Month: September 2022

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220922)

~ kiffmeister

More on the purported launch of Iran’s CBDC pilot

Yesterday I reported that the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) was reported to be launching a central bank digital currency (#CBDC) pilot today (September 22, 2022). The news isn’t coming directly from the CBI, but from the Iran Chamber of Commerce. Now Al Jazeera is reporting that the digital rial will run on a platform called Borna, which was developed using Hyperledger Fabric, an open-source permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) blockchain platform. [Read more at Al Jazeera]

Responsible advancement of U.S. competitiveness in digital assets

The U.S. Department of Commerce published a report on the Responsible Advancement of U.S. Competitiveness in Digital Assets. It introduced a four-pillar framework that “offers a path forward to promote U.S. competitiveness, responsible innovation, and leadership in digital assets.” [Read more at the Department of Commerce]

Tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220921)

~ kiffmeister

Iran to start testing a digital rial this week

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) will reportedly start a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot on September 22, 2022. The bank published a draft document outlining the “goals, dimensions, threats and opportunities for the development” of a digital rial in August 2022. The CBI’s current head, Ali Salehabadi, said earlier this month that the bank had the necessary infrastructure and rules in place for a launch. [Read more at Coindesk]

House stablecoin bill would put two-year ban on Terra-like coins

Legislation to regulate stablecoins being drafted in the U.S. House of Representatives would place a two-year ban on coins similar to TerraUSD, the algorithmic stablecoin that collapsed earlier this year. It would be illegal to issue or create new “endogenously collateralized stablecoins.” The definition would kick in for stablecoins marketed as being able to be converted, redeemed or repurchased for a fixed amount of monetary value, and that rely solely on the value of another digital asset from the same creator to maintain their fixed price. [Read more at Bloomberg]

US Treasury seeks public input on illicit finance, national security risks posed by digital assets

The U.S. Department of the Treasury filed a Request for Comment (RFC) to seek feedback from the American people on the illicit finance and national security risks posed by digital assets. The filing is pursuant to President Joe Biden’s recent Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets Executive Order, and the subsequent Treasury Department Illicit Finance Action Plan. [Read more at the U.S. Treasury]

Nasdaq establishes new digital assets business

Nasdaq is launching “Nasdaq Digital Assets” which “will initially develop an advanced custody solution that will incorporate liquidity and execution services to address industry challenges around connectivity, availability, and efficiency. Nasdaq’s custody solution will bring together attributes of hot and cold crypto wallets which will provide a high degree of accessibility and scalability without compromising security. [Read more at NASDAQ]

Tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220920)

~ kiffmeister

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) e-HKD policy stance

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released a position paper that sets out its policy stance on retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) and outlines its next steps. It was informed by two rounds of market consultation, one on high-level technical design and one on key policy and design issues. Taking into account the feedback received and further study by the central bank’s staff, the HKMA will start paving the way for possible implementation of e-HKD in the future. A three-rail approach will be adopted, one of which will be a pilot involving selected banks, payment companies and other technology firms, plus their staff and a small number of clients. [Read more at the HKMA]

Final Decision on Digital Tenge Still Pending in Kazakhstan

The final decision on the National Bank of Kazakhstan’s Digital Tenge project has reportedly not yet been made, but is expected to be announced by the end of 2022, the project’s head Ainur Kenzhayeva said in an interview with The Astana Times. The team is working now to expand the platform’s functionality. A pilot project with the participation of real users in a limited loop is also planned for this fall. [Read more at The Astana Times]

The Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index

According to Chainalysis, global crypto adoption has leveled off in the last year after growing consistently since mid-2019. Emerging markets dominate the index. Out of the top 20 ranked countries, ten are lower middle income (:Vietnam, Philippines, Ukraine, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Morocco, Nepal, Kenya, and Indonesia), eight are upper middle income (Brazil, Thailand, Russia, China, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia, and Ecuador) and two are high income (United States and United Kingdom). [Read more at Chainalysis]

Buy Now, Pay Later: Market trends and consumer impacts

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published research on the U.S. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market, based on data from Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, and Zip Co. It identifies several benefits of BNPL loans over legacy credit products (no interest and sometimes no late fees, and ubiquitous, easy to access, simple repayment structure) and a number of potential consumer risks (a requirement to use autopay for all loan payments, data harvesting and borrower overextension). [Read more at the CFPB]

