Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) Governor Feras Milhem has revealed that the proto-central bank — which does not issue a domestic currency and operates under highly restrictive political and economic conditions — is exploring the idea of issuing a Palestinian digital currency. Raja Khalidi, director of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, told Bloomberg that “the macroeconomic conditions don’t exist to allow a Palestinian currency — digital or otherwise — to exist as a means of exchange.” Khalidi argued, however, that the PMA’s issuance of some form of digital currency may “send a political signal to show apparent appearance of monetary …

Thibault Verbiest, chairman of the IOUR Foundation, expert at the World Bank and the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum: “As long as our societies live in a state system, with rule of law, regulators will always look for legally responsible entities in case of illegal or reprehensible acts, even if it means prosecuting the wrong person. We have seen this attitude since the beginning of the internet when access and hosting providers were prosecuted while they were not the actual perpetrators. The United States, and then Europe, had to legislate some 20 years ago to protect these intermediaries. Today, this …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has reaffirmed its support for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In a report titled “CBDCs: an opportunity for the monetary system,” BIS researchers argued that sovereign digital currencies offered “the unique advantages of central bank money.” According to the report, CBDCs are the embodiment of digital money designed for the public good and are best suited for interfacing with instant retail payment systems. Indeed, several central banks around the world are experimenting with retail CBDCs with many of these projects examining ways to float a digital companion to their respective fiat currencies. Detailing a …

Israel’s central bank has allegedly completed a pilot — under the radar — for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) using Ethereum’s technology. The claim was made by the Israeli financial news site Globes and later reported by BNN Bloomberg. Globes’ sources for its claims are undisclosed: The report alleged that the Bank of Israel (BOI) completed its pilot in an experimental, closed environment based on Ethereum’s architecture, involving the trial issuance of tokens representing digital shekels and their transfer amon digital wallets. Globes also claimed that as part of its pilot, the BOI successfully tested its ability to program …

One of the few high-profile public officials to have served under both the Obama and Trump administrations, Chris Giancarlo is a former Wall Street executive-turn-regulator who is widely-respected by nearly all parties on Capitol Hill. As the former Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, however, his latest venture, the Digital Dollar Foundation, might well test his soft touch with politicians. The former regulator is now leading the Foundation towards five pilot programs set to launch this year, part of a broader effort to help the United States regain the lead in a race against China towards a functioning CBDC. …

The Bank of Israel has reportedly already issued a central bank digital currency through a pilot test of a digital shekel. According to a Monday report from the Jerusalem Post, Bank of Israel deputy governor, Andrew Abir, said the financial institution had started to conduct a pilot program for a digital shekel. Speaking at a conference of the Fair Value Forum of IDC Herzliya, Abir added that he was not optimistic about the bank issuing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, despite the fact he confirmed a pilot test was underway. “I had previously estimated that the chance of …

The central bank of France — Banque de France — is continuing its work on the development of a European central bank digital currency (CBDC). On Monday the bank officially announced the successful completion of a CBDC experiment with major Switzerland-based cryptocurrency bank SEBA. Conducted in collaboration with SEBA, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, and Luxembourg central securities depository LuxCSD, the experiment used a CBDC to simulate the settlement and delivery of listed securities on TARGET2-Securities (T25), a European securities settlement engine. SEBA purchased securities from Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, with post-trade settlement managed by LuxCSD. Related: Digital euro offers better …

European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member, Fabio Panetta, has argued that a digital euro offers superior privacy protections than privately issued stablecoins. Panetta criticized the profit motive of private firms, emphasizing it is in their commercial interests to harvest masses of data on their users. “We are not like private companies,” the board member told Financial Times. “We have no commercial interest in storing, managing, or monetizing the data of users.” The ECB official also confirmed that the European Central Bank has carried out pilots testing “offline payments for small amounts, in which no data is recorded outside the …

China continues apace with the adoption of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) as major banks launch a significant batch of digital yuan-powered ATMs. The digital yuan — a CBDC controlled by The People’s Bank of China — is now available for deposit and withdrawals at over 3,000 ATMs across Beijing, state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday. According to the report, the Beijing branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has become the first bank to fully enable the digital yuan exchange in the Chinese capital city by setting up more than 3,000 digital currency-compatible ATMs. The Agricultural …

Russian industrial tycoon Oleg Deripaska is the latest figure to criticize the Bank of Russia’s stance on cryptocurrency regulation in the country. Deripaska took to his official Telegram channel on Thursday to blast the Russian central bank for pressuring local industry to avoid getting involved into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). The Russian oligarch pointed out that even small countries like El Salvador have moved into Bitcoin by recognizing it as legal tender: “Even poor El Salvador, known for being close to oft-mentioned Honduras, has realized the need for digital currencies and taken a simple path, recognizing Bitcoin as a means …

Indonesia’s central bank governor, Perry Warjiyo, is mobilizing official supervisors to enforce the country’s ban on financial institutions using crypto assets as a means of payment. During a virtual seminar on Tuesday, June 15, Warjiyo reiterated that local financial firms and payment provided are prohibited from facilitating the use of cryptocurrency to settle payments or as an instrument used in other financial services. The central bank governor emphasized that crypto assets are “not legitimate payment instruments under the constitution, Bank Indonesia Law, and Currency Law,” noting that field supervisors will be sent out to ensure that local financial institutions adhere …

China is progressing with its central bank digital currency (CBDC) tests, debuting blockchain-enabled salary payments in the digital yuan. According to the official website of the Xiong’an New Area, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has successfully completed the nation’s first on-chain wage payouts in the digital yuan. Announcing the news on Saturday, Xiong’an authorities said that the pilot involved guidance and support from the Shijiazhuang-based PBoC branch, the Bank of China Hebei Xiong’an branch, as well as the National Development and Reform Commission. The new CBDC pilot used a blockchain-based payment platform to distribute salaries to workers on spring …