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, …

SWIFT, the Brussels-based interbank cooperative, has unveiled its first active instant cross-border payment connection — a move that could have major implications for the global payments landscape. The cooperative announced Thursday that United Kingdom-based Lloyds Banking Group has become the first to connect with SWIFT gpi Instant, the high-speed cross-border rail that settles payments in seconds. The payment system connects SWIFT gpi with the U.K.’s Faster Payments infrastructure, allowing customers to send cross-border payments 24 hours per day, seven days per week. According to SWIFT, the new system: “Enables banks to use existing infrastructure to provide better service 24/7, with …

Spotify, one of the world’s largest streaming audio providers, is looking for candidates with a crypto background to fill a new role at the company. According to a recent job post, the company is looking for an outstanding associate director to join its payments strategy and innovation department. According to an announcement on LinkedIn, the new job listing was published on Wednesday. The new position is expected to play a key role in defining and implementing Spotify’s payments strategy as well as furthering the company’s involvement in Facebook's recently rebranded crypto project, Diem. The position will also focus on wider …

Online payments giant and Cash App owner Stripe is stepping into a new realm of financial services for vendors. Per a Wall Street Journal exclusive on Thursday, Stripe is looking to offer customers bank accounts and debit cards. However, these financial products will be limited to vendors and merchants for now. The new initiative will also involve collaboration with banking giants Goldman Sachs and Citi, which is part of a broader push from both to incorporate online business services and new technologies. In 2015, Stripe was an early payments platform to onboard Bitcoin (BTC) functionality, which it dropped three years …

Visa has teamed up with blockchain services company Circle to make USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin transactions compatible with certain credit cards. “After Circle itself graduates from Visa’s Fast Track program, likely sometime next year, Visa will issue a credit card that lets businesses send and receive USDC payments directly from any business using the card,” said a Forbes article on Wednesday. Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, told Forbes: “This will be the first, corporate card that will allow businesses to be able to spend a balance of USDC.” Down the road, the collaboration will facilitate USDC transactions between cross-border …

There is no other way for the cryptocurrency industry to thrive without working hand in hand with regulators, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman believes. On Wednesday, Schulman joined the Web Summit online conference to discuss the cashless era of the global financial industry with Squawk Box host Andrew Ross Sorkin. As part of the discussion, Schulman addressed issues related to cryptocurrency regulation, calling on the industry to closely collaborate with financial authorities to bring more utility to crypto. “There is only one way to approach this, and that is working hand in hand with regulators,” he argued. Schulman went on to …

British economic and financial historian Niall Ferguson said the United States needs to find its own path in adopting cryptocurrencies, rather than “building [its] own versions of China’s electronic payments systems.” In a Bloomberg opinion piece, Ferguson said Sunday that the current pandemic has generally been good for cryptocurrency adoption, accelerating a “monetary revolution” around the world. However, the historian noted that China has been “advancing rapidly” in the rollout of its digital yuan and increasing use of mobile payments. Apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay reportedly handle roughly $40 trillion in transactions annually. The historian believes that these measures …

A famous U.S.-based pizza chain has begun accepting cryptocurrency payments in all its stores in Venezuela. According to a Nov. 27 tweet from crypto services firm CryptoBuyer, Pizza Hut stores in the South American nation now accept crypto as a form of payment for food and drinks. The move follows the crypto firm partnering with Mega Soft to drive adoption in Venezuela by facilitating crypto payments at more than 20,000 shops and businesses. “Pizza Hut nowadays cannot be detached from these technological advances and all those incorporating new approaches for daily necessities," said Richard ElKhouri, General Director for Venezuelan operations …

A PayPal user reports their account has been restricted after they traded crypto too frequently using the platform. According to U.S.-based Reddit user u/TheCoolDoc, PayPal sent them a message stating it had permanently limited their account “due to potential risk.” The user said they had made at least 10 crypto transactions within a week, purchasing during dips and selling when the price was high, and PayPal had asked for an explanation for each transaction. “The system flagged my account thinking I was selling items worth $10,000 in one week when I hadn't done so in the last 6 years I’ve …

The price of Stellar Lumens (XLM) shot up 60% in the past 24 hours and crossed the $0.2 mark for the first time since Sept. 2018. The “stellar” price action followed an announcement by the project’s developers that a new version of the Stellar public network protocol had been implemented by validators. The Protocol 15 upgrade was voted into effect at 4:00 pm UTC on Nov. 23 and introduces two new features that aim to reduce the level of complexity presented to users of Stellar network-based apps and services. Price action for Stellar Lumens has been relatively subdued over the …

Cryptocurrency exchange and debit card provider Crypto.com has scored major regulatory approvals from the Maltese government. According to a Nov. 24 announcement, the Malta Financial Services Authority, or MFSA, has granted in-principle approval to Crypto.com for two financial licenses: a Financial Institution License and a Class 3 Virtual Financial Assets, or VFA, License. Once Crypto.com meets the official conditions, the Financial Institution License will enable Crypto.com to provide payment services and issue electronic money. A Class 3 VFA License allows Crypto.com to offer investment management services, custody and trading to both professional and nonprofessional investors. According to the announcement, Crypto.com …

Cash use has lost a ton of ground to digital payments as the pandemic has changed the way people transact worldwide. Some experts have recently argued that central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, could solve the problem of leaving that payments data in the hands of major tech platforms. In a blog post published Monday morning, Federal Reserve of New York researcher Michael Lee and University of California Santa Barbara economics professor Rod Garratt expounded on a paper they released earlier this month. The authors point to tech firms' troubling use of consumer data, which has landed everyone from Visa …