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China is launching the Blockchain-based Services Network which will be the backbone infrastructure technology for massive interconnectivity throughout the mainland and to the Digital Silk Road to provide interconnectivity to all of China's trade partners around the globe. The BSN will be a new internet protocol to allow a more efficient way to share data, value and digital assets in a completely transparent and trusted way between anyone who wants to be a node on the network.

An R3 white explores proposed CBDC models and applications from across the globe, and examines technologies for different implementations based on recent engagements with central banks and payment infrastructure providers. It discusses use cases that CBDCs are solving, the benefits they may unlock, minimum viable ecosystems, the difference between the hybrid, synthetic and direct models, and the technologies, including blockchain, that are being considered.

The Telegram Open Network (TON) operating system (OS), an end-to-end open-source infrastructure that allows developers and users to work with the TON blockchain, will reportedly soon be available on smartphones and personal computers for mainstream users. TON OS is not an alternative to existing operating systems, but will serve as an add-on for devices, making them able to support blockchain applications. This is despite Telegram's ongoing legal battle against the U.S. SEC. (Telegram is seeking to appeal a U.S. federal court's ruling in favor of the SEC to halt the distribution of the platform's native Gram tokens.)

The Options Clearing Corporation that helps BATS, Cboe, Nasdaq NDAQ and the NYSE clear equity derivatives is now in the process of moving its currently $72 billion stock lending infrastructure to to Axoni's Axcore blockchain. Each participant in a deal will run their own nodes, giving them real-time direct access to the same pool of data, instead of relying on a series of time-consuming messages.

"Germany's federal bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, has run successful tests on a project which bridges the traditional finance infrastructure with blockchain technology."

PayPal announced that it has agreed to acquire Curv to accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Curv is a leading provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Deutsche Telekom is purchasing Celo tokens in "significant" size, and investing in infrastructure to support the Celo network, which is working to build a decentralized version of Venmo-style peer-to-peer payment platforms. Celo maps user mobile phone numbers to the public key for a blockchain wallet, which simplifies access to crypto. Deutsche Telekom sees a variety of opportunities using Celo, including remittances.

"In this article, we unpack the key aspects of China's CBDC from an onshore and offshore perspective as it continues to unfold, and provide insight into the key issues to consider in engaging with this refreshed and reimagined currency infrastructure."

"As policymakers and regulators develop regulations to oversee DeFi markets, they must balance the need to support financial services innovation with the need to protect consumers, fight crime, and preserve financial stability. Doing so may not be as straightforward as it was for the initial wave of cryptocurrency activities. Regulators may require more policy and legal innovation to address DeFi's trend toward disintermediation and to support a more open, interoperable, and competitive financial infrastructure."

The Governor of the Bank Indonesia (BI) reportedly said that the central bank is planning to launch a digital rupiah and is assessing which platform it will use. BI is also examining how a central bank digital currency (CBDC) will help it meet its monetary policy and payment systems objectives, including by assessing the readiness of the financial infrastructure. The Governor said the rupiah will remain the only legally accepted currency for payment, and BI will regulate the digital rupiah the same way it regulates banknotes and card-based transactions.

"With ongoing conversations around sustainability, the environmental impact of blockchain technology and popular, but energy-intensive, cryptocurrencies, we're pleased to share that Celo is a carbon negative blockchain. Very simply, the Celo network's Proof-of-Stake (POS) consensus algorithm naturally requires a tiny fraction of the energy usage of Proof-of-Work (POW) algorithms as used by Bitcoin and Ethereum. And at capacity, the Celo network could process up to 7 million transactions per ton of CO2 emitted by its infrastructure."

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Bank of England today launched the BIS Innovation Hub London Centre. The Hub's work program is currently focused on the use of technological innovation in supervision and regulation (suptech and regtech); next-generation financial market infrastructures; central bank digital currency (CBDC); open finance; cyber security; and green finance. Work related to these themes is distributed across the various Hub Centres.

"The DAO legislation further bolsters Wyoming's reputation in the industry as "Blockchain Valley." Notably, it follows Wyoming's decision in 2019 to charter special purpose depository institutions (SPDIs), enabling digital asset companies to operate as depository banks and custodians in the state and beyond, with access to the federal payments infrastructure. These developments should help promote blockchain business development across the United States."

"You can call Project Bakong NBC's moonshot. This blockchain-based "backbone payments system" could remake the lives of millions of people and set a benchmark for how such modern infrastructure can improve lives in the developing world and beyond. It's certainly already turning heads within the crypto community, which is intrigued by the idea of central banks doing a digital currency thing."

As CBDCs emerge as a major disruptor to existing infrastructure, interoperability remains one of the most significant roadblocks to their functionality. Although most financial institutions remained wary of digital currencies, payment players like Visa, Mastercard and PayPal have not only accepted the concept of cryptocurrencies and CBDCs but are constantly innovating on both fronts. The future could see them carving out a new niche for themselves - as the interoperability layer for the upcoming CBDC world.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), an international body which sets global and commercial standards worldwide, has defined various standards for facilitating the flow of messages related to payments/financial transactions. Over the last decade, ISO 20022 has emerged as the key global standard for developing modernised financial market infrastructures. At present, most payment systems follow the ISO 20022 standards, resulting in improved efficiency, lower costs and the avoidance of errors. ISO 20022 is fast emerging as a global benchmark for successful, real-time, high and low-value payments across domestic, regional and international flows of financial transactions.

Developed nations contemplating issuing CBDCs are apparently doing so primarily for financial stability and monetary policy reasons. However, a stronger case can arguably be made for the issuance of CBDC in developing economies. According to Jean-Michel Godeffroy, Chairman of the Central Bank Payments Conference and former Director General of Payment Systems and Market Infrastructure at the European Central Bank, 'in many developing countries there is insufficient competition between banks, as well as a very loose network of bank branches and little or no deposit insurance. The business case of CBDC in developing countries is probably stronger than in most developed countries; in these parts of the world, the issuance of CBDC in parallel to banknotes could enhance economic growth and financial inclusion'.

The Bank for International Settlements' Innovation Hub (BISIH) set out its work program, focusing on six key areas; suptech and regtech, next-generation financial market infrastructures, central bank digital currency (CBDC), open finance, green finance, and cyber security. The CBDC theme will include a proof of concept platform using multiple wholesale CBDCs to explore the feasibility of faster and cheaper cross-border payments, and a technological research project and associated prototype(s) for tiered retail CBDC distribution architectures.

The key barrier to wider participation in the crypto markets is lack of liquidity, according to a survey of 25 institutional investors by Aite Group and eToro. More specifically, market cap is a "very important" factor for 56% of respondents, with 28% more calling it "important." Also important were regulatory certainty, mature market infrastructure, and price accessibility, reliability and transparency. Respondents also expressed concerns over reputational risk and security issues.

Ethereum studio ConsenSys will reportedly integrate Quorum into the China state-sanctioned Blockchain Service Network (BSN). The BSN is a service infrastructure that allows developers to build decentralized applications on top of blockchains that it supports, like Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum, and Polkadot. It is backed by the State Information Center of China, a think tank under the country's cabinet-level economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission. Beijing-based Red Date Technology oversees the operations and development of the platform.