Fitch Ratings has become the latest global credit rating agency to warn El Salvador against adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, expressing concerns that crypto assets could cause systemic risks for the Latin American nation. Citing the country’s lack of clarity in Bitcoin’s implementation in mainstream markets, Fitch Ratings warned about the inherent volatility and operational risks for citizens associated with the crypto ecosystem. In addition, the agency pointed out El Salvador’s ongoing exposure to low credit quality securities, stating that “additional holdings of high-risk assets will only compound this risk.” In early June, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly passed President …

San Francisco-based technology firm Metromile has used 10% of the funds it previously said would be allocated towards crypto to buy Bitcoin (BTC). According to Tuesday's filing from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, Metromile reported that it had purchased $1 million in Bitcoin in June. However, the firm recorded a loss of $100,000 in the original crypto buy, holding roughly $900,000 in Bitcoin as of June 30, or 25.6 BTC at the time. Metromile’s financial report for the second quarter of 2021 says the company held $202.6 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June …

China's nascent central bank digital currency, the digital yuan, has already been deployed for an extensive array of successful pilot schemes, ranging from e-commerce to salary payments and to festive traditional lotteries. This week has reportedly seen the currency debut in the insurance industry, in the city of Shenzhen, where it is being piloted by the local branch of the People’s Bank of China together with a local subsidiary of China’s leading insurer, Ping An. The project involves a new insurance policy tailored to medical workers in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, offering them various levels of compensation for diagnosis of or …

An insurance collaboration between decentralized protocol Etherisc and microinsurance issuer ACRE Africa has allowed thousands of farmers in Kenya to receive coverage for weather-related risks. Etherisc and ACRE Africa said they had processed insurance payouts for some of the more than 17,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya covered under the collaboration. The Chainlink Community Grant, the Ethereum Foundation and the Decentralized Insurance Foundation helped fund the project, which was first announced in November 202. “We’re thrilled that after months of hard work on this initiative, we’re seeing the fruits of our labour — which has a tangible social impact on farmers …

While the value of stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) is designed to be pegged to another asset, such as the U.S. dollar, the crypto industry has fretted for years about the possibility of a major depegging — especially amid U.S. regulatory concerns about Tether, which has a current market capitalization of over $63 billion. Now one company intends to provide discretionary coverage for investors against that scenario — and Tether itself is backing the play. Bridge Mutual aims to mitigate the risk of loss of funds resulting from hacked or exploited smart contracts, exchange hacks or theft, …

The United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is looking for information and public comments on banks' cryptocurrency-related activities. The FDIC is the major provider of deposit insurance to U.S. commercial and savings banks, originally created to address bank runs during the Great Depression. On Monday, the FDIC officially announced a request for public input to get more information on the industry and consumers’ interests in the market as well as the role of banks in the digital asset ecosystem. “Banks are increasingly exploring several roles in the emerging digital asset ecosystem, such as being custodians, reserve holders, issuers, and exchange …

Metromile Inc., a digital insurer headquartered in San Francisco, is making Bitcoin (BTC) a core part of its business operations, offering further evidence of the growing mainstream adoption of digital assets. The company announced Thursday that it will soon give policyholders the option to pay for insurance and receive payment on eligible insurance claims in BTC or dollars. That makes Metromile the first insurance company to both accept premiums and pay insurance claims in cryptocurrency. Equally as notable, the company said it will allocate $10 million toward Bitcoin in the second quarter. Although it didn’t specify an exact date, a …

A blockchain financial services provider now offers an Ethereum 2.0 validator node hosting service that does not charge fees or take a cut of the staking rewards. Abyss Finance promises to make earning rewards for validating transactions on the in-development Ethereum 2.0 proof-of-stake blockchain as cheap and safe as possible. To begin with, Abyss Finance moves beyond the usual methods by which validator node hosts earn money. Some staking services demand a 10% to 15% cut of the rewards generated, while others charge a hosting fee for virtual nodes. In exchange for locking into a staking contract with an unlock …

Decentralized finance has many of the hallmarks of previous cryptocurrency bull markets: incredible gains, extreme volatility and massive risks. In a new report, leading noncustodial cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift explains the four biggest risks facing DeFi investors and why the emerging field of decentralized insurance could offer a solution. The report, titled "Spreading the Risk: Decentralized Insurance," categorizes DeFi risk into the following “landmines”: custodial risk, smart contract risk, protocol risk and oracle risk. The history of crypto is filled with examples of centralized exchanges “losing or absconding with users’ funds,” argues report author Kent Barton. For smart contract risk, one …

In a move that could point toward greater decentralization and wider access, the Nexus Mutual community is currently considering a proposal to sunset the coverage protocol’s legal entity and lift Know Your Customer (KYC) burdens currently necessary to interact with the platform. The proposal was announced on Thursday in a Tweet by Christopher Heymann, co-founder of investment fund 1kx. In it, Heymann notes that Nexus originally launched with a “a UK-based limited company” in order to protect the team from legal liabilities and tax-related issues. 1/ Attention Nexus Mutants: Nexus Mutual is evolving. We are launching Operation Wartortle with the …

Digital asset custody firm BitGo has expanded its cold storage insurance program, raising its insurance capacity by $600 million. BitGo debuted its crypto insurance program through global insurance and reinsurance market Lloyd’s of London in 2019. This enabled BitGo clients to acquire insurance for their digital assets held on BitGo’s Business Wallet service and Custodial offering for up to $100 million. BitGo announced Wednesday that its “Dedicated Customer Excess Specie” insurance program has been expanded to cover assets valued at over $700 million. The expansion comes in response to strong demand from institutional custody clients. The excess insurance program was …

Europe’s second-largest insurance firm, AXA, has become Switzerland’s first all-line insurer to offer its customers the option to pay their bills with Bitcoin (BTC), facilitated through a collaboration with the established cryptocurrency broker Bitcoin Suisse. Bitcoin payments will be accepted for nearly all AXA products, except for life insurance due to regulatory barriers to the latter. AXA has cited the accelerated digital transformation of the global economy during the coronavirus pandemic as being a key factor in its choice to integrate cryptocurrency into its everyday operations. However, even back in 2019, the insurer notes it had conducted market research showing …