Brazil central bank bars Visa and Mastercard from WhatsApp payments
Banco Central do Brasil’s ruled that Visa and Mastercard must suspend launching payments and transfers on Facebook’s WhatsApp in the country, or must cease such operations immediately. Facebook rolled out WhatsApp payments service in Brazil on June 16. The central bank is concerned about an “adequate competitive environment” in the Brazilian mobile payments market with the entrance of a giant like Facebook. The Administrative Council for Economic Defense, Brazil’s antitrust regulator, also blocked Facebook’s partnership with Cielo, citing the market dominance of the two “which can guarantee significant market power upon its entry.” Cielo is the largest Brazilian credit and debit card operator, and the biggest payment system company in Latin America by revenue and market value.

Bafin says it did not supervise scandal-hit Wirecard
Senior officials at Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) say the institution is not responsible for supervising Wirecard, the financial services firm accused of major fraud. Although in 2019 Bafin imposed a two-month ban on shorting Wirecard shares, and fined Wirecard €1.52 million for failing to file annual accounts on time they were measures under the Securities Trading Act. However, BaFin’s website implies the regulator would have responsibility for a firm with Wirecard’s involvement in financial services, and according to the Bundesbank, Germany’s “payment services supervision act”, makes BaFin responsible for companies like Wirecard.

Central Banks and Payments in the Digital Era
According to a special chapter of the BIS Annual Economic Report, digital innovation is radically reshaping the provision of payment services, and central banks are embracing this innovation. They promote interoperability, support competition and innovation, and operate public infrastructures – all essential for easily accessible, low-cost and high-quality payment services. And central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can foster competition among private sector intermediaries, set high standards for safety and risk management, and serve as a basis for sound innovation in payments.

Thinking Big on Fed Accounts, Digital Dollars and Financial Inclusion
Chris Brummer gets the sense that most financial experts and economists support the release of a digital dollar, at least of some sort, that would comprise a liability of the Federal Reserve carrying the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The disagreements appear to lie in what kind of technology should support it. For Chris Giancarlo and Dan Gorfine, a digital dollar would be tokenized, meaning that digital dollars would operate as bearer instruments that could be transferred instantaneously. Meanwhile Morgan Ricks supports an account-based path for digitization that would comprise just one component of a larger, explicit strategy of enabling financial inclusion through the buildout of digital individual accounts at the Fed.

Former U.S. CFTC Timothy Massad weighs in on Facebook’s Libra 2.0.
Former U.S. CFTC Timothy Massad finds that Libra’s 2nd white paper deals with many of the concerns previously raised. While Libra may not succeed in improving access to financial services for the underserved, he believes we should let it try. That is, we should create a reasonable regulatory framework under which the Libra proposal can be developed and implemented. The competition in payments will be a good thing, but regulators around the world need to work together to construct the proper framework for Libra. The financial regulatory challenge in the United States would be best addressed if Congress created a comprehensive framework for the regulation of payment systems, but that seems unlikely to happen in the short term. He belives that for many the potential benefits Libra might bring to our payment options outweigh the risks associated with an increase in Facebook’s power and its collection of data.

How Covid-19 has reframed the war on cash
The public still has great trust and appreciation for banknotes, especially when times get tough. But the data suggests people may be turning to digital transactions not because of convenience but because the crisis has made online purchases compulsory for many. But digital versions of cash are something far more abstract than banknote money. In almost all modern monetary systems it equates to the central bank managed real-time gross settlement (RTGS) clearing system. The key incentive banks have to be part of that circular intangible system, however, is the risk their customers will at some point demand to be cashed out with banknote cash whose supply banks do not control. If that risk is removed (say because there are no more vendors who accept cash) public digital cash will become entirely substitutable — and very hard to differentiate — from privately issued alternatives, undermining the control of the central bank on the money supply.

Circle Announces Support for USDC Stablecoin on Algorand Blockchain
The Algorand Foundation has announced that the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin will be launched on the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain. The integration will allow customers using Circle APIs or Circle Business Accounts to convert funds from their bank account or card network into stable tokens on the Algorand blockchain.

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Honeywell’s new quantum computer edges closer to threatening Bitcoin
Honeywell says that its newly-launched quantum computer is the most powerful in the world. The machine has achieved a quantum volume score of 64—twice as powerful as rivals from IBM and Google. Quantum computers could theoretically be used to attack Bitcoin, although the crypto industry is preparing defenses. A quantum computer would need to have around 2,500 qubits of processing power in order to break the 256-bit encryption used by Bitcoin. If that were to happen, it would theoretically be possible for the owner of the quantum computer to take control of the Bitcoin blockchain.

