China’s efforts to develop a centrally issued digital currency took a leap forward on Sunday as the state-owned Agricultural Bank of China launched the first digital yuan ATMs. Customers at select branches within the Shenzen region have reportedly begun spending and converting the digital yuan they received as part of China’s “red envelope” lottery, which saw $3 million worth of the new currency gifted to 100,000 local citizens. The ATMs reportedly allow the deposit and withdrawal of digital yuan via a smartphone app and allow users to convert cash and savings to and from the central bank digital currency. The …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note January takes its name from Janus, the god of transitions and the guardian or the gates of Rome, looking always forward and backwards. So while this has been going on for over two millennia, only a week into 2021 I am thoroughly tired of retrospectives and prognostications. My personal takeaways from 2020 were pretty existential: we are but sentient dust; life comes at you fast; man plans and God laughs etc. But while I grew more suspicious of the …

With just two weeks left in office, President Donald Trump has sent out a new executive order targeting Chinese payment apps. The Tuesday order bars United States citizens or people located in the U.S. from using nine Chinese payment apps. It continues the White House's earlier efforts to cut off the U.S. market from Chinese-owned apps like TikTok. Yesterday's order repeats earlier concerns of data collection by the Chinese Communist Party: "The continuing activity of the PRC and the CCP to steal or otherwise obtain United States persons’ data makes clear that there is an intent to use bulk data …

The Italian Banking Association, or ABI, has affirmed its support for the implementation of a sovereign European digital currency by beginning pilot studies on a digital euro project. According to an announcement, the association is working with its research and development arm, ABI Lab, and commercial banks in the country to develop an experimental digital euro. The ABI’s digital euro study will reportedly focus on two major areas — technical feasibility analysis and central bank digital currency programmability to create a distinction from existing electronic payment methods. Italian enterprise network firm SIA will assist the consortium in the technical feasibility …

The Stellar Development Foundation has signed an agreement with the Ukrainian government to facilitate the creation of a digital asset ecosystem, including a framework for a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation announced Monday that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Stellar Development Foundation. The MOU outlines Ukraine's strategy for developing digital assets and CBDC infrastructure. This includes providing support to projects specializing in digital assets, implementing and regulating stablecoin circulation, and promoting the development of a CBDC. A press release from the Stellar Development Foundation on Monday confirmed that the …

Programs to pilot and encourage widespread adoption of China's central bank digital currency, known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment or the digital yuan, are continuing apace. As a New Year's offering, the city of Shenzhen is offering its residents the option to register to take part in a municipal lottery, as of last week Friday, with registrations closing this morning, Monday, at 10 am local time. Those interested were able to sign up for the lottery using the iShenzhen event registration platform, according to an announcement by the Shenzhen government. The lottery is, strictly speaking, not a competition but is …

The COVID-19 pandemic dominated the news in 2020, affecting myriad sectors — health, economics, social justice, politics and trade, as well as the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. As country after country locked down to halt the virus’s spread, governments seized upon stimulus payments to preserve economic life. While necessary, these measures raised the specter of global inflation. This, in turn, pushed many traditional investors and institutions to take a new look at cryptocurrencies as an alternate store of value, especially Bitcoin (BTC), the top crypto. Following a March 11 dip, BTC went on a tear, reaching record levels by year …

January will mark 12 years since the Bitcoin genesis block. In that time, blockchain technology has made many significant strides forward. The launch of Ethereum in 2015 introduced smart contracts and token minting. Subsequent years saw developments in areas, such as transaction privacy with the launch of Zcash (ZEC), platforms such as EOS and Tezos attempting to compete with Ethereum on scalability, and dozens of use cases being explored. In particular, 2018 and 2019 were difficult years. Following Bitcoin’s fall from its all-time high in December 2017, it’s fair to say that the general appetite for blockchain and cryptocurrencies waned …

2020 has been a year of upheaval throughout the world. Overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the events of this year brought forth new challenges no one was prepared for, upending the way we live, work, and transact. Early this year, global financial markets took a severe hit as stocks, commodities and even cryptocurrency prices fell. Against the backdrop of economic uncertainty and the declining value of the U.S. dollar, crypto assets are moving higher up the radar screens of commercial banks, hedge funds and other institutional investors. As we approach the end of a tumultuous year, it would be timely …

It is hard to imagine that just two years ago, the general discourse around central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, was mainly focused on the potential and possibility of issuing them. Even in 2019, the question was about whether we need state-owned cryptocurrencies, with only 70% of central banks worldwide studying the potential of issuing a CBDC, according to a survey published by the Bank for International Settlements at the beginning of 2019. But this year, everything is indeed different. 2020 started with a major event within the financial world: the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the WEF released …

It has been a blazing start to a new decade, with 13% more large, uncontrolled wildfires around the world this year compared with 2019. This has spelled dire consequences for CO2 levels, which have made worse a terrible COVID-19 pandemic that has led to unprecedented worldwide lockdowns that have rapidly pushed the economy toward digitization. Related: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the crypto space? Experts answer As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have been forced to focus on integrating blockchain technology into their financial services. At the 75th anniversary of the United Nations General …

As the country struggles with soaring consumer prices and an inflation rate in the double digits, in an announcement to members of Turkey’s Parliament central bank governor Naci Agbal revealed that “conceptual” research had been completed on a Turkish central bank digital currency (CBDC), and that practical tests for such a currency would begin in the latter half of 2021. “There is an R&D project initiated on digital money,” said Agbal, according to two local outlets. “Currently the conceptual phase of this project has been completed. We aim to start pilot tests in the second half of 2021.” While the …