Fintech Daily Digest

The People's Bank of China will certify 11 types of financial technology hardware and software that are widely used for digital payment and blockchain services with its new verification system called the Certification of Fintech Products.

Of all the many emerging blockchain use cases for enterprises, supply chain track and trace is a hot topic. The idea that food especially can be safely and securely traced from farm to table is something that benefits many players in the production sector.

A number of central banks around the world are seriously considering issuing retail central bank digital currency, with one likely to arrive in the next five years. That is the key finding from a report from IBM and OMFIF, a central banking think tank.

For some years now there has been a discussion at the European Commission regarding harmonization of online capital formation rules. Today, crowdfunding is regulated at the member state (national) level creating a mish-mash of European regulations that defy the entire concept of a single market - the entire reason the Europe Union was created.

"The main gap, or next frontier in terms of central banking activities would be to find efficient ways to connect our fast payment systems so that they can be used by citizens to transfer remittances to send money back home, to send money across borders, so that cryptocurrencies would be less needed in the first place."

At the heart of the Raisin model is a platform that allows savers to move their deposits to banks that offer a higher interest rate than their local providers. "The average interest rate on deposits at the large US banks is 0.01 percent. But there are around 6,000 U.S. banks. Some of them offer rates of more than 2 percent.

The U.S. SEC granted Paxos no-action relief to settle equity securities trades on a blockchain platform for broker-dealers. Credit Suisse and Société Générale would be the first two companies to utilize the new Paxos Settlement Service.

Uber is creating a new division called Uber Money to handle its growing financial services business. The group will oversee everything from the company's credit and debit card offerings, to digital wallets for riders, to products used by drivers to get paid in a timely manner.

Crypto exchange OKEx is planning to launch Tether-based futures trading, offering a linear futures contract with leverage of up to 100x. The contract will have daily settlement and offers supported pairs with Bitcoin, EOS, Ether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin SV and Tron.

According to cybersecurity firm Ciphertrace, its software can track 87% of the global cryptocurrency transaction volume, which may mean that authorities can use monitoring methods not only against criminals but also against ordinary people.

The Central Bank [of the Bahamas] is exploring an early entry of Project Sand Dollar into Abaco. It will allow the Bank to test aspects of the emergency wireless communications features that would enable rapid financial services recovery; and to connect with many retail businesses early in their recovery process. The Sand Dollar infrastructure is being designed to connect with bank accounts, so that remote access to these facilities is also quickly re-enabled for deposits and withdrawals.

The Government of Bermuda, saying that the risks of launching its own digital currency outweigh the opportunities, will accept payments in stablecoins fully backed by U.S. dollars for taxes, fees and other government services, starting with USDC.

It seems like Hyperledger and Quorum are currently in their own race to see who will become the leader of the crowd. It turns out, the final verdict may rest in a number of projects including Besu and Adhara.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. said Monday that it will begin testing its consumer app for digital assets with its partner Starbucks Inc. in the first half of 2020.

Bakkt is working on developing an app to let consumers use digital assets when purchasing goods from merchants.

RTGS.global aims to link together the existing wholesale payments infrastructure run by central banks within their borders, to settle cross-border payments in real time, and vastly cut down on the costs and burden of the correspondent banking system.

Total new worldwide funding commitments to the InsurTech sector in 2019 have already surpassed the 2018 full-year total, and during the third quarter exceeded $1.2 billion for the fifth consecutive quarter-year period, according to the new Quarterly InsurTech Briefing from Willis Towers Watson.

The World Bank Group and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance published a survey containing responses from regulators in more than 110 jurisdictions around the world on their approaches (and challenges) to the regulation of peer-to-peer lending, equity crowdfunding, and initial coin offerings.

According to the report, 90 percent of regulators "mentioned benchmarking and lessons learned from other jurisdictions as key triggers prompting changes in regulation more frequently than any other trigger." The survey also found that less than a quarter of respondents formally regulate peer-to-peer lending and initial coin offerings, while less than 40 percent of respondents have frameworks in place to regulate equity crowdfunding. Respondents also noted that new innovations and models are stretching regulatory resources. Regulatory resources dedicated to equity crowdfunding and initial coin offerings since 2017 have grown by over one-third and one-sixth for peer-to-peer lending. The survey also questioned the extent to which "light touch" regulatory frameworks are applied across those three areas. Lastly, the study finds that low-income jurisdictions are catching up to high-income jurisdictions, especially in regard to the regulation of peer-to-peer lenders. Here, low-income areas "are almost three times as likely as high-income ones to review their regulatory frameworks for peer-to-peer lending (43% vs. 16%)." However, as the study further shows, low-income jurisdictions are far less likely to have active regulatory innovation initiatives in place (innovation offices, sandboxes, RegTech/SupTech programs).

Ripple has become the first major blockchain company with a dedicated global regulatory team in the US capital. Ripple also joined the Blockchain Association, and Craig Phillips, former Counselor to the Secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department, has joined Ripple's Board of Directors.

While countries like Turkey, Iran and Israel are in the process of investigating the advantages of blockchain technology, the UAE, along with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, is leading the charge when it comes to positive crypto and blockchain legislation. The UAE, in particular, already hosts several blockchain initiatives that stand to benefit significantly from the new regulations.