ING Develops FATF-Friendly Protocol for Tracking Crypto Transfers
The Netherland’s ING Bank has developed a protocol to assist with the Financial Action Task Force’s Travel Rule requirement for crypto exchanges and firms dealing in digital assets. It has also been backed by Standard Chartered Bank, Fidelity Digital Assets and BitGo, and other crypto firms. It was also partly backed by the InterVASP working group which released the IVMS-101 standard, a way VASPs can agree on the format of the message payloads their solutions will transfer.

KPMG launches suite of crypto tools for institutions
KPMG launched Chain Fusion—a suite of analytic tools that help financial institutions manage crypto assets. The service combines data from blockchains and regular financial systems for business, risk and compliance objectives. It will help companies prove that they own cryptocurrency, operate multi-signature wallets, and monitor transactions.

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You’ve Got Money: Mobile Payments Help People During the Pandemic
While scaling mobile cash transfers quickly to help alleviate the impact of the pandemic, governments should take a broad approach that goes beyond the technology and consider the whole ecosystem behind a robust and resilient mobile program. A holistic approach should be considered by policymakers and the industry to integrate all the “building blocks” of a sustainable mobile-money platform, including stakeholders and design and policy elements that help maximize benefits against risks.

PayPal, Venmo to Roll Out Crypto Buying and Selling: Sources
PayPal reportedly plans to roll out direct sales of crypto-assets to its 325 million users. Currently, PayPal can be used as an alternative means for withdrawing funds from exchanges such as Coinbase, but this would be a first in terms of offering direct sales of crypto. They are apparently going to have some sort of a built-in crypto-asset wallet functionality.

Wirecard fights for survival as fraud comes to light
German fintech Wirecard, a major provider of payment processing software and information technology, warned that €1.9 billion of cash on its balance sheet probably does “not exist” acknowledging the potential scale of a multi-year accounting fraud. It withdrew its most recent financial results and said other years’ accounts may be inaccurate. Wirecard’s payments processing business, licensed by Visa and Mastercard, is responsible for tens of billions of euros in annual transaction volume.   

Italian Banks Want to Test Digital Euro
The Italian Banking Association (ABI) published guidelines for a digital euro launch, including ten proposed essential criteria. The ABI also revealed that it is already operating a distributed ledger infrastructure under its Spunta project to speed up the transaction speed between the 700+ member banks. 

Global Demand for Basket-Backed Stablecoins
This Fed paper develops a model where persistent trade shocks create demand for a basket- backed stablecoin, such as Mark Carney’s “synthetic hegemonic currency” or Facebook’s recent proposal for Libra. In numerical simulations, it finds four main results. First, because of general equilibrium effects of the basket currency on the volatility of currency values, overall demand for that currency is small. Second, despite scant holdings of the basket, its global reach may contribute to substantial increases in welfare if the basket is widely accepted, allowing it to complement holdings of sovereign currencies. Third, it calculates the welfare maximizing composition of the basket, finding that optimal weights depend on the pattern of international acceptance, but that basket composition does not significantly affect welfare. Fourth, despite potential welfare improvements, low demand for the basket currency from buyers limits sellers’ incentives to invest in accepting it, suggesting that fears of a so-called global stablecoin replacing domestic sovereign currencies may be overstated.

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In today’s Digest I break out the chapters in the special edition of the Sveriges Riksbank Economic Review dedicated to central bank digital currency.

The rationale for issuing e-krona in the digital era
This chapter describes the rationale for providing e-krona to the public through a partnership between the Riksbank and supervised payments service providers. This arrangement can foster competition and innovation while ensuring the fundamental security and efficiency of the monetary system. These considerations are increasingly relevant as the use of paper cash falls because commercial institutions may not have sufficient profit incentives to provide an alternative means of payment that is universally accessible. Moreover, in a digitalized economy, Big Tech firms and other multinational enterprises are increasingly likely to issue their own private currencies to facilitate their collection of valuable information about consumer behavior. Therefore, launching an e-krona would help ensure that all Swedish individuals have access to an efficient, convenient, and secure means of payment.

Competitive aspects of an e-krona
This chapter analyzes the competitive impact of introducing CBDC in Sweden, where cash use is falling rapidly. It assumes that strong network externalities characterize payment markets and that, consequently, these markets are at risk of developing into monopolies or tight oligopolies if left unregulated. It provides an overview of policy alternatives that have been used in markets that share some of these market characteristics and discusses existing procompetitive regulation. It then tries to predict the consequences for payment market competition, suggesting that there are at least five possible efficiency reasons for introducing an e-krona.

