Major financial institutions in Japan are moving into blockchain to streamline digital identity systems. Japan’s third-largest bank, Mizuho Bank, and local payment giant JCB are preparing to pilot a digital identity interoperability system based on blockchain technology. The new system will utilize a blockchain solution developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, Fujitsu announced on Oct. 15. The new joint initiative will allow the companies to verify mechanisms to securely transfer and link member ID information by multiple business operators. This data includes names, addresses and employers stored on a cloud platform built…
Tag: Bank
Symbol blockchain to host whisky fund and central bank collectibles at launch
Proof-of-stake blockchain NEM (XEM) is preparing for a token migration in December alongside the public launch of the Symbol (XYM) blockchain. Speaking to Cointelegraph, NEM Group CIO and NEM Ventures managing director, Dave Hodgson, revealed that Symbol will host at least two products at launch. Symbol will host the Wave Financial Whiskey Fund, which offers a tokenized representation of ownership in 25,000 barrels of 2020-vintage bourbon worth more than $4 million. The platform will also host LBCOIN, collectible crypto assets that commemorate Lithuania’s 1918 declaration of independence issued by the…
Thai central bank issues $1.6B in government bonds on IBM blockchain
The Bank of Thailand launched the world’s first blockchain-based government savings bond issuance platform using IBM’s blockchain technology. Within two weeks of the launch, the central bank sold more than $1.6 billion worth of savings bonds, as per IBM’s official announcement on Oct. 5, 2020. The use of blockchain technology is said to have reduced the bond issuance time from 15 days to just two days. The increased efficiency of the process has also reduced operational cost and redundant validation of documents involved in bond issuance. IBM along with the…
European central bank execs explain why CBDCs don’t need blockchain
Global central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, do not require the use of blockchain technology, according to executives at major European central banks. Thomas Moser, an alternate member of the governing board at Swiss central bank, and Deutsche Bundesbank’s Martin Diehl discussed the state of CBDCs at the European Blockchain Convention Virtual 2020 conference on Sept. 21. During the online panel discussion, both Diehl and Moser seemed to agree that global CBDC projects like China’s digital yuan do not need blockchain, citing a number of reasons. Moser said that the primary…
The Bahamas will launch a digital Central Bank ‘Sand Dollar’ in October
The Bahamas is gunning to become the first country in the world to roll-out a state-backed virtual currency nationwide, and has announced it will launch a central bank-issued cryptocurrency during October. The assistant manager of eSolutions at the Central Bank of The Bahamas, Chaozhen Chen, told Bloomberg that the digital currency, dubbed ‘Sand Dollars’, is intended to drive greater financial inclusion among the remote islands within the archipelago nation. “A lot of residents in those more remote islands don’t have access to digital payment infrastructure or banking infrastructure. We really…
Russia’s largest bank joins blockchain trade finance platform
A subsidiary of Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has joined a blockchain-based platform for commodity trade finance. Sberbank Switzerland AG has signed an agreement with Swiss trade finance platform Komgo to apply its blockchain-powered trade finance service. Representatives from Sberbank Switzerland AG told Cointelegraph that the collaboration with Komgo addresses the growing digitization of trade finance. Evgeny Kravchenko, head of trade finance at Sberbank, outlined that commodity trade finance is a strategic business of Sberbank Switzerland AG. According to the executive, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States’ countries are the…
No one can refuse China’s digital currency, says central bank exec
China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) known as the digital yuan should be regulated in line with cash-related laws, according to a senior exec at the country’s central bank. In an opinion article on Sept. 14, Fan Yifei, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), outlined the major regulatory principles for the operation of the digital yuan. the digital representation of the official currency of the People’s Republic of China. According to Fan, the digital renminbi is legally compensatory to the traditional fiat currency. In the article, the deputy governor…
Brazil could have CBDC in two years, says central bank president
The president of Banco Central — Brazil’s central bank — has announced Brazilians could expect to see a central bank digital currency before 2023. According to a Sept. 2 report from news outlet Correio Braziliense, Brazil could be ready for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2022. Roberto Campos Neto, the president of Banco Central, stated that the country’s central bank had already undertaken measures to modernize the Brazilian financial system which has made a CBDC the natural outcome. The president cited the country’s PIX instant payment system and…
Swiss crypto bank Sygnum scores approval for digital asset trading
Sygnum, a major cryptocurrency bank in Switzerland, is preparing to finally introduce digital asset trading after receiving regulatory approval. On Sept. 1, Sygnum announced that it received regulatory approval from the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), allowing the company to expand its services to a digital asset trading facility. The new approval enables Sygnum to “cover the complete life-cycle of a security,” starting from services like primary issuance, settlement, and custody to secondary trading. As part of Sygnum’s new capabilities, users now have access to instant settlement via the Sygnum-issued…
Bitcoin is Almost as Big as Bank of America
All the speculative capital invested in Bitcoin (BTC) at the moment totals just a few billion dollars shy of Bank of America’s market valuation. Bitcoin’s current market cap sits just over $217 billion, according to Cointelegraph data at press time, while Yahoo Finance shows Bank of America’s market cap holding slightly over $226 billion — a comparison introduced in a recent article from The Next Web. Bitcoin’s market cap climbing in comparison Although it has endured its fair share of dramatic price fluctuations, Bitcoin’s price has grown substantially in 2020,…