Lael Brainard: The digitalization of payments and currency - some issues for consideration
The Federal Reserve is looking at a broad range of issues around digital payments and currencies, including policy, design and legal considerations around potentially issuing its own digital currency.
Telegram Drops Technical White Paper for Blockchain SEC Is Trying to Halt
Telegram, the messaging app company currently facing a legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its $1.7 billion token sale, revealed more details about the technical specifications underpinning its TON blockchain Wednesday.
This OMFIF report centres on the findings of a global opinion poll on public trust in monetary institutions, payment characteristics and digital currency. The poll was conducted by Ipsos MORI across 13 advanced and emerging countries. Our findings suggest that central banks are well-positioned to issue digital currency. In almost all countries, respondents indicated that they would feel most confident in digital money issued by the domestic monetary authority. Respondents globally expressed a lack of confidence in digital money issued by a tech or credit card company, particularly respondents from advanced economies.
"Welcome to our CBDC Hub! We've compiled a collection of quality information and insights related to central bank digital currencies and the future of financial technology."
This paper analyzes high-frequency data of the six largest stablecoins by market capitalization and finds strong evidence of excess price variations. It identifies Bitcoin as a source of this excess volatility as stablecoin returns, volatility and volumes are highly correlated with corresponding Bitcoin time-series. Importantly, it also finds evidence that stablecoins contribute to the excess volatility of Bitcoin.
Why Stablecoins Are a Big Reason to be Bullish on Ethereum
Ethereum is the world’s dominant network for stablecoins and it is still growing. However, with more transactional value taken up by them than ETH itself, is this such a good thing?
Compliance appears to have been the primary cause for MasterCard's decision to leave Libra. The Libra association’s key members reportedly refused to commit to “not do anything that is not fully compliant with local law.” Specifically, Banga pointed to anti-money laundering, know your client and data management regulation. Another concern was Libra’s business model. The association does not make it clear how it would make money, with Banga noting that “when you don’t understand how money gets made, it gets made in ways you don’t like.”"
Digital money and central bank digital currency: An executive summary
Central banks already issue digital money, but only to a select group of financial institutions. Central bank digital currency would extend this to households and firms. This column examines the proposal for such currency and assesses the opportunities and risks. It argues that while preparations for the launch of Libra have not proceeded according to plan, it has become clear that for central banks, maintaining the status quo is not an option.
Governing the Coin: World Economic Forum Global Consortium for Digital Currency Governance
"The Global Consortium for Digital Currency Governance will aim to increase access to the financial system through innovative policy solutions that are inclusive and inter-operable
Opportunities for financial inclusion will be only unlocked if the space is regulated properly and includes public-private cooperation across developed and high-growth markets."
Japan’s Line social network, the largest in the country, has announced the launch of its digital currency ‘Link’ in the Japanese market from April. The token has previously been available in all countries except Japan and the US.
France’s Deputy Governor Outlines A Path For Stablecoin Payment Systems
Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, addressed the “What Ambitions For Europe” Stablecoin Conference. Paris Europlace and ConsenSys organized the event this January. Mr. Beau talked about the good and the bad. He outlined three tasks for regulatory authorities working on stablecoin adoption policies.
Coinmetrics Study Unveils Shocking Tether (USDT) Fact
A study of USDT turnover reveals just how crazy the demand for Tether’s stablecoin is. According to Coinmetric’s tweet on January 31, they reported that every single USDT token changes hands roughly 46 times every year. The trend of increasing activity shows that Tether is instrumental to liquidity flows between exchanges. It’s most likely that USDT changes hands most between multiple exchanges as opposed to individual traders.
If Walmart’s MoneyCard is any indication, many of America’s unbanked aren’t unbanked — they are differently banked. Instead of accessing banking services via traditional accounts, these people are connecting to it by prepaid credit cards, otherwise known as general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards. Walmart’s MoneyCard is one of the most well-known offerings. But even governments are sponsoring prepaid debit card programs, the Federal government’s DirectExpress card being the best example.
