ecb
EU finance ministers’ group releases statement on political aspects of digital euro
The finance ministers from the eurozone countries have released a statement on the introduction of the digital euro after a meeting in Brussels. The Eurogroup meets regularly to discuss political dimensions of the potential digital currency, it said. The Jan. 16 statement coincides with the release of a European Central Bank (ECB) “stock taking” document detailing the progress of digital euro design. The Eurogroup statement addressed the need for the European Central Bank and European Commission to inform the Eurogroup and EU member states of developments in the creation of the digital euro, which is in its investigative phase. The statement said: “The Eurogroup considers that the introduction of a digital euro as well as its main features and design choices requires political decisions th...
Crypto can get weird: The 5 strangest stories of the industry in 2022
From Terra to FTX, 2022 has given us many weird crypto stories. While investors have been enduring a bear market that saw the crypto industry sink below the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, adoption in the space has been growing, and old mysteries were finally solved. From the incredible short squeeze of a bankrupt company’s token to old anti-crypto arguments used by a major central bank, we’re getting weird with five stories the best fiction writers couldn’t dream up. “Comedic rapper” charged over Bitfinex hack Back in 2016, popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex suffered a major security breach that saw attackers steal 119,756 Bitcoin (BTC), worth approximately $72 million at the time. It was one of the largest crypto hacks in history, and although Bitfinex continued operating, ...
Crypto startup to save iconic fiat money sculpture with 1M euros in funding
The paths of traditional finance and the cryptocurrency industry have intersected again, with a crypto startup coming to save the iconic “Euro-Skulptur” monument in Frankfurt. Frankfurt-based crypto startup Caiz Development will provide 1 million euros, or about $961,000, in funding over the next five years to rescue the famous sculpture depicting the symbol for the Euro. Announcing the news on Tuesday, Caiz said that the firm saw a good marketing opportunity in supporting the sculpture by obtaining unique exposure. Through the funding, the firm was able to put its product board next to the 14-meter-high art installation bearing 12 yellow stars, which represent the original members of the currency union. Euro monument and Caiz’s marketing program. Source: Caiz Development The iconic euro s...
European Central Bank chooses Amazon and 4 other firms to prototype digital euro app
The European Central Bank, or ECB, has announced it will be collaborating with five companies for the development of potential digital euro user interfaces. In a Friday announcement, the ECB said it had chosen “Big Four” tech company Amazon, fintech firm Nexi, Spanish digital bank CaixaBank, French payments platform Worldline and the European Payments Initiative, or EPI, to each focus on developing a prototype based on specific use cases of the digital euro. According to the central bank, the firms will create front-end prototypes, which will not be used in later phases of the digital currency project. Source: ECB The ECB chose the five companies based on their fulfilling “specific capabilities” when compared to 50 other front-end developers that responded to the central bank’s...
Bank of Finland governor says digital euro could facilitate pan-European services to consumers
In a novel address at the University of California Berkley published on Wednesday, Olli Rehn, governor of the Bank of Finland, touted the possibility of a digital euro centralized bank digital currency (CBDC) functioning in tandem with private fintech solutions to facilitate the cross-border payment of services across Europe. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) investigation into the plausibility of the digital euro began in late 2021 and is scheduled to conclude in October 2023. Rehn outlined the utility of the experimental digital euro, stating: “A digital euro would give people an additional choice about how to pay and would make it easier to do so in an increasingly digital economy. It would expand the availability of digital central bank money beyond transactions betwe...
Fed teases master accounts for crypto banks: Law Decoded, Aug. 15-22
Last week, the United States Federal Reserve Board turned its eye to banks and crypto, making (or promising to make) several clarifications, one of them pretty long-awaited. It announced that the final version of guidelines for reserve banks to access Reserve Bank master accounts and services is ready. For crypto, these guidelines hold a prospect of “the most stringent review,” to which non-federally insured institutions that do not have a holding company subject to Fed oversight would be exposed. It is still unclear whether the crypto banks will finally get access to master accounts under the new guidelines and how long they shall wait for it. At the same time, the Fed made itself clear that the traditional banks that intend to deal with crypto assets couldn’t do it without a closer...
