Market Watch Bitcoin | $11,021 | 7 day: +4.6% | Ethereum | $366 | 7 day: +6.1% | All crypto | $351b | 7 day: +5.1% | Bitcoin dominance | 58.5% | 7 day: unch | Prices as of 4 p.m. EDT | |
The People's Bank of China (PBoC) claims to have circulated $162m worth of transactions using its central bank digital currency (CBDC) during testing, says Deputy Governor Yan Fei. China named its CBDC "Digital Currency Electronic Payment," abbreviated as DC/EP. - PBoC Deputy Governor Yan Fei announced the $162m transaction figure in a local news report.
- Fei clarified that the transactions involved using China's CBDC for bill payments for government services.
- Fei gave a progress report during the Sibos banking and financial conference on Oct. 5, saying that PBoC piloted 11.3m total transactions in cities like Shenzhen and Xiaongan.
- The DC/EP pilot will continue through the winter Olympics of 2022.
- DC/EP supports various identification methods such as bar code, facial recognition, and tap-and-go transactions.
- PBoC has created 113,300 personal digital wallets and 8,800 corporate digital wallets through the pilot program, Fei said.
Decrypt | |
MORE: China announces a DC/EP giveaway of 10m yuan (USD$1.5m) in Shenzhen. - In heralding its successful pilot, as described above, the Chinese government further announced a promotional giveaway.
- PBoC will send DC/EP to 50,000 citizens through a lottery system.
- Recipients can use the DC/EP at 3,389 merchants including department stores, gas stations, supermarkets, restaurants, and metro stations.
- To take part in the lottery, people have to download one of four PBOC-approved DC/EP wallets from the Big Five state-owned banks.
We will continue to cover China's aggressive timeline to win the global competition for CBDC provenance. - China's push to increase yuan-denominated global trade settlements via CBDC marketing is one of the most important stories in crypto.
CoinTelegraph | |
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The who's who of central banks The Fed, six major central banks, and the Bank of International Settlements publish a landmark central bank digital currency (CBDC) report. - The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) published its report in collaboration with seven central banks.
- Bankers assess the probabilities that CBDCs will help central banks to make policy decisions and adhere to their mandates.
- The report is a joint effort by the Bank of Japan (BoJ), Bank of Canada, Sveriges Riksbank, the European Central Bank (ECB), Swiss National Bank, Bank of England, and the U.S. Federal Reserve.
- The 26-page report affirms that CBDC issuance is a sovereign decision, subject to each country's laws.
- The report emphasizes the coexistence of CBDC with cash and other types of money, but does not give a strong opinion on whether or not to proceed with a CBDC.
- The BIS concludes that central banks must continue their investigation into CBDCs, which must be resilient, secure, legal, robust, and low-cost.
Bank of International Settlements | |
A judge releases BitMEX's CTO on a $5m bond. We covered the multibillion-dollar BitMEX indictment and arrest here and here. 100x, the parent company of BitMEX, relieved BitMEXco-founders Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed of all executive and management positions on Oct. 8. - The Chief Technology Officer of BitMEX cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange, Samuel Reed, was arrested by the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) on Oct. 1, and was released from custody on a $5m appearance bond.
- The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) as well as the SEC have charged the derivatives exchange and its top executives with lawsuits for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and for operating an unregistered trading platform with insufficient anti-money launder (AML) practices. Users of the exchange have been consistently withdrawing funds.
- Vivien Khoo, the current CEO of 100x Group, is the acting, interim CEO for BitMEX.
The Block Crypto | |
Bank of Korea branch building The Bank of Korea could test CBDC distribution as early as 2021. - South Korea's central bank made the announcement on local news. BOK has been working on a 22-month CBDC test program, scheduled to conclude in December 2021.
- Bank of Korea officials stated that they would conduct their 2021 CBDC pilot in three phases. The first phase includes technology checking and design, the second phase deals with analyzing processes based on third-party consultations, and the final stage is testing CBDC in limited, public distribution.
- South Korea's Central Bank emphasizes that the pilot program does not confirm CBDC issuance and is only a test to check whether the financial and technological environment in South Korea is ready for such innovation.
- This CBDC pilot structure follows the path of many other countries, including the Marshall Islands, the Bahamas, China, and others.
CoinTelegraph | |
SBI-Japan's SBI Liquidity Market acquires TaoTao after the Binance partnership fails. - Financial services company SBI Holdings' acquires TaoTao, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, through its subsidiary SBI Liquidity Market.
- The SBI Group, which offers cryptocurrency trading services via SBI VC Trade Co., Ltd., purchased all TaoTao Inc. shares from Z Corporation, the previous owner, for an undisclosed amount.
- The market infrastructure subsidiary of SBI Holdings expects to improve trading services involving crypto-assets through the acquisition.
- TaoTao exchange was in talks with the Binance exchange platform for a strategic alliance to launch a joint venture in Japan, but the parties did not reach an agreement, according to a news report dated Oct. 5.
Coindesk | |
Quick Hits: - Bank of Japan will start experimenting on a CBDC next year, according to Reuters. The Bank of Japan shared its approach to CBDC in a report that mentions the possibility of two CBDCs: one for institutions and another for general purposes.
- Cryptocurrency exchange Amsterdam Digital Asset Exchange (AMDAX) receives a registration by De Nederlandsche Bank as a crypto services provider in the Netherlands. AMDAX will be permitted to store and provide digital assets custody under the European Union's (EU) AML5 guidelines.
- Bitcoin Lighting Network engineers discover vulnerabilities that can affect LND versions 0.10.x or below. Leaders urge node operators to upgrade to LND version 0.11.0 or higher. Lightning Network leaders will share complete details of the vulnerabilities on Oct. 20. Writer's note: I have flagged Bitcoin's Lightning Network, which at times was majority controlled by a single person, for a future edition of Inside Cryptocurrency.
- The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan disabled access to SWIFT to limit capital flight from the country, as reported by the central bank's representative Aida Karabaeva. It disabled all cross-border consumer payments for the "safety and security" of the central bank's assets.
- American VC firm Andreessen Horowitz releases a sponsored documentary about its "Crypto Startup School."
- Admiral Craig Faller, head of the U.S. Southern Command, said digital currencies are a constant threat for the "young democracies," referring to Central and South American countries, during a conversation with the Council of Americas on Oct. 5. Most of the cryptocurrency activity in Latin America began with transnational criminal organizations involved in money laundering, gold mining, drugs, and arms trafficking.
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| | Written and curated by wide-eyed bitcoin watcher since $1, Aaron Wise. Streaming headline junkie, Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, 2017 founder of Cryptocurrency Newsfeed. Temporarily based in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia. | | Editor | Edited by Eduardo Garcia in New York. Eduardo is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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