Category: Crypto Assets
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260829)
Ministers to Boost Innovation in Payments with New Objective for Bank of England (U.K. HMT)
The U.K’s HM Treasury (U.K. HMT) announced that the Bank of England will receive a new secondary objective supporting innovation in payment systems and digital money, subordinate to its primary financial-stability mandate. The change extends an approach already used for central counterparties and securities depositories under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to systemic payment systems, including those using digital settlement assets such as stablecoins; the Bank will report annually to Parliament. Officials framed the move as necessary to keep pace with technologies like tokenization and distributed ledger technology while preserving the U.K.’s standing in financial services. Implementation requires amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, next debated in the Lords on September 7-9, 2026. [U.K. HMT]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260824)
Jam-Dex Transactions Climb as BOJ Expands Reach (Jamaica Observer)
Transaction volumes of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) JAM-DEX central bank digital currency (CBDC) have reportedly accelerated this year, reaching J$51.7 million in the seven months to July 2026, exceeding the J$19.3 million recorded in all of 2025 and about J$3 million in 2024. Deputy Governor Natalie Haynes said that outstanding JAM-DEX stands at J$294.7 million and subscribers at about 320,000, but both those numbers are little changed from end-2025, and only two wallet providers currently operate. (The amount of JAM-DEX minted has remained static at J$276 million since end-2023, and J$260 million was in circulation at end-2025 and the number of wallets was 305,000.) However, the BOJ is moving to bring more financial institutions onto the platform and widen merchant acceptance, and it expects that by the first half of 2027, about 40% of points of sale (POS) across the island should be able to accept JAM-DEX. [Jamaica Observer]
The Hard Truth is that the Clarity Act is an Anti-Crypto Bill (CoinDesk)
Berkeley Law lecturer Hermine argues that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is not a technology-enabling crypto framework but an intermediary-centered market-structure bill, allocating far more attention to exchanges, brokers, custodians, and related entities than to decentralized protocols or peer-to-peer use. Against a backdrop of prior legislative paralysis and major platform failures, Senate consideration has slipped to mid-September; she contends that concentrated industry political financing helped produce legislation aligned with large incumbents rather than users or protocol developers. Regulating centralized firms does not establish standards for decentralized-system security, governance, disclosures, accountability, or remedies after failures. [CoinDesk]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260822)
Kiffmeister’s #DFC Weekly Digest
FYI although I call this a *daily* digest my intent is to only post when there’s something substantive to post, and it has been a very quiet week! Maybe it’s just the summer doldrums? However, if you’re interested in digital fiat currency (DFC) news that doesn’t make the “Daily” cut, every Saturday I post a weekly digest here: Kiffmeister’s #DFC Weekly Digest.
Meanwhile, here is some news that did make the Daily Digest cut:
Proposed Rules on Who Can Legally Sell Stablecoins in United States (U.S. Treasury)
The U.S. Treasury has proposed rules implementing Section 3 of the GENIUS Act that define when a payment stablecoin is “issued,” “offered,” or “sold” in the United States, thereby determining licensing and market-access obligations. Issuance by an unlicensed person is generally prohibited from January 18, 2027; foreign issuers must be capable of complying with U.S. lawful orders and reciprocal jurisdictional arrangements; and, from July 18, 2028, U.S.-facing digital-asset service providers generally may offer only stablecoins issued by licensed issuers. The proposal operationalizes the Act’s territorial and intermediary-facing boundaries, making its definitions consequential for issuer structuring, offshore access, platform compliance, and the effective scope of federal/state stablecoin licensing. [U.S. Treasury]
How to Regulate Stablecoins -Exploring the Debatable Land between Securities and Payment Regulation (SSRN)
Simon Gleeson proposes that U.K. stablecoin regulation should treat fiat-backed stablecoins primarily as payment instruments, not securities, because applying investment-market rules to their circulation is functionally incompatible with their intended money-like use. He locates the problem in a regulatory boundary: securities law restricts retail acquisition and intermediation, whereas payments regulation principally governs the resilience, conduct and competition of core payment providers. Simon argues that legal classification should turn on economic function and actual use, not token form or origin. The central unresolved issues are whether stablecoin custody can accommodate deposit-like title transfer, how broadly “arranging” captures software and infrastructure providers, and how financial-promotion, advice and arranging rules overlap—creating material uncertainty for UK-facing firms. [SSRN]
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7294080
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260815)
KPMG U.S. Unqualified Audit Opinion on Tether’s 2025 Financial Statements (Tether)
