The global decentralized finance (DeFi) market size was valued at $11.78 billion in 2021. This number is expected to increase as DeFi advances, yet it is still in its infancy. Therefore, a number of banks and traditional financial institutions still tend to be unaware of DeFi’s potential. While this may be, industry experts within the crypto sector are predicting that decentralized finance will overtake traditional financial institutions in the coming years. For instance, Mike Belshe, CEO and co-founder of BitGo — a digital asset custody provider — told Cointelegraph that he believes DeFi will replace institutions in the next three …

DBS Bank, a major financial services group in Asia, is applying decentralized finance (DeFi) for a project backed by Singapore’s central bank. DBS has started a trading test of foreign exchange (FX) and government securities using permissioned, or private, DeFi liquidity pools, the firm announced on Nov. 2. The development is part of Project Guardian, a collaborative cross-industry effort pioneered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Conducted on a public blockchain, the trade included the purchase and sale of tokenized Singapore government securities (SGS), the Singapore dollar (SGD), Japanese government bonds and the Japanese yen (JPY). The project has …

Ever since El Salvador legalized Bitcoin (BTC) as mainstream tender, President Nayib Bukele used Twitter on numerous occasions to announce the country’s BTC acquisitions. However, ALAC El Salvador — a non-governmental anti-corruption bureau — was recently denied information from a state development bank, BANDESAL, regarding El Salvador’s Bitcoin purchases and sales. As a development bank for El Salvador, BANDESAL created a $150 million trust fund to guarantee the convertibility to dollars for citizens and merchants. The request for disclosure of El Salvador’s Bitcoin acquisition was denied on the grounds of confidentiality. ALAC El Salvador refuted the denial by highlighting that …

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is on track to debut the central bank digital currency (CBDC) after announcing the digital rupee project in February this year. The central bank of India will launch the digital rupee pilot for the wholesale segment on Nov. 1, the RBI reportedly announced on Monday. The pilot will involve nine locally operating banks, including the biggest Indian bank, the State Bank of India. According to a report by Reuters, other banks in the pilot will also include Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC …

An app that cuts out middlemen and mediators to put the power of personal finance in your hands has unveiled a major upgrade. Blockbank says the plethora of improvements and new features coming with V3 will be hugely beneficial to crypto newcomers, as well as experienced investors. An upgraded user interface delivers an easy, elegant and clean way of accessing centralized finance, decentralized finance and neobanking services in one place. Know Your Customer (KYC) checks are also being sped up, and support for driving licenses means it'll be even faster than ever. The on and offramp that links fiat and …

In 2018, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wrote to the heads of the country’s biggest high street banks to emphasize the importance of due diligence when dealing with crypto businesses. That seems to have led to widespread high-risk ratings and bans on crypto-related banking, impacting both crypto businesses hoping to operate in the U.K. and investors alike. Banks are, understandably and responsibly, concerned with scams, but the current situation creates uncertainty. Crypto investors need to be able to move their money around as they like, and crypto businesses need access to payment rails for a variety of other …

The decline of the nonfungible tokens (NFT) market doesn’t seem to be a problem for the Swiss cryptocurrency-focused bank Seba as the firm now allows its customers to store NFTs. Seba Bank has launched a regulated custody platform allowing its clients to store NFTs, the firm officially announced on Oct. 26. The NFT custody solution enables Seba Bank’s retail and institutional clients to store any Ethereum-based NFTs, including tokens from world-famous NFT collections like Bored Apes and CryptoPunks, the firm said. "There is no marketplace integration with Seba Bank at this time," a spokesperson for the firm told Cointelegraph. The …

Despite the ongoing cryptocurrency bear market, investors have been increasingly looking at Bitcoin (BTC) as a safe haven, a new study suggests. The rise in correlation between Bitcoin and gold (XAU) is one of major indicators demonstrating investors’ confidence in BTC amid the ongoing economic downturn, according to digital strategists at the Bank of America. Bitcoin’s correlation with gold — which is commonly viewed as an inflation hedge — has been on the rise this year, hitting its highest yearly levels in early October. The growing correlation trend started on Sept. 5 after remaining close to zero from June 2021 …

Major global bank Santander continues exploring the benefits of blockchain technology, with a local branch implementing blockchain for vehicle trading and car registration. Santander Brasil has launched testing of a blockchain-based tokenization platform for transferring ownership of used cars in Brazil, Cointelegraph Brasil reported on Oct. 19. The platform is designed to automate the process of transferring property registration by deploying smart contracts based on a delivery versus payment (DVP), a settlement method guaranteeing the ownership transfer after successful payment. Santander’s latest vehicle registration solution is developed in partnership with Parfin, major digital custody and Web3 infrastructure provider in Latin …

Over the years, several cryptocurrency companies have claimed that deposits with them were insured by the United States Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as if they were regular savings accounts. While so far, no crypto firm has been able to offer depositors this type of insurance, some speculate it could be the key to mass adoption. The most notable case is that of bankrupt lender Voyager Digital, which saw regulators instruct it to remove “false and misleading statements” regarding FDIC insurance. Crypto exchange FTX has been a beacon of hope looking to backstop contagion in the …

Institutions have begun to take crypto seriously and have entered the space in numerous ways. As noted in a previous analysis, this has resulted in banks and fintechs looking at custody products and services for their clients. However, as custodians of clients’ assets, banks must also ensure they are clean assets and stay compliant. This is where on-chain analytics solutions have a huge role to play in understanding patterns in transactions to identify money laundering and other spurious activities within the cryptocurrency and digital assets space. According to a report by Chainalysis, over $14 billion of illicit transactions took place …

The $9 billion-valuated German fintech N26 launched crypto trading on its mobile app. Starting from Austria and rolling out to other countries in the upcoming months, N26 Crypto will let its customers buy and sell 200 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The Berlin-based fintech announced on Oct. 20 that the launch in Austria addresses “strong local demand,” with 40% of N26 users either actively trading or have expressed interest in investing in cryptocurrencies. N26 plans to roll out its crypto trading service to other key markets in the next 6 months. N26 customers with a verified identity can …