Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) has revealed that it is researching issuing a digital currency. The central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be linked to the Jordanian dinar and have legal standing. Adel Al Sharkas, the governor of CBJ, has reportedly stated that his institution is researching the option of creating a legal digital currency. He also predicted that cryptocurrency trading might eventually be permitted in Jordan once the appropriate legislation is in place. He said: “With regards to the plans to issue a Jordanian digital currency, a study is underway to develop a legal digital currency linked to Jordanian …

Central bank digital currency (CBDC) evolved into a hot topic in Jamaica when the country’s central bank successfully completed the first pilot test in early January. Following the tests, the country's prime minister, Andrew Holness, has spoken confidently about CBDC adoption in the country. Holness has predicted the majority of the Jamaican population would be quick to adopt the digital currency, with over 70% using the CBDC within five years. The Jamaican prime minister highlighted reduced banking costs and inclusivity of CBDC in a Bloomberg interview, adding that digital currency would ensure greater government accountability thanks to easier public resources …

The Human Rights Foundation announced on Jan 4 that it intends to distribute 425 million satoshis — the smallest divisible unit of a Bitcoin — to various contributors as a part of its ongoing Bitcoin Development Fund. Launched in May 2020, the Bitcoin Development Fund launched with a primary focus on improving the Bitcoin network’s privacy, usability and security. The foundation said that it will focus this particular round of grants on expanding Bitcoin education and translation as well as Bitcoin core, lightning, and wallet development. According to the organization’s press release, it will divide these grants between a number …

WeChat, China's largest messaging app and one of the country's most popular payment services, will start supporting the Chinese government's digital currency. On Jan. 6, 2021, Tencent announced that it will begin accepting digital yuan payments via its proprietary mobile wallet WeChat Pay, according to a local news report. China has been developing a digital yuan since 2014, and it has yet to be implemented nationwide. If people start paying for goods and services with WeChat, which has more than 1 billion users, it will give it a significant boost. WeChat's enormous user base and multitude of wrapped services have …

The Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) has successfully completed its first central bank digital currency (CBDC), targeting a national rollout in the first quarter of 2022. After proceeding with initial CBDC prototype testing in March 2021, Jamaica’s central bank finished an eight-month-long pilot last Friday, the Jamaica Information Service reported. As part of the pilot, the BoJ minted 230 million Jamaican dollars ($1.5 million) worth of the CBDC for issuance to deposit-taking institutions and authorized payment service providers on Aug. 9, 2021. The central bank then issued 1 million JMD ($6,500) worth of digital currency to the staff at BoJ’s banking …

The holidays are the perfect time of the year for giving back, and the rise of cryptocurrencies has created even more opportunities for charitable initiatives. This was highlighted during Giving Tuesday 2021, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving which saw over $2.4 million raised in cryptocurrency from the nonprofit fundraising platform The Giving Block. As crypto philanthropy becomes a new subsector of the cryptocurrency economy, some in the industry believe that crypto donations will only continue to increase. Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block, told Cointelegraph that last year the organization raised about $4 million in crypto donations, noting that this …

This year has been monumental for the cryptocurrency sector in terms of mainstream adoption. A recent report published by Grayscale Investments found that more than one-quarter of United States investors (26%) surveyed own Bitcoin (BTC), up from 23% in 2020. With the holidays around the corner, financial services provider MagnifyMoney also found that nearly two-thirds of surveyed Americans hope to receive cryptocurrency as a gift this year. While crypto’s growth is notable, there has also been an increase in the number of scams associated with digital assets. A Chainalysis blog post highlighting the company’s “2022 Crypto Crime Report” revealed that …

On Thursday, HSBC and IBM announced the successful test of an advanced token and digital wallet settlement between two central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, in a cloud environment. The experiment consisted of transactions between CBDCs, eBonds, and forex. IBM's Hyperledger Fabric and enterprise technology provider R3's Corda served as the basis of the distributed ledger facilitating the transactions. The project was overseen by central bank Banque de France as part of a series of tranche projects to implement a digital Euro. Previously the French and Swiss central banks reported positive results on a pilot run of the digital Swiss …

Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government (NUG), led by the supporters of jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has declared U.S. dollar-based stablecoin Tether (USDT) as an official currency for local use. As per a report published in Bloomberg, the NUG will accept Tether for its ongoing fundraising campaign seeking to topple the current military regime in Myanmar. The shadow government also raised $9.5 million through the sale of “Spring Revolution Special Treasury Bonds” offered to the Myanmar diaspora across the world. The group aims to raise $1 billion through the sale of NUG-issued bonds. The NUG Ministry of …

Despite some senators in the United States opposing Meta launching its digital currency products, the development of the social media giant's digital wallet, Novi, continues apace. Stephane Kasriel, the head of Meta’s cryptocurrency and fintech unit Novi, officially announced on Dec. 8 that Meta’s messenger subsidiary WhatsApp has started testing transactions through Meta’s Novi wallet. According to the exec, the new feature is available for a “limited number of people” in the United States, allowing users to send and receive money on WhatsApp “instantly and with no fees.” There's a new way to try the @Novi digital wallet. Starting today, …

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has given her opinions on the potential of a digital dollar but is hesitant to come to any conclusions at this stage in proceedings. Yellen said on Thursday that she had not formed a view on whether the Federal Reserve should create a digital version of the dollar, but such a move would require broad consensus among Congress, the U.S. central bank and the White House. This follows the recent reports that the Federal Reserve is currently researching whether an electronic version of the greenback would be beneficial or not. Yellen said that she sees …

A push in Thailand to boost gross domestic product (GPD) by targeting crypto digital nomads is coming closer to fruition according to local media. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has been looking into launching its own utility token called TAT Coin since September as part of a planned “cryptourism” campaign. The initiative aims to attract crypto wealthy digital nomads and the TAT has been in discussions with the Stock Exchange of Thailand regarding TAT Coin’s issuance. According to a Nov. 24 report from the Bangkok Post, the infrastructure behind the TAT Coin is “ready” to go and is now …