Fintech Daily Digest

Deutsche Boerse has outlined plans to build a fully integrated digital asset ecosystem including issuance, custody, access to liquidity, and banking services. The German exchange group has partnered with Swisscom and FinTech company Sygnum to build a regulatory compliant financial market infrastructure for digital assets.

Japan's goal of creating a cashless society has got one step closer with the release of J-Coin Pay - a smartphone-based digital wallet that uses QR codes to provide payment services. Despite the name, however, J-Coin has even less to do with cryptocurrency than the recently announced JPMCoin.

Fidelity may not be offering ethereum custody support at first, due to uncertainty over hard forks. This caution highlights some of the intrinsic risks of crypto assets and goes a long way toward explaining why institutions are taking a cautious approach. Crypto asset custody is riskier and more complicated than most realize

Speaking at SXSW, the SEC's Senior Advisor for Digital Assets Valerie Szczepanik said algorithmic and digital-asset backed stablecoins may be considered securities.

Cash might not be authorised as a means of payment were it introduced in today's environment, some central bankers said on March 13.

The Bank for International Settlements is launching an "innovation hub" as part of a broader medium-term strategy.

US Securities and Exchange Commission will host a public forum focusing on distributed ledger technology and digital assets on May 31. The forum is being organized by the agency's Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub).

This piece seeks to reconcile why custodians are needed in fiduciary transactions, noting they might be helpful for some investors but not necessary for everyone.

Malta has become a leading hub for crypto startups, but many crypto businesses are struggling to open bank accounts, and new guidance from the IMF may make that process even more difficult.

PWC has published a report seeking to provide a strategic perspective on the ICO and STO sectors. The report finds that STOs are not fundamentally different from ICOs, estimating that their combined total raised almost $20 billion during 2018.

Cboe Futures Exchange is putting its bitcoin futures market on hold, citing a need to review how it approaches the space.

Two Canadian national securities bodies have issued a joint consultation paper to gather industry feedback about cryptocurrency token regulation. It aims to provide clarity for platforms, and greater market integrity and protection for investors.

The ECCB CBDC pilot involves a digital version of the EC dollar (DXCD) distributed by licensed ECCU financial institutions. The DXCD will be used for transactions between consumers and merchants, between people, all using smart devices. IBM Hyperledger Fabric was selected as the blockchain platform.

DTCC: If a Security Token Platform performs a substantially equivalent function as an existing market infrastructure, the same legal and other requirements applicable to that function should be the same.

Every Tether is always 100% backed by our reserves, which include traditional currency and cash equivalents and, from time to time, may include other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties, which may include affiliated entities (collectively, "reserves"). Every tether is also 1-to-1 pegged to the dollar, so 1 USD₮ is always valued by Tether at 1 USD.

The Bank of Mexico (Banxico), the country's central bank, published a circular in the Official Gazette of the Federation on Friday detailing crypto-related provisions for the regulation of financial technology institutions (ITFs).

Messaging has taken a different path in China. WeChat, which has over a billion users and is owned by Asia's largest technology firm by value, Tencent, is more than just a messaging app. It's what some analysts dub a "super-app" because it offers everything from mobile payments to the ability to book flights and even play games - all without leaving the app.

The past few years have seen a growth in crypto-assets. While the crypto-asset market remains small relative to that of the global financial system, and banks currently have very limited direct exposures, the Committee is of the view that the continued growth of crypto-asset trading platforms and new financial products related to crypto-assets has the potential to raise financial stability concerns and increase risks faced by banks.

London Derivatives Exchange (LDX), formerly GMEX Exchange, has said it will launch security tokens and digital assets to its trading platform after spending two years developing a crypto trading solution.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's head has seconded a colleague's analysis that one of the world's most-prominent cryptocurrencies likely does not qualify as a security.