HSBC, the largest European bank with total assets of $3 trillion, maintains a skeptical stance on cryptocurrency while promoting the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn penned an article titled “New forms of digital money could spur growth,” in which he outlined the firm’s commitment to supporting the concept of a CBDC, as it provides transparent legal tender designed to avoid “many risks” associated with cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Released on Tuesday, the piece argues that global CBDC efforts like the Chinese digital yuan are the “new form of digital money,” while private money itself, …

The central bank of Ukraine has moved to support the development of the cryptocurrency industry after the Ukrainian parliament adopted a major crypto law in early September. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) issued an official statement on the basic principles of monetary policies for the upcoming year in which it paid particular attention to the regulation of cryptocurrencies on Sept. 13. The central bank emphasized that the NBU recognizes the importance of technological innovations associated with virtual assets and sees “many promising opportunities,” like improving access to financial services and increasing competition in the payments market. According to the …

Amid El Salvador officially accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender on Tuesday, Sept. 7, the Russian government has reiterated its negative stance to a scenario where BTC could be accepted as an official currency. Dmitry Peskov, the official representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Russia has no reason to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, local news agency RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday. The Kremlin representative argued that putting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in line with traditional money instruments would bring nothing but detriments to the country’s financial and economic system. “Clearly, Russia is not ready for such moves,” Peskov …

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 …

Amid El Salvador preparing to officially enforce the country’s Bitcoin Law in early September, Salvadorans took to the streets to protest over the adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as an official currency. El Salvador’s anti-Bitcoiners have expressed discontent regarding the government’s plans to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, with hundreds of protesters marching through the capital, San Salvador, last Friday, Euronews TV network reported. The demonstrators — including retirees, veterans, disability pensioners and workers — voiced their concerns over Bitcoin’s unstable price. The crowd was worried that the government would start paying their pensions in Bitcoin instead of the United States …

Major Bitcoin (BTC) ATM operators in the United States are joining forces to fight illicit activity related to Bitcoin ATMs. Bitcoin ATM operators DigitalMint and Coinsource have launched the Cryptocurrency Compliance Cooperative (CCC), a new association that aims to establish compliance standards for the Bitcoin ATM industry. The new compliance effort has launched with support from major blockchain analytics firms, such as Chainalysis and Elliptic, among its 15 initial members. The CCC is now encouraging participation from cash-based crypto money services businesses, regulators, financial institutions, as well as non-state and law enforcement agencies. The association specifically targets Bitcoin ATMs to …

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand continues introducing new regulations for the cryptocurrency industry, citing investor protection concerns. On Wednesday, the Thai SEC proposed a set of additional regulations related to custody of investors' cryptocurrency holdings held by digital asset business operators. The newly proposed rules refer to custody of fiat money for digital asset accounts as well as cryptocurrency lending, or earning interest on crypto holdings. The SEC is specifically looking to prohibit crypto companies from using investor assets for the “benefit of another client or other persons,” or seeking benefits from both investors’ fiat money and …

A glossy looking documentary series centered on the history of money and cryptocurrency premiere on August 19th at 7:00 am UTC, and features interviews from a long list of top crypto figures. The 12 episode video series is somewhat confusingly called “Coins Podcast” and the first two episodes drop on YouTube today. The show is hosted by Patrick Mclain of blockchain accelerator Mousebelt, and narrated by actor Robert Davi, who has played roles in Die Hard, James Bond: License to Kill and Predator 2. The docu-series features interviews with crypto proponents and key figures in the sector such as FTX …

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is making another step towards the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by partnering with a German currency technology provider. The BoG officially announced Wednesday that it signed an agreement with German banknote and securities printing company Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to pilot a retail CBDC in Ghana, West Africa. As part of the agreement, G+D will provide its proprietary CBDC solution known as Filia to pilot the issuance of a digital form of Ghana’s national currency, the cedi. The digital currency will be tested in a trial with local banks, merchants, payment service providers …

Republican Senator and Bitcoin proponent Cynthia Lummis said that massive government spending is accelerating crypto adoption. Lummis made the comments while sharing an interview she did with “Varney & Co” on the Fox Business cable network on July 29, in which she called for a crypto regulatory sandbox and support to attract Bitcoin miners to set up in US states. On Twitter she stated that “big gov’t spenders are (accidentally) doing far more to accelerate the adoption of digital assets than I am,” and asserted that the debasement of the U.S. dollar is driving citizens to store value in digital …

Last month, Bitcoin was adopted as legal tender in El Salvador, joining the U.S. dollar. The country's new Bitcoin Law, which will be enforced starting Sept. 7, will allow Salvadorans to use Bitcoin (BTC) as a currency to purchase goods and services, as well as to pay taxes and debt. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has stated that Bitcoin adoption will hugely benefit the 70% of the local population that lacks access to banking services. He also believes that it will attract investments and create new jobs. However, the Bitcoin Law has raised multiple concerns. Skeptics say the cryptocurrency's high …