The World Bank announced on Aug. 16 that it raised an additional A$50 million (over $33 million) for its Kangaroo bond due August 2020, using a blockchain. The bank claims that this is the first bond which has been created, allocated, transferred and managed through its life cycle using distributed ledger technology (DLT). Major banks join World Bank’s Bond-i blockchain platform Per the report, the initiative expands the World Bank’s Bond-i blockchain platform combining three joint lead managers, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities (TD). The initiative has seen the participation of new market participants, …

The increased penetration of cryptocurrency in the digital payment arena appears to be affecting the landscape of cross-border remittances. Financial institutions and other mainstream establishments are now jostling with blockchain startups for control over an industry that could possibly experience massive growth over the next few years. With more participants comes greater competition and an emphasis on creating the most robust operating technology. To achieve this aim, some players are leveraging their status as giants of their respective mainstream fields while others are pursuing partnerships and collaborations. For historically unbanked and underbanked areas of the world, the emerging landscape is …

The World Bank and Commonwealth Bank have successfully enabled secondary market trading of a blockchain bond, the institutions confirmed in a press release on May 15. The bond, known as bond-i, uses the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and was the first in the world to leverage the technology fully when it debuted in August last year. Now, a three-way partnership which also included market maker TD Securities delivered what the participants consider a similar first and a further metamorphosis for blockchain bonds. “Enabling secondary trading recorded on the blockchain is a tremendous step forward towards enabling capital markets to leverage distributed …

The custodians of global financial order have been prominent in crypto news recently. The weekend kicked off with the announcement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) joining forces with the World Bank to launch a private blockchain coupled with a “quasi-cryptocurrency” for training purposes, then continued with the Spring Meetings of the two organizations’ Boards of Governors in Washington, D.C., which ran throughout the whole week. Although it would be an overstatement to claim that distributed ledgers were particularly conspicuous on the forum’s overall agenda, the program included a series of fintech workshops, as well as at least a couple …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have jointly launched a private blockchain and a so-dubbed quasi-cryptocurrency, the Financial Times (FT) reports on April 12. According to the newspaper, the asset called “Learning Coin” will be accessible only within the IMF and World Bank. The coin has no money value and thus is not a real cryptocurrency, the FT underlines. As the FT has learned, “Learning Coin” was launched in order to better understand the technologies that underlie crypto assets. Its app will serve as a hub where blogs, research, videos and presentations are stored. During the test, …

The World Bank has become the latest source of criticism over blockchain technology, this time urging caution over its role in land rights, Reuters reported on March 27. Speaking at the ongoing 20th Annual Conference on Land and Poverty in Washington, D.C. this week, Aanchal Anand, a Land Administration Specialist in the bank’s Global Land and Geospatial Unit, cautioned against the phenomenon informally known as “blockchain hype.” “Tech can look big and flashy, and like it can solve all our problems ... but the Big Mac burger never matches up to the one in the ad,” Reuters quoted her as …

The former Soviet republic of Georgia, which occupies picturesque mountain valleys and rugged ridges of the Southern Caucasus, has roughly the same population as the state of Connecticut. It is renowned as the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, as well as for being one of the oldest wine regions in the world, its rich and eclectic cuisine, and, more recently, for hosting the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency mining operation. Additionally, an estimated 5% of the nation’s households are engaged in mining crypto or invested in it. Back in 2016, the Georgian government was the first to create an operational blockchain-powered system for …

A Japanese fintech company has unveiled a system that is designed to address the price volatility seen when cryptocurrencies are used for remittances. Atom Solutions says that, at present, the options for foreign workers who need to make overseas remittances are imperfect. While costs can be high when they try to complete transactions through a traditional bank, an entirely different issue altogether comes to the fore when crypto is used. Because of the wild fluctuations seen in the marketplace — from Bitcoin and Ethereum to lesser-known altcoins — the value of a remittance can fall dramatically in a short space …

Experts with ties to the World Bank Group presented options for using blockchain in e-government procurement (e-GP) in a report released Wednesday, Oct. 17. The World Bank Group includes organizations commonly known together as the World Bank. e-GP, which refers to business-to-government purchase and sale of anything from goods and services to data exchange, has spawned complex structures in many countries, which blockchain technology could help simplify and otherwise “enhance,” the report’s authors say. “Though the implementation of e-GP systems has contributed to enhanced efficiency and transparency in Government Procurement, there is potential for further advancement of the existing systems,” …

It’s been close to 10 years since Bitcoin came into existence, and in that time, major financial institutions have slowly come to grips with blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Some have taken to the industry quicker than others, and some have outright turned their backs on the thought of using or investing in cryptocurrencies. However, the technology underpinning these decentralized digital currencies has been a major focal point, mainly in terms of how it can be used by traditional banking and financial institutions. A number of big name financial companies have actively developed blockchain-based systems used for different operations. JPMorgan’s Quorum …