Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, believes that the country’s not-yet-launched digital currency is the “highest form of money.” In a Monday interview with state media RT, Aksakov expressed optimism about Russia’s upcoming central bank digital currency, or CBDC, predicting that a digital ruble will become an integral part of national settlements in two or three years. Aksakov said that the Bank of Russia expects to finalize a digital ruble prototype by the end of 2021, and plans to issue a development roadmap in the near future. “The digital ruble is the highest form …

The Central Bank of the Bahamas has announced that its central bank digital currency, the Sand Dollar, is expected to achieve full interoperability between its various wallet providers within the week. A recent statement released by the CBoB revealed that authorized financial institutions, or AFIs, such as payments service providers are expected to be finalized within the coming days. Essentially acting as wallet providers and prospective issuers of the Sand Dollar, the AFIs in question have been subject to rigorous cybersecurity assessments, the bank stated. The institutions that adopted the bank’s own app have already been cleared to participate, while …

Brian Brooks, former acting comptroller of the currency of the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has claimed that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have some backing, while the U.S. dollar may not have any. Brooks gave his remarks in a CNBC Squawk Box interview with Joseph Kernen to unpack recent Bitcoin-related remarks by the U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Earlier this week, Powell argued that cryptos like Bitcoin are “essentially a substitute for gold” but at the same time they are “not backed by anything.” CNBC host Kernen pointed out that gold has historically been seen …

Sentiment in China has slumped as WeChat searches for Bitcoin dropped 7% this week, while searches for “bear market” spiked 102%. One trend that remained strong was NFT-related, with NFTs receiving an 86% increase in WeChat searches over the seven-day period. Token sales were another hot item with interest in Casper Labs surging after signups on CoinList breached 100,000 on global platforms. One high-profile token sale to emerge from China was DAO-as-a-Service platform Dora Factory. The project, backed by DoraHacks, held a public token launch on March 21 with listings on OKEx, Gate and MXC. DoraHacks is well-known for hosting …

Russia’s State Hermitage Museum, the second-largest art museum in the world, is preparing to host a digital art exhibition involving non-fungible tokens. Scheduled to take place in 2021, the Hermitage’s NFT project will be Russia’s first exhibition in the field of NFT art, the museum officially announced Thursday. The Hermitage’s contemporary art department is organizing the exhibition, which will be part of its “Hermitage 20/21” project. The announcement read: “Non-fungible tokens have become a new form of securing rights to an artwork using blockchain technology, which allows you to establish unambiguous control over copyright and ownership rights.” The Aksenov Family …

State-owned investment funds are reportedly making inquiries into buying Bitcoin (BTC). According to Robert Gutmann, CEO of New York Digital Investment Group, the firm has been having conversations with sovereign wealth funds about possible Bitcoin investments. Gutmann made this known while appearing at a virtual podcast with investment strategist and founder of Real Vision Raoul Pal. Pal also confirmed Gutmann’s revelation, stating that Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek was indeed a Bitcoin investor. According to Pal, Temasek which holds about $306 billion in assets under management, has been buying virgin Bitcoin from miners. Tweeting on Thursday, Pal characterized the imminent …

Everything is bigger in Texas, but when it comes to crypto-friendly legislation, this doesn’t seem to be the case… just yet. On March 12, 2021, Texas Representative Tan Parker introduced the Uniform Commercial Code, also known as UCC, amendment bill (House Bill 4474) to better adapt commercial law to blockchain innovation and digital asset regulations. Specifically speaking, the Texas UCC amendment bill aims to recognize virtual currencies under commercial law. Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council — an organization recently established as a trade association intended to make Texas a leader in national blockchain growth — told Cointelegraph …

The European Central Bank, or ECB, has been investigating the possibility of launching a digital euro project within five years to complement existing central bank money. But whereas high-profile leaders such as ECB president Christine Lagarde have been largely positive about the prospect, officials from Germany's Bundesbank have remained unconvinced. In a new op-ed for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ECB board member Fabio Panetta and fellow official Ulrich Bindseil attempted to tackle some of the Germans' misgivings head on: “The ECB is by no means planning to use a digital euro to enforce interest rates that are significantly more negative. …

An Indian cryptocurrency ban would have grave implications for the future of the country’s economy, and would result in currency devaluation “of the worst form,” says blockchain entrepreneur and HashCash CEO Raj Chowdhury. Chowdhury, also the managing director of the United States-based PayBito cryptocurrency exchange, said India’s rejection of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies would be the equivalent of rejecting the U.S. dollar. Without regulating and eventually adopting cryptocurrency as a reserve currency, Chowdhury believes India’s economy would suffer in the long term. “Maintaining Cryptocurrency reserves are as important as maintaining dollar reserves. By banning crypto, India will end up …

For Brad Smith, president of the Microsoft Corporation, fintech firms have no business issuing private digital currencies. According to Bloomberg, Smith gave these remarks while speaking at an online conference organized by the Bank for International Settlements. As part of his address, Smith argued that money supply should exclusively be under the aegis of governments and central banks. Smith said that it is important that only entities that protect the common good should be left to control currency operations, adding, “I am not a big fan myself of encouraging or asking or wanting us [tech firms] to participate in the …

South Korea is heading into a new period for its crypto industry, with stringent new rules coming into effect on Thursday that will require all cryptocurrency businesses to comply with new crypto reporting regulations and registration rules. As an article from the Korea Herald outlines, industry experts fear that the impact of the new measures — specifically, the incoming Specific Financial Transactions Act — will have damaging consequences for most domestic cryptocurrency firms. The act requires all virtual asset operators to seek official registration, for which they must show evidence that they are operating using real-name accounts at South Korean …

Prominent Indian entrepreneur and government advisor Nandan Nilekani has spoken in favor of cryptocurrencies as the government reportedly mulls a ban on private digital assets. Nilekani joined a Clubhouse session with angel investor Balaji Srinivasan to discuss the state of crypto in India, local business news publication Moneycontrol reported Monday. Nilekani is a co-founder of major Indian tech company Infosys and the founding architect of the national biometric ID system, Aadhaar. He is also the chairman of a special Indian committee assessing digital payments in India and an advisor to several government agencies and the Reserve Bank of India. During …