The Riksbank’s seigniorage and the e-krona
Seigniorage has historically been an important source of profits for the Riksbank. In recent years, the use of cash in Sweden has declined rapidly, and a future possibly cashless society could have important consequences for the Riksbank’s financial independence. This chapter contains a discussion and some numerical examples of how the introduction of an e-krona could affect the Riksbank’s ability to generate profits. Several factors affect the results: whether the e-krona would be regarded as a substitute for cash or bank deposits, how high the demand for the e-krona would be, and the level of the interest rate. As a final part of this article, we address the question of how high the demand for an e-krona would have to be to cover the Riksbank’s current expenses.

Is central bank currency fundamental to the monetary system?
This chapter discusses whether the ability of individuals to convert commercial bank money (i.e., bank deposits) into central bank money is fundamentally important for the monetary system. This is a significant question since the use of cash – the only form of central bank money that the public currently has access to – is declining rapidly in many countries. The question is highly relevant to the discussion around whether central banks need to issue a retail CBDC. It concludes that depositors’ need for control could be a reason why cash or a CBDC is essential, even in countries with strong measures safeguarding commercial bank money.

E-krona design models: pros, cons and trade-offs
This chapter sketches out four different design models for supplying a retail e-krona, discussing  advantages and disadvantages of each using the policy goals identified by the Riksbank for the payment market as our point of departure. The four models are (i) centralized provision without intermediaries, (ii) centralized with intermediaries, (iii) decentralized with intermediaries (iv) a synthetic e-krona. Possible trade-offs involve weighing the advantages of more minimalistic (e.g., synthetic) approaches against performance as regards enhanced competition and resilience, and the amount of decentralization versus control over data and privacy.

Central bank digital currencies, supply of bank loans and liquidity provision by central banks
This chapter suggests that central banks can offset potential adverse effects of CBDC on the supply of bank loans by accepting the loans as collateral. Central banks can also conduct an outright purchase of illiquid assets to stimulate banks’ supply of illiquid loans. As central banks buy illiquid assets from investors, new central bank reserves will be created for banks. Investors who sell their illiquid assets are then likely to rebalance their portfolios, increasing the demand for illiquid assets and reducing the cost of illiquid term funding for banks. 

Privacy in CBDC technology
This Bank of Canada note outlines what is technologically feasible for privacy in a central bank digital currency (CBDC) system. Privacy in a CBDC goes beyond binary choices of anonymity or full disclosure. System designers have a range of choices around the type of information to keep private and who to keep it private from. Because privacy is not in the sole purview of the Bank, defining it requires consultation with external parties. Our approach in this note is to: develop a framework to evaluate different privacy models, understand the technical tools to enact various privacy models, suggest a design approach for CBDC privacy, and list the key risks and trade-offs.

Should the U.S. Government Create a Token-Based Digital Dollar?
Larry White is not a big fan of CBDC! “[Although the Digital Dollar Project’s] FedCoin retail payment system is likely to be less inefficient than a FedAccount system, it still requires the Fed to step outside its expertise, and into the realm of private enterprise, to launch and maintain a retail digital wallet system. However, the Project’s [underspecified] “champion model” provides a useful framework for further discussion of the standards necessary to ensure that a CBDC system does not make the money-using public worse off. So long as its use is entirely voluntary, there is not much to object to other than the likely waste of taxpayer money to subsidize the costs of creating and operating it.”

Central Bank Digital Currencies and Asymmetric Disintermediation
Some CBDC designs could fundamentally alter the commercial banking system we know today. This Institute of International Finance paper highlights the need for effective ways to limit the potential for crowding out bank deposits, both structurally and in crisis situations. This may mean considering the particular roles that commercial banks might play in a CBDC ecosystem, and whether there is merit in a combination of bank-provided wallets and deposit insurance. There is still much to do in exploring and examining optimal designs and potential solutions for CBDCs, to ensure such innovations can help reinforce (and not undermine) system stability and economic growth.

Deribit prepares for historic $1 billion options expiry next week
Next week will be historic for the crypto-asset derivatives market with a record $1 billion worth of bitcoin and ethereum options expiring on Deribit. Bitcoin options expiring in June make up the biggest portion of Deribit’s open interest with 69% of such contracts set to expire during the course of the month, according to data pulled from Skew on Tuesday. On June 26, more than 70,000 contracts will expire. More than 290,000 ethereum options are set to expire on the same day.