Deutsche Börse to issue digital securities on DLT-ready D7 platform

“Last year, the Deutsche Börse unveiled the launch of D7, a digital securities post-trade platform. It is now taking its second step by issuing digitally native securities in the fourth quarter. While the latest phase uses smart contracts, the securities are not yet blockchain-based, which is planned for a third phase.” [Read more at Ledger Insights]

 

 

 

Tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220919)

~ kiffmeister

After all this effort, crypto-assets are just tech stocks

Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal makes the same point I’ve been making for many months. “Basically [crypto-assets are] just tech stocks. Not only are the coins trading in line with each other still, they’re still basically trading in line with the Nasdaq 100… What does this all mean? One possibility is that the marginal crypto-asset buyers just doesn’t care about any of this stuff. Proof-of-work? Proof-of-stake? The merge? Inflation hedging? The halving? Deflationary monetary policy? What’s all that stuff? In other words, it’s possible that there’s a small coterie of people paying attention to any of this. And that what’s really driving price is just the animal spirits of a much larger group of speculators, who are also moving the price of Zoom or Tesla or Meta or whatever else. [Read more on Twitter]

Are interest rate swaps the next frontier of decentralized finance?

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is expanding into the world of interest rate swaps (IRS), a derivative instrument for exchanging fixed and variable interest rates. DeFi firm Voltz Labs has launched a non-custodial automated market making (AMM) IRS trading platform based on the Aave and Compound DeFi USDT, USDC, DAI and ETH lending markets. However, IRS AMMs are challenged by DeFi markets’ lack of fixed-rate products off which to price swaps. (Traditional markets offer variable- and fixed-rate products off which to arbitrage each other.)  [Read more about the Voltz protocol here]

New data on the e-levy in Ghana: unpopular tax on mobile money transfers is hitting the poor hardest

Ghana introduced a 1.5% tax (“E-levy”) on mobile money transactions in May 2022, in a country where 40% of the population aged 15 and above use mobile money platforms. It has been justified as a way to reduce aid dependence, and to capture informal economy workers. An International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) paper finds that the overall effect of the E-levy is highly regressive with users in the bottom income quintile paying the largest share as a proportion of their income, especially home-based informal workers. However, a 100 cedi/day (equivalent to about $10/day) taxation threshold has provided some relief. [Read more at the ICTD]

 

Tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220918)

~ kiffmeister

BIS Innovation Center at the NY Fed is looking into wholesale CBDC

Project Cedar, which is being run out of the BIS Innovation Center at the New York Fed, is looking into wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) from a research standpoint. It’s led by Per von Zelowitz, and what they’re trying to do, according to the Boston Fed’s Robert Bench, is “understand what are the requirements, or what are the things they need to think about, for the obligations of New York, which is the world’s leading capital market center?” Thanks to the Atlantic Council’s Josh Lipsky for bringing this to my attention.  [Read more at the Atlanta Fed]

Bullet train: New tokens and platforms may transform cross-border payments

A few weeks ago the IMF’s Finance & Development magazine published an article by Tobias Adrian and Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli that pitched the idea of a multi wholesale CBDC platform to achieve greater cross border payment efficiencies. The IMF will soon publish two papers on these topics that will lay out an initial blueprint for such platforms. This concept is also being pursued by the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre’s Project mCBDC Bridge, along with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank of Thailand, People’s Bank of China and Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. [Read more at the IMF]

Central Bank Digital Currencies – The Quest for Public Digital Payment Infrastructures

This paper by Xavier Lavayssière summarizes the many considerations that go into the decision as to whether a central bank should issue CBDC and the many design dimensions. The decision-making process raises fundamental questions about the functions of central banks, the roles of the public and private sectors, technological design and international monetary competition that will be defining for the payment industry, economic development and sovereignty. [Download at Blockchain@X]

The Demand for Programmable Payments

This paper Charles Kahn and Maarten van Oordt studies the desirability of programmable payments where transfers are automatically executed conditional upon preset objective criteria. They do so in a framework that captures a wide range of economic relationships between two parties, in an environment without legal recourse. They find that optimal payment arrangements for long-term economic relationships consist predominantly of simple direct payments. Programmable payments will be desirable, and may in fact be the only viable payment arrangement, in situations where economic relationships are of a short duration. [Read more at SSRN]

 

Tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220917)

