Fintech Daily Digest

Nearly 70 crypto-focused hedge funds that mostly cater to pensions, family offices and wealthy individuals closed this year. The number of new fund launched is less than half the amount started in 2018.

Deutsche Börse and HQLAX have successfully launched their DLT solution for collateral swaps in the securities lending market. The first live transactions were executed by Commerzbank, Credit Suisse and UBS on the Eurex Repo F7-trading system.

The ECB will continue to assess the costs and benefits of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that could ensure that the general public will remain able to use central bank money even if the use of physical cash eventually declines. Prospects of central bank initiatives, however, should neither discourage nor crowd out private market-led solutions for fast and efficient retail payments in the euro area.

"In Japan, the amount of cash outstanding is still increasing, and it does not seem that there is a demand for CBDC from the public at present. Nevertheless, the Bank of Japan has been conducting technical and legal research on this matter in order to stand ready when the need for CBDC may arise in the future."

Despite defections, his cryptocurrency project still has the support of 21 organizations and has more than 100 of the social network's employees working on it.

We are particularly keen to take part in experiments to integrate a "wholesale" CBDC into innovative procedures for exchanging and settling tokenised financial assets. Our actions will naturally contribute to the work of the Eurosystem, which should make looking into the possibility of an "e-euro"... Beyond this, we intend to take part in the work of the BIS Innovation Hub.

On November 18, 2019, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce, which is part of The English Law Society's LawTech Delivery Panel, published its Legal Statement on the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts (the Legal Statement).

State Street has taken a new direction with its blockchain strategy and cut scores of developer jobs in the process. The focus is now more on digital assets such as tokenized stocks and bonds through to crypto-assets, rather than the heavy lifting work of re-plumbing front to back office with distributed ledger technology.

With young people snubbing cash altogether, parents and grandparents now are being forced to join in if they want to compensate them for chores or babysitting.

Though the growth of finance apps has become a global phenomenon, it is Asia-Pacific that's leading the trend, according to a new report by mobile measurement company Adjust and mobile data and analytics platform App Annie.

Sending money home can be an expensive business. But it doesn't have to be. Digital currencies offer the possibility of lower fees, giving rise to more frequent and cheaper transactions. This has implications for the FX world, particularly the dollar.

LIFEtoken is a digital currency on the Ethereum Blockchain. LIFElabs is building an ecosystem for digital currencies to be accessible to all but also a multifaceted platform for social organisations to adopt Blockchain technology to support their own projects.

"As digital assets transcend national borders, what does this mean for those interested in issuing or participating in a stablecoin project? What are the regulatory questions and other challenges that need to be considered? We take a look at the global picture in this comprehensive analysis."

The government of the British Virgin Islands, in partnership with LIFElabs.io, will be launching a government-backed stablecoin. The BVI is a British overseas territory that currently relies on the USD as its national currency. LIFEtokens will be pegged 1:1 against the USD and be accessible to both residents and tourists.

This column proposes locking stablecoins into an ETF-like structure with restrictions on basket composition. Stablecoin providers would be functionally similar to ETF sponsors, and stablecoins would become a new vehicle for traditional fiat currencies.

"A central bank digital currency would allow citizens to use central bank money directly in their daily transactions. However, depending on its design, a central bank digital currency could pose risks. For instance, they could alter the way in which monetary policy is conducted and transmitted to the real economy. They could also carry implications for the functioning of the global financial system and its stability. The question of central bank digital currencies and their optimal design therefore warrants further analysis."

After a huge increase in the number of fintech start-ups founded between 2004 and 2015, there has since been a rapid decline: from 390 in 2015 to just 71 in 2018.

All Chinese P2P firms must clear outstanding loans within one year and become qualified small loan providers within two years. Regional small loan companies will have to meet a capital requirement of 50 million yuan, or 1 billion yuan to qualify the firm to operate nationally.

A drove of virtual banks is preparing to launch across Asia - Singapore plans to award up to five new licences by the middle of next year. And established lenders want to exploit their potential as a test bed for their own risk management practices - from credit risk management to fraud monitoring capabilities.

On 18 November 2019, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce1 published an authoritative statement on the legal status of cryptoassets and smart contracts under English law. This is a leading development for the legal, business and technological communities, as it makes the UK the first jurisdiction to clarify that cryptoassets can be treated as property and that smart contracts are capable of being enforced in the UK.