The use of stablecoins for real-world purposes other than trading remains far off, some analysts and investors say, due to a lack of financial networks that can accept and use cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase has launched its Visa debit card in six European countries. Cardholders in Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands will be able to use the cards, which sync directly to their Coinbase accounts.
Amazon has partnered with Legal & General to create a blockchain system for managing corporate pension deals. The insurer will make use of the Amazon Managed Blockchain for its bulk annuity transactions.
The United Arab Emirates-based Arabian Bourse (ABX), set up under Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) aims to be a fully regulated crypto asset exchange and custodian.
Visa is making transactions faster and more transparent with its newly launched DLT-based B2B Connect product that facilitates direct bank connections. Transactions settle quicker, in one to two days.
Within the coming years it may be possible for all Swedish bank customers to make payments to another bank instantly 24/7 every day of the year. This will become possible in that the Riksbank is planning to join the ECB's payment platform TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS).
It's common knowledge in the crypto market that the circulating supply of Tether has a direct impact on Bitcoin price. So with Tether's market cap spiking to a new YTD-high right now, should we expect BTC to follow closely behind?
Visa has launched a new network to help financial institutions process cross-border payments globally on behalf of corporate clients faster and at a lower operational cost. The Visa B2B Connect network launch covers 30 trade corridors globally and is expected to expand to 90 markets by year-end.
Reinsurer Aon has lined up a panel of insurers to provide cryptocurrency coverage for clients of Metaco, a digital asset custody technology firm. This group of mostly European insurers will offer a crime insurance product to institutions using Metaco's SILO solution for so-called hot and cold (online and offline) wallets.
Rick Santorum is sitting on the advisory board of a company and soon-to-be digital coin (stablecoin, specifically) called Cathio, a "new payment, remittance and funding platform which provides efficient, secure, and transparent movement of funds within the Catholic world."
Kookmin and Atomics Lab will develop digital asset custody services that combine Atomics Lab technology and KB Kookmin Bank's internal control infrastructure and information protection technologie
To let businesses quickly deploy digital payment services, a consortium of major companies is rolling out a new financial innovation platform called b.yond. Global Processing Services, Pannovate, Cornercard, MeaWallet, Modulr, AllPay and W2 Global are founding partners of the consortium in collaboration with Visa.
The essence of the USC project is to create blockchain-based cryptocurrencies to make it easier for international banks to settle various transactions between each other. USCs are 100% fiat-backed currencies held in respective central banks with convertibility into fiat currency at par guaranteed at all times.
Yahoo Japan's trading platform Taotao is open offering BTC and ETH trading while also providing users with margin trading available in litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP) and bitcoin cash (BCH).
The £259m Lendinvest securitisation is backed by buy-to-let loans. It's worth briefly going into its model, because it illustrates the basic point of fintech: it's not so much about new things, as the absence of old things, plus securitisation.
Lufthansa says that their points do not have a cash value, the argument is undermined by the ability of customers to transfer points from other programs that do sell their points for cash. If you're issuing cash-like liabilities you have to be regulated as a bank or e-money issuer/ transmitter.
Based on Facebook's statement and several anonymous comments made by people tied to the project, Caitlin Long predicts that Facebook will pay interest to holders of its stablecoin, and this will eventually lead to populist calls to repeal corporate subsidies to banks at the heart of the US banking system.
The IMF thinks BigTech could significantly disrupt the financial sector, accelerating inclusion and modernizing financial markets, but raising privacy issues, plus competition and market concentration concerns, both of which could lead to financial system vulnerabilities.
Debit cards tied to cryptocurrency wallets provide an opportunity to spend your digital coins almost anywhere fiat money is accepted. It's a working solution, at least until wider adoption comes around.