Bank of America (BofA) has created a team dedicated to studying and researching cryptocurrencies, while the Central Bank of New Zealand is consulting on CBDCs. These and more news are in this practical daily summary so that you are always informed with the most recent events that occur within the crypto world.
Bitcoin and Blockchain Adoption
📍Bank of America (BofA) recognizes the potential of cryptocurrencies and creates a research and development group. BofA, the country's second-largest U.S. bank by assets, reported which is creating a new team dedicated to researching cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The bank's idea, according to Bloomberg, is to capitalize on the current investor frenzy for digital assets.
Candace Browning, head of global research at Bank of America, noted that BofA has extensive blockchain expertise, a strong research team for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, and a market-leading global payments platform, which will help it build a leadership position in the industry.
📍The Key 10138 diamond being auctioned by Sotheby's is bidding for $8 million in bitcoin. The British auction house announced that the auction of the 101,38-carat The Key diamond will close on Friday. The highest bid at the time of this writing is $8 million in bitcoin. Sotheby's expects to close the auction with a bid of $15 million.
📍In El Salvador, the country's Banco Agrícola is teaming up with a cryptocurrency exchange to offer bitcoin trading. The bank reported that citizens of El Salvador can now start buying or selling bitcoins using Banco Agrícola transfers. The local cryptocurrency platform the bank has partnered with offers a non-custodial service with no KYC requirements.
NFT and DeFi Markets
📍DeFi protocol Balancer launches stable liquidity pools. On Twitter, the protocol developers announced the launch of stablecoin pools that allow users to exchange tokens with tighter spreads and very affordable fees.
CBDC and Central Banks
📍Banque de France and Singapore's central bank are breaking new ground in CBDC experimentation. The banks reported on the successful completion of the wholesale cross-border payment and settlement pilot using a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In the pilot, banks conducted cross-border transactions involving multiple CBDCs on a common network between Singapore and France. They will now continue to expand the experimentation, testing settlements with multiple central banks and commercial banks located in different jurisdictions, the statement said.
📍In New Zealand, the country's bank has opened a public consultation on CBDCs. On Twitter, the Central Bank of New Zealand revealed its intentions to embrace new technologies to restructure its monetary system. The bank stated that public consultation will be open in 2021 to hear the different opinions of stakeholders on the use of cryptocurrencies and digital assets in payment methods.
Rules and Regulations
📍In the United States, Senator Elizabeth Warren asks the SEC about the protection of crypto investors. Warren wrote a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler expressing concern about the lack of regulations to ensure the protection of cryptocurrency investors. The senator said that the crypto market has become “opaque and volatile,” so the regulator must implement new regulations on these financial markets to protect investors from increasing risks and instability.
📍The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has issued a warning regarding payments using cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The bank published a release informing cryptocurrency users that the use of these assets in payments or exchanges of goods and services is not legal in the country, so its users must assume the risks involved. The BOT also noted that it continues to work on developing its own CBDC digital currency.
📍In addition to looking at Bitcoin, China is also “concerned” about Tether. People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Fan Yifei said said to CNBC that the country's central bank is quite concerned about the global financial risks involved in using stablecoins such as tether (USDT)For the bank official, the stablecoins have become “instruments of speculation” that pose a significant threat to financial stability and social security. Yifei said the central bank is taking “some measures” to minimize the risks, although he did not elaborate on these or the impact they will have on the stablecoin.
📍Patrick Breyer, a member of the European Parliament, announced on his website that the parliamentary institution has approved a law to monitor private communications. According to the publication, the law passed by Parliament, called “ChatControl” will allow communications service providers, such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Gmail, to automatically search “all personal messages of each citizen to identify allegedly suspicious content.”
The goal of the law, Breyer explains, is to minimize cases of child exploitation and other related crimes. The privacy exemption allowed by the law will help service providers identify crimes or suspicious activities in order to report them to the relevant authorities. However, the approval of this law, with 537 votes in favor and 133 against, is a serious blow to the privacy of all users.
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