Rwanda Reinstates Charges On Cashless Transactions
The National Bank of Rwanda has reinstated charges on all cashless transactions after the three months period with zero charges introduced in March this year, as part of the measures to encourage digital transactions due to the New Coronavirus outbreak, elapsed.

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Bank of Thailand to Develop CBDC Prototype
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) will develop a prototype of a CBDC-based payment system for businesses, which will build upon knowledge from Project Inthanon. The feasibility study will integrate CBDC with the procurement and financial management systems of the Siam Cement Public Company and its suppliers to increase fund transfer flexibility, and deliver faster and more agile payments between suppliers. It will begin in July 2020 and run to the end of the year. Also, the BOT, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the participating financial institutions will continue to their Project Inthanon CBDC collaboration and experimentation for cross-border transfer use cases.

Bitcoin Is Not a New Type of Money
According to this NY Fed blog, Bitcoin is not a new class of money, it is a new type of exchange mechanism, and this type of exchange mechanism can support a variety of forms of money as well as other types of assets. Why should we care? History provides lessons about what makes a good money as well as what makes a good transfer mechanism. These lessons could help cryptocurrencies evolve in a way that makes them more useful. But to know which lessons are relevant, it is important to be clear about what is new about Bitcoin.

Leading digital asset platforms make their move into prime brokerage
Genesis, Coinbase and BitGo, three of the largest digital asset platforms, have moved into the crypto prime brokerage space, as the importance of the function to attract institutional investors becomes abundantly clear. The combination of lending, custody, trading services and settlement agency services – among others – is crucial for institutional investors who do not want to deal with the current complexities of the digital asset market in its current form.

PieDAO releases USD++ for better stablecoin holdings
PieDAO, the decentralized organization building diversified token pools on the Balancer protocol, announced the mainnet release of its USD++ pool on Tuesday. The pool combines several of the top USD-pegged stablecoins into one tradable token. It’s another example of a creative use case of the rapidly growing Balancer protocol—and of the expanding universe of ideas DAOs are working to address. The USD++ pool will contain Maker DAI, Synthetix sUSD, Tether TUSD, and Coinbase USDC.

14 Singapore digital bank applicants eligible for next stage of assessment
The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced that 14 of the 21 digital bank applications have met the eligibility criteria required for the application to be considered. These eligible applicants, comprising five digital full bank applicants and nine digital wholesale bank applicants, will progress to the next stage of assessment, in which applicants will be short listed based on proposals they will present via virtual meetings.

The Bitcoin Market Is Totally Dominated By A Tiny Number Of Pro Traders
Analysis by Chainalysis reveals that professional traders are firmly in control of bitcoin market liquidity, accounting for 85% of all the U.S. dollar value of bitcoin sent to exchanges. This dominance of the bitcoin market means professional traders are the most significant contributors to large market movements, such as those seen during bitcoin’s dramatic price decline in March. The analysis also found that roughly 80% of bitcoin ever mined is held by entities that hardly ever trade it.

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Venezuela Is a Testing Ground for Digital Dollarization (and Zelle Doesn’t Like It)
Venezuelans are digitally dollarizing using  Zelle, a U.S.-based payments network that allows anyone with a U.S. bank account to instantly transfer funds to another U.S. bank account for free. Although Zelle is meant for U.S. usage only, Venezuelans have repurposed the network as a way to make dollar payments among each other. Large Venezuelan supermarket chains have enabled Zelle as a form of payment, and cafes, restaurants and taxis accept it. But business and commercial use infringes on Zelle’s terms of service, which specifies that its network is intended only for personal use. Wells Fargo has notified many Venezeulan account holders their connection to Zelle will be terminated, so the game may soon be over.

Central Bank Digital Currencies and the New World of Money and Payment Systems
This paper considers the policy issues and choices associated with cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and sovereign (central bank) digital currencies. It argues that, in the COVID-19 crisis, most central banks should focus not on rolling out novel new forms of blockchain-based money but rather on transforming their payment systems: this is where the real benefits will lie both in the crisis and beyond. Looking forward, neither the extreme private nor public model is likely to prevail. Rather, we expect the reshaping of domestic money and payment systems to involve public central banks cooperating with (new and old) private entities which together will provide the potential to build better monetary and payment systems at the domestic and international level.

