FCA to ban the sale of crypto-derivatives to retail customers
UK regulator aims to clamp down on products “ill-suited” to the public.
Cryptocurrency
Sibos 2020: Chinese central bank processes CBDC worth $162m in 2020
Some 113,300 personal digital wallets have been opened.
Crypto exchange Gemini launches in UK armed with EMI licence
UK customers can now make GBP deposits to fund their Gemini account.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 25 September 2020
FinTech Futures’ weekly news round-up.
Tech Nation’s third fintech cohort challenges London bubble
“What was striking is the increase of such businesses set up outside London and by women.”
OCC issues guidance on US banks’ stablecoin activities
The US regulator issues clarification for FIs dealing with crypto.
AFME “mixing issues” in call for EU emerging tech focus
EU regulations should be based on “core principles” rather than “technology”.
Mastercard unveils virtual CBDC testing environment
A switch in tactic from Mastercard, which wasn’t always in favour of CBDCs.
Fintech Mode joins Hut Group wave with London IPO listing
Mode anticipates a valuation of around £40 million.
Ex-Starling CTO’s start-up Ziglu launches crypto P2P payments
Ziglu insures digital assets against cyberattacks.
China’s wealthiest turn to crypto to transfer $50bn in assets abroad
Stablecoin Tether has accounted for 93% of stablecoin usage across East Asia in recent years.
R8 relaunches as Mode, appoints ex-Alipay CEO Rita Liu as CCO
Mode is one of R8’s two entities.
JP Morgan’s blockchain platform Quorum moves to Brooklyn
JP Morgan has also made an undisclosed strategic investment in ConsenSys.
Gemini picks Eventus Systems for trade surveillance
Popular cryptocurrency exchange boosts its monitoring.
China expands digital currency experiment across major cities
More than 400 million people are able to trial the digital system.
Bank of Lithuania calls for parity in EU digitalisation
Lithuanian central bank wants a more unified approach to innovation in the EU.
Boston Fed collaborates with MIT on digital currency
The partnership will perform technical research related to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
KB Kookmin continues crypto custody development with new partners
The South Korean bank expects artwork and real estate to be traced via blockchain in future.
Facebook forms financial unit led by Libra creator
The new division will cover all financial endeavours by the company.
Goldman appoints Mathew McDermott as head of digital assets
An old-school banker takes a digital currency role at Goldman.
Russia’s Sberbank mulls over own stablecoin
It would operate under Russia’s new cryptocurrency law.
Applications for FCA’s sixth regulatory sandbox drop more than 30%
Last year, the sandbox recieved a record 99 applications.
US national banks granted authority to hold crypto for customers
US banks and federal savings associations can offer cryptocurrency custodial services.
France’s central bank announces partner list for CBDC experiments
The bank says it will begin work in the “coming days”.
Swiss digital asset tech partner Metaco lands $17m Series A
Investor Standard Chartered says “digital assets are here to stay”.
Twitter shares slide 4% in wake of unprecedented bitcoin promo hack
The hacked accounts have tens of millions of users.
Web browser Opera to buy digital challenger Fjord Bank
In December 2019, the digital challenger landed a specialised bank licence.
Lithuania’s central bank launches e-shop for digital collector coins
Some 4,000 digital LBCOINs will go on sale via the bank’s e-shop from 23 July.
Crypto trading platform GPay shut by UK High Court
On 23 June, the court “wound up” GPay “in the public interest”.
B21 launches crypto trading app in India following regulation clarity
India has seen a spike in crypto investing in the last months.
New York regulator plans to ease cryptocurrency rules
DFS announces batch of changes amid MOU with New York university.
PayPal and Venmo to “allow buys and sells of crypto directly”
It is understood the services will offer “a built-in wallet functionality” so you can store crypto.
US digital banking rules could change as OCC calls for input
But the regulator is not considering a national bank charter for fintechs.
Why Raiffeisen Bank is taking digital currency into its own hands
The bank is working with Billon to build its own tokenisation platform.
Libra’s Second Wind
Some say slow progress of blockchain adoption is not just because of regulatory hurdles.
Goldman Sachs says crypto is “not a suitable investment” on invite-only call
Bitcoin reclaimed its $10,000 territory on Monday.
Facebook attempts to address concerns expressed by regulators on the original proposal
The tax problems with this proposal identified in our client briefing on Libra 1.0 remain unresolved.
India’s central bank says there are no curbs for banks to serve crypto traders
“No such prohibition exists” for banks, says regulator.
Coldplay-backed crypto wallet Zumo launches app
The fintech is backed by Coldplay’s bassist Guy Berryman.
Societe Generale tests digital euro with Banque de France
The bank hopes the test will pave the way for a more simplified market infrastructure.
