Bernie Moreno, a Republican businessman with backgrounds in auto dealerships and blockchain technology, has defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio. The victory has major implications for both the US Senate’s balance of power and the regulatory landscape for crypto. “Another anti-crypto one bites the dust,” exclaimed Custodia Bank founder and CEO Caitlin Long. “Getting...Read More
The growing tokenized funds sector could see its value reach $600 billion in the next six years, according to a whitepaper jointly released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Aptos Labs, and Invesco. Currently, the tokenized assets market, representing tangible resources such as real estate, art, and traditional securities on a blockchain, boasts more than $2...Read More
On Oct. 22, Chainling announced the results of its industry-wide corporate actions initiative involving major financial players such as Euroclear, Swift, UBS, Franklin Templeton, and Sygnum Bank. Blockchain ecosystem partners included Avalanche, ZKsync, and Hyperledger Besu networks. The oracle provider successfully demonstrated how artificial intelligence, oracles, and blockchains “can solve a decades-long unstructured data challenge...Read More
In a post on X on Oct. 20, adviser to the Senior Management of the Market Infrastructure and payments business area of the ECB, Jürgen Schaaf, labeled Bitcoin “a speculative bubble that will eventually burst.” He claimed that this would leave behind “substantial social damage amid its high energy use and facilitating illicit payments.” The...Read More
On Sept. 30, Chainlink Labs announced that it was officially partnering with ANZ, a leading Australian bank with over $750 billion (more than a trillion AUD) in assets under management. The partnership is part of the Singaporean central bank’s (Monetary Authority of Singapore) Project Guardian. Chainlink will help enable the secure cross-chain exchange of tokenized...Read More
Typically, a greater flow of new dollars to target lower interest rates inflates the prices of equities and fixed-income bonds. Since the advent of cryptocurrencies, financial markets have found that this new asset class is especially responsive to interest rates and bears an inverse correlation to them. Correlation Spotted: Bitcoin and Interest Rates A recent...Read More
On Sept. 11, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) announced that it was “paving the way towards real-world solutions that will enable our members to access and transact with regulated digital assets and currencies.” The organization has a vision of enabling its members to transact with both traditional and emerging crypto assets on...Read More
Steven Lubka, head of private clients and family offices at Swan Bitcoin said in recent remarks to CNBC, “Do I think we’ll be in the six figures by 2025? Almost certainly. Do I think we’ll be in the six figures regardless of who wins? Almost certainly.” That may be assuring to fast-moving crypto markets that...Read More
Fintech bank Nubank has announced the suspension of trading for its cryptocurrency, Nucoin. This comes against a backdrop of scrutiny over the bank’s financial stability. Nubank’s Policy Change In a September 10 blog post, Nubank disclosed that effective immediately, Nucoin can no longer be bought or sold within its app. The cryptocurrency was launched in late...Read More
The U.S. Federal Reserve has issued a cease-and-desist order against United Texas Bank (UTB), one of the few remaining American financial institutions still catering to crypto companies. The central bank cited “significant deficiencies” in its governance, particularly in its adherence to anti-money laundering (AML) laws and risk management tied to virtual currency customers and foreign...Read More
The investment bank’s crypto division, Zodia Markets Ltd., is discussing acquiring part of Elwood Capital Management Ltd. The firm is backed by billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard, and the deal is expected to be completed this month, according to a July 9 Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. Elwood Capital offers over-the-counter...Read More
British multinational bank Standard Chartered is all set to roll out a trading desk for Bitcoin and Ether. The latest development makes it one of the first global banks to engage in spot cryptocurrency trading. Standard Chartered has been engaging with players in the digital asset space for quite some time and has also partnered...Read More
Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) – Germany’s largest federal bank – is poised to offer digital asset custody services and has teamed up with the crypto exchange Bitpanda. The main goal is to meet the increasing demand for digital asset management among institutional and corporate clients and it is scheduled for release in the latter half of...Read More
The encrypted Ethereum layer 2 network, TEN (aka The Encrypted Network), has announced the completion of a $9 million funding round led by the banking consortium R3. TEN is a layer 2 rollup platform targeting encryption, MEV prevention, scalability, and gas efficiency. It’s said to offer “a balance between Optimistic-based L2s and ZK-Rollups.” Using encryption,...Read More
Worrying developments at New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) have several Bitcoin investors anticipating a renewed U.S. banking crisis – which could bring money crashing back into the digital currency. The bank’s stock is down 41% over the past month, including a 28% plunge on Friday. Trading for $3.55 at writing time, it has now reached...Read More
