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While Facebook was talking about their proposed cryptocurrency and blockchain linked to a basket of fiat currencies, Monerium was issuing fully licensed fiat-denominated e-money on an established blockchain, Ethereum.

Transfer volumes across stablecoin platforms have risen considerably in 2019. While the number of on-chain transactions across tracked stablecoins still trail that of Venmo, the aggregate total on-chain transfer volume across the largest stablecoins has now surpassed Venmo's total payment volume .

Through Elipay, merchants can accept Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin, Ether and ELI tokens (its native currency) via a platform that can be integrated into their existing infrastructure. Settlements occur immediately - and the company claims its technology eliminates the delays seen when credit card payments are being cleared. To address concerns over volatility, businesses that accept digital currencies can opt to receive revenue in their local currency, meaning no in-depth crypto knowledge is required.

Chile-based peer-to-peer remittance company CurrencyBird has joined RippleNet, Ripple's global blockchain-based network of payment providers.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced that the Federal Reserve Banks will build and operate the FedNowSM Service, a new interbank 24x7x365 real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service with integrated clearing functionality to support faster payments in the United States. The decision to develop the new RTGS service (Off-site) was based on an assessment of public input and policy criteria regarding the Federal Reserve's role in the payment system.

The Fed's offering, called FedNow, will challenge a competing service already offered by The Clearing House, a private company owned by many of the country's largest banks. The Fed, which expects to launch its service in 2023 or 2024, said a publicly run offering is needed to ensure the entire nation can reap the benefits of real-time payments.

I think twice about the utopian ideal of disintermediation and I think you should too. When all the vampire squids have gone extinct and Rich Uncle Pennybags is dead and buried, we may look back and wish we had once more the sense of order they provided. We may long for the days when our enemies were so easily defined.

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System was formally launched by the African Export-Import Bank at the African Union Extraordinary Summit, which ended recently in Niamey, Niger Republic. The PAPSS, then becomes a continent-wide digital system to facilitate payments and settlements for goods and services in local currencies.

The Federal Reserve is still weighing up the possibility of launching a round-the-clock real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, but will reach a decision "soon", chair Jerome Powell said.

The US has several private real-time networks offered by payments providers and big banks. But the Fed says these alternatives have important limitations, like the lack of a universal infrastructure. "Most of these services rely on 'closed-loop' approaches, meaning that users signed up to one service cannot exchange payments with users signed up to other services," the Fed statement noted.

Ms. Brainard says the Fed must develop its own system because "no single private-sector provider of any U.S. payment system has ever achieved nationwide reach on its own." Perhaps that is because the Fed has undercut private systems with its regulatory and infrastructure advantage, as the Government Accountability Office reported in 2016.

Ripple and Mastercard are the investors in Ripple-powered global remittance startup, SendFriend. Another Ripple partner Earthport, an automated clearing house for payments received bids from Mastercard and Visa, a round won by the latter. Now, Mastercard is buying a Denmark-based payments platform Nets for EUR 2.85B.

The price of the Libra will depend on the commitment to supply coins at the speed demanded. This is not a trivial matter as the Association will have to back new coins with the underlying assets. Consider an occasion in which a Libra hype leads to a very high demand for coins (not unlike what we have seen for bitcoins). To preserve the value of one Libra, the Association will have to mint new coins at the rate demanded and back them up by buying the assets in the underlying composition. It is not obvious that suppliers will be willing to do that for any level demanded.

Fintech Beat talks with the former head of Bank of America's global quant business, and a co-founder of Sila Money, who has raised red flags about the Facebook Libra project. Alex Lipton argues that Libra's core design resembles the vision laid out in an open-source paper published by the Royal Society and Scientific American.

The group of six US legislators will hold a meeting with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner Adrian Lobsiger. It will be led by Maxine Waters, Chair of the House Banking Committee.

"Binance today announced its plans to initiate an open blockchain project, Venus, an initiative to develop localized stablecoins and digital assets pegged to fiat currencies across the globe. Binance is looking to create new alliances and partnerships with governments, corporations, technology companies, and other cryptocurrency companies and projects involved in the larger blockchain ecosystem, to empower developed and developing countries to spur new currencies."

"To the extent permitted by applicable law, Governmental Authorities, and technology and mobile platforms, the Parent shall use its reasonable endeavours to facilitate the use of Tokens as the principal currency used on Telegram Messenger by building TON Wallets into Telegram Messenger."

MoneyGram to utilize Ripple's xRapid blockchain product, as well as XRP, Ripple's cryptocurrency, to facilitate cross-border settlement.

Telegram might not be the hero we expected - or even the one we wanted - but it may be our last, best hope for a future that doesn't turn into a dystopian nightmare of panopticoins.

It is safe to say xRapid is Ripple's most vibrant project right now. It has been active before, but not as alive with multiple banking institutions and other mainstream cash transfer entities as it is right now. It has been so buzzing lately that it is only recently that MoneyGram finally joined the clique of companies relying on it.