Banks
Is education the key to curbing the rise of scammy, high APY projects?
Most people who have dealt with cryptocurrencies in any capacity over the last couple of years are well aware that there are many projects out there offering eye-popping annual percentage yields (APY) these days. In fact, many decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols that have been built using the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol offer ridiculous returns to their investors in return for them staking their native tokens. However, like most deals that sound too good to be true, many of these offerings are out-and-out cash grab schemes — at least that’s what the vast majority of experts claim. For example, YieldZard, a project positioning itself as a DeFi innovation-focused company with an auto-staking protocol, claims to offer a fixed APY of 918,757% to its clients. In simple term...
Tether’s reported bank partner Capital Union shares its crypto strategy
Capital Union, a Bahamas-based bank that reportedly holds a portion of reserves by the Tether (USDT) stablecoin issuer, has been itself actively involved in the cryptocurrency industry. The banking institution has rolled out crypto trading and custody services to its professional clients as part of the bank’s trading desk, a spokesperson for Capital Union told Cointelegraph on May 31. “We work with a few selected trading venues and liquidity providers and a handful of custodians and technology providers, which allows us to support a large variety of digital assets as part of our trading and custody services,” the firm’s representative said. Capital Union’s crypto-related services still represent a “fairly small portion” of its business, which is mainly focused on providing...
Basel Committee presses on with restrictive requirements for banks’ crypto holdings
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision met Friday and discussed cryptocurrency, among other topics. The committee stated that it would soon publish its second consultative paper with the intention of finalizing guidelines on the prudential treatment of crypto exposure by banks by year-end. In a Tuesday press release, the committee issued the following statement, which was likely in reference to the recent collapse of the Terra ecosystem: “Recent developments have further highlighted the importance of having a global minimum prudential framework to mitigate risks from cryptoassets.” The committee began consultations on the banking sector’s risk exposure to cryptocurrency in 2021 and published a paper on its findings at that time. The committee divided crypto assets into...
Kenswitch & Absa Customers in Kenya to Use ATMs Interchangeably
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Crypto Bahamas: Regulations enter critical stage as gov’t shows interest
The crypto community and Wall Street converged last week in Nassau, Bahamas, to discuss the future of digital assets during SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference. The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT) was also co-hosted this year by FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, kicked off Crypto Bahamas with a press conference explaining that the goal behind the event was to merge the traditional financial world with the crypto community: “Crypto Bahamas combines the crypto native FTX audience with the SkyBridge asset management firm audience. We are bringing these two worlds together to create a more equitable financial system.” Traditional finance eyes crypto as regulations take shape The combination of traditional ...
‘I’ve never paid with crypto before’: How digital assets make a difference amid a war
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has become a stress test for crypto in many tangible ways. Digital assets have emerged as an effective means of directly supporting humanitarian efforts, and the crypto industry, despite enormous pressure, has largely proved itself a mature community — one ready to comply with international policies without compromising the core principles of decentralization. But there is another vital role that crypto has filled during these tragic events: It is becoming more and more familiar to those who have found themselves cut off from the payment systems that had once seemed unfailing. Traditional financial infrastructures don’t usually work well during military confrontations and humanitarian crises. From hyperinflation and cash shortages to the destruction of ATMs,...
The FDIC wants US banks to report on current and intended crypto-related activities
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the United States government corporation that insures depositors at U.S. commercial and savings banks, issued a financial institution letter Thursday. The letter requests the institutions supervised by the agency to notify the appropriate regional director of their activities with crypto-related assets or their intentions to engage in crypto-related activities. According to the letter, “It is difficult for institutions, as well as the FDIC, to adequately assess the safety and soundness, financial stability, and consumer protection implications without considering each crypto-related activity on an individual basis.” Consequently, the FDIC wants to receive all information necessary for it to “engage with the institution regarding related risk...
Sweden’s central bank completes second phase of e-krona testing
The Swedish central bank’s digital currency project, a proposed CBDC, known as the e-krona has successfully finished its second phase of trials. According to Riksbank, the nation’s central bank, the asset is now technically ready to be integrated into banking networks and facilitate transactions. During the second phase of the e-krona pilot project — which began in February 2021 — the CBDC was investigated on the matter of its technical ability to function within the country’s existing digital banking infrastructure. Participating banks included Handelsbanken and Tietoevry. The report indicated that the e-krona could indeed be successfully exchanged for fiat money and used in transactions, both online and offline. This phase of testing also brought legal clarity to the project ...
From taxes to electricity, blockchain adoption is growing in Austria
Austria has been actively transforming into an attractive location for providers of blockchain-based products, with the government itself experimenting with the technology and trying to create a legal basis upon which companies can use it. With regard to blockchain-based applications in the economy, however, Austria is still in the experimental phase, with most firms still running pilot projects. Still, politicians and economists alike see potential for select industries. Public administration reform via blockchain The Austrian government is quite open to blockchain innovations, cryptocurrencies aside, and has supported various projects in the public and private sectors. In 2019, a consortium of public administration institutions founded the Austrian Public Service Blockchain (APSB)....
US investment bank Cowen launches dedicated crypto division
Cowen, a major American independent investment bank, has officially launched a dedicated cryptocurrency and digital asset division. Called Cowen Digital, Cowen’s new business is designed to offer full-service trade execution and custody for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets for institutional investors, the firm announced on Wednesday. In order to launch the new crypto division, Cowen has collaborated with PolySign’s cold storage-focused subsidiary, Standard Custody and Trust Company. The bank is also a client of Digital Prime Technologies, a brokerage solution-focused firm providing business and compliance services, the announcement notes. Cowen initially announced plans to move into the crypto custody business in May 2021, entering a partnership with Standard Cu...
UBA & Cellulant Join Forces to Unite Africa’s Payments Ecosystem
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Central Bank of Russia tightens P2P transactions monitoring, including those in crypto
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) recommended that the nation’s commercial banks ramp up monitoring users’ transactions that could be aimed at circumventing CBR’s “special economic measures to counter the outflow of foreign currency abroad,” local media reported on Thursday. The recommendation includes closer oversight over crypto trading, which is named among the vehicles for withdrawing capital from Russia. The letter, sent to the banking organizations by CBR’s vice chairman Yuri Isaev on Wednesday, directs them to pay closer attention to the instances of their clients’ “unusual behavior.” This includes “abnormal” transactional activity and uncommon patterns of expenditures. Any withdrawals of money via digital currencies should also attract increased attention, the letter spec...