Tether reported that KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified opinion on Tether International’s 2025 U.S. GAAP financial statements, marking a shift from periodic reserve attestations to a full financial-statement audit. The audit tested assets, token-related liabilities, transactions, systems, ownership evidence, valuations and counterparties. Tether says it included physical inspection of its gold bars and showed reserves exceeding liabilities by $6.814 billion at year-end. However, Tether did not release the statements themselves, so there is still much that is not known, such as accounting policies, reserve composition, and counterparty exposures. [Tether]
Use of Cash by Companies in the Euro Area in 2026 (ECB)
According to the latest European Central Bank (ECB) survey of 8,205 euro area consumer-facing merchants, cash acceptance has stabilized rather than continued its post-pandemic decline. 92% of firms with physical points of sale accepted cash in 2026, up from 90% in 2024, while 92% of current acceptors expect to continue over five years. Mobile-payment acceptance increased to 68% from 36% in 2024, alongside broadly unchanged card acceptance (88%). 25% of firms have taken measures to steer customers toward digital payments, and 48% with self-checkout terminals accept no cash at those terminals. Cash-access frictions—especially deposit/withdrawal inconvenience—are increasingly cited by non-acceptors, making cash infrastructure and cash-capable automation the principal unresolved constraints. [ECB]
Monetary Assurance, Payment Authority and the Payment Trust Architecture Design Space (Crunchfish)
Crunchfish published a paper arguing that every payment rests on two separable assurances—monetary assurance (sufficient value exists) and payment authority (the transaction is validly authorized)—whose representations can evolve independently, defining a “payment trust architecture design space”. It maps two dimensions: monetary assurance as “trusted assertion” (system-dependent) versus “trusted object” (independently verifiable), and payment authority as “trusted session” (session-bound) versus “trusted intent” (portable). Their four combinations yield distinct capabilities, generalized through the concept of “portable trust”. Crunchfish’s “governed offline” model is offered as the first practical instance. It gives monetary assurance and payment authority separate lifecycles: the former established in advance through reservation, the latter created locally as a “trusted intent” at payment. The broader principle is proposed as relevant to delegated and programmable payments, AI-agent transactions, and tokenized markets. [Crunchfish]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260806)
Bank of Korea Establishes Asset Tokenization Unit (Yonhap Infomax)
The Bank of Korea has reportedly established a dedicated asset tokenization unit under its Digital Currency Office as part of a regular mid‑year personnel reshuffle. The unit will lead efforts to tokenize assets, initially focusing on government bonds issued and distributed on a unified ledger integrating wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), bank deposits, and tokenized assets. This builds on “Project Hangang,” whose first real‑transaction phase ran from April to June 2025 and whose second phase will start in the second half of 2026 with more participating banks and enhanced functionality. The Korean government’s “2026 Second Half Economic Growth Strategy” also announces a government bond tokenization pilot linked to wholesale CBDC. [Yonhap Infomax]
Some backfilling of stablecoin stories I missed in June:
Open Standard Introduces Open USD Stablecoin (Open Standard)
[June 30, 2026] Open Standard announced Open USD, a consortium‑governed, zero‑fee stablecoin infrastructure for high‑volume, internet‑scale payments, responding to perceived economic and governance constraints in incumbent issuer models. The announcement highlights three pillars: free minting and redemption at any volume, pass‑through of reserve income to partner institutions net a small management fee, and governance via an independent company whose board is drawn from those partners. A large set of global banks, card networks, payment processors, technology platforms, and crypto firms have committed to integrate or support Open USD, positioning it as shared rails rather than proprietary product. The project’s significance lies in its attempt to reallocate stablecoin seigniorage and formalize multi‑firm governance, with unresolved issues around regulatory treatment, reserve composition, risk management, and actual decision‑making power distribution. [Open Standard]
Japan’s Three Largest Banks Aim for Joint Stablecoin Issue by March 2027 (Coin Desk)
[June 10, 2026] Japan’s three largest banking groups plan to issue a jointly branded yen stablecoin by March 2027, under a trust-bank structure backed by Japan’s Financial Services Agency and ruling party support for yen tokens. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC) and Mizuho Financial Group will form a council to design the operational framework, act as joint settlors, and appoint a trust bank or similar institution as trustee, indicating a balance-sheet-light, segregated-assets model aligned with Japan’s stablecoin law. This will create a regulated, large-scale yen stablecoin in a market currently dominated by U.S dollar tokens and where yen stablecoins remain below $50 million outstanding, with the leading token JPYC at around $18 million. Key unresolved issues are detailed operational design, legal treatment under evolving stablecoin rules, and how participation will extend beyond the initial three banks. [Coin Desk]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Protected: Kiffmeister’s Digital Currency Monitor, July 2026
