Tether Treasury Prints Another 60M USDT for the Third Time in Just Two Days
Tether Treasury has been on a printing spree in the past two days, injecting some 180M USDT into the market in three separate batches of 60M USDT each.
MakerDao's Current Code-Base Doesn't Allow for Negative Interest rates!
To restore Dai's $1 peg, negative interest rates may be necessary. But apparently @MakerDAO's current code-base doesn't allow for negative numbers. Better get coding, quick!
$2 Million of MakerDAO Debt to Be Wiped as Auction Reaches Final Stages
Bidders have already committed to buying Maker (MKR) tokens for a total of $2 million in Dai (DAI) as the first phase of the MakerDAO debt auction reaches its final stages. The majority of the current winning bids were placed at around 1:25 a.m. EST, March 20, so unless further bids come in, most of the lots will be sold at around 7:25 a.m. EST."
Banknotes and Coronavirus
"In this post I’m going to review what the authorities like central banks have done up till now with the banknotes they issue. And then I’ll discuss what science has to tell us about banknotes and pathogens."
The total supply for stablecoin USDC has risen by 42% since March 1
The supply for the USDC stablecoin has jumped significantly since the start of the month. The market capitalization for the dollar-backed stablecoin has climbed by approximately $200 million since March 1, now surpassing the $600 million benchmark. This figure represents a 42%.
MakerDAO’s First Debt Auction of MKR Tokens Is Successfully Underway
Sales at this auction take a reverse-auction format, with a fixed bidding amount of 50,000 DAI placed for an initial lot of 250 MKR tokens. Bidders can then lower the amount of MKR that they would be prepared to accept for the bid, but with a minimum decrease of 3%. Each lot will continue until one of two thresholds is crossed: either 6 hours passing since the last bid, or 72 hours passing since the first bid.
Tether Mints $180M New USDT For ‘Inventory Replenishment’
Tether has created USD $180 million of its USDT stablecoin for a so-called “inventory replenishment” on March 17-18. Such a step could add further dynamics to an already extremely volatile Bitcoin market.
BitMEX Report: Issuance of CBDCs May Lead to Inflation
The BitMEX analysis divides the CBDC concept into two distinct ideas: i) banning physical cash, and, ii) allowing retail customers to have deposits directly with the central bank. It concludes that although in some ways the two policies complement each other, they have vastly different economic consequences. The former would increase credit expansion, and the latter would cause contraction. Due to the deflationary nature of allowing the public to hold electronic deposits at their central bank, it concludes that financial authorities are unlikely to allow these CBDC schemes to succeed in any meaningful way.
The MakerDAO Auction Is Happening, Here's What to Expect
The MakerDAO (MKR) community has locked in a March 19 auction to cover a multi-million dollar hole in DAI collateral after the sudden Ethereum (ETH) price crash on March 12. The system will auction newly minted MKR in exchange for DAI. The proceeds from the sale will be used to recapitalize the system and compensate the losses suffered by the borrowers who saw their Ethereum collateral auctioned off for zero DAI. As the stablecoin powers many decentralized finance applications, the stability of Maker is paramount for the entire ecosystem.
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s CBDC Could Beat China to the Punch in 2020
Quite a comprehensive and well-written article on the state of the leading CBDC efforts, including some quotes from yours truly!
MakerDAO Adds USDC as DeFi Collateral Following 'Black Thursday' Chaos
MakerDAO has added a third asset to its decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, USD Coin (USDC), in response to the system’s flagship stablecoin, dai, continuing to float above its dollar peg.
DAI another day: USDC can be used as collateral at embattled MakerDAO
MakerDAO is now allowing the centralized USDC stablecoin to be used as collateral for loans after last week’s ethereum crash. The platform was left with under-collateralized debt worth millions of dollars after ether (ETH) fell by 30% in 24 hours on “Black Thursday.”
MakerDAO's Problems Are a Textbook Case of Governance Failure
"Even though this particular crisis could not have been foreseen, there are steps that the Maker team could have taken to prepare for these unknown unknowns. This situation, while still actively developing, highlights that those teams who design DeFi networks cannot treat economic and governance design as “optional future TBDs.” They must proactively consider all possible (covarying) risks, assuming that users will behave in their own best interests, and make it a priority to implement governance systems that are robust to these sorts of crises."
Central Bank of Kenya Announces Emergency Measures to Facilitate Mobile Money Transactions
The Central Bank of Kenya announced measures that will facilitate increased use of mobile money transactions instead of cash. While the immediate objective is to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 by handling banknotes, this will also reduce the use of cash in the economy over the medium term. The current AML/CFT frameworks will continue to apply and CBK will closely monitor the implementation of these emergency measures.
