Tether Pulled $300 Million in Cryptocurrency out of Circulation Last Week | CCN
"Meanwhile, traders are increasingly opting to use other stablecoins, as new offerings from heavyweights such as Gemini, Circle, and Paxos are gradually chipping away at tether’s stranglehold on that multi-billion dollar market."
NuBits is hardly talked about these days but it was the crypto world’s first “successful” stable coin. From September 2014 until June 2016 NuBits stayed around one US dollar, give or take a cent. On June 7th it fell to $0.96, which wasn’t that far from its normal variance but was enough to erode investor confidence. June 8th it fell to $0.90 and then by June 9th it had entered free fall, hitting $0.63. by the 18th, it had hit lows of around $0.21.
"U.S.-based cryptocurrency payment processor BitPay has started accepting stablecoins, according to an announcement published Oct. 15. The company now allows its merchants to receive settlements in Gemini Dollars (GUSD) and Circle USD Coin (USDC)."
The Tether Death Spiral - Tether USD (Cryptocurrency:USDT-USD) | Seeking Alpha
"Guys, I've been telling you that if Tether were to collapse, it could bring a Bitcoin Black Friday. Well, it looks like this is happening right now, so I want to explain what's happening. First, Tether adds liquidity to the market, but it's based on a lie. They're supposed to have $2.5 billion in the bank, but do they? These funds are how they control the price of Tether, keeping it pegged to the US dollar. In other words, Tether should always be worth $1.00. But, that is no longer the case."
Winklevoss-Backed Stablecoin Soars Above $1 as Tether's Market Cap Plunges - CoinDesk
"A second stablecoin has broken its peg with the U.S. dollar – except this one's soaring well above a buck, not tanking below it. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the Gemini exchange-issued Gemini dollar (GUSD) saw its price hit an all-time high of $1.19 Tuesday after first breaking its dollar peg on Monday, when it shot up to $1.14. At press time, the token was trading at $1.18."
Tether Found a New Bank, and it Might be in the Bahamas: Report
"As first reported by The Block’s Larry Cermak, Tether — whose USD-pegged cryptocurrency has a market cap in the billions of dollars — is said to be holding its fiat reserves at Deltec Bank, which is based out of Nassau. Those reserves, according to the company, are quite large. As of Tuesday morning, there are more than 2.25 billion USDT tokens in circulation, representing $2.25 billion in physical assets. At one point, USDT was worth nearly $2.9 billion, though hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency token has been yanked out of circulation in October."
Which Stablecoin Is the Riskiest? The Crypto Market Is Pricing That In - CoinDesk
"The market is starting to differentiate between stablecoins, even though these cryptocurrencies are all designed to trade 1-to-1 with fiat. Several U.S. dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies are now trading either significantly higher or significantly lower than the greenback, reflecting investors' perceptions of their relative risk."
Report: Bitfinex Shifts Its Banking Business to Hong Kong-Based Bank of Communications | Coin Telegraph
"Cryptocurrency trading platform Bitfinex has reportedly shifted its banking business to the Hong Kong-based Bank of Communications, the Block reported Oct. 16. A source familiar with the matter reportedly said that Bitfinex appears to be banking with the Bank of Communications through the private account “Prosperity Revenue Merchandising Limited.” According to the Block, Bank of Communications — which is partly owned by HSBC — has been using U.S.-based Citibank as the intermediary bank for U.S. dollar wire transfers to Bitfinex."
Important Aspects of Stablecoins: The Difference Between Pegging, Collateralization, and Redeemability | Coin Telegraph
"Broadly speaking, this is broken down into 3 categories: asset-backed (including fiat), crypto-backed, and non-backed stablecoins (including algorithms and the Seigniorage shares’ approach). This is a great way of introducing the concept of stablecoins and a good basis for providing an overview, but it doesn’t paint a full picture in terms of how the composition of stablecoins can ultimately affect its utility and usability. To do this, we need to include 3 additional, but equally important, aspects into stablecoin discussions, i.e. pegging, collateralization, and redeemability."
Russian State Duma Committee Considers Launch of Central Bank-Issued Stablecoin | Coin Telegraph
"According to Moscow-based news outlet Mskagency, the chairman has clarified that the cryptocurrency will be issued by the central bank since it is backed by fiat currency. In conclusion, Aksakov noted that the implementation of blockchain technology in terms of issuance “crypto-money” is “promising.”"
Iran Moves One Step Closer to Introducing a State-Backed Cryptocurrency - CoinWire
"In a report published October 29 by the Mehr news agency, Jalali spoke about how cryptocurrencies could present “great opportunities,” hinting at the capital’s plan to potentially introduce a state-backed digital currency. The impetus behind the move is to minimize Iran’s dependence on SWIFT’s USD-based payment rails."
eCurrency™ Announces Contribution of its API to ITU Focus Group DFC
"DUBLIN, Aug. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- eCurrency Mint Limited (eCurrency) announces that it has contributed its Application Programming Interface (API) to the International Telecommunication Union Focus Group on Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency (ITU FG DFC). The API will contribute to an area of standardization for integration with existing payments systems for interoperability."