"Simplify your life with Cambodia’s only all-in-one mobile payment and banking app. Bakong redefines mobile payment and banking by combining e-wallets, mobile payments, online banking and financial applications within one easy-to-use interface for any preferred bank account. Stop switching between apps todayand enjoy unrivalled simplicity, convenience and security with Bakong."
NBC’s digital payments to go live in next few months
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) will launch a blockchain-based, P2P payment and money transfer platform in the next few months. Project Bakong (https://bakong.nbc.org.kh) was launched on a trial basis in July with the support of 11 banks, with many more expected to join.
Libra as a currency board: are the risks too great?
Libra is analogous to a currency-board regime. And yet, Libra’s proponents have so far overlooked the problems of monetary management that a currency board raises.
Bahamas Sand Dollar CBDC pilot enrollment at 1,200 participants
The Central Bank of the Bahamas announced that its Sand Dollar CBDC pilot project has ‘exceeded’ its expectation of 500 participants with enrollment currently at 1,200.
The Future of Payments - Part I. Cash: the Dinosaur Will Survive ... For Now
"When people discuss the future of payments they tend to predict the end of cash. Our view is different. Not only does Deutsche Bank think cash will be around for a long time, it sees the transition to digital payments as having the potential to do no less than rebalance global economic power."
The MIT Digital Currency Initiative "Redesigning Digital Money" paper considers three important features from crypto-asset design - decentralization, programmability and privacy - and assesses their applicability to a central bank digital currency. bility to a CBDC.
Avant Card — a central bank digital currency from 1990s Finland
As Stephen King said “sooner or later, everything old is new again!” In the 1990s Finland experimented with central bank digital currency in the form of its Avant stored-value card. It was never very popular and was discontinued in 2006.
Bahrain Becomes Next Country to Trial Digital Currency
The central bank of Bahrain is the first to pilot a new toolkit developed by the world economic forum. This toolkit will help Bahrain’s central bank determine if a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is the right fit for the gulf kingdom. Other nations considering CBDCs will also be using the toolkit in the future.
Influencing the Velocity of Central Bank Digital Currencies
This paper explores the assets and process necessary for creating a central bank digital currency on the Celo platform, as well as the potential impact on the financial system.
Japan ruling party lawmakers to float idea of issuing digital currency
A group comprised of about 70 Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are working on a proposal for Japan to issue its own digital currency. The digital currency could be a joint initiative between the government and private companies, Norihiro Nakayama, parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters.
NYC Moves to Ban Cashless Stores in Blow to Visa, Mastercard
New York City is joining San Francisco and Philadelphia in banning stores and restaurants from rejecting cash as a form of payment. The city council approved a bill by a vote of 43-3 Thursday that prohibits the practice and and prevents New York City retailers from charging customers who pay with cash more than those who don’t. Violators could face penalties of as much as $1,500.
Impending arrival - a sequel to the survey on central bank digital currency
The latest BIS survey shows that most central banks are researching CBDC and a small number looks likely to issue a CBDC very soon. Emerging market economies report stronger motivations and a higher likelihood to issue CBDC than advanced economies.
Pornhub Adds Tether Stablecoin as New Crypto Payment Option
Pornhub now supports Tether to allow instant and zero-fee payments via the TronLink crypto wallet and browser extension. TronLink is a native wallet for Tron (TRX). The USDT token became available on the Tron network in April 2019.
Central Banks Create New Framework for CBDC Deployment with World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum and a community of over 40 central banks, international organizations, academic researchers and financial institutions have created a framework to help central banks evaluate, design and potentially deploy CBDC.
The Outcomes and Findings of Project Inthanon-LionRock and the Next Steps
Hong Kong and Thailand’s central banks have stepped closer to implementing a joint central bank digital currency for cross-border payments, officially announcing the outcomes of a joint CBDC research project called Project Inthanon-LionRock.