MakerDAO Debts Grow as DeFi Leader Moves to Stabilize Protocol
MakerDAO’s emergency shutdown option – which was weighed by community members following the appearance of a $4 million debt bubble on the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform – will not pass at this time. If a shutdown was triggered by the Maker team, all dai stablecoins in circulation would convert to the underlying asset, ether (ETH).
Crisis at MakerDAO as ETH crash creates bad debt worth $4 million
MakerDAO has been holding crisis talks after dramatic falls in the price of Ether left debt worth about $4 million under-collateralized. At one point, the platform was considering an emergency shutdown as the full impact of “Black Thursday” became clear—with ETH falling by 30% in a 24-hour period.
Digital stimulus?
Could now be a good time to announce a CBDC? The asset/saving-less can be encouraged to sign up to the system with the promise of a $2000/£2000/€2000 stimulus and an ongoing stipend of x amount for however long the crisis lasts (an effective negative rate). Those seeking safety for savings, meanwhile, can be promised the protection of par value, with capital invested strategically redeployed in the system in the shape of zero-rate loans for temporarily struggling businesses?
MakerDAO Community to Vote on Upgrades, Conduct Debt Auction
MakerDAO, built on the ETH network, has hastily called for a community vote on March 13 ahead of the project's first-ever Debt Auction. According to Maker, the vote will decide on needed modifications that were identified during the fallout from the recent crypto market bloodbath. MakerDAO is the DeFi protocol that creates the DAI stablecoin.
Central Bank Digital Currency: opportunities, challenges and design
The Bank of England has published a discussion paper setting out its initial CBDC thinking to provide a basis for further research and dialogue between the Bank and a range of stakeholders.
Celo Reveals 50-Member Alliance with Key Libra Participants
"The digital currency of the foundation – Celo Dollar – will be pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by a reserve of other cryptocurrencies. Unlike other digital currencies, this can be transferred only by knowing the mobile numbers of the users."
Proposal for a deposit guarantee scheme presented to the Countries Curaçao and Sint Maarten
On February 6, 2020 the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten submitted a draft national ordinance to the countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten for a deposit guarantee scheme. This draft will shortly be discussed with the representative organizations and thereafter be officially presented once more to the countries for approval and implementation.
The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten contracts equensWorldline for instant payments
The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten has contracted equensWorldline SE, a subsidiary of Worldline, to introduce an instant payments system on top of their current clearing & settlement system.
New Celo Alliance Has Same Aims as Libra – And Some of the Same Partners
The Silicon Valley crypto startup cLabs, focused on mobile payments and the Celo blockchain project, is following another precedent from Facebook’s Libra playbook by launching an industry association through a separate Celo Foundation.
Stablecoins: A Brave New World?
With regard to their volatile prices, limited number, small total amount, and concentrated market, stablecoins have so far met with a mixed success. They rather represent a complement to the crypto-assets market. However, the arrival of very large issuers, securing a higher degree of confidence to users, and apt to reach a wide public, could give their projects a potentially systemic impact. These global stablecoins would create risks, in particular for financial stability and monetary policy, and in lesser-developed economies. This paper reviews these risks and the way the private sector, regulators and central banks can address them.
Circle announces launch of APIs for businesses to adopt USDC stablecoin
Circle's business clients can now sign up for the Circle Business Account, a toolbox of APIs that allow developers to build on top of its USDC stablecoin.
During MIT panel, experts say blockchain is not yet a clear design choice for central bank digital currencies - The Block
Experts at the MIT Bitcoin Expo on Saturday argued that blockchain as a technology is not yet a clear choice for central bank digital currencies due to challenges regarding privacy protection, interoperability, and the ability to move value on a consistent basis. At the same time, they believe that the introduction of central bank digital currencies is a necessary improvement upon the existing global financial system because they advance financial inclusion, cut the cost of handling cash and help mitigate risks during crises.
Masayoshi Amamiya: Central Bank Digital Currency and the future of payment and settlement systems
"If the central bank issues CBDC, relevant transaction information will flow into the central bank. Its implication is not only a matter of protecting personal information, but also a matter of what kind of system design is desirable for the society in order to effectively utilize such commercial information for business purposes."
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union : Selected Issues
Given that the ECCB has a fixed exchange rate regime, monetary policy implications of a CBDC would be limited. [But] key challenges that warrant careful considerations would include risks to financial intermediation, financial integrity, and cybersecurity.
FDIC Pass-Through Deposit Insurance
An account that meets the definition of a fiduciary or agency account is entitled to “pass-through” deposit insurance coverage from the FDIC through the third party who establishes the account to the actual owner/principal, provided certain conditions are met.
FDIC: Fiduciary Accounts and Pass-Through Deposit Insurance
"Fiduciary accounts are deposit accounts owned by one party but held in a fiduciary capacity by another party. Fiduciary relationships may include, but are not limited to, an agent, nominee, guardian, executor or custodian. "