Earlier this week, Lithuania's tax service, the Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate, added $7.6 million dollars to the state budget through the sale of cryptocurrencies seized in criminal investigations. The occasion marked the first time that the Lithuanian government liquidated confiscated cryptocurrencies. In doing so, the country joined the growing number of jurisdictions worldwide that have auctioned off or sold cryptos obtained by the long arm of the law. However, unlike the United States Federal Marshals, which netted $37 million at auction from confiscated crypto last February, the STI opted to sell the crypto through an exchange. According to Linas Rajackas, …

American progressives, particularly the high-profile group of Congresswomen known as “the Squad,” have been highly vocal on questions of economic equity, the corrosive social impact of Big Tech and the need to reimagine fiscal and monetary policy in the post-2008 and post-COVID-19 political moment. How do they view blockchain technologies and the subsequent debates that have surrounded the digital dollar, given the potential for some overlap when it comes to certain concerns like financial inclusion, efficient distribution and citizens’ privacy? In a recent interview for Forbes, the economic policy advisors to several members of the Squad — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), …

Earlier this fall, the Bank of Japan announced its plans to begin testing a central bank digital currency proof-of-concept in 2021. Further details of the institution’s approach to development and collaborations have since emerged, with indications that the private sector is poised to play a prime role, at least in the testing phase. Earlier today, Reuters reported that the CEO of the Japanese financial services giant Monex Inc. is welcoming the central bank’s more proactive stance toward central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. CEO Oki Matsumoto argued that any move to introduce a CBDC would be positive for the digitalization …

Facebook’s proposal for its digital currency, Libra, was a wake-up call for international regulatory agencies, finance ministries and central bankers. All these actors recognized that the company’s reach across its three platforms had the potential to accelerate adoption of a global stablecoin to an unprecedented extent. In a new paper from the Bank of International Settlements, three analysts have proposed that the novelty of Libra and other proposed global stablecoins demand that regulators reimagine the possibilities for monitoring and supervising their issuance and circulation. Libra’s potential for rapid mass adoption across multiple jurisdictions would require authorities to develop dynamic and …

Cash use has lost a ton of ground to digital payments as the pandemic has changed the way people transact worldwide. Some experts have recently argued that central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, could solve the problem of leaving that payments data in the hands of major tech platforms. In a blog post published Monday morning, Federal Reserve of New York researcher Michael Lee and University of California Santa Barbara economics professor Rod Garratt expounded on a paper they released earlier this month. The authors point to tech firms' troubling use of consumer data, which has landed everyone from Visa …

The Chinese city of Suzhou will be the second to roll out a “red envelope” trial for the forthcoming digital yuan, according to a report in local media outlet The Paper. Following the successful pilot scheme run in the city of Shenzhen last month, insiders say that the Suzhou district of Xiangcheng will be launching the giveaway to coincide with the country’s Double 12 shopping event on Dec. 12. Many businesses in the district have reportedly already installed near-field communication QR codes in anticipation of the trial. The previous Shenzhen trial saw a total of 10 million digital yuan distributed …

Ripple, the payment services using digital currency XRP, is looking for an expert specializing in central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. According to a recent job posting by Ripple, the firm is seeking a senior director of central bank engagements focusing on supporting CBDC initiatives with Ripple’s real-time gross settlement system, XRP Ledger. With the new position, Ripple is looking to define its CBDC strategy with central banks, build relationships and projects, as well as educate global central bankers, the job posting notes. The position requires over 10 years of experience in technology sales or account management involving selling to …

The world is engaging in financial warfare, and China is winning. China’s digital yuan — also referred to as Digital Currency Electronic Payment, or DCEP — will soon be used around the world. The People’s Bank of China is one of the most advanced central banks in the world. For that reason, it has been advancing on the digital currency front, while by all appearances, the United States Federal Reserve has not. And now that Donald Trump and his “America First” policy has been defeated, China’s supremacy in the area of digital currency has been assured. Joe Biden has not …

On Friday, the International Monetary Fund published a new working paper on central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, and their legal ramifications. In the paper, researchers including IMF legal counsel Wouter Bossu and Catalina Margulis argue that current frameworks are inadequate for issuing public-facing CBDCs. The researchers are particularly concerned about how existing definitions of money can apply to such a new technology, but, optimistically, suggest the problem is simple enough to fix: "The absence of an explicit and robust legal basis for the issuance of token-and/or account-based CBDC can be relatively easily remedied through targeted central bank law reform." …

Singapore is exploring wholesale central bank digital currency, or CBDC, said Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Speaking on the subject during an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Mohanty pointed out that in Singapore, there is not much demand for a retail CBDC given that payment system infrastructure in the country already allows fast and cheap payments among individuals. Instead, Singapore's central bank is focused on the development of a wholesale CBDC, which would be used to facilitate settlements of securities and payments among financial institutions. “I don’t think we …

With nations around the world each holding significantly different regulations, what is the most crypto-friendly country? Kosala Hemachandra, CEO and founder of MyEtherWallet, labeled the query as a tough one. “First we have to define what crypto-friendly means,” Hemachandra told Cointelegraph. “Some countries, like China, are looking at issuing government digital currencies, which would encourage swift adoption, but is not faithful to the decentralized spirit of crypto.” China has proven itself as one of the less-crypto-friendly countries throughout the years, seen in various restrictions and bans. Throughout 2020, China has pushed significant efforts for its central bank digital currency, the …

The Bank of England, or BoE, is broadening its assessment of digital currencies, including evaluating how these assets could form the basis of a “new monetary order.” Andy Haldane, the bank’s chief economist and sitting member of the Monetary Policy Committee, gave a speech on Wednesday at the TheCityUK 10th Anniversary Conference. The 19-page transcript, titled “Seizing the Opportunities from Digital Finance,” delves into various topics related to digital currencies and their impact on financial stability and monetary policy. The “traditional model of banking would be disrupted” by a widely used digital currency, Haldane said, adding that more attention needs …