~ kiffmeister

Ether’s New ‘Staking’ Model Could Draw SEC Attention

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler reportedly has said that staked crypto-assets may be subject to federal securities regulations, in the wake of Ethereum’s transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. He reportedly said that PoS crypto-assets pass the Howey test under which an asset is considered an “investment contract” if investors pledge their money to a common enterprise with an expectation of a profit to be derived from the efforts of others. Adam Levitin runs through the Howey test logic that would deem Ethereum to now be a security for SEC purposes. [Read more at the WSJ]

Some U.S. banks pause crypto custody because of SEC approach to custody accounting

In April 2022, the U.S. SEC published guidance about how corporations should account for the custody of crypto-assets on behalf of clients. The SEC says these crypto-assets should appear as both an asset and a liability, whereas the custody of conventional assets does not touch a balance sheet. Although the Basel Framework considers custody outside its scope, if banking regulators concur with the SEC’s position, crypto custody could become expensive for banks. In fact, Reuters is now reporting that some U.S. banks are rethinking plans to offer crypto custody services. [Read more at Ledger Insights]

Thai SEC Proposes Banning Crypto Businesses From Staking and Lending Activities

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking public comments on a proposal to prohibit businesses from crypto staking and lending activities. More specifically, businesses cannot accept “deposits of digital assets from the customers and lend, invest, stake or employ such digital assets.” Moreover, they are prohibited from “providing support to third parties that undertake crypto saving and lending services, including marketing.” [Read more at Bitcoin.com]

Tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220916)

~ kiffmeister

Another monthly update of CBDCTracker.org! Updates include:

🇦🇺 Australia starting research on retail central bank digital currency (CBDC)
🇨🇱 Chile expanding its CBDC research and opened a survey
🇭🇰 Hong Kong expanding its CBDC research
🇮🇩 Indonesia starting its CBDC research
🇳🇬 Nigeria providing usage data for their CBDC
🇷🇺 Russia proceeding to proof of concept (PoC) phase
🇹🇭 Thailand starting a CBDC pilot study
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe proceeding in its CBDC research phase

Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets

The U.S. Treasury published a report on the Future of Money and Payments that reviews the current U.S. system of money and payments, including developments in instant payments and stablecoins. It describes design choices for a potential U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) and recommends that the Fed advance work on it, in case one is determined to be in the national interest. Among other things, the report also encourages use of instant payment systems to support a more competitive, efficient, and inclusive U.S. payment landscape, the establishment of a federal framework for payments regulation to protect users and the financial system, while supporting responsible innovations in payments, and prioritizing efforts to improve cross-border payments, both to enhance payment system efficiency and protect national security. [Read more at the U.S. Treasury]

Banking May be Coming to Walmart’s US Stores

Walmart majority-backed One Finance will reportedly launch digital bank accounts for the retail giant’s 1.6 million US employees and legions of weekly shoppers. In coming weeks, it will start offering the accounts to thousands of workers and a small percentage of its online customers as part of an initial beta test of the new service. Eventually, One is hoping to offer a bevy of other products, from loans to investing, in an effort to become a one-stop shop for consumers’ financial needs. [Read more at Bloomberg]

ECB selects external companies for joint prototyping of user interfaces for a digital euro

The European Central Bank (ECB) will collaborate with five companies to develop potential user interfaces for the digital euro. The aim of this prototyping exercise is to test how well the technology behind a digital euro integrates with prototypes developed by companies. Simulated transactions will be initiated using the front-end prototypes developed by the five companies and processed through the Eurosystem’s interface and back-end infrastructure. The selected companies will each focus on one specific use case of a digital euro; peer-to-peer online payments (CaixaBank), peer-to-peer offline payments (Worldline), point of sale payments initiated by the payer (EPI), point of sale payments initiated by the payee (Nexi) and e-commerce payments (Amazon). [Read more at the ECB]

Project Dynamo: financing small and medium enterprises in the digital age

The BIS Innovation Hub’s Hong Kong Centre and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority have launched Project Dynamo, which aims to deliver a prototype for the compliant use of decentralised finance (DeFi) tools, such as blockchain and smart contracts, to improve access to finance for unfunded and underfunded small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The research will extend into related topics such as decentralised identifiers and the interoperability of digital payment methods such as stablecoins and central bank digital currencies. [Read more at the BIS]

Nigeria’s eNaira CBDC platform went down briefly

The Central Bank of Nigeria eNaira CBDC pilot platform went down for a few hours for “maintenance” on September 15, 2022. [Read more on Twitter]

