Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, believes that the country’s not-yet-launched digital currency is the “highest form of money.” In a Monday interview with state media RT, Aksakov expressed optimism about Russia’s upcoming central bank digital currency, or CBDC, predicting that a digital ruble will become an integral part of national settlements in two or three years. Aksakov said that the Bank of Russia expects to finalize a digital ruble prototype by the end of 2021, and plans to issue a development roadmap in the near future. “The digital ruble is the highest form …

The Central Bank of the Bahamas has announced that its central bank digital currency, the Sand Dollar, is expected to achieve full interoperability between its various wallet providers within the week. A recent statement released by the CBoB revealed that authorized financial institutions, or AFIs, such as payments service providers are expected to be finalized within the coming days. Essentially acting as wallet providers and prospective issuers of the Sand Dollar, the AFIs in question have been subject to rigorous cybersecurity assessments, the bank stated. The institutions that adopted the bank’s own app have already been cleared to participate, while …

Brian Brooks, former acting comptroller of the currency of the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has claimed that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have some backing, while the U.S. dollar may not have any. Brooks gave his remarks in a CNBC Squawk Box interview with Joseph Kernen to unpack recent Bitcoin-related remarks by the U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Earlier this week, Powell argued that cryptos like Bitcoin are “essentially a substitute for gold” but at the same time they are “not backed by anything.” CNBC host Kernen pointed out that gold has historically been seen …

Soros Fund Management chief information officer Dawn Fitzpatrick said Bitcoin (BTC) may once have been considered a fringe asset, but the inflation of the United States dollar has changed that. Speaking to Bloomberg, Fitzpatrick said her firm — an asset management fund created by global investor George Soros — had recently begun to take an interest in Bitcoin. “We think the whole infrastructure around crypto is really interesting, and we’ve been making some investments into that infrastructure — and we think that is at an inflection point,” said Fitzpatrick. That inflection point is coming as a result of fiat inflation, …

China’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, will provide backup for major retail payment services like AliPay and WeChat Pay as its key objective, according to an official at the People’s Bank of China. Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute, claimed that China’s digital yuan is needed to ensure financial stability in case “something happens” to AliPay or WeChat Pay, the South China Morning Post reports. Speaking at an online panel discussion on Thursday, Mu stated that Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay account for 98% of the mobile payment market in China, …

Jamaica is the latest country making concrete efforts towards issuing its own sovereign digital currency. According to a press release by the Bank of Jamaica on Tuesday, eCurrency Mint, a cryptography security company specializing in central bank digital currency issuance has been selected as the technology provider for the sovereign digital currency project. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Jamaica’s central bank invited technology solution providers to submit applications for its CBDC project back in July 2020. At the time, the BoJ clarified that its planned sovereign digital currency would not be based on crypto technology. Based in Ireland, eCurrency Mint …

China and Japan are pushing forward with their respective pilots for central bank-issued digital currencies, or CBDCs. On March 26, Bank of Japan announced it had established the Liaison and Coordination Committee on Central Bank Digital Currency to convene with both the private sector on the banks upcoming CBDC proof-of-concept, or PoC, stating: “The Bank, through this committee, will share details of, and provide updates on the PoC with the private sector and the government and will seek consultation on future steps to facilitate smooth implementation of the PoC.” The announcement also noted the bank has been preparing to conduct …

The European Central Bank, or ECB, has been investigating the possibility of launching a digital euro project within five years to complement existing central bank money. But whereas high-profile leaders such as ECB president Christine Lagarde have been largely positive about the prospect, officials from Germany's Bundesbank have remained unconvinced. In a new op-ed for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ECB board member Fabio Panetta and fellow official Ulrich Bindseil attempted to tackle some of the Germans' misgivings head on: “The ECB is by no means planning to use a digital euro to enforce interest rates that are significantly more negative. …

Germany’s federal bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, has run successful tests on a project which bridges the traditional finance infrastructure with blockchain technology. Despite the current global rush by central banks to familiarise themselves with central bank digital currency technology, the testing carried out by the Bundesbank, in conjunction with the Deutsche Börse Group and the German Finance Agency, required the issuance of no CB, or any tokenized money at all. The system reportedly relies on two software modules which form a connection between the Bundesbank’s internal system and distributed ledger technology. Instead of creating a token-based system, the bank simply …

Chinese authorities are willing to ensure maximum user privacy for the country’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, according to an official at the People’s Bank of China. Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute, spoke of China’s digital yuan privacy capabilities at the 2021 China Development Forum on Sunday, local news agency Sina Finance reported. Mu stated that a completely anonymous CBDC “is not feasible” because a national digital currency must meet requirements related to Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing and anti-tax evasion. However, that doesn’t mean that China’s digital yuan lacks user privacy, …

The Bank of Thailand, or BoT, is upping its game on the stablecoin front. This week, the institution warned citizens that Thai Baht Digital (THT), a baht-pegged stablecoin issued by the South Korean firm Terra, has no legal assurances or protection and violates the country's currency act. According to a report published on Friday, central bank Assistant Governor Siritida Panomwon Na Ayudhya told a briefing that the BoT is taking into consideration opinions from market regulators and participants before introducing its measures. The plans are to regulate asset-backed and foreign currency-backed stablecoins and algorithmic stablecoins, but not decentralized cryptocurrencies such …

Many expect that a time could soon come when central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, replace physical dollars once and for all. Comments from United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, however, indicate that this may not be the case. The chairman’s comments were filmed and later shown at an event in Switzerland on Thursday, according to an article from Bloomberg. The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures put on the event. In his talk, Powell mentioned that the U.S. central bank and six other central banks collaboratively put together a report in conjunction with the Bank for International Settlements. …