European Central Bank addresses guidance on licensing of digital assets
The European Central Bank, or ECB, laid the foundation for the criteria it would be considering when harmonizing the licensing requirements for crypto in Europe. In a Wednesday statement, the ECB’s banking supervision division said it would be taking steps to regulate digital assets as “national frameworks governing crypto-assets diverge quite extensively” and given the seemingly differing approaches to harmonization following the passage of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issuing guidelines for banks’ exposure to crypto. The ECB said it would apply criteria from the Capital Requirements Directive — in effect since 2013 — to assess licensing requests for crypto-related activities and services. Specifically, the central bank will...
French central bank head announces Phase 2 of wholesale digital euro project
The first phase of experiments with a wholesale digital euro has been completed, and Phase 2 experiments will begin this year, Banque de France governor François Villeroy de Galhau said Tuesday. Four or five new experiments are expected to be launched. Speaking at the Paris Europlace International Finance Forum, the French central banker summed up the European Union’s achievements in crypto-asset regulation under the French presidency, mentioning the Transfer Fund Regulation (Travel Rule) and Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), specifically. The Eurosystem is looking at the scope and design of a digital euro central bank digital currency (CBDC). The main rationale for a retail digital euro is to maintain the role of central bank money in the economy even as it is “threatened by the digi...
ECB officials prepare for ‘harmonization’ of crypto regulations: Report
The European Central Bank, or ECB, will reportedly be preparing to implement a new law by warning European Union member states about the necessity of harmonizing regulations for crypto. According to a Sunday report from the Financial Times, the ECB was concerned about possible regulatory overlap between respective central banks in the EU and crypto companies as officials prepare to implement the Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, framework. The European Parliament, European Commission, and European Council reached an agreement on June 30 to bring crypto issuers and service providers within their jurisdictional control under a single regulatory framework. Regulators from 19 EU member states will reportedly attend a supervisory board meeting in July to discuss MiCA and its possible implement...
ECB head calls for separate framework to regulate crypto lending
A week after the major American crypto lending platform Celsius had to freeze the withdrawal option for its users, European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde voiced her conviction on the necessity of tighter scrutiny over this part of the crypto market. During the testimony before the European Parliament on Monday, June 20, Christine Lagarde expressed her thoughts not only about the looming inflation in Europe and around the globe but also about the increasing activities of crypto-assets staking and lending. In Lagarde’s opinion, this trend demands additional regulatory efforts from the European Union (EU). Referring to the major regulatory package, making its way through the legislative routine, Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCa), she even coined the term “MiCa II”: “MiCA ...
ECB: One in ten households in eurozone population centers now own cryptocurrency
On Tuesday, the European Central Bank, or ECB, published the results of a new survey conducted in six eurozone areas; the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, France, and Germany. Together, approximately 10% of respondents from the surveyed countries said they own cryptocurrencies. Out of this group, only 6% of respondents said they own digital assets worth more than 30,000 euros. Meanwhile, 37% of respondents said they owned up to 999 euros in crypto. Across all of the countries surveyed, investors in the fifth income quintile (or the wealthiest 20% of the population) consistently had the highest proportion of cryptocurrency ownership relative to other income groups. The Consumer Expectation Survey asked adults aged 18 to 70 if they or anyone in their household owned financial assets in va...
Digital euro could come as soon as 2026 — ECB official
Fabio Panetta, an executive board member of the European Central Bank, or ECB, has said that a digital euro could come within four years, potentially designed with a person-to-person payment solution. In a Monday speech at the National College of Ireland, Panetta said the ECB could start the development and testing of solutions toward providing a digital euro for members of the European Union in 2023, a phase that could take up to three years. He added that making the digital currency legal tender and for use in P2P payments could help promote adoption. Panetta also commented on the recent market volatility for cryptocurrencies, with TerraUSD (UST) depegging from the U.S. dollar and the price of many major coins including Bitcoin (BTC) dropping. According to the ECB official, stablecoins, ...
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