomic-and-monetary-stability-federal-reserve-backed
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#DFC
·bloomberg.com·
Two Ex-Fed Officials Offer a Faster Way to Make Stimulus Payments
Unite to Succeed: Swiss Stablecoin Association Hopes to Break the Ice
Unite to Succeed: Swiss Stablecoin Association Hopes to Break the Ice
The goal of the newly-formed Swiss-based World Stablecoin Association (WSA) is to create a united front for the sector to tackle regulatory concerns and drive collaboration. A number of projects have already reportedly become members of the WSA, such as the Canadian dollar-pegged QCAD as well as decentralized finance protocol Ren, which is backed by Polychain Capital. Additionally, the Brazillian Digital Token (BRZ), Crypto BRL (CBRL), Peg Network, QCash (QC), Stably, USDK and Digitalbits (XDB) are also believed to have joined the initiative. https://www.worldstablecoin.org/
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#Stablecoins#DFC
·cointelegraph.com·
Unite to Succeed: Swiss Stablecoin Association Hopes to Break the Ice
Q2'20 Review: Stablecoins at the heart of DeFi boom
Q2'20 Review: Stablecoins at the heart of DeFi boom
The story of stablecoins is the story of Ethereum. Driven by a global flight to safety amidst the coronavirus pandemic, stablecoin issuance ballooned over $8 billion in the first quarter of 2020. While inter-exchange settlement remains the most dominant use case for stablecoins by far, more generally, stablecoins are simply a better means of storing and moving dollars around the world. 24/7 uptime and relatively quick settlement allows users to react to market conditions much faster than when dealing with traditional payment rails. https://twitter.com/RyanWatkins_
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#Stablecoins#Ethereum#DeFi#DFC
·messari.io·
Q2'20 Review: Stablecoins at the heart of DeFi boom
So-Called Stablecoins
So-Called Stablecoins
If the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has its way, stablecoin payments networks will no longer be able to take a hands-off approach to knowing who their users are. In a July report to the G20, FATF suggested that “central developers and governance bodies of so-called stablecoins” should be treated either as financial institutions or as virtual asset service providers (VASPs). Hence, stablecoin platforms would probably have to abide by the FATF’s Recommendation 10, which prohibits financial institutions from “keeping anonymous accounts or accounts in obviously fictitious names.” Stablecoin platforms only currently apply customer due diligence to the small minority of users who purchase, sell and redeem stablecoins for fiat currency.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#Stablecoins#FinancialIntegrity#FATF#DFC
·aier.org·
So-Called Stablecoins
How the pandemic has clogged the global economy with paper currency
How the pandemic has clogged the global economy with paper currency
The outbreak of Covid-19 has caused a global increase in the amount of cash in the economies of Canada, Europe, US, and the UK. But the big increase in cash-in-circulation is not due to an increase in withdrawals of cash. There is much less cash being returned to banks and ATMs - businesses and individuals simply aren't redepositing their banknotes. This article argues that is probably being driven by an unwanted accumulation of cash by crooks, because the network of restaurants and other businesses that they rely on to launder their funds have all shut down thanks to virus fears and lockdowns. So throughout the pandemic they have been accumulating ever more cash from the drug using customers, with no place to offload it.
