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Regulation and monetary policy
Legal Framework for Tokenization Submitted to Russia’s Crypto Bill
A successful tokenization trial could lead to big changes in Russia’s proposed cryptocurrency legislation. The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) announced on Feb. 17 the completion of a blockchain tokenization pilot using a platform developed by Nornickel within its regulatory sandbox. The bank subsequently proposed to amend Russia’s digital assets law to accommodate tokenization platforms.
Bloomberg Rolls Out His Crypto Taxation Plan
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has revealed his financial reform policy as part of his ongoing presidential campaign.
Financial Stability Board unveils timing of stablecoin regulation recommendations
On Wednesday, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Chair Randal K. Quarles, wrote a letter outlining a schedule for recommendations about regulating stablecoins. It treats stablecoins as part of the cross border payments challenge.
Global Regulators Haven’t Properly Addressed Stablecoins
Facebook’s plans to launch its cryptocurrency Libra this year has more than a few agencies in the European Union and the United States wondering what to do. While government bodies around the world are working to better understand crypto, regulations and laws pertaining to stablecoins aren’t being implemented quickly enough, according to a global finance watchdog.
Binance Is Not Authorized to Operate in Malta, Financial Regulator Says
The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) claims that it has never approved major cryptocurrency exchange Binance to operate in the country. On Feb. 21, the MFSA issued a public statement, stating that Binance "is not authorized by the MFSA to operate in the cryptocurrency sphere."
Belgian Regulator Adds New Crypto-Related Businesses to Its Blacklist
Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has updated its blacklist of cryptocurrency-related websites associated with fraudulent activity.
CBDC awareness rising amongst policymakers
To the cryptocurrency world’s relief central bank digital currency or CBDC awareness is reportedly rising rapidly amongst policymakers across the globe. Although the situation may seem cheery for the greater crypto community due to a bullish time, the case for CBDCs cannot be forgotten.
US Treasury official calls for global cryptocurrency regulation
Sigal Mandelker said there is a lack of consistency worldwide in respect of anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism regulations.
Competitors
EU Can’t Decide What to do with Libra
Governments around the world are facing hard choices when it comes to cryptocurrency: overregulate it and risk losing the benefits to the economy, or do nothing and make themselves vulnerable to those who step up. Currently, the European Union can’t figure out what to do about Libra, the digital currency set to be released by Facebook in 2020.
Tether Bails on TRON, Converts 300M USDT to Ethereum
Less than a year after first issuing its stablecoin on the TRON blockchain, it looks like Tether is starting to bail on the network. The stablecoin company announced it has converted $300M dollars worth of the cryptocurrency back to the Ethereum network earlier today.
Paxos Launches Blockchain-Based Equity Settlement Service
The stablecoin issuer has started to offer services in the field of blockchain equity settlements.
Analytics and opinions
Why Betting on Gold-backed Stablecoin Is a Losing Game
Gold has been regarded as an eternal value since times immemorial. It’s still a measure of wealth that layers any world’s powerhouse foundations, leverage that caused wars and changed the global political landscape throughout the ages. The world needs a next-generation E-currency designed to provide better options for trading, payments, and transfers.
Not All Central Banks Have an Interest in CBDCs
The recent survey results published by the Bank of International Settlements produced bullish and bearish sentiments with regard to Central Bank Digital Currency adoption. While banks in Emerging Market Economies (EME) are moving more rapidly toward issuing government-sponsored CBDCs, those in established countries appear to be taking a more cautious stance on the transition from fiat currencies to digital.
DeFi Begins to Move From a Niche Market to Mainstream Finance
In one year, the total value of Ether (ETH) locked in DeFi markets has increased from $317 million to over $1 billion. With the increasing level of activity in the market sector, the next logical progression appears to be focused on making DeFi solutions more mainstream.
Swiss central bank wants a true digital currency
Switzerland’s central bank clarified that it wants a pure digital currency, in order to take full advantage of the technology.
DeFi Lending Protocol bZx Loses Another $645,000
The developers of the DeFi platform bZx have reported about a second attack in which 2,388 ETH tokens (about $645,000) have been lost.