Active digitalization of large domestic financial institutions is a noticeable, definitely positive trend. Russia is one of the five world leaders in the speed of transition to cashless payments, and the number of contactless transfers and payments are increasing every year. Such active development requires changes in legislation, and inevitably, many specialists and representatives of the financial sphere turn to the issue of cryptocurrency and its place in the modern financial world. In this matter, the Bank of Russia’s policy mainly focuses on destigmatizing the discourse that surrounds cryptocurrencies. The national central bank does not deem it fit to define …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent volatile price corrections might conjure up images of the 2017 crash in your mind, or maybe even the crash caused by COVID-19 back in March of this year. But the fact that Bitcoin has reached $20,000 for the first time in history is not a reason to sound the alarm. Despite the fact that the price of the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency is up more than 225% this year, the current bull run we’re living through is unlike the Bitcoin mania we saw back in 2017. Far from it. There are four key reasons for this: Institutional …

The Chinese government is not seeking to replace existing fiat currencies with its own digital currency, according to a former governor of the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC. Zhou Xiaochuan, the president of the Chinese Finance Association and former PBoC governor, claimed that China’s digital yuan is not intended to replace global fiat currencies like the United States dollar and the euro, the South China Morning Post reported on Dec. 14. Also known as a digital currency electronic payment, or DCEP, China’s digital yuan is purely designed to transform cross-border trade and investment, Zhou said. Zhou contrasted China’s digital …

People in China have conducted roughly 20,000 transactions through e-commerce company JD.com in a trial of the country’s digital yuan. According to local media outlet Global Times, JD.com reported that 80% of participants born in the 1980s and 1990s used the platform to conduct transactions in the digital currency starting on Friday evening, with at least one transaction larger than $1,527. The e-commerce site also reported the numbers as the city of Suzhou conducted a real-world trial for digital yuan at the “Double Twelve” shopping festival, in which 10,000 physical storefront locations participated. The trial in Suzhou is one of …

The Swedish government is progressing with its central bank digital currency, or CBDC, by launching a formal review of a potential transition to the digital currency. According to a Bloomberg report published Friday, the review will explore the feasibility of moving the country's payments infrastructure to a digital currency. The country features one of the most cashless economies in the world. Sweden’s financial markets minister, Per Bolund, reportedly said that the government expects to complete the digital currency review by the end of November 2022. Anna Kinberg Batra — a former chairwoman of the finance committee at Sweden’s central bank, …

Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, will be fairly easy to convert into cryptocurrencies in the future, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes. Speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2020 on Dec. 9, Buterin said that he expects a lot of ways to exchange CBDCs to cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC) as well as other digital tokens: “There’s a question of how these central bank [digital] currencies are going to interact with both crypto and digital currencies more generally. There’s going to be more digital assets of many different kinds coming over the next few decades. I expect that there will be …

Speaking at Singapore Fintech Festival, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that "third-generation blockchain technology" would see digital currency "in the hands of hundreds of millions, if not billions of users." Allaire featured on a panel alongside the CEO of Facebook’s 'Diem' Association (formerly Libra Association) Stuart Levey, Coinbase CPO Surojit Chatterjee, and Soramitsu CEO Makoto Takemiya, to discuss the question: Can Digital Currencies Birth the Next Generation of World-Class Payment Systems?. Allaire argued that digital currencies are still very early in their development but are about to take a leap analogous to that from dial-up internet to broadband. “We’re right …

Contrary to public perception, JPMorgan Chase has always been pro-blockchain, says the multinational investment bank's head of wholesale payments, Takis Georgakopoulos. In a live discussion with Nasdaq reporter Jill Malandrino at this year’s Blockshow in Singapore, Georgakopoulos said JPMorgan has always viewed the blockchain and crypto industry through three lenses: Bitcoin (BTC) and other non-fiat-based cryptocurrencies; fiat-based digital assets created by institutions and central banks; and blockchain technology. When questioned about whether JPMorgan is “softening its stance” on digital assets, Georgakopoulos clarified the bank had only softened its stance on Bitcoin, as it had only ever had reservations about non-fiat …

The public and private sectors should work closely together to bring about the future of money, according to a former leader of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Chris Giancarlo, a former CFTC chairman and initiator of a blockchain-based digital dollar project, joined the Singapore Fintech Festival 2020 to discuss the future of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. At a Tuesday panel called “Will CBDCs disrupt stablecoins?,” Giancarlo declared that the future of money depends on close government collaboration with the private sector. Addressing Iliana Oris Valiente’s question on the potential coexistence of the emerging rise of CBDCs …

One of the leaders in U.S. crypto is optimistic that the space will grow under the administration of Joe Biden governing from the middle. Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, took to CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday to argue that the Biden administration will push crypto forward as part of a broad effort to update infrastructure: "I think that they will ultimately be supportive because this is an infrastructure change as big as the initial commercial internet, and they're going to be focused on infrastructure changes that make America more competitive." Overall, moderate politics benefit crypto, Allaire reasoned: "You've got moderates, …

Russia’s digital ruble is expected to reduce business costs but could also cut profits for commercial banks, according to Elvira Nabiullina, chairwoman of the Bank of Russia. At a Thursday meeting of “Opora Russia,” a nongovernmental organization of small- and medium-sized businesses, Nabiullina said that a digital ruble could undercut commercial bank profits from commissions and transaction fees. Furthermore, she stated that a central bank digital currency is a natural development in making financial services more streamlined: “This is a natural move in the financial system development: Financial intermediaries should become less burdensome for the economy and earn money with …

Financial authorities in Europe could form an investigation plan for a digital euro as early as next year, according to an executive at the European Central Bank. Holger Neuhaus, head of market innovation and integration at the ECB, joined the Singapore FinTech Festival 2020 on Monday to discuss the global development of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. During the online discussion, Neuhaus claimed that the ECB expects European financial authorities to assess whether to launch a digital euro initiative by mid-2021: “In mid-2021, the euro system will consider whether to launch a digital euro project. But just to highlight, …