#Fintech#Cash#DFC
·jpkoning.blogspot.com·
How the pandemic has clogged the global economy with paper currency
The Digital Programmable Euro, Libra and CBDC: Implications for European Banks
The Digital Programmable Euro, Libra and CBDC: Implications for European Banks
This study analyzes the impact of digital programmable Euro initiatives on banks, based on interviews with 50 senior experts. We find that both Libra and a Euro CBDC might heavily affect European banks. Experts fear that large-scale financial disintermediation of the financial sector could take place, and digital bank runs could be triggered. Besides these risks, our findings suggest that banks also have the opportunity to develop new business models stemming from these initiatives. Therefore, Libra and a CBDC Euro should not only be seen as threats but also as opportunities.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#Stablecoins#Facebook#SmartContracts#Libra#DFC
·researchgate.net·
The Digital Programmable Euro, Libra and CBDC: Implications for European Banks
Cash, Legal Tender and the Future of Euro Banknotes
Cash, Legal Tender and the Future of Euro Banknotes
A case currently being heard in Europe’s top court could have a major bearing on the future of banknotes in the region. The case asks the court to define the term ‘legal tender’. The judgement will be delivered in the Autumn. The hearings relate to a legal challenge against the Hessischer Rundfunk, the German public broadcaster, which is accused of not accepting payments for an obligatory fee in euro cash. The plaintiffs argue that this refusal is in violation of the status of euro banknotes and coins as legal tender. A final ruling on the case is expected in the autumn.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#Cash#DFC
·cashpaymentnews.com·
Cash, Legal Tender and the Future of Euro Banknotes
Central Banks Are Privacy Providers of Last Resort
Central Banks Are Privacy Providers of Last Resort
More than anything else, the debate over whether to issue a so-called central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is driving the debate on payments and privacy. A privacy-friendly CBDC is a complex and ambitious project. But designing something from scratch is forcing central banks to ask themselves whether they have an obligation to provide the public with digital privacy and, if so, how private dare they make the stuff. It’s difficult to know for sure whether a central banker’s “balanced” approach to privacy will meet the bar that is being set by an emerging group of privacy consumers.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#Privacy#DFC
·coindesk.com·
Central Banks Are Privacy Providers of Last Resort
Digital Currencies and Stablecoins: Risks, Opportunities, and Challenges Ahead
Digital Currencies and Stablecoins: Risks, Opportunities, and Challenges Ahead
The Group of Thirty (G30) published a report on digital currency. It includes a definitive description of the digital currency that will be issued by the People’s Bank of China. The report then goes on to highlight the key issues that policymakers have to consider in responding to these developments. Among its recommendations are that national authorities must play an active leadership role in setting standards and providing public infrastructure for payments, which cannot be left to market forces alone. Also, because new technologies may require a sufficiently long phase-in period in order to be tested fully, multiple payment alternatives should be introduced so that the payments system gains a measure of resilience and includes adequate competition. Also, existing technologies that allow faster retail payments, which drastically increase competition and lower costs to businesses and consumers, should be implemented more widely.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#DFC
·group30.org·
Digital Currencies and Stablecoins: Risks, Opportunities, and Challenges Ahead
Stanford Partnership To Create Digital Currency Standards
Stanford Partnership To Create Digital Currency Standards
Stanford University’s Future of Digital Currency Program joined forces with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a United nations agency headed by China, to launch the Digital Currency Global Initiative (DGCI). The purpose is to conduct research on central bank digital currency (CBDC) and other digital currencies, aiming to identify areas for standardization to facilitate interoperability. This research will focus on technical architectures, security, technical implications and challenges in deployment caused by regulatory and policy requirements. It will also construct a set of metrics by which to evaluate the robustness of various digital currency technologies against the requirements set by various stakeholders.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#Stablecoins#DFC
·forbes.com·
Stanford Partnership To Create Digital Currency Standards
The Bank of Canada's Timothy Lane on CBDC Universal Access Devices
The Bank of Canada's Timothy Lane on CBDC Universal Access Devices
When looking at potential technologies to support this central bank digital currency (CBDC) model, the Bank of Canada is considering a universal access device. It is a device which would store and transfer CBDC without consumers having to have a smartphone, so it could look very much like a prepaid card. But the key feature is that it would have to be available to everyone and be low cost. It would also have to be designed to satisfy the needs of people with motor, sensory and cognitive impairments, which is another reason why people use cash. The universal access is kind of a core desirable feature of CBDC but having some kind of device that would deliver that is something we’ve been exploring pretty aggressively.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#DFC
·centralbanking.com·
The Bank of Canada's Timothy Lane on CBDC Universal Access Devices
Central bank digital currency and informal economy
Central bank digital currency and informal economy

This paper finds that central bank digital currency (CBDC) may not be widely accepted in the presence of a sizeable informal economy. Based on a two-sector monetary model, it shows an L-shaped relationship between the informal economy and CBDC. The CBDC can formalize the informal economy but this effect becomes marginally significant in countries with significantly large informal economies. In order to promote CBDC adoption and improve its effectiveness, tax incentives and positive CBDC interest rates can be useful tools. It further finds that adjustments to the CBDC interest rate can trigger a reallocation effect between formal and informal sectors, that improves the effectiveness of both conventional monetary policy and fiscal policy.

