Mastercard has announced plans to support cryptocurrencies in 2021, paving the way for its nearly one billion users to spend digital assets at more than 30 million merchants. The firm believes this may open merchants up to new customers and build loyalty with existing customers who are already migrating to digital assets over traditional fiat options. “It’s about choice. Mastercard isn’t here to recommend you start using cryptocurrencies. But we are here to enable customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value” While the global payments giant noted it is planning to support stablecoins due to their “reliability and security,” …

The Bank of Canada is pushing ahead with digitizing its currency. In a speech today, BoC deputy governor Timothy Lane noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the need to digitize cash. Lane said: "The pandemic may bring us to a decision point sooner than we had anticipated." Lane was, however, careful to specify that "a digital currency is by no means a foregone conclusion." In October, Lane that said central banks should stand by with digital tokens in the event that Libra, now Diem fell to regulators. Today, he noted that central banks may be more trustworthy than private …

In an interview today, Fabio Panetta, executive member of the European Central Bank said the ECB may only allow digital euro holdings “up to a certain threshold” but added that the rollout of the central bank digital currency was unlikely to cause banks to lose deposits. Specifically, Panetta said that this threshold “could be around €3,000” — worth roughly $3,600 — which he said would still meet most people’s cash needs. He added that these figures were ”still under discussion” and that the ECB had also not yet decided on a cap for digital euro payments. Panetta emphasized that the …

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso has revealed the G7’s financial leaders will discuss central bank digital currencies during a meeting on Feb. 12. The meeting will be chaired by Britain, with representatives from the world’s largest economies set to discuss strategies for navigating their way out of the global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Friday’s meeting will commence on the topic of CBDCs, but the minister noted the G7 will also discuss the implementation of digital taxation and emerging debt problems. The G7, or Group of Seven, is an intergovernmental organization consisting of the United States, Canada, France, …

China has finalized new guidelines to aid in antitrust battle against tech giants. On Feb. 7, the State Administration for Market Regulation released finalized rules for its anti-monopoly push against e-commerce and payments giants like Alibaba, Ant Group and Tencent. The guidance specifically addresses "operators that provide business premises, transaction matching, information exchange and other Internet platform services." It builds on a host of recent efforts by both the SAMR and the People's Bank of China to rein in the broader tech industry, specifically targeting payments platforms as the country continues to push forward its own central bank digital currency. …

The Indian Crypto community has been involved in discussions with the government about how it should perceive cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology before finding ways to regulate the industry ever since the government placed a now-defunct blanket ban on banks servicing crypto firms in April 2018. In the latest update, on Jan. 29, the government revealed its plans to introduce The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 to the lower house of the parliament (The Lok Sabha) in the upcoming session. As mentioned in the Lok Sabha’s release, the bill would have a two-fold agenda. The first is …

Last fall, the Bank of Korea announced it would be testing the distribution of a central bank digital currency in 2021. Preparations appear to be going ahead on multiple fronts, with the bank's publication of a new book today dedicated to the legal questions raised by the potential issuance of such a currency. According to a summary in Korean media, the book calls for revisions to the law to ensure that a future CBDC could successfully operate. The Bank of Korea has notably been using blockchain technology to manage the transactions in its 22-month long CBDC pilot program, which commenced …

A Chinese banking institution has completed the development of a hardware wallet for the country’s central bank digital currency, the digital yuan According to a Feb. 7 announcement by Xiong’an authorities, the Xiong’an branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Hebei has produced the first hardware wallet designed for the digital yuan. The product was developed by the Party Working Committee of the Xiongan New Area and the People’s Bank of China branch in Shijiazhuang. New areas in China are urban districts that are provided special economic support by the central government. They are divided into state, provincial and …

China has opened testing for its digital yuan. The excitement surrounding this project has electrified several major Chinese cities, as well as onlookers throughout the world. Most recently, Shenzhen launched its “iShenzhen” lottery, wherein the city government will distribute 20 million digital yuan among 100,000 central bank digital currency, or CBDC, wallet holders. This comes on the back of a similar lottery held in the city of Suzhou, one of China’s major “special economic zones.” Suzhou has already engaged with several blockchain projects in an effort to deepen the municipality’s understanding and use of decentralized technology, smart contracts and the …

Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are entering the “advanced stages” of engagement as nations around the world look to capitalize on blockchain technology, according to a new report by the Bank for International Settlements. In its latest survey of CBDC development, the BIS shows that central banks representing roughly a fifth of the world’s population are set to introduce a “general purpose CBDC in the next three years.” The 23-page document is based on primary consultations with more than 60 monetary authorities conducted in late 2020. The survey indicates that 86% of global central banks are actively exploring CBDCs. …

The World Economic Forum’s upcoming Davos Agenda will feature two separate sessions on cryptocurrency, offering another compelling sign that digital assets have permeated mainstream consciousness. The sessions, titled Resetting Digital Currencies, will be held on Monday and Thursday. The first session will feature five public speakers, including Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union. Thursday’s group features four speakers, including Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a senior minister for the government of Singapore, and Zhu Min, chairman of the Beijing-based National Institute of Financial Research. “COVID-19 has accelerated the long-term shift from cash,” reads the …

Editor's note It may be too late for resolutions and too early for Lent, but lacking any discrete occasion, I would still like to give up United States political news for a while, or at least for the duration of one Law Decoded. Fortunately, in the spirit of going international and leaving the bonkers election cycle of the U.S., blockchain technology and stablecoins are playing a major role in the latest developments in cross-border payments and settlements. It’s long been one of the most talked-about applications of blockchain technology. Diplomatic scheming shows up in payments by regular folks in the …