Deloitte’s 2020 Global Blockchain Survey
Deloitte’s 2020 Global Blockchain Survey revealed increased sentiment, investments, and more strategic talent sourcing and requirements for blockchain initiatives. 39% of global respondents have already incorporated blockchain into production (versus 23% in 2019) and 55%
view blockchain as a top strategic priority (versus 53%). 82% are hiring staff with blockchain expertise or plan to do so within the next 12 months (versus 73%). The results are based on a poll 1,488 senior executives and practitioners in 14 countries and territories.

Cryptocurrencies and US securities laws: beyond bitcoin and ether
According to ex-CFTC Commissioner Christopher Giancarlo, under a fair application of the Howey test and the U.S. SEC’s expanding analysis, XRP should not be regulated as a security, but instead considered a currency or a medium of exchange. The increased adoption of XRP as a medium of exchange and a form of payment in recent years, both by consumers and in the business-to-business setting, further underscores the utility of XRP as a bona fide fiat substitute.

Amazon joins Mastercard tokenization initiative
Amazon customers in 12 countries will have their stored MasterCard card credentials tokenized. By replacing a consumer’s physical card number with a token, payment information is unique to each individual transaction and can be used only by the merchant that requested it.  The Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) tokenization technology keeps cards seamlessly up to date, because network tokens do not expire. When consumers receive a new physical card from their bank, their credentials are automatically updated.

Silvergate, Visa-Baked Anchorage Partner on Crypto Leverage Trading
Silvergate Bank, a crypto-friendly lender that counts major crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken as clients, is expanding its SEN Leverage service. The product, which was first launched in 2017, allows the bank’s customers to obtain US dollar loans collateralized by their bitcoin holdings at some crypto exchanges that Silvergate is currently serving. To do so, Silvergate partnering with the digital asset custodian Anchorage, which recently raised $40 million in a Visa co-led series B fundraising.

The Mauritius FSC issues Guidance Notes with respect to Security Token Trading Systems
The Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC) issued guidance notes providing for the implementation of a common set of standards for the licensing of security token trading systems. They highlight financial integrity and data protection laws and codes, and the implementation of good market practice for an efficient, transparent and integrated financial market. The FSC is is expecting to receive several applications for these specific licenses in the upcoming months.

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Bank of Canada is Looking for a CBDC Project Manager
The Bank of Canada has posted an opening for a CBDC Project Manager, saying that is “embarking on a program to design a contingent system for a CBDC… It will take into consideration a wide variety of factors, including policy considerations, diverse stakeholder needs, difficult technical challenges and the development of a technical architecture to realize a CBDC pilot system. 

Thailand’s government to issue savings bonds to the public via blockchain
Thailand’s public debt management office (PDMO) is reportedly set to issue savings bonds to the general public via blockchain. PDMO will use state-owned Krung Thai Bank’s (KTB) blockchain platform and e-wallet to distribute bonds. It will enable people and investors to buy the bonds without coming down to the banks’ branch offices or using ATM machines. All they will need are a KTB account and credit in their e-wallet.

Researcher Refutes ‘Blackmail’ Theory Behind Mysterious Ether Transactions
Last week, the crypto community spotted transaction fees of up to $2.6 million featured in several transactions on the Ether (ETH) network. Vitalik Buterin has since suggested that the abnormous fees “may actually be blackmail,” but some researchers have now challenged that claim. Alex Manuskin, blockchain researcher at Tel Aviv-based cryptocurrency wallet company ZenGo, said the blackmail theory “takes some very peculiar circumstances for it to be possible”.

Stellar to vote on protocol upgrade
The Stellar project released the 13th version of its core protocol on June 13th. Network validators will vote on whether to upgrade the network on June 18th. Like XRP, Stellar does not use Proof-of-work or Proof-of-Stake but uses its own unique approach to solve the Byzantine generals problem called the Federated Byzantine Agreement. The protocol changes focus on three key Core Advancement Protocols, Fee bumps, Fine-grained control of asset authorization, and First-class multiplexed accounts.

Atari’s gaming token will be used for sports and esports betting
Atari has partnered with Unikrn, an online betting platform that lets users wager on professional sports and esports matches, as well as on their own performance in select head-to-head online video games. Atari Token holders will be able to use the cryptocurrency on the Unikrn platform, which also sells things like loot boxes and game keys. The Atari Token is a crypto-asset built using the Ethereum protocol (ERC20).

