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As first envisioned in a 2018 white paper by the pseudonymous "Team Rocket," the Avalanche protocol uses random network sampling to reach consensus. But it is AVA Labs' (www.avalabs.org) ambition in building new infrastructure for the financial markets that now drives the firm forward.

Banco Central do Brasil will roll out PIX, an instant, 24/7 payments system enabled via QR codes, in November 2020. It will allow users to send and receive payments instantly via cell phone. The PIX's centralized and sole settlement infrastructure is the Instant Payment System (SPI)-to be operated and managed by BCB.

"Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) promise to provide cash-like safety and convenience for peer-to-peer payments. To do so, they must be resilient and accessible. They should also safeguard the user's privacy, while allowing for effective law enforcement. Different technical designs satisfy these attributes to varying degrees, depending on whether they feature intermediaries, a conventional or distributed infrastructure, account- or token-based access, and retail interlinkages across borders. We set out the underlying trade-offs and the related hierarchy of design choices."

The white paper, Privacy 2020: 10 Privacy Risks and 10 Privacy Enhancing Technologies to Watch in the Next Decade, identifies ten technologies that are likely to create increasingly complex data protection challenges. Over the next decade, privacy considerations will be driven by innovations in tech linked to human bodies, health, and social networks; infrastructure; and computing power. The white paper also highlights ten developments that can enhance privacy - providing cause for optimism that organizations will be able to manage data responsibly. Some of these technologies are already in general use, some will soon be widely deployed, and others are nascent.

The best way to realize the full potential of FinTech to support the SDGs is to focus on four pillars: (i) digital identity and simplified account opening and e-KYC systems, (ii) open interoperable electronic payments systems, (iii) using the infrastructure of (i) and (ii) to underpin electronic provision of government services and payments, and (iv) digital financial markets and systems to support broader access to finance and investment.

Singapore has been named the world's top nation in terms of digital adoption and which showcases the most favorable environment for digitalization, according to Cisco's annual Digital Readiness Index. The index, which measures digital readiness of countries based on seven components: ease of doing business, human capital, startup environment, technology adoption and technology infrastructure, ranked Singapore as the world's most well prepared country for digitalization.

There's a small segment of Swedish society for which digital payment technology doesn't work. That segment includes people on low incomes, who feel cash gives them greater control, enabling them to prevent their remaining money being eaten by direct debits. For people living in rural areas, often the infrastructure doesn't exist to rely on digital payments. And charities report how cash enables people who experience domestic abuse to hide money away if their abuser has taken control of their bank account.

The European Central Securities Depositories Association stated that incorporating crypto-assets into the existing financial regulatory framework could inject trust and legal certainty into the marketplace and speed up adoption. However, in cases where fitting crypto-assets into the existing financial regulatory framework would not be appropriate (e.g. stablecoins) "[i]t might be considered whether the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures would provide the right basis for its regulation."

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.