Fintech Daily Digest

Today an MOU was signed between the subsidiaries of Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited and Institute of Digital Currency of the PBoC to conduct a Proof-of-Concept trial, which aims to connect eTradeConnect1 and the PBoC Trade Finance Platform.

China's proposed central bank digital currency is not a bid to gain full control of information belonging to the general public, according to the PBOC's Mu Changchun. The aim is to find the right balance between the 'controllable anonymity' and financial integrity requirements.

Cryptocurrency data provider CoinMarketCap has launched a new metric dubbed "Liquidity," aiming to combat fake trading volumes. The new metric replaces "Volume" and serves as the default standard for ranking cryptocurrency pairs and exchanges on its website.

Cyber risk rating firms are helping companies keep track of the cyber resilience of their vendors. Firms such as SecurityScorecard and RiskRecon offer a cyber score based on information scraped from the internet. These services can be integrated into firms' vendor vetting processes to continuously monitor third and fourth parties, bypassing costly site visits and questionnaires.

Following rumors about the adoption by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) of a digital money solution and its commitment with a foreign company for the implementation of this solution, the BCT refutes all these allegations and unfounded information.

The Association for Financial Markets in Europe has released a new paper which highlights the minimal use of the cloud among capital markets firms - with over two-thirds of AFME members questioned estimating that only 1 - 10% of their bank's current workload was using some level of public cloud.

ICE subsidiary Bakkt will provide custody services for institutional clients. Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital and Tagomi have already signed on as initial customers for Bakkt Warehouse.

Welcome to China. You Probably Can't Buy Anything, Though. Foreign tourists in China looking to buy a bottle of water or a taxi ride with cash or credit card are finding themselves out of luck.

Canadian blockchain research firm Blockchain Venture Capital (https://www.bvcadt.com) launched a U.S. dollar-pegged/backed stablecoin, the CUSD, coming four months after the firm launched the Canadian dollar-pegged CADT.

"In previous blog posts, we've discussed the potential of a secure, reliable system of digital identification (digital ID), and examined some of the potential roadblocks to the widespread adoption of digital ID, but it's also worth considering what such a system would look like. What characteristics would define a truly effective system? What role would various stakeholders play? How would it interact with more "traditional" forms of identification?"

Wirex is launching their Wirex Visa Travelcard that will enable customers to spend multiple crypto and fiat currencies across APAC.

Mastercard launched Fintech Express. Rapyd, a B2B Fintech-as-a-Service provider, is the first partner in the program. The Fintech Express program can quickly onboard partners and provides immediate access to a cross-functional team of experts to support multiple work streams.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has partnered with JP Morgan Chase and state-owned investment firm Temasek to build a blockchain-based prototype multi-currency payments network. This a part of the existing Project Ubin and will be developed as its fifth phase allowing other blockchains to connect and integrate seamlessly. The platform will also offer features including delivery-versus-payment settlement with private exchanges, conditional payments and escrow for trade, as well as payment commitments for trade finance.

The Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on Sunday appointed Benoît Cœuré as Head of the new BIS Innovation Hub, set up to foster international collaboration among central banks on innovative financial technology.

This BBVA paper explores the current landscape around the use of DLT in different CBDC options, and extracts conclusions derived from the analysis of the current conditions and environment, including recent BigTech initiatives and regulatory position taking.

The Swiss National Bank and University of Basel Center for Innovative Finance are inviting paper submissions for a conference on Cryptoassets and Financial Innovation, to be held in Zurich on May 29, 2020.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is developing guidance to clarify how digital identity (digital ID) systems can be used for customer due diligence (CDD). The draft guidance intends to help governments, financial institutions and other relevant entities apply a risk-based approach to the use of digital ID for CDD.

Bitcoin (BTC) futures daily volumes on digital asset platform Bakkt have hit a new all-time high, with 1,741 futures traded on Nov. 9.

"A basket like Libra's will not work. It threatens the sovereignty of states and opens up a window for capital flight. That's why you've seen politicians and regulators furiously defend their monopoly to control transactions."

Unlike other ETF applications, Wilshire Phoenix's ETF will invest in both bitcoin and U.S. Treasury securities, commonly referred to as T-bills.