The European Central Bank (ECB) has “no plans” to issue its own digital currency, President Mario Draghi told the European Parliament Wednesday, September 12. Addressing a query by MEP Jonás Fernández, Draghi said “substantial development” was still needed in the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies before the Central Bank would consider using them. “The ECB and the Eurosystem currently have no plans to issue a central bank digital currency,” he summarized: “Nonetheless, we are carefully analysing the potential consequences of issuing such a currency as a complement to cash.” Explaining why no plans were afoot at the ECB, Draghi drew attention …

Now-defunct Japanese Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Mt. Gox has extended its online rehabilitation claim filing system to corporate users, according to an official announcement posted on the exchange’s site today, September 12. Today’s announcement follows upon an online system for individual (non-corporate) users that was released August 23, allowing them to file proofs of bankruptcy claims. The deadline for filing the rehabilitation claims is October 22, 2018, and the claims can also alternatively be filed offline. The announcement has been signed by Tokyo attorney Nobuaki Kobayashi, who has been appointed to act as civil rehabilitation trustee to manage Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy …

A University of Berkeley professor has claimed stablecoins are a “myth” in a new critique published Tuesday, September 11. Taking the emerging market sector, which includes well-known assets such as Tether (USDT), to task, Professor of Economics Barry Eichengreen argues that stablecoins are not automatically “viable” just because they are pegged to reserves of, for example, fiat currency. Eichengreen writes that “conventional cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, trade at wildly fluctuating prices, which means that their purchasing power – their command over goods and services – is highly unstable,” adding: “Stable coins purport to solve these problems. Because their value is …

The U.S. Congress Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance has discussed various methods of terrorism financing with cryptocurrency, according to an official press release on the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee September 7. In order to monitor threats and methods of terrorist financing, the hearing considered major means of transferring funds by terrorists, including traditional financial institutions and semi-formal methods, such as the hawala exchange system, as well as cryptocurrencies. However, while al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other terrorist groups have all attempted to raise funds through crypto, they have not had great success, as Congress concluded in …

The BlockShow Americas 2018 conference kicked off Monday, Aug. 20 in Las Vegas. The first panel discussion involved a heated debate between proponents of two opposite views of how — and if — blockchain should be regulated and adopted by institutions around the globe. BlockShow is a series of fintech and crypto events, usually held in Singapore and Europe; the previous BlockShow took place in Berlin in the spring of this year. The opening panel, titled “Wall Street vs Crypto,” brought together a number of industry experts to discuss the future potential of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), and the importance …

Mainstream media seized on the unravelling currency crisis in Turkey Monday, August 13, with Bloomberg publicizing a demonstration of Bitcoin’s (BTC) comparatively low volatility. Leading with the headline “Turkey Meltdown Propels Lira Volatility Above Bitcoin,” Bloomberg became the latest publication to reveal the full extent of the Turkish national currency’s devaluation this year. “The 10-day swings in the lira relative to the U.S. dollar now exceed those for Bitcoin amid Turkey’s escalating currency crisis,” Bloomberg reports. Turkey has seen an uptick in consumer interest in Bitcoin since the lira, which had already halved in value against the dollar since January, …

Bitcoin (BTC) and “unsteady cryptocurrency mania” are the one of six factors that threaten Goldman Sachs 2018 market outlook, according to a July 2018 report by the Goldman Sachs Investment Strategy Group. The report entitled “(Un)Steady as She Goes,” highlights “cryptocurrency mania” as one of several factors that could affect their initial market outlook for this year. Other factors listed included terrorism, the rise of populism, rising geopolitical tensions, and an increasing threat of cyberattacks. The investment bank expects cryptocurrency markets to “further [decline] in the future given our view that these cryptocurrencies do not fulfill any of the three …

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator of 23 leading global exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has announced plans to create a Microsoft cloud-powered “open and regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets,” according to a press release published August 3. The operator of NYSE is forming a new company, dubbed “Bakkt,” and will work alongside a marquee group of enterprises that includes BCG, Microsoft, Starbucks, and others, to create the new ecosystem. The intention is to create an integrated platform that enables consumers, merchants, and institutional clients to buy, sell, store, and spend digital assets on a “seamless global …

Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman has expressed his skepticism about the value of cryptocurrencies in a New York Times Opinion piece published July 31. Krugman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008, explains his position as a “crypto skeptic” by noting the high transaction costs and an “absence of tethering” associated with cryptocurrencies. Krugman describes how the history of money has been slowly moving away from gold and silver coins, to banknotes, and now to credit cards and other “digital methods,” all of which served the purpose of making purchases less costly. According to Krugman, …

UK fintech firm Billon has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with international financial services tech provider Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) to integrate blockchain tech solutions, according to a July 31 press release. Billon refers to itself as a “civilized blockchain” company, meaning that it implements blockchain to ultimately process fiat currencies. FIS is an Florida-based international company with more than 55,000 employees located across more than 130 countries, specializing in banking software and payment processing. FIS will work with Billon to assess the use of Billon’s “distributed architecture for document and identity management” for the FIS international …

A new monetary system is aiming to overcome the “severe price volatility” which has made cryptocurrencies unappealing to use as tender — creating two primary digital currencies which are based on gold and silver. Kinesis says these currencies — known as KAU and KAG — are based one-to one on allocated physical gold and silver. This means that the full, direct title to the bullion backing these coins is held by the person who owns the cryptocurrency. These coins can be loaded on to a debit card and instantly converted into fiat for payments to merchants who accept Visa and …

Unocoin, a major Indian crypto wallet provider and exchange, has suspended rupee (INR) deposits and withdrawals “as per orders” from the country’s central bank, according to Unocoin’s blog post July 23. Unocoin notified its customers that fiat deposits and withdrawals are “temporarily disabled” until “an alternative method of funding is identified and deployed.” Meanwhile, crypto asset deposits continue to be active on both Unocoin’s crypto-rupee trading platform and partner crypto-crypto exchange Unodax. Unocoin users can also continue to use their existing rupee balance to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and crypto-rupee and crypto-crypto pairs remain live on …