Originally launched as an attractive alternative to traditional fiat business accounts for Internet-based ventures, the latest features for the Circle Business Account appear to take aim at a different kind of competitor: the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Circle, the Goldman Sachs-backed payments company and issuer of the USDC stablecoin, announced their Circle Business Account service on March 10, 2020. The accounts featured a suite of services designed to help businesses leverage USDC, including APIs that could connect to traditional payment rails, accept dollar-denominated payments as USDC, a USDC wallet service, and access multiple e-commerce marketplaces. However, given the yields stablecoins …

The U.S. Federal Reserve's game plan going forward includes short-term interest levels between 0% and 0.25%, as decided by Fed brass in a Sept. 15 and 16 gathering. The independent body plans to maintain low interest rates in order to increase inflation, based on a Sept. 16 report from CNBC. Such news shines a light on Bitcoin as a store of value. The blockchain-based currency is largely immune to such actions, as it is protected against inflation by its permanent cap of 21 million coins. A majority of the Fed's committee members expect interest rates to remain close to 0% …

In a May 28 letter to Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), Jerome Powell, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, described an interest reference rate based on the Ethereum blockchain, called Ameribor, as effective for some, but not all. Ameribor is a tool from American Financial Exchange (AFX) that uses the Ethereum blockchain to track interbank lending by minting ERC-721 tokens for each repayment. The Fed Chair responds on overall interest reference rates After a Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in February, U.S. Senator Cotton sent questions over to Chairman Powell. The senator referenced Powell's mention of a move away …