A digital Euro CBDC will be “designed for making payments, not for investment,” explained Ulrich Bindseil, Jürgen Schaaf, and Executive Board member Piero Cipollone in a blog post on Feb. 19. They added that many banks worry their customers might withdraw deposits to hold digital Euros instead. “These fears are misplaced,” they stated. The ECB...Read More
The interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs among financial institutions such as banks and brokerages is surging as they push for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to change the definition of crypto assets. Under the new definition, they would have a bigger role in crypto, such as being Bitcoin ETF custodians. Banks Petition SEC for...Read More
Multinational financial services giant Citibank announced on Wednesday that it is experimenting with tokenized securities on the blockchain to bolster the adoption of distributed ledger technology on Wall Street. Based on the results of the “simulation,” the bank will determine whether it plans to offer related blockchain-based services in the coming weeks. Citibank Onboards The...Read More
One of the largest banking groups in Germany intends to launch crypto trading services for interested customers this year. According to a Bloomberg report, the cooperative financial group, comprising more than 700 local banks, a central bank, specialized service providers, and institutions, plans to enter the project’s pilot phase soon. DZ Bank to Lead Crypto...Read More
The Europen Union is developing rules and regulations that could be equivalent to a defacto ban on Bitcoin by 2025. Moreover, the European Central Bank (ECB) is spearheading the effort with support from two other major banks. On Jan. 31, Bitcoin environmentalist and venture capitalist Daniel Batten reported that the Bank of International Settlements (BIS)...Read More
British multinational bank Standard Chartered projects Bitcoin (BTC) to reach $200,000 by the end of 2025 – more than a 300% climb from where it trades today. The bank argued in a Monday research note that Bitcoin spot ETFs – which are expected to receive “imminent” approval – may absorb $50 billion to $100 billion...Read More
A recent move was the introduction of the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, another bill aiming to curtail the use of cryptocurrencies in America. On Dec. 11. the bill gained five new Senators as cosponsors, including, unsurprisingly, three members of the Banking Committee. Crypto advocate Evan Van Ness posted a list of Senators he claimed...Read More
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon attacked Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on Wednesday, suggesting that they’re only useful for criminals and may as well be banned. “If I were the government, I’d close it down,” Dimon said of the crypto industry during remarks on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Bitcoin, Banks, and Crime Dimon was one among...Read More
The global division of Spanish financial institution Banco Santander – Santander Private Banking International – has reportedly introduced a new feature that enables customers with Swiss accounts to engage in the investment and trading of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Given Banco Santander’s extensive history of more than 160 years and its broad customer base...Read More
Bitcoin (BTC)’s price will reach $150,000 by 2025 thanks to the upcoming “halving” and spot ETF approvals, wrote Bernstein in a Monday report. Analysts for the $691 billion asset manager’s crypto unit have modeled the asset’s future price based on its marginal production cost for miners, which they argue “acts as the price floor for...Read More
Commerzbank AG – the fourth largest bank in Germany – has received its Crypto Custody License after unveiling plans to break into digital asset safekeeping almost two years ago. This makes Commerzbank the first full-service bank in Germany to receive the license. Commerzbank Enters Crypto Custody Per a press release on Wednesday, the bank’s new...Read More
MicroStrategy’s Executive Chairman Michael Saylor spoke with CNBC on Thursday about the future of regulation and corporate adoption for Bitcoin (BTC), shortly after his company announced a $5.3 million BTC purchase last month. While the billionaire maintained that “you can never have too much Bitcoin,” he also claimed that “big banks” will be necessary for...Read More
A new pilot program launched by the BIS, Eurosystem, De Nederlandsche Bank, and the Deutsche Bundesbank this month aims to give them surveillance over international flows of crypto assets. Project Atlas is a proof-of-concept that aims to combine data from crypto exchanges with on-chain data. This will be available on a single analytics platform “for...Read More
Researchers at Standard Chartered Bank recently claimed that Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, could rise to 500% of its current price by the year 2026. The bank’s bullish prediction follows a similarly optimistic forecast for Bitcoin (BTC), which it claimed could reach $120,000 before 2025. Why ETH Could Skyrocket Per a research...Read More
The move appears to be a part of a wider push to offer digital assets to institutional clients. The tokens represent a claim against the bank and are processed on a private blockchain owned and managed by Citigroup. Clients can access the service through existing bank systems, according to reports on Sept. 18. Global head...Read More