 

Tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220915)

~ kiffmeister

Ethereum Merge Complete, $195 Billion Cryptocurrency Begins New Era

On September 15, 2022 the Ethereum blockchain merged with a special-purpose decentralized ledger called the Beacon Chain, concluding its transition to near-carbon neutrality. Since its inception, Ethereum has been based on the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) system. Now it will run on a proof-of-stake (PoS) system in which miners have been replaced with validators, who pledge, or stake, ether tokens as collateral to verify transactions and accrue interest on the staked assets as a reward. As a result, the network’s energy usage should drop by more than 99%, according to the Ethereum Foundation. [Read more on Forbes]

The Ethereum Merge is completed: Here’s what’s next

Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined a five-step process that will bring the smart contract blockchain to the ‘Endgame’ of Ethereum’s development. The end goal would see the network capable of high block frequency and block size as well as the ability to process thousands of transactions per second while remaining sufficiently trustless and censorship-resistant. For example, the plan is to implement sharding to increase the scalability of the blockchain’s ability to store and access data. [Read more at CoinTelegraph]

While Ethereum’s merge was largely considered a success, the event so far failed to produce any meaningful bullish moves for the asset. In fact, it spiked down today in sympathy with the rest of the crypto market, as its near 100% correlation with equity markets continues.

Discounted tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220914)

~ kiffmeister

Securitize KKR Health Care Growth II Tokenized Fund

Through a partnership with Securitize Capital, investors can gain tokenized exposure to investment firm KKR’s latest health care focused growth equity fund, with lower investment minimums and greater potential for liquidity. It marks the first time exposure to one of KKR’s alternative investment strategies has been offered in a digital format in the United States. The fund is tokenized on the eco-friendly Avalanche public blockchain-based smart contract platform. [Read more at Securitize Capital]

OpenNode Is Testing Bitcoin Payments With The Central Bank Of Bahrain

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has authorized OpenNode to test its bitcoin payment processing and payouts solution in the central bank’s regulatory sandbox. The sandbox is a virtual space for CBB-licensed financial institutions and other start-ups and FinTech firms to test their technology-based innovative solutions/services relevant to FinTech before scaling up their operations in Bahrain and across the region. [Read more at  PR Newswire]

Discounted tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20220912)

~ kiffmeister

Jamaica’s JAM-DEX CBDC comes with an instruction manual

Richard Turrin alerted me to the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) JAM-DEX frequently asked questions (FAQ), and provides a nice summary here. Interestingly, the BOJ is not imposing any holding or transaction limits on the use of the central bank digital currency (CBDC). Instead, it is relying on banks to use their own risk management assessment to determine limits. For now, the Lynk wallet limits cashing in to J$50,000 (about $325) daily from a bank account, and J$50,000 monthly from a debit/credit card. For cashing out, limit is J$100,000 daily for a bank account. For transferring to another Lynk user, the limit is J$100,000 daily. [Read more at the BOJ]

This is What a Crumbling Cash Infrastructure Looks Like

The UK government and Bank of England are taking steps to intervene to ensure that cash remains a payment option in the future. The key factor to their success is access to cash withdrawal facilities (be it an accessible ATM or a retailer offering cashback), which in turn relies on those outlets having access to cash deposit facilities. Take away the branches and the ATMs and that access disappears with it. A pay-to-use ATM in a shop that is closed when you need it, or a mobile bank that only visits once a week and is hard to reach anyway, doesn’t cut it. [Read more at Currency News]

Asset Tokenization to Grow into $16tr Opportunity By 2030

A report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and digital exchange ADDX forecasts that asset tokenization will expand into a $16.1 trillion business opportunity by 2030.  The projected growth will be driven by demand from a wide range of investors for greater access to private markets. Tokenization and fractionalization of assets lower barriers to investment in private markets by sharply reducing minimum lot sizes. [Read more at BCG]


Discounted tickets available for CBDC Think Tank masterclass

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the IMF and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC for “official sector” staff and academics active in the CBDC / digital currency space only. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  Tickets are $99. [Register here]

Also, the CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with Georgetown University and the DC FinTech Week, is hosting a FREE (also in-person) Digital Currency Lecture Series, a set of digital currency lightning talks delivered by subject matter experts, on October 14 in Washington DC. [Request an invite here]

Kiffmeister’s Global Central Bank Digital Currency Monthly Monitor

Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So for any of you out there who work for a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.