"Terra is a protocol of money that ensures price-stability by algorithmically expanding and contracting supply. Terra's Stability Reserve makes a decentralized guarantee of solvency, protecting it from the speculative and regulatory risks that other currencies are exposed to."
CryptoRuble: How Stable Could Russian National Stablecoin Be?
"On November 7, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee on Financial Markets announced details of the “CryptoRuble,” a long-discussed government cryptocurrency project. Specifically, the official said that a state-backed stablecoin would be a complete equivalent to the Russian fiat ruble, but in a digital space. Russian authorities have now ended up with this concept after years of contradicting statements, and still, a ruble-pegged stablecoin might not turn out stable in the end."
Cryptocurrency and Central Bank E-Money - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
"The Atlanta Fed recently hosted a workshop, "Financial Stability Implications of New Technology," which was cosponsored by the Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk at Georgia State University. This macroblog post discusses the workshop's panel on cryptocurrency and central bank e-money. A companion Notes from the Vault post provides some highlights from the rest of the workshop."
Commercial Bank & Central Bank Digital Currencies: Prudential Treatments
This IIF paper outlines some of the important policy issues around the prudential regulation treatment of commercial and central bank digital instruments that will need to be considered further, illustrated by some potential scenarios.
Stablecoins, Central Bank Digital Currencies, and Cross-Border Payments
E-money adoption may be extremely rapid, but that it may raise significant risks. Policies to counter these risks yield a synthetic version of central bank digital currency with various advantages relative to the full-service version.
Bank of Russia may consider gold-backed cryptocurrency
The Bank of Russia will review a proposal to create a gold-backed cryptocurrency, which could be used for mutual settlements with other countries, Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said on May 23.
Major Utility Settlement Coin Project Raises $63 Mln for Commercial Realization
The Utility Settlement Coin (USC) project — led by some of the world’s largest banks — has announced the creation of a new firm (Fnality International) and closure of an accompanying £50 million Series A financing round.
Digital Currencies and Fast Payment Systems: Disruption is Coming
Darrell Duffie examines key issues around the introduction of digital currencies and faster payment systems, including financial inclusion, payment system efficiency, control by central banks of monetary policy transmission, privacy and anti-monetary laundering, and competition for banking services.
Blockchain in retail banking: Making the connection
There needs to be a more seamless transition between fiat and digital assets, so that customers do not risk losses as they switch back and forth. One solution would be for central banks to issue a crypto fiat, which would support product manufacturing. It would also enable real-time peer-to-peer payments and potentially cross-border interbank clearing and settlement.
When Facebook’s Banker Is Bank of England Governor Mark Carney
One idea as to how officials might keep CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s dreams grounded in reality is to get under the hood of what goes into the digital currency in the first place. Given Libra wants to back every digital cent with a mix of real-world reserve currencies, that might be the best place to start. Bank of England boss Mark Carney hinted at this in his Mansion House speech on Thursday, proposing that tech firms and other non-banks be allowed to hold funds directly at the central bank.
Swiss central bank asked to issue stock exchange digital currency
The Swiss stock exchange SIX wants the Swiss National Bank to issue a wholesale central bank digital currency to settle payments on its new digital securities trading platform. The SNB has been cool on retail CBDC, but the proposed SDX stablecoin would apply only to inter-banks payments.
Central bank plans to create digital currencies receive backing
Global central banks may have to issue their own digital currencies sooner than expected, the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements has said, after Facebook recently unveiled plans to create its own stablecoin.
Central banks should issue digital currencies of their own
Former deputy governor at the Banque de France Jean-Pierre Landau argues that central banks should issue digital currencies of their own to protect financial stability, monetary policy and access to public money.
CBDCs could protect citizens from e-currency abuse, official says
Riksbank's Hanna Armelius: Central banks need to consider issuing digital currencies or leave citizens vulnerable to market power. Cashless societies could leave payment systems vulnerable to “increasing monopoly power … if there’s no sort of competition from central bank money.”
Libra announcement is forcing China’s central bank into research its own digital currency
Facebook’s plans to create its own cryptocurrency have forced China’s central bank into stepping up research into creating its own digital currency as Libra could potentially pose a challenge to Chinese cross-border payments, monetary policy and even financial sovereignty, Wang Xin, director of the PBOC’s research bureau.
Philippines central bank lukewarm on launching own cryptocurrency
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) remains lukewarm to the idea of issuing its own digital currency despite the decision of Facebook to unveil its own cryptocurrency, Libra.
