The Italian Banking Association, or ABI, has affirmed its support for the implementation of a sovereign European digital currency by beginning pilot studies on a digital euro project. According to an announcement, the association is working with its research and development arm, ABI Lab, and commercial banks in the country to develop an experimental digital euro. The ABI’s digital euro study will reportedly focus on two major areas — technical feasibility analysis and central bank digital currency programmability to create a distinction from existing electronic payment methods. Italian enterprise network firm SIA will assist the consortium in the technical feasibility …

Eight states and the District of Columbia are suing the national bank regulator over a rule change that just came into effect. Per a Jan. 5 filing, New York's attorney general is leading the charge against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and current Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks. Back in October, the OCC laid out its "True Lender" rule, which took effect at the end of December. The rule dictates that a loan that includes a national bank as a lender can therefore rely on the OCC's national guidance rather than that of individual states. The controversy here …

Monday evening, the Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency told national banks that they are allowed to run independent nodes for distributed ledger networks. Referring to of independent node verification networks, the OCC's interpretive letter says that banks "may use new technologies, including INVNs and related stablecoins, to perform bank-permissible functions, such as payment activities." Coming amid a great deal of uncertainty as to the future of stablecoins, the OCC's announcement is big news. The office, nonetheless, cautions that there are cyber risks inherent to using such technology: "Banks must also be aware of potential risks when conducting …

2020 has been a stellar year for the crypto economy, with more enterprises and institutions than ever before implementing the technology. Big announcements, such as PayPal’s decision to enable its users to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), have understandably dominated the headlines. However, pivotal regulatory developments across the globe have largely flown under the radar and arguably present even greater significance for crypto in the long term. Related: Will PayPal’s crypto integration bring crypto to the masses? Experts answer The importance of clear regulatory frameworks cannot be overstated, with patchy and insufficient legislation offering a major barrier to enterprises looking …

As one of the first countries to industrialize in the 1760s, Britain’s manufacturing revolution instigated one of the greatest practical and ubiquitous changes in human history. But even more extraordinary than the cultural shift itself, is the fact that Britain’s industrialization remained way ahead of potential competition for decades. Only in the early 1900s did historians come to grips with the issues of causation. Max Weber’s pithy answer, “the Protestant work ethic,” pointed to Puritan seriousness, diligence, fiscal prudence and hard work. Others point to the establishment of the Bank of England in 1694 as a foundation for financial stability. …

A leading association of state banking regulators is trying to put the U.S. national banking regulator in its place on the issue of fintech registration. Per a Dec. 22 filing, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, or CSBS, says the impending approval of Figure Technology's bank charter a bridge too far. Figure operates blockchain-backed lending and investment services. It announced its application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a charter at the beginning of November. At the time, CEO Mike Cagney noted the relative convenience of a national charter, saying:"we'll have over 200 state licenses next …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is often characterized as a movement that could unseat traditional banks once and for all — eliminating intermediaries and giving consumers levels of freedom and choice that they’re probably unaccustomed to. But there’s an alternative narrative, one that doesn’t pit DeFi against the banks. What if these innovative protocols could help provide desperately needed modernization to old-fashioned financial institutions… enabling them to deliver better levels of service in a much more cost-efficient way? Even before digital assets burst onto the scene, many banks were struggling to adapt to the sudden, large-scale shift to online and mobile banking. …

More and more traditional banks have started announcing support for digital assets as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) continues to make headlines for record-breaking all-time highs. Even major banks like JPMorgan Chase, which previously frowned upon Bitcoin, have taken a newfound interest in the cryptocurrency. Contrary to what Goldman Sachs stated recently, JPMorgan’s strategists have noted that “the price of gold would suffer from a structural flow headwind over the coming years” due to Bitcoin’s growth. While JPMorgan Chase is clearly taking a softer stance on Bitcoin, some leading banks are going a step further by offering clients custody services …

VTB, the second-largest bank in Russia after Sberbank, has piloted a new blockchain-based system to issue bank guarantees. According to an official announcement last Wednesday, VTB provided a blockchain-enabled bank guarantee to the country’s largest mobile cellular network provider, MTS. As part of the development, the bank issued MTS a guarantee for the fulfillment of payment obligations worth 392 million rubles, or $5 million. The commercial operation implemented Masterchain — an Ethereum-based blockchain prototype backed by the Russian central bank. The parties completed the transaction in real time, with VTB issuing a digital guarantee signed with a reinforced qualified signature. …

Institutional investors are paying close attention to digital assets as Bitcoin (BTC) continues to soar past record-breaking levels, almost reaching the valuation of $24,000 for the first time in its history. Recent findings from a Bank of America–Merrill Lynch survey conducted between Dec. 4 and 10 show that about 15% of fund managers with $534 billion under management believe Bitcoin to be the third-most crowded trade behind being long on technology shares and shorting the U.S. dollar. In addition, a recent Fidelity survey found that out of almost 36% of the respondents, or 774 institutional investors, own crypto assets. Yet …

The crypto space has come a long way since its inception in 2008. Many areas have improved over the last 12 years, such as custody and exchange solutions. If you ask the early adopters of crypto, they can tell you stories about how hard it was to set up a wallet or how cumbersome it was to go to a meetup and exchange Bitcoin (BTC) without being scammed. Since then, things have changed for the better when it comes to user experience and user interface. Nowadays, creating a cryptocurrency wallet is as easy as setting up an email address. The …

Sandie O’Connor, the former chief regulatory affairs officer at banking giant JPMorgan Chase, is joining Ripple’s board of directors. According to a Ripple blog post published yesterday, O’Connor will “provide counsel on key government relations and regulatory initiatives” as part of her role on the board. O’Connor worked at JPMorgan for 31 years, serving as chief regulatory affairs officer and treasurer for the bank before retiring in 2019. She has been a systemic resolution advisory committee member for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, since July. CEO Brad Garlinghouse said O’Connor’s “extensive network and in-depth understanding of markets, capital …