#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#DFC
·repec.port.ac.uk·
Central bank digital currency and informal economy
CBDCs cannot have unlimited privacy – Canadian deputy governor
CBDCs cannot have unlimited privacy – Canadian deputy governor
Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Tim Lane said that CBDC should have limits on how much anonymity it gives users, there would need to be a trade-off in terms of privacy were a CBDC to act as a replacement or complement to cash. A central bank should not issue CBDC that would increase the scope for illicit transactions to take place. The Bank of Canada has been exploring different CBDC infrastructure models to find an optimal balance between regulation and privacy, but CBDC would not be able to offer the same cash-like degree of anonymity on an unlimited scale.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#FinancialIntegrity#Privacy#DFC
·centralbanking.com·
CBDCs cannot have unlimited privacy – Canadian deputy governor
Private Sector Could Bring Value to Future CBDC Launches, Says IMF Official
Private Sector Could Bring Value to Future CBDC Launches, Says IMF Official
Tobias Adrian, a financial counselor and director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department, gave a keynote address last week at the “Building CBDC: A Race To Reality” conference, sponsored by blockchain software firm R3. Adrian offered two models for the provision of a CBDC, varying in how they would pair the private sector with central banks. The first model looked at synthetic CBDCs (sCBDC), which are backed by the liabilities of a central bank but issued with the aid of a private entity, such as a commercial bank. The second, "two-tiered," model puts central banks in charge of the issuance of a CBDC and transaction settlement, with technology likely to be occasionally updated. As such, the sCBDC model would spur private sector-led innovation at a more "fundamental level," he said.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#Stablecoins#DFC
·coindesk.com·
Private Sector Could Bring Value to Future CBDC Launches, Says IMF Official
Senate Hearing Sees Digital Dollar as a Tool for Economic Supremacy
Senate Hearing Sees Digital Dollar as a Tool for Economic Supremacy
The U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy conducted a hearing on “Winning the Economic Competition” with China. Former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo, a longtime advocate for a digital dollar and one of the witnesses, once again called for the U.S. to begin conducting tokenized dollar pilots. He said that maintaining the dollar’s supremacy is an economic and critical strategic matter, for example, in allowing the U.S. to enforce sanction regimes around the world.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#DFC
·coindesk.com·
Senate Hearing Sees Digital Dollar as a Tool for Economic Supremacy
South Korean COVID-19 relief payouts 92 percent complete
South Korean COVID-19 relief payouts 92 percent complete
Gesell money! More than 92 percent of South Korean households have received their emergency disaster relief funds from the government, three weeks after the payouts began. Households were able to choose to receive their share in the form of credit or debit card points, prepaid cards, cash points or gift certificates. The card points, gift certificates and prepaid cards cannot be used online, at large supermarkets or at entertainment venues. Any relief funds not claimed or spent by the Aug. 31 deadline will be regarded as donations to the state.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#Gesell#SmartContracts#DFC
·koreaherald.com·
South Korean COVID-19 relief payouts 92 percent complete
Blockchain Application for Central Banks: A Systematic Mapping Study
Blockchain Application for Central Banks: A Systematic Mapping Study
This paper analyzed and mapped trends in peer-reviewed research contributions through thematic categorisation of academic literature on distributed ledger technology use-cases for central bank services, operations and functions. Furthermore, this paper provides summaries of opportunities and challenges for central banks arising from blockchain adaptation to each of those use-case. It found that the most research intensive use-cases are those for: 1) central bank digital currency, 2) regulatory compliance and 3) payment clearing and settlement systems.
