Fintech Daily Digest

Dubai-based fintech company Wethaq has entered into a strategic partnership with enterprise software firm R3, in order to create a platform for issuing and trading sukuk securities based on R3's Corda offering.

Based on a survey of 24 specific stablecoin projects, we go beyond individual coins for extracting general concepts and approaches. We combine our findings with learnings from classical monetary policy, resulting in a comprehensive taxonomy of cryptocurrency stabilization.

Crypto trading platform Bakkt's Bakkt Warehouse will begin offering storage of customer's Bitcoin on September 6, weeks before the scheduled launch of its platform for daily and monthly crypto futures in the United States on Sept. 23.

The Bank for International Settlements' Agustín Carstens has expressed concern over the use of retail central bank digital currencies (CBDC), suggesting a wholesale option might be a better approach.

In the longer term, Swiss banks envisage themselves continuing to play a central role in financial intermediation, albeit amid heightened competition and significant digitalisation of financial services. In certain segments, such as payments and corporate lending, bigtechs and digital banks could emerge as important competitors for banks. By contrast, fintechs are seen more as partners given their modest size and specialised focus. At the strategic level, the banks are seeking to bring their existing business models to a high level of digital maturity with the aim of cutting costs and retaining their attractiveness to customers

This 'lost payments' problem was the problem we set out to solve when we built the Corda Settler. And I was reminded about this when I overheard some colleagues discussing it the other day. One of them wondered why we don't include the recipient of a payment in the set of parties that must agree that a payment has actually been made. Isn't that kinda a bit of an oversight?!

China's central bank will launch a state-backed cryptocurrency and issue it to seven institutions in the coming months, according to a former employee of one of the institutions who is now an independent researcher.

Telegram has said the new digital money will operate with a decentralized structure similar to Bitcoin, so that Telegram will have no control over how and where the coins can move.

The SDR-a blueprint for libra? The SDR's history and limited success show how difficult it is to design an international currency. Libra will likely face very similar challenges.

Coinbase-backed trading data provider Nomics finds that around 17% of bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes are trustworthy, while for ether (ETH), that number is 8%.

The IMF Balance of Payments Statistics Committee recommended classifying the buying and selling of crypto-assets as assets produced, which means that it is compiled into the balance of payments asset account.

Though SEC Chair Clayton avoided commenting directly on Libra, he noted that if something looks like an ETF and operates like an ETF, the law says it should be regulated like an ETF. That holds true no matter what it's called, Clayton added.

The digital ledger behind the supposed better version of Bitcoin is running out of capacity. That was the warning last week from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who noted that the cost of processing transactions done in the digital token Ether on the underlying blockchain may get too expensive for some users.

Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Cambridge Global Payments, said even though Facebook's Libra would be a unified currency, "each country in the world has idiosyncratic regulatory regimes, fragmented banking standards, and a whole lot of things that throw sand in the gears that prevents the smooth transfer of money."

If Chainalysis is right, only a small fraction of coins sent to and from bitcoin mixers are used for illicit purposes.

By harnessing the latest technologies, ZhongAn Online continues to integrate technology into every process in the insurance sector so as to reshape the entire insurance value chain.

A slick digital platform, as it turns out, is not enough. Lenders and borrowers need to be found - and finding them is difficult. On the lending side, there were not enough individuals out there willing to put their money at risk in someone else's small business or credit card consolidation loan.

The ASX confirmed its anticipation of delivering the CHESS replacement system by 2021, following a new agreement with NYSE-listed tech firm VMware and Digital Asset Holding (DA).

"Binance Lending" will allow holders of BNB token, Ethereum classic  and Tether to earn interest on their funds. The maximum cap per account is initially set at 500 BNB and 1,000,000 USDT respectively.

The Australian Securities Exchange has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Digital Asset and VMware to boost the development of its blockchain-based equities clearing and settlement system.