This week’s headlines from Japan included the country’s Financial Services Agency revealing feedback from the public on recent regulation, the Cabinet Office Ordinance announcing regulatory changes, Zaif exchange removing three crypto assets, Bitbank’s COO predicting crypto exchange mergers, and Nomura Research Institute issuing Japan’s first blockchain-based bond. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Japanese FSA receives comments on new regulations The Japanese Financial Services Agency, or FSA, unveiled 172 comments from citizens and groups, pertaining to recent crypto asset laws taking effect on May 1. The fresh laws span several areas, …

Global central banks are increasingly looking at blockchain technology as a tool to make interbanking processes more efficient and transparent. Following the World Bank’s exemplary experience of blockchain bond transactions, South Korea’s central bank is working on its own blockchain-based bonds, Cointelegraph Korea reports Feb. 18. Bank of Korea started the project in late 2019 According to a report by local publication Yonhap Infomax, the Bank of Korea has been seeking a blockchain services provider in order to build a blockchain bond system that would allow distribution of the bond records among all participants. The Bank of Korea reportedly launched …

ConsenSys, a major blockchain firm founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, has acquired an American broker-dealer, Heritage Financial Systems. Heritage, a broker-dealer registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been acquired by ConsenSys’s own broker-dealer, ConsenSys Digital Securities. ConsenSys’ blockchain-powered commerce and finance arm ConsenSys Codefi announced the news on Feb. 4. Heritage acquisition to bolster ConsenSys advisory and broker-dealer capabilities By purchasing Heritage, ConsenSys intends to reinforce its advisory and broker-dealer capabilities that will help the firm to implement blockchain technology for issuing tokenized bonds offerings in the municipal market. Emma Channing, a representative of …

Spain’s multinational banking giant Banco Santander has just redeemed a $20 million bond using the Ethereum blockchain. The firm has performed an early repayment of the blockchain-based bond that was issued on Sept.10, 2019, which purportedly shows that the public Ethereum blockchain can be applied to securities issuance across the full lifecycle of a security. “Debt security can be managed through its full lifecycle on a blockchain” John Whelan, head of Digital Investment Banking at Santander, tweeted on Dec. 10: “We just performed an early redemption of our blockchain-based bond that we issued on September 10th, 2019. This unequivocally proves …

Global banking giant HSBC will explore the use of blockchain for the issuance of fixed income securities in a joint trial with Singapore Exchange (SGX) and investment firm Temasek. Focused on the Asia bond markets, the trial intends to streamline the bond issuance process and reduce associated costs by applying tokenized securities and smart contracts, HSBC Singapore announced Nov. 13. While Asia’s fixed income markets continue to grow, bond issuance and servicing processes remain inefficient, according to HSBC. This is purportedly due to the absence of a single platform for the exchange of information between multiple parties and tracking tools …

Major Spanish bank Banco Santander has issued what it claims is the first end-to-end blockchain bond. In a Sept. 12 news release, the bank revealed that it had issued a $20 million bond directly onto the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, where it will remain until the end of its one-year maturity. Faster, cheaper and simpler than legacy systems Santander has claimed that its use of blockchain technology for end-to-end bond issuance represents a first step towards a potential secondary market for mainstream security tokens. As the news release outlines, Santander issued the $20 million bond — which carries a quarterly coupon …

According to Deutsche Bank, 27% of global bonds traded are now negative yield, so expected to pay out less than their initial cost. Negative yield bonds dwarf Bitcoin market cap This represents $15 trillion worth of debt. Or as VanEck digital asset director, Gabor Gurbacs, commented Aug. 14, this is 75 times the total Bitcoin market cap. “It’s time for Plan ₿!” he adds. Whilst currently this phenomenon is limited to certain European countries and Japan, all eyes are on the U.S. Federal Reserve to see if it follows the trend. Meanwhile, ex-chairman of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, told Bloomberg …

Two European companies have launched what they describe as the world’s first genuine bitcoin (BTC) bond, they confirmed in a joint press release on July 3. Luxembourg-based Argento, a securitization firm, joined forces with London Block Exchange (LBX) to issue the bitcoin-denominated bond, which is regulated under the United Kingdom’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). “We are thrilled to have structured and produced the world’s first institutional grade bitcoin-denominated financial product,” Argento manager Phil Millo commented. “The large investment banks really dropped the ball on this one.” The Argento-LBX bond represents a first in regulated cryptocurrency products, in that …

The United States' largest bank, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), is expecting to pilot its own cryptocurrency JPM Coin by the end of 2019, according to a Bloomberg report on June 25. Umar Farooq, head of digital treasury services and blockchain at JPMorgan, has revealed the company’s intention to launch pilot testing of JPM Coin with selected clients “around the end of the year” in case if relevant regulators approve the bank to do so. According to Farooq, JPMorgan has seen an increased interest from global customers in the potential benefits of the bank’s stablecoin project JPM Coin revealed in mid-February 2019. …

The World Bank and Commonwealth Bank have successfully enabled secondary market trading of a blockchain bond, the institutions confirmed in a press release on May 15. The bond, known as bond-i, uses the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and was the first in the world to leverage the technology fully when it debuted in August last year. Now, a three-way partnership which also included market maker TD Securities delivered what the participants consider a similar first and a further metamorphosis for blockchain bonds. “Enabling secondary trading recorded on the blockchain is a tremendous step forward towards enabling capital markets to leverage distributed …

Germany plans to introduce draft regulations allowing blockchain bonds as soon as this summer, local daily business news outlet Handelsblatt reported May 9. Citing Thomas Heilmann, the ruling coalition government’s dedicated blockchain correspondent, the publication revealed the new legislation has already gained mainstream momentum, with a summary paper already in existence. According to Heilmann, it is both necessary and advantageous for Germany to embrace blockchain with supportive regulation. “We consider it to be of paramount importance that we bring blockchain technology forward for Germany, specifically in 2019,” Handelsblatt quoted him as saying. Germany has traditionally taken a conservative stance on …

The global exchange website Currency.com has announced that it will be offering a tokenized form of Belarussian government bonds, according to a press release on May 7. According to the press release, users can now use fiat money or cryptocurrencies bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to invest in and trade Belarussian government bonds. Belarussian-based company Currency Com Bel LLC is reportedly the first organization to tokenize government bonds. As is the case with other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, investors will be able to purchase fractional amounts of the new token. Initially, these tokens are being offered on the exchange at …