Digital Transformation: Only 40% of U.S. Consumers Expect to Visit Physical Bank Branches After COVID-19
The number of new U.S. mobile banking registrations month increased 200% in April 2020, and mobile banking traffic increased by 85%, according to data from Fidelity National Information Services. Only around 40% of people noted that they plan or expect to return to physical bank branches after the pandemic has passed according to a recent survey conducted by Novantas . This suggests that the ongoing and increasing shift towards digital or online banking platforms could be permanent for many consumers.

SafeCharge and Visa introduce new digital payment options for small U.K. businesses
U.K.-based SafeCharge launched a new solution offering small businesses alternative ways to accept digital payments in response to the COVID-19 crisis. SafeCharge Local, supported by Visa, enables consumers to make payments online and over the phone whilst also providing a better consumer experience in store by reducing queues and limiting the need for close customer contact at the point of sale. At the heart of SafeCharge Local is a digital payment solution called Paylink, which enables businesses to receive payments through the use of QR codes and secure payment links without the need for a physical point of sale terminal or an online shop.

Bank of England on payments after the Covid crisis – emerging issues and challenges
Changes in the way we pay and the challenges we’ve seen over the past several months pose two important and interrelated questions for central banks and regulators. First, how do we ensure that we have legislative and supervisory frameworks in place to support development of safe private sector innovation that could respond to these challenges? Here, it is clear that we need to ensure that new ways to pay and new forms of electronic money are offer equivalent protections to existing ones. And second, what is the right role for central banks in provision of the money we use to transact? I’m looking forward to the discussion.

Mobile money-enabled remittances: Building resilience in times of crisis
Mobile money remains the cheapest method of sending international remittances; the average cost of sending $200 using mobile money is well below the UN’s SDG 10.c target. With over a billion registered mobile money accounts globally and close to $2 billion in daily transactions, the mobile money industry will continue to play its vital role in increasing digitisation and building resilience of those for whom remittances are a crucial financial lifeline during a crisis and enabling migrants and their families to attain their own Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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South Korea to Review Legal Issues Surrounding Potential CBDC Launch
The Bank of Korea (BOK) has formed a legal advisory group to evaluate issues surrounding a potential central bank-issued digital currency launch. The group includes six experts; three professors, two lawyers and one BOK official. The panel will reportedly operate until May 2021, although the BOK’s CBDC plans are not set in stone.

Sanches (202006) Central Bank Digital Currency: Is It a Good Idea?
The Philadelphia Fed’s Daniel Sanches discusses how the merits of central bank digital currency have led economists to rethink the central bank’s role in the provision of liquidity and intermediation services. Based on a review of the CBDC literature, he finds that there are many aspects of the CBDC impact on the monetary system that require additional research, such as the impact on the framework for the implementation of interest-rate policy for business-cycle adjustments.

Facebook’s WhatsApp brings digital payment to users in Brazil
Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service rolled out a system across Brazil on that will allow users to send money to individuals or local businesses within a chat. WhatsApp is working with Cielo, Brazil’s largest credit and debit card operator, to process the payments. The company has over 120 million individual users in Brazil, its second-largest market behind India, where WhatsApp has been testing a similar system since 2018.

Visa Partners to Launch Payments on WhatsApp in Brazil
Facebook is also working with Visa to power the new payments feature on WhatsApp in Brazil. Payments on WhatsApp are made possible by Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time push payments technology, and newly launched Visa Cloud Tokenization, that protects and removes sensitive payment information by converting the data to tokens and storing them securely.

CCAF, World Bank and the World Economic Forum investigate Covid-19’s impact on global fintech
The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance is partnering with the World Bank Group and the World Economic Forum to launch a Global Covid-19 FinTech Market Rapid Assessment Survey. The empirical data collected will be used to understand Covid-19’s impact on the FinTech markets, how the global FinTech industry has responded and some of the immediate regulatory and policy implications.

Why a small town in Washington is printing its own currency during the pandemic
In a bid to lessen the blow of COVID-19, the town of Tenino has started issuing its own wooden dollars that can only be spent at local businesses. Tenino is setting aside $10,000 to give out to low-income residents hurt by the pandemic. But instead of using federal dollars, they are printing the money on thin sheets of wood designed exclusively for use in Tenino, using a 130-year-old newspaper printer from a local museum.

Bitcoin Transaction Fees Fall 91%, Back to Pre-Halving Levels
The average fee for a transaction on the Bitcoin network has fallen roughly 91% from $6.56 on May 20th to just $0.56 on June 14th, reaching back below $1. Bitcoin transaction fees typically increase when the network is experiencing periods of heavy usage; because the Bitcoin network can only process between 3.3 and 7 transactions per second, a backlog of transactions can easily form during periods of high trading volume.

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