Billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller has forecast the possibility of a crypto-derived ledger system overtaking the U.S. dollar as a global reserve currency. The hedge fund boss noted that if there were to be a U.S. dollar replacement it “would be some kind of ledger system invented by some kids from MIT or Stanford or some other engineering school that hasn't even happened yet, that can replace the dollar worldwide.” He made the comments in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box. Druckenmiller noted that crypto is often promoted as a hedge against inflation, which has become more relevant of …

The European Investment Bank, an international financial institution owned by European Union member states, is reportedly exploring blockchain technology for issuing digital bonds. According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, the EIB has hired major global banks such as Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander and Société Générale to look at a potential deal involving a euro-denominated bond issued on a blockchain. Citing a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg states that the EIB is planning to deploy blockchain technology for the registration and settlement of digital bonds. Investor meetings for the inaugural sale will reportedly start on Thursday and continue for several …

Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of the largest global cryptocurrency exchange Binance and one of the world’s top crypto billionaires, does not own much except crypto. “I’m one of those guys who value liquidity much more than owning something. I actually prefer not to own anything,” Zhao said in a Bloomberg interview on Wednesday. He noted that various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) now make up nearly 100% of his entire net worth as he does not own any real estate or much fiat holdings. When asked how much of his net worth is invested in crypto, Zhao said: “I would …

It could be a while before European Union gets a central bank digital currency, if it gets one at all. In a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg Television, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde laid out the complex decision-making process with which the bank will determine the future of a digital euro. The ECB will soon release its analysis of eight thousand responses received from its digital euro consultation process. “That will be communicated to the European Parliament which is one of the key players as well as the Commission and the Council with which we operate,” she stated. Based on …

Tether Holdings Limited, a company behind the world’s largest stablecoin Tether (USDT), has released an assurance opinion to confirm that Tether tokens are fully backed by its reserves. In a statement shared on Twitter Tuesday, Tether provided the company’s Consolidated Reserves Report, or CRR, accompanied by an assurance report from accounting network Moore Cayman. Signed on March 26, the accountant’s report intends to prove the accuracy of Tether’s CRR compiled on Feb. 28. “In our opinion, the CRR as prepared by the management of Tether Holdings Limited Group as of February 2021 at 11:59 PM UTC is presented in accordance …

Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, believes that the country’s not-yet-launched digital currency is the “highest form of money.” In a Monday interview with state media RT, Aksakov expressed optimism about Russia’s upcoming central bank digital currency, or CBDC, predicting that a digital ruble will become an integral part of national settlements in two or three years. Aksakov said that the Bank of Russia expects to finalize a digital ruble prototype by the end of 2021, and plans to issue a development roadmap in the near future. “The digital ruble is the highest form …

Stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) have hit another milestone in terms of accumulation by exchanges. According to market data provider CryptoQuant, stablecoin holdings on global crypto exchanges soared to a new all-time high on March 28, exceeding $10 billion. Cryptocurrency exchanges are now holding nearly 16% of the total market value of all stablecoins, with stablecoin market capitalization amounting to $63 billion at the time of writing, according to data from CoinGecko. The total trading volume of all stablecoins is estimated at about $88 billion. According to CryptoQuant data, volumes of stablecoin holdings on exchanges have been …

Major credit credit provider Visa is piloting a program that will allow its partners to use the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain to settle a transaction made in fiat. In a Monday announcement, Visa said it will be partnering with cryptocurrency exchange platform and card issuer Crypto.com to offer a crypto settlement system for fiat transactions later this year. Visa’s partners will reportedly be able to exchange USD Coin (USDC) over the credit card’s payment network to clear transactions made in fiat currency. According to Visa, its standard settlement process requires partners to send fiat currency via wire transfer, which "can add …

Chinese authorities are willing to ensure maximum user privacy for the country’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, according to an official at the People’s Bank of China. Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute, spoke of China’s digital yuan privacy capabilities at the 2021 China Development Forum on Sunday, local news agency Sina Finance reported. Mu stated that a completely anonymous CBDC “is not feasible” because a national digital currency must meet requirements related to Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing and anti-tax evasion. However, that doesn’t mean that China’s digital yuan lacks user privacy, …

Gold may buy less and less Bitcoin (BTC) this year, but another measure of the cryptocurrency's strength has just hit a historic milestone. Data from on-chain analytics service Ecoinometrics shows that on March 17, the so-called Big Sats Index saw a United States McDonald's Big Mac cost less than 10,000 satoshis for the first time. Bitcoin vs. fiat: Hard to digest The Big Sats Index measures how much a Big Mac costs based on the famous Big Mac Index from The Economist. Born in 1986, the latter originally came about as a tool to measure the strength of different fiat …

Crypto users no longer have to set up a complicated mining farm in their cars to earn tokens while on the road — in a bit of linguistic irony, Fiat has provided a solution. According to an announcement from the Italian car manufacturer on Tuesday, Fiat’s parent company Stellantis has partnered with Kiri Technologies to reward drivers in cryptocurrency. People who use the latest model of Fiat’s 500 electric vehicle will now receive 1 KiriCoin — worth two euro cents, or roughly $0.024 at the time of publication — for each kilometer driven. Fiat users who drive more efficiently based …

The central bank of Russia is expecting to start pilots for its central bank digital currency in 2022, a senior executive reportedly claimed. Bank of Russia deputy governor Alexey Zabotkin said that the bank is planning to complete a prototype digital ruble by the end of 2021, local news agency Prime reports Wednesday. Zabotkin announced the plans at an online event hosted by Moscow's New Economic School. Zabotkin stated that the prototype will not support “real transactions” but would rather serve as a starting point to build the ecosystem on. “Based on this prototype, including refinement, we will start rolling …