European Commission adopts digital finance package for crypto and blockchain
The European Commission (EC) is moving to provide more legal clarity and certainty for the crypto-asset industry in its member states. The EC officially adopted a new digital finance package, including a digital finance strategy and legislative proposals on crypto-assets and digital resilience, for a competitive EU financial sector that gives consumers access to innovative financial products, while ensuring consumer protection and financial stability. The package supports the EU’s ambition for a recovery that embraces the digital transition. Digital financial services can help modernise the European economy across sectors and turn Europe into a global digital player.
OCC’s First Issued Guidance for Stablecoins Brings Questions
In its recent guidance the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is allowing banks to manage stablecoin issuer reserves kept in a “hosted” wallet. The OCC adds, “We are not presently addressing the authority to support stablecoin transactions involving un-hosted wallets.” “Un-hosted wallets” seem to refer to addresses individuals or businesses would control. This distinction has caused some confusion, with Coin Center’s Jerry Brito raising the question whether this points to a possible prohibition on banking firms that support un-hosted wallets.
ConsenSys Selected by Hong Kong Monetary Authority to Lead Phase Two of Project Inthanon-LionRock
ConsenSys has been awarded a cross-border payment network study project by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The HKMA and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in May 2019, initiating Project Inthanon-LionRock to study the application of a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border payments. ConsenSys will work on the second implementation phase of the project, that is aimed at circumventing the correspondent banking network, allowing direct payments between banks.
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