Month: January 2022

US Banks Form Group to Offer USDF Stablecoin

A group of U.S. banks plans to offer its own stablecoin, called USDF, in a move to tackle concerns about the reserves behind nonbank-issued equivalents. The group – which is made up of institutions backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), one of the industry’s key regulators – said the coin “addresses the consumer protection and regulatory concerns of nonbank issued stablecoins,” according to an announcement Wednesday. Founding members of the USDF Consortium include Synovus (the 48th largest bank in the U.S. by assets, according to MX Technologies), New…

Hong Kong Monetary Authority aims to oversee stablecoin reserves

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Hong Kong’s central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), wants to supervise stablecoin issuance and reserves management. HKMA published a discussion paper on Jan. 12 regarding cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, in which it provided its views on how the industry should be regulated in Hong Kong. In the 34-page long consultation document, the HKMA paid special attention to “payment-related stablecoins,” pointing out that the market capitalization of all stablecoins hit $150 billion in December, accounting for 5% of the entire crypto market. The regulator added that all existing stablecoins are “mostly…

Seba Bank raises $119M in Series C funding

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Seba Bank, a Swiss-based digital assets banking platform regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, announced on Wednesday that it had completed a successful Series C funding round of 110 million Swiss franc, or $119 million U.S. dollars. Notable investors in the round included cryptocurrency exchange FTX, quantitative digital currency trading firm Alameda Research, decentralized finance asset management firm DeFi Technologies, and venture capital entities such as Altive, Ordway Selections and Summer Capital. The bank said it plans to use the funds to fuel international growth and drive demand from…

Digital Asset Platform SEBA Bank Raises $119M for Global Expansion

“We plan to expand into a number of new priority markets globally with this funding including the Middle East. This funding will also be used to grow our headcount across these new priority markets,” SEBA Bank CEO Guido Buehler told CoinDesk in an email. “In addition, funding will be used to drive institutional business growth through further investment in our product offering and technology.” Source

Wiki contributors want to drop crypto donations over environmental concerns

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Back in 2019, the Wikimedia Foundation started accepting crypto donations through Bitpay, but three years later, the nonprofit organization behind Wikipedia is facing pressure from contributors to disable the option over environmental concerns. A proposal submitted by Molly White (GorillaWarfare) urges the foundation to stop accepting crypto. According to White, accepting crypto does not align with Wikimedia’s commitments to making active efforts to improve environmental sustainability.  White suggested that the acceptance of crypto echoes as an “endorsement of the cryptocurrency space” by Wikimedia and its members while noting that there…

Hong Kong Monetary Authority Issues Discussion Paper on Crypto Assets and Stablecoins, Seeks Views on Approach

“The approach has taken into account, among other things, the international recommendations, the market and regulatory landscape locally and in other major jurisdictions, and the characteristics of payment-related stablecoins,” the announcement says. To facilitate the stakeholders in sharing their views, the HKMA has highlighted certain issues in the form of questions and answers in the paper. Source

Retail is pushing the Bitcoin price up, says Ledger CEO

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As crypto prices recover after a slump last week, Pascal Gauthier, CEO of crypto wallet firm Ledger, addressed questions relating to the state of the crypto market. In an interview taken by CNBC at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Gauthier said the situation panning out with Bitcoin (BTC) comes as no surprise. The retail trend is prominent and it’s “always the same.” He explained: “The number of addresses with the minimum number of BTC is actually growing compared to the number of whales. There is a profound retail trend everywhere in…

Ethereum Reaches a Staking Milestone

CryptoX – Cryptocurrency Analysis and News Portal On the surface it appears that significant concentration near the top would affect the decentralization of the network. However, the rise of Lido (a decentralized and liquid alternative to staking pools) looks to be positive for the network. Staking providers give those with less than 32 ETH (over $100,000) an opportunity to earn yield through validation. Original Source The post Ethereum Reaches a Staking Milestone appeared first on CryptoX. CryptoX Portal

A Step Towards DeFi 3.0: A Sneak Peek Into Alfprotocol

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One thing that keeps the development team occupied is ensuring that the platform’s launch provides users with a bug-free, smooth, and efficient protocol that offers an intuitive interface. As a result, the user interface has been extensively revised. Alf’s goal is to make sure that the user can navigate the platform with ease and take full advantage of the platform and all of its capabilities. Today, Alf protocol unveils the first look at its user interface. Although the design is not finalized, the preview gives an extensive overview of what…