#Fintech#Blockchain#CryptoAssets#CBDC#CentralBanking#DFC
·researchgate.net·
Blockchain Application for Central Banks: A Systematic Mapping Study
Bank of Lithuania issues LBCOIN – the world’s first digital collector coin
Bank of Lithuania issues LBCOIN – the world’s first digital collector coin
The Bank of Lithuania issued its blockchain-based digital collector coin LBCOIN, each of the 4,000 LBCOINs equaling six digital tokens and one physical collector coin. One of the points of the excercise is to test new payment technologies in a safe environment, e.g., go through all authentication procedures remotely, open an e-wallet, swap digital tokens with other collectors or transfer them to the public NEM network. It also allows the Bank to get the know‑how to potentially issue central bank digital currency.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#CBDC#DFC
·lb.lt·
Bank of Lithuania issues LBCOIN – the world’s first digital collector coin
Could the Poor Bank on Stablecoins?
Could the Poor Bank on Stablecoins?
This Gates Foundation note explores five open questions about whether stablecoins could promote financial inclusion in lower- and middle-income countries. The questions cover two practical issues concerning processing speed and technology available to the poor; costs to users; regulatory issues, especially compliance with existing customer funds protection rules; and implications for financial systems with limited foreign exchange reserves.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#Stablecoins#DFC
·findevgateway.org·
Could the Poor Bank on Stablecoins?
Visa Blog Post Hints at Future Digital Currency Projects
Visa Blog Post Hints at Future Digital Currency Projects
Three “key values” will now steer Visa’s digital currency playbook: maintaining robust data protection standards; remaining network and currency agnostic; and partnering with projects that align with the payments firm’s existing expertise. Already a crypto bridge for tens of millions of merchants, Visa cast its digital currency partnerships as critical to preserving what it said was six decades of innovation. The publicly-traded firm cited its business collaborations with crypto exchange Coinbase and investment in the crypto custodian Anchorage. Visa said it is also working directly with policymakers and non-governmental organizations to “help shape the dialogue” around digital currencies, including the evolution of central bank digital currency. https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/blog/bdp/2020/07/21/advancing-our-approach-1595302085970.html
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#VISA#CBDC#DFC
·coindesk.com·
Visa Blog Post Hints at Future Digital Currency Projects
The WFE calls to address development of global stablecoins with a taxonomy
The WFE calls to address development of global stablecoins with a taxonomy
The World Federation of Exchanges encourages global standard-setting bodies to generate a taxonomy for all global stablecoins (GSCs) and crypto-assets. In adopting the use of a global taxonomy, a common understanding would develop of whether a GSC or crypto-asset fits a certain classification or definition (eg do the features of the crypto-asset meet the definition/classification of a security) which would, in turn, reduce the variance in application of regulation, to GSCs/crypto-assets, between jurisdictions. Whilst differences might remain across the globe in securities regulation itself, the fragmented approach to the type of GSC/crypto-asset which falls under that regulation would potentially be reduced. This results in a more universal application of regulation, especially if the principle of ‘same business, same risk, same rules’ is applied and is focused on regulatory objectives and outcomes.
#Fintech#CryptoAssets#Stablecoins#Regulation#DFC
·world-exchanges.org·
The WFE calls to address development of global stablecoins with a taxonomy
Why coins are scarce and what government, banks are doing about it
Why coins are scarce and what government, banks are doing about it
U.S. federal regulators and financial industry representatives are expected to release a set of recommendations on how to jump-start the circulation of coins, which has slowed to a crawl during the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, a number of banks are offering consumers bonuses for change brought in, stockpiling coins and strategically moving coins among branches. For example, the Community State Bank in Wisconsin has launched a Coin Buyback Program that paysa 5% premium for change.
#Fintech#Cash#Pandemic#DFC
·americanbanker.com·
Why coins are scarce and what government, banks are doing about it