Tag Archives: Banks

Blockchain Association of Singapore (BAS) on Wednesday announced a partnership with American banking major BNY Mellon. As per the MoU, the latter comes on board BAS as a strategic collaborator. BAS’ tie-up with BNY comes in the wake of a generally strict regulatory environment both in Singapore and globally, coupled with an increasing interest of institutional investors in digital assets. The advocacy organization for the blockchain industry appointed Richard Teng, a former...

Despite the recent trend of developing countries gaining exposure to cryptocurrencies, buying digital assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins isn’t easy at all in countries like Afghanistan. Since last August, when the Taliban seized power in the country, America-initiated sanctions have crippled domestic funds from being moved to international financial institutions. Meanwhile, due to the nation’s monetary and political instabilities, Afghans choose stablecoins over...

Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of USDC stablecoin, is planning to apply for a crypto bank license in the US in the near future.  According to co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, the company has been in talks with regulators on the issue since August 2021, when it first revealed plans to convert into a bank, a Bloomberg report said on Wednesday.  Allaire said the firm will apply “hopefully in the near future.”  The Circle management has been in talks with the US Office...

Australia’s financial regulators have yet to approve plans by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to offer access to crypto products for its over 6.5 million customers. The regulatory watchdog says the onus is on the CBA to comply with laid-down rules and regulations for financial products. Opposition from the regulator has prevented the CBA from moving beyond the pilot phase of the project. Will CBA’s Crypto Product Be Delayed? According to a report by Financial Review...

The rumors were true: Goldman Sachs has reportedly conducted its first OTC crypto option trade with investment firm Galaxy Digital. This marks the first of any such trade among all major US banks, and a big milestone for the crypto derivatives market. Bitcoin Options Trades Earlier this month, unidentified sources claimed that Goldman was contemplating offering bilateral crypto options for institutional clients. Apparently, it was just one of multiple Wall Street Banks to...

Russia’s central bank granted the country’s largest lender Sberbank a license to issue and exchange digital assets. The latest move opens new avenues for the nation’s economy hammered by western sanctions. The Approval According to the official statement, local companies will be able to issue their own digital assets to lure market investments, purchase digital assets through Sber’s system, or make other such transactions under the new license. The lender also stated that it...

CoinShares – a digital asset management firm – has increased its stake in the Swiss online banking platform ‘FlowBank’ following approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. According to a press release from CoinShares earlier today, the increased investment will facilitate “increased digital asset exposure” for FlowBank’s clients using the CoinShares platform. CoinShares’ previous stake in FlowBank was established in October of 2021 at 9.02%. The...

The line between banks and crypto is becoming a lot thinner thanks to republican politicians in Virginia. A new amendment will be signed into law by the state’s conservative governor Glenn Youngkin that will allow banks in Old Dominion to offer crypto assets and services to their customers. Virginia Is Plowing Headfirst Into Crypto Last week, the state senate of Virginia unanimously voted to move forward with a bill amendment that focused on digital currency custody. The...

Credit Suisse – a Switzerland-based global investment bank – released a report yesterday predicting radical change to the global monetary system. Given western inflation dynamics and eastern geopolitical tensions, the firm expects a “new monetary world order” based on commodity-backed currencies to emerge – in which Bitcoin will likely benefit. Breton Woods III The analysis by investment strategist Zoltan Pozsar was titled “Bretton Woods III,” harkening back to the Bretton...

ApplePay – Apple’s digital wallet service – is no longer providing support to Russian banks following sanctions from the United States and its western allies. Applications from Promsvyabank – a state-backed Russian bank – have also been removed from the App Store. Sanctioning Russia Apple’s removal of Russian financial services was reported by Russian news outlet RBC on Thursday. Three of Promsvyabank’s applications have vanished from the Apple store: mobile banking, PBS...