Fintech Daily Digest

"The US Federal Reserve has launched a project to find a common way of classifying and modelling cyber risk, amid continued fears over banks' collective readiness to meet the existential threat it poses to the financial system."

"The Monetary Authority of Singapore has started using an advanced data science tool named Apollo to help enforcement officers detect misconduct in financial markets, the central bank said in its inaugural enforcement report."

"The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published today a Crypto-assets regulators directory. The purpose of the directory is to provide information on the relevant regulators and other authorities in FSB jurisdictions and international bodies who are dealing with crypto-asset issues, and the aspects covered by them."

Coinbase customers can now transfer funds to any user with a Coinbase account around the world using XRP and USDCoin with no fee. The development enables users to send and receive money instantly, as well as convert them into local currency.

Bitcoin burst to its highest level in almost five months on Tuesday, soaring 20% and sending smaller cryptos up, with analysts ascribing the move to a major algorithmic order by an anonymous buyer that triggered a frenzy of computer-driven trading.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare is launching a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Canadian dollar. The exchange plans potential roles for its new "eCAD" token in cross-border payments and remittance, peer-to-peer lending, merchant payment solutions, as well as trade settlements and forex conversions.

Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), enterprise blockchain firm R3 and other participants have completed a blockchain trial that they say resulted in faster property transactions.

This IIF paper outlines some of the important policy issues around the prudential regulation treatment of commercial and central bank digital instruments that will need to be considered further, illustrated by some potential scenarios.

Blockchain startup Digital Asset is open sourcing its Digital Asset Modelling Language, the heart of projects like the partial ASX re-plumbing. This will include its source code, runtime system, and software development kit, all under an Apache 2.0 license.

Ethereum's competitors have come to the fore, and are challenging the platform's dominance by shifting the Dapp market share in favour of emerging platforms like EOS and Tron.

Well, it's a start. That was the general feeling among blockchain lawyers and regulatory experts following the long-awaited release Wednesday of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidance for startups looking to issue tokens.

"Add algorithmic hedge funds to the list of suspects behind Tuesday's sudden surge in Bitcoin that had the true believers in the digital asset world heralding a renaissance in the most-popular cryptocurrency."

More than 40 central banks worldwide are experimenting with blockchain technology, including central bank digital currencies, says a new report by the World Economic Forum.

The U.S. SEC has published fresh regulatory guidance for token issuers, outlining how and when these crypto-assets may fall under a securities classification.

"Dai may also be poised to become the stablecoin of choice for ETH users, for a variety of reasons. An upcoming Coinbase listing, the potential for ICOs denominated in Dai, payroll sent in Dai, and dApps like Augur using Dai, all point to the need for Dai or something similar in the future."

VCs continue to invest large sums in blockchain companies. According to PitchBook VCs have invested around $334 million in blockchain projects in the first three months of this year.

"The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) is soon to trial bitcoin and ether trades with help from Canadian fintech firm Blockstation. The two firms jointly announced Wednesday that they have entered into an agreement to enable live trading of digital assets including security tokens in a "regulated and secured" environment."

"Ernst and Young (EY), the court-appointed monitor for collapsed Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, has proposed transitioning the company from a restructuring process to bankruptcy proceedings."

Since crypto values plummeted last year, US lenders have been luring people with paper profits to leverage them into cash by borrowing against their hodlings. And because the IRS treats crypto money as a capital asset like stocks or property, not as a currency, there's no tax bill on the transactions.

The Malta Financial Services Authority has approved its first 14 crypto assets agents that previously sought for a license, five months after the Virtual Financial Assets Act came into power.