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260730)
Project Agorá Real Value Testing (BIS)
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and Institute of International Finance (IIF) completed real value testing of their Project Agorá multi‑currency programmable platform for atomically settled wholesale cross‑border payments using wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) and tokenized commercial bank deposits. The trials involved 28 private-sector financial institutions and central banks executing approximately CHF 800,000 in transactions across 17 scenarios (corporate, interbank, intra-group, and payment‑versus‑payment) and six major currencies (CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, KRW, USD) across Asia, Europe and North America, with end‑to‑end processing averaging 80 seconds from submission to settlement. The exercise focused on feasibility and operational performance under realistic conditions, highlighting improvements in speed, transparency, and status/routing visibility relative to existing correspondent banking architectures. However, still to be resolved are questions around legal treatment of tokenized claims, settlement finality, data‑sharing, and governance models. [BIS]
Are Stablecoins Efficient for Remittances? Evidence from a Mystery Shopping Exercise (Banca d’Italia)
Banca d’Italia published a paper that finds stablecoin-based remittances offer no systematic cost advantage over traditional channels, based on a mystery shopping exercise. Researchers transacting as ordinary customers transferred 200 USD Coin (USDC) across ten corridors linking Italy with Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the UAE, and Japan. Total costs ranged from 0.30% to nearly 9%, with the on-chain transfer contributing a marginal 0.4%; the on- and off-ramp fiat-conversion steps, exchange fees, and funding method drove costs and duration. Speed depended on domestic payment infrastructure: instant-payment jurisdictions (Brazil’s PIX, Italy’s TIPS) settled end-to-end under 20 minutes, while standard bank transfers extended settlement to one or two days. Regulatory design shaped operator availability and feasibility. However, cross-corridor comparability is confounded by Argentina’s parallel exchange rates and single-stablecoin, and single-transaction scope limits generalization. [Banca d’Italia]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260717)
Visa Introduces Platform for Stablecoin Minting, Movement and Management (VISA)
Visa is launching the Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP), an enterprise environment for institutions to mint, move, and manage stablecoins, initially focused on Open USD (OUSD) issued via the Open Standard. VSP provides Visa‑managed onchain wallet infrastructure, connectivity for minting, burning, holding, and transferring OUSD, and integration with Visa’s existing settlement, treasury, and currency services, effectively offering a stablecoin “wallet‑as‑a‑service” embedded in Visa’s network stack. This is structurally significant because it treats stablecoins as an additional rail within Visa’s institutional treasury and settlement workflows, with controls such as dual‑approval, audit logging, passkeys, and allow‑lists aligned to existing risk and fraud frameworks. Key unresolved issues include how regulatory treatment, balance‑sheet accounting, and interoperability with non‑OUSD stablecoins and non‑Visa infrastructures will be handled as VSP moves from beta to broader deployment. [VISA]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260713)
Bolivian Government Considers including USDT as an Official Form of Payment (La Razon)
La Razon is reporting that Bolivia’s government is considering recognizing USDT as an additional settlement currency within the domestic payment system alongside the dollar and boliviano, following a 2024 Central Bank of Bolivia resolution that lifted a prior ban on crypto operations amid foreign‑exchange pressures. Authorities highlight that current usage of crypto-assets remains outside legal‑tender status and operates in a regulatory vacuum beyond the initial unblock, creating both market disruption and compliance gaps. The policy discussion is shaped by Bolivia’s placement on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “grey list,” with explicit concern that any formal integration of USDT must address anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorist‑financing (AML/CFT) vulnerabilities in crypto flows. The key unresolved issue is the design of a robust regulatory framework governing crypto‑asset use in payments. [La Razon]
Stablecoins and the Future of the Dollar (Philadelphia Fed)
An article by the Philadelphia Fed’s Joseph Abadi argues that reserve‑backed stablecoins, reinforced by the GENIUS Act, will entrench the dollar and position stablecoins primarily as regulated payment instruments rather than interest‑bearing stores of value. It traces the shift from early trading‑oriented and algorithmic designs, through the Terra collapse and the Silicon Valley Bank–linked run on USD Coin, to the current dominance of transparently backed, short‑term dollar‑asset portfolios that depend on public safety nets in stress. This matters because U.S. law now treats stablecoins as fully reserved “digital cash,” channels them into settlement and remittance use, and is intended to prevent disintermediation of bank deposits, even as yield‑like products via exchanges expose a regulatory gap. The unresolved issue is whether Congress closes this “yield loophole” and how cross‑border demand interacts with capital controls. [Philadelphia Fed]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.