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Government-to-person (G2P) payments have never been more important, as governments worldwide seek for ways to respond to the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighty-four countries have reported changes to their social protection systems in response to the pandemic; fifty-eight countries of these are scaling up cash transfer schemes.
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Individuals who receive their stimulus relief payments by mail could be in for a long wait, according to one Congressional timeline. Individuals who do not have their personal bank account information on record will be at the biggest disadvantage, and that often includes the elderly and disabled.
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The pandemic could speed up the shift towards digital payments; this could disadvantage the unbanked. This calls for a policy response to boost the case for cash – and maybe also for central bank digital currencies.
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“The U.S. Fed needs new tools to meet its mandates of price stability and maximum employment, and to preserve the safety and soundness of the financial system in a rapidly digitizing world. A Fed-backed digital currency can solve both problems.”
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The European Central Bank, the Eurosystem and Sveriges Riksbank concluded a cooperation agreement offering Sweden access to the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) to support the Swedish instant payment service, called RIX-INST. Based on this agreement, electronic payments made in Swedish krona can be settled on the settlement platform for instant payments operated by the Eurosystem.
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Fintech deals and dollars are falling quarter over quarter, reflecting broader market uncertainty and potentially tough times ahead. This report examines where startups in the space go from here.
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“SWIFT will enable instant and frictionless payments from account-to-account anywhere in the world, with an end-to-end solution that combines international and domestic capabilities. This ambitious platform expansion means SWIFT will support financial institutions to strengthen their positions in B2B payments and capture new volume in SME and consumer segments.”
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IOTA and the Eclipse Foundation launched the Tangle EE Working Group. Tangle EE unites a diverse group of leading companies, academics, and standards bodies in developing data, payment and identity solutions and tooling on IOTA’s Tangle.
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Four of Brazil’s financial regulatory institutions are collaborating to build a streamlined blockchain-based data-sharing platform to perform background checks on political representatives and corporations.
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NatWest has announced that it is waiving monthly hire fees for Point-of-Sale terminals from its payments product Tyl until the end of 2020, adding to the range of support that the bank has launched for its SME customers during the current crisis, allowing businesses to offer a variety of payment options at a reduced cost.
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Last month’s crypto crash has prompted manufacturers to sell mining gear inventories at a discount, in some cases as steep as 20%, over the past few weeks. Complicating the matter is the imminent bitcoin halving in May that will reduce the network’s mining reward by half, causing most miners to be less profitable if bitcoin’s price doesn’t increase significantly by then.
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Bitcoin spiked from $6,900 to $7,300 across major crypto exchanges, on $90 million short sale liquidations on BitMEX and Bitfinex alone. Bitcoin price is often susceptible to large downside movements as seen on March 12, when the price dropped to $3,600 from $8,000 on a single day.
