As cryptocurrency investments get more popular in Russia, the country’s central bank is actively working to curb perceived suspicious crypto activity as well as block some crypto purchases. The Bank of Russia has started working with local banks to make them halt payments to cryptocurrency exchanges in order to protect customers from “emotional” purchases of crypto. Sergey Shvetsov, the first deputy governor at the Bank of Russia, argued that the new measures aim to protect Russian investors from potential losses in case the cryptocurrency market “crashes to zero,” local news agency RIA Novosti reported Wednesday. The latest anti-crypto move comes …

Morgan Stanley, one of the largest banks in the United States, is setting up a new crypto-focused research division. The Wall Street megabank has appointed Sheena Shah as lead cryptocurrency analyst for its dedicated cryptocurrency research team, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Shah worked as Morgan Stanley’s lead currency strategist covering G10 currencies for more than eight years and contributed to the bank’s crypto-related research efforts. In the new role, Shah will reportedly focus on analyzing the impact of cryptocurrencies on equities and fixed-income investments such as treasury and corporate bonds. Announcing the news in a memo to staff, Morgan Stanley’s …

Amid massive growth of the stablecoin market, the United States Treasury Department has reportedly discussed potential regulation for private stablecoins. The Treasury conducted several meetings last week to examine the risks of stablecoins for users, markets or the financial system as well as to learn about their benefits and consider potential regulation, Reuters reported on Sept 10. “The Treasury Department is meeting with a broad range of stakeholders, including consumer advocates, members of Congress and market participants,” Treasury spokesman John Rizzo said. Citing three anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the report notes that one of the Treasury’s meetings took …

Bancoagrícola, El Salvador’s largest financial institution, is set to boost the country’s Bitcoin adoption policy following its partnership with digital payments gateway Flexa. According to an announcement by Flexa on Thursday, Bancoagrícola has inked a deal with the crypto payment network to enable Bitcoin (BTC) transfers for the bank’s customers, including retail and merchant clients. As part of the partnership, Bancoagrícola customers can make credit card payments denominated in United States dollars via Flexa or other Lightning Network-enabled wallets like Chivo and Éclair. According to the release, these payments will not attract any additional fees and will cover loans and …

In Cointelegraph's latest video report, we discussed the systemic risks posed by stablecoins to the stability of both crypto and traditional markets. Stablecoins have become the backbone of the crypto ecosystem, as they play a crucial role in the functioning of crypto trading and decentralized finance. Their market capitalization has grown fourfold since the start of 2021. But the lack of transparency around the reserves backing stablecoins have left many wondering whether their growth is actually sustainable. Major stablecoins' recent disclosures showed that only a portion of their reserves is made up of cash, while a significant amount is kept …

Following El Salvador’s historic adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender on Tuesday, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson predicted that a lot more countries will eventually follow in the Latin American nation’s footsteps. El Salvador’s Bitcoin acceptance further legitimizes the belief that people should be in control of their money, Hoskinson said in his “Congratulations Bitcoin” YouTube video on Tuesday. The Cardano founder expressed confidence that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are the future of money as the younger generation will inevitably trigger mass adoption of crypto. “The majority of people under the age of 25 have a positive view on cryptocurrencies, and …

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the most vocal cryptocurrency skeptics in the U.S. government, has called the cryptocurrency industry the “new shadow bank.” In a Sunday interview with the New York Times, Warren said that the cryptocurrency industry offers “many of the same services” as shadow banks but still lacks “consumer protections or financial stability that back up the traditional system.” Warren expressed concerns over the rapidly growing market for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value can be pegged to that of other assets, including fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, the euro or commodities like gold. …

While regulators have often targeted projects in and out of the crypto space, the fines levied against digital asset exchanges are a fraction of those against traditional financial institutions. According to data from Good Jobs First’s violation tracker, the platform analyzed 50 of the biggest fines regulators levied against major banks, investment firms and brokers over the last 20 years. Bank of America accrued roughly $82 billion covering 251 different fines, including securities violations, while JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have also been some of the most-fined banks in the United States since 2000, with penalties totaling $35.9 billion and $25.5 …

In 2021, financial institutions operating in Nigeria have been the subject of a government crackdown on cryptocurrencies, beginning with February’s notorious ban on lenders that provide services to crypto exchanges by its central bank. With much of the Nigerian crypto market peer-to-peer by necessity, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now aims to introduce regulations that could regularize the industry and offer investors better protection. According to a Sept. 2 report, the SEC has established a dedicated fintech division tasked with studying crypto and blockchain investments and products — knowledge it could then marshal into a future crypto regulatory framework. …

Sber, the largest banking institution in Russia, continues progressing with the development of its blockchain-based platform for issuing digital assets. Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of the executive board at Sber, said that the bank is planning to have registered its digital asset issuance platform with the Bank of Russia — the country’s central bank — by mid-September, local news agency TASS reported on Thursday. Popov said that Sber has started building functionalities to allows third parties to issue digital assets and expects to have rolled out this feature by the end of the year. At the time being, the bank …

Standard Chartered, a United Kingdom-based multinational banking firm, has joined an alliance of fintech companies and banks aimed at accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrency best practices. In a Wednesday announcement, Standard Chartered said it would be joining crypto and digital finance industry membership body Global Digital Finance (GDF) Patron Board. As a member, the bank will help engage with international regulators and lawmakers as well as others in the industry to advocate for digital assets. According to the GDF, Standard Chartered is the first bank to join the group’s patron board, consisting of ten other members, including crypto exchanges Coinbase, …

Government-backed Chinese banks have reportedly started exploring new use cases for the digital yuan by allowing citizens to use it to buy insurance products and investment funds online. The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that leading Chinese banks such as Bank of Communications (Bocom) and China Construction Bank (CCB) are working with fund managers and insurers to enable e-yuan payments for sectors beyond the retail landscape. The report states that CCB has collaborated with an investment funds platform, Shanghai Tiantian Fund Distribution, for allowing citizens to make online fund investments with the digital yuan. JD.com, a China-based e-commerce …