Cryptocurrency adoption is slowly but surely making its way to the mainstream — a notion that has become more apparent as major retailers like PayPal announce support for digital currencies. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that crypto holders may be keen to spend some of their digital currency this holiday season. According to a new report from Forrester and blockchain payments service provider BitPay, cryptocurrency adopters tend to spend more than other consumers. Based on interviews with BitPay merchants, the report noted that cryptocurrency users have an average order value of $450, compared to about $200 for …

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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has issued a rare no-action letter in response to a request from a blockchain-backed platform over the issuance of a digital asset. The SEC letter issued on Nov. 19 says that its Division of Corporation Finance would “not recommend enforcement action” against avatar social platform IMVU issuing its VCOIN digital asset under certain conditions. The commission will allow the firm to offer the token without registering it as a security. Crypto firms issuing their own tokens often have to abide by the SEC’s regulatory framework, which has proved contentious. The classification of …

Mainstream interest for cryptocurrency is becoming ever-apparent as major online payment systems such as PayPal begin to offer support for digital currencies. While a revolutionary step for both the crypto and traditional finance spaces, meeting regulatory requirements is crucial in order for such companies to support cryptocurrencies. This year, PayPal secured the first conditional cryptocurrency license from the New York State Department of Financial Services, allowing for the purchase of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). On the surface, it would appear that PayPal has undergone the basic requirements to support digital currencies. However, what’s really …

Hiromi Yamaoka, former head of the payment and settlement systems department at the Bank of Japan, said that the country will likely need several years before it can issue a central bank digital currency. In a Nov. 17 Reuters interview, Yamaoka explained that the BoJ is concerned about a CBDC potentially triggering massive outflows from private bank deposits. Yamaoka, who now chairs a group of banks looking at building a common settlement infrastructure for digital payments, argued that there is “no point issuing a CBDC if it isn’t used widely,” stating: “The fundamental question, and a very tricky one, is …

Blockchain and digital assets offer folks the ability to store their own assets, possibly threatening the solutions banks offer. Making sure banks remain relevant is not on the to-do list of England's central bank, however, according to the Bank of England's deputy governor Jon Cunliffe. “Our job is not to protect bank business models,” Cunliffe said, as reported by a Friday Reuters brief. “Banks will have to adjust," he added. "Our job is to ensure that if bank business models change, we manage the financial and macro-economic consequences of that.” Cunliffe posited that it is not the responsibility of the …

Deutsche Bank, the largest banking institution in Germany, is confident that central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, will replace cash in the future. The bank’s research arm, Deutsche Bank Research, published a new report on economic estimations and proposals to assist global economies hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Titled “What We Must Do to Rebuild,” the study was released on Nov. 10. In the report, Deutsche Bank states that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the “digital cash revolution.” According to the bank, this revolution will eventually enable CBDCs like China’s digital yuan or Sweden’s e-krona to replace cash in …

Nouriel Roubini, an award-winning economist and known skeptic of Bitcoin (BTC), is confident that central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are the future of money. According to Roubini, global CBDCs like the digital yuan are capable of replacing major financial services and cryptocurrencies in the near future. “They're gonna be crowding out digital payment systems, or in the private sector, starting with cryptocurrencies that are not really currencies,” the economist said in a Nov. 7 interview with Yahoo Finance. Roubini predicted that a CBDC-powered “revolution” is coming in as soon as in three years: “So not only you don't need …

David Roche, president and global strategist at Independent Strategy, believes that China’s digital yuan has “a long way” before it will become able to challenge the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency, CNDC reports Nov. 2. According to Roche, China’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, could hypothetically beat the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency, but it would take a “very, very long time.” The strategist reportedly emphasized that the euro accounts for a “miserable” 18%–20% of all global trade, while the Chinese yuan composes 2% of international trade settlements. He said: “Dethroning the dollar — which the euro …

The governor of China’s central bank has given more details about the country's ongoing digital currency pilot. Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said that the digital yuan pilots have processed over four million transactions to date, totaling more than 2 billion yuan ($299 million). The official delivered his latest remarks at the Hong Kong Fintech Week conference on Nov. 2, Bloomberg reported. According to Yi, the pilots have been going smoothly so far, having rolled out for extended testing in four cities. Growth in demand for digital and contactless payment methods amid the coronavirus pandemic have …

The Bahamas, an island nation in the West Indies, made digital currency history on Oct. 20 with the official launch of a new central bank digital currency, the so-called Sand Dollar. It became the first country to roll out a CBDC available to all residents, and while the Bahamas is a small nation — with only 393,000 people — it appears to be an event of some global financial significance. Or is it? “It could be if it succeeds,” Ross Buckley, KPMG-KWM professor of disruptive innovation at University of New South Wales, Sydney, told Cointelegraph. “Other small island nations — …

Toyota Systems, the IT arm of Toyota Motor Corporation, is collaborating with Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret to develop a branded Toyota digital currency, according to an official announcement on Oct. 26. The large-scale pilot will involve 2,500 employees at Toyota Systems. The platform will feature digital currency payments for benefits. According to the announcement, participating employees will be able to exchange the digital currency for benefits points or gifts from a catalog. Toyota Systems noted that the digital currency cannot be exchanged for Japanese yen. The new pilot uses DeCurret’s proprietary blockchain-based platform for issuing and managing digital currencies. The …