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, …

Several experts from various European banks agreed that even a proof of concept for a digital euro is four or five years away. In a panel on Monday called "Upgrading Money to the Digital Age: Introducing Digital Euro," participants agreed that the current task was primarily one of getting everyone onboard with the specifics of a digital euro, putting any real implementation well into the future. Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, have been an extremely popular topic of debate in recent years, but especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Austėja Šostakaitė of the European Central Bank said …

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, …

The president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, has said that the bank should reach a decision on releasing a digital euro early next year. In an online policy panel held on Nov. 12, Lagarde stated that the European Central Bank, was not “racing to be first” in its efforts to release a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. However, she said that the results of the consultation the central bank launched in October on a digital euro would be ready in January 2021. “At that point in time we will make the decision as to whether or not …

Simplex, a crypto-to-fiat payments provider, is adding another fiat offramp to enable its partner exchanges like Binance and Huob to sell major stablecoin Tether (USDT) to the euro. According to an Oct. 29 announcement, Simplex has rolled out new Tether (USDT) offramps across its partner network including major exchanges like Binance, OKEx and Huobi. A Simplex representative told Cointelegraph that the latest development marks the first time when the sell option is enabled for Tether on Simplex, stating: “USDT has been available to purchase through our partner network for a while but ‘cashing out’ and selling directly in this currency …

Canada doesn’t want any "surprises" regarding central bank digital currencies. In a recent interview with Reuters, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem doubled down on the country's contingency-plan approach to CBDCs, stressing that he sees no urgent need to issue one right now. For Macklem, inter-state competition and coordination remains the key question when it comes to CBDC issuance. He told reporters: “If another country has one and we don’t, that could certainly create some problems. So we want to make sure we’re ready. Currencies move across borders, and so we certainly wouldn’t want to be surprised by some other …

Ethereum software firm ConsenSys has just sealed its sixth central bank digital currency project. On Oct. 28, the blockchain organization announced that it will be collaborating with Société Générale Forge on experiments for a digital euro. Société Générale Forge is the digital capital markets platform of major financial services group, Société Générale Group. SG Forge was involved in the issuance of a 100 million euro bond as a security token on the Ethereum blockchain back in spring 2019. It specializes in building institutional-grade models for regulated security token operations registered on the blockchain. Alongside Accenture, Euroclear, HSBC and others, SG …

Despite this year’s uncertainty that has plagued the global economy, 2020 will go down as the year of the stablecoins due to the digital sector’s tremendous growth, with new developments emerging across the board. While some attribute this growth to the booming interest in decentralized finance among crypto enthusiasts, others see it as a bullish trend that confirms the inflow of fiat currency to the crypto ecosystem. As the DeFi sector keeps growing, so too does the popularity of stablecoins, used to gain high returns from various decentralized lending projects. Stablecoins are also useful for their ability to bridge the …

Consensys-backed e-money issuer Monerium thinks the route to a digital euro is simpler than the European Central Bank suggests. The fintech, which focuses on bridging fiat money with blockchains by issuing programmable digital cash, published a response to the ECB’s recent public consultation on the digital euro on Oct. 13. In summer 2019, Monerium had become the first company worldwide to receive a license from Icelandic regulators as part of a new European regulatory framework for e-money services across the European Economic Area. It provided fiat payment services using the Ethereum blockchain, and later partnered with blockchain protocol Algorand. In …

The European Central Bank launched a public consultation on a potential digital euro on Oct. 12. Developments on the central bank digital currency front in the Eurozone have picked up pace amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the central bank has framed its introduction to the public consultation with the claim that the issuance of a CBDC could help "cushion the impact of extreme events — such as natural disasters or pandemics — when traditional payment services may no longer function." Earlier this month, a Bloomberg report claimed that the ECB applied to trademark the term "digital euro" on Sept. 22, …

Three to five nations worldwide will entirely replace their fiat currency with a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, by 2030, a European think tank predicts. Dutch fintech-focused non-profit think tank dGen released a report devoted to geopolitical trends of CBDCs on Sept. 9. Titled “CBDCs: Geopolitical Ramifications of a Major Digital Currency,” the 30-page report takes a deep dive on the status of major global fiat currencies like the United States dollar, the euro, and China’s yuan. Compiled with support from institutions like the European Central Bank (ECB), Standard Chartered Bank, and the Frankfurt School, the report makes some …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has increased by nearly 30% since late June, from $8,905 to just under $11,500 as of press time. Following the strong rally of the dominant cryptocurrency, three macro factors point at an optimistic medium-term trend. These macro factors hint at a positive medium-term to long-term price cycle but suggest that in the near term, momentum will fade and a consolidation phase will happen. As Cathy Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, discussed on the In the Know podcast, there is technically little resistance between $13,000 and BTC’s all-time high of $20,000. Wood noted that BTC might …