The Digital Dollar Project, which advocates a blockchain-backed digital dollar in the United States, has announced the inaugural roster of its Advisory Board. The new advisors joining the founders of the project The project is an initiative of several former heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Accenture. The new advisory board includes 22 members with broad backgrounds in finance and payment technologies. They include former CFTC Commissioner Sharon Bowen, PayPal policy exec Usman Ahmed and Georgetown fintech law professor and occasional Cointelegraph contributor Chris Brummer. The announcement for the new board says the advisors aim to “help …

Markets trader and YouTuber, Tone Vays, says the United States’ digital dollar proposal is no different than the current system, except for its ties to the country’s federal reserve. “There is nothing technologically new here, whatsoever,” Vays said in a March 24 YouTube video, referencing the U.S. digital dollar proposal. “The only difference is that now, it’s like a pass-through from the Fed — as if the Fed needs more responsibility,” he added. Recent digital dollar draft from the government In a recent attempt to help the sinking economy, a fresh stimulus draft surfaced on March 23, which, in part, …

Somnium Space sold 110 Ethereum (ETH) worth of virtual land plots during the first seven days of its multi-week affair. “During the first week of Road to SLO we have sold a total of 25 parcels for 110 ETH,” a Somnium representative told Cointelegraph. “Moreover we have seen a record high sale of a Bundle of 10 parcels from one user to another for whooping 100 ETH.” Last week, blockchain-based VR game, Somnium Space, completed the first week of its Road to Secondary Land Offering, a March 13 statement detailed. During this event, the startup sells 25 virtual land parcels …

In a recent keynote speech to the London School of Economics, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Managing Director, Tao Zhang, briefed the positives and negatives of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Zhang pointed toward greater efficiency and lower costs associated with a CBDC. “In some countries, the cost of managing cash can be very high on account of geography, and access to the payments system may not be available to the unbanked, rural, or poorer population,” he said in the Feb. 28 speech, which hit the web on March 19. Zhang hits on other positives The IMF director touched …

Even amid the financial turmoil caused by the coronavirus outbreak, countries are continuing to consider the adoption of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph Japan, Kozo Yamamoto, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Member of the House of Representatives and a former official at the Ministry of Finance, argued that Japan should implement a CBDC — and fast. Balancing a digital yen with fiat currency A key figure behind ‘Abenomics’, Yamamoto referred to the three traditional roles of money — as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. In his view, large …

The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank that started testing its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) in February, wants to host the digital currency innovation hub by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Officially announcing the news on March 6, the Riksbank noted that in order for the hub to be located in Sweden, the bank would need to undertake a number of measures to co-finance the activity. As such, the Riksbank proposed an amendment to the Sveriges Riksbank Act, asking the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, for approval to finance the activities of international organizations. The Riksbank requested the parliament for …

The Bank of England (BoE) is seriously weighing the pros and cons of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) denominated in pounds sterling. Britain’s central bank recognized that a digital pound could be destabilizing for the current banking system. However, a digital currency could utilize the latest FinTech and make transactions easier and faster for consumers. The Bank has just released a 57-page report examining how CBDCs could be introduced to existing markets, performing as both a store of value and used in everyday transactions. The report, titled “Central Bank Digital Currency March 2020: Opportunities, Challenges and Design” follows …

Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has listed USDC for deposits on its United States Branch, Binance.US. The new listing took effect on Wednesday, March 4th, at 9:00 PM EST, allowing users easily convert to BUSD, according to a statement made on their official website. BUSD allowed for trading or holding With such a measure, Binance.US will allow its users to start trading or holding BUSD. The conversion feature can be found under "Buy Crypto" on the homepage, the company said. The exchange makes it clear that the BTC / BUSD, BUSD / USD, ZIL / BUSD, XRP / BUSD, BNB / …

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Crypto Valley Association President Daniel Haudenschild said that central bank digital currencies are “the next logical stage.” Haudenschild explained to Cointelegraph that he believes CBDCs are the next stage “in evolution for decentralized finance.” He also claimed that there are currently 34 CBDC projects. According to him, such digital currencies represent a new era of governments and traditional finance that recognize the potential of digital assets. Central banks innovate to avoid being left behind Fear of being left behind, Haudenschild admitted, is a major force driving countries to innovate, “Undoubtedly, the drive of digital …

Zabo has announced it has raised $ 2.5 million in seed funding, allowing it to extend its portfolio of services to continue connecting its customers’ cryptocurrency wallets to banks, brokerage firms, FinTech apps, and tax software. As detailed in a March 5 blog post, the seed round was led by Moonshots Capital and included funding from Blockchange Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Digital Currency Group, CoinShares, Tezos Foundation, Capital Factory, among others. Bolstering connections with mainstream financial services Zabo’s technology is used in a wide variety of financial services applications, both centralized and decentralized, and with this announcement, they expect to …

Chile’s crypto trading platform CryptoMarket has obtained a license issued by the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), allowing it to provide services for the purchase and sale of crypto assets. Founded in 2016, CryptoMarket joins a select group of Latin American crypto companies operating in the region, with Bitso (Mexico) and Mercury Cash (Venezuela) obtaining licenses from Gibraltar and Estonia respectively. The exchange, which has 150,000 users and operations in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Europe, had to incorporate a representative in Estonia to obtain the license. It was subject to an internal audit, underwent a criminal background check and had …

Josefina Canale, Argentina's lawmaker, has declared through her personal Twitter account that she is in favor of creating an exclusive cryptocurrency for the city of Mendoza, which would be backed and monitored by the local government. The lawmaker adds that she has been studying the subject to propose it in legislative discussions, also suggesting that a digital token could be useful for paying taxes. One of the motivations is that this currency could help insulate Mendoza from the current national macroeconomic situation — Argentina’s peso is in dire straits. Mixed reactions to the proposal The announcement received a mixed reception …