The crypto market has been on the receiving end of a market downturn during the past week, with many cryptocurrencies facing drops in valuation almost overnight, raising concerns that a bear market has commenced. Furthermore, in the wake of this market turmoil, Ethereum network transaction fees have surged, recently achieving an all-time high, thanks in part to the influx of many new on-chain transactions initiated by various decentralized finance protocols that have made their way into the crypto domain in recent months. And while DeFi has provided investors with financial products through decentralized exchanges by way of various lending protocols …

With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to wreak economic havoc all over the world, China’s commitment to releasing its much-hyped digital yuan project — referred to as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment, or DCEP — as early as possible has remained impressively steadfast. In this regard, it appears as though Chinese authorities are now rolling out the digital currency for testing across Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Area over the coming few weeks. Furthermore, it came to light on Aug. 5 that a select group of state-run commercial banks within China had been conducting industrial-scale internal tests of a digital currency wallet …

In 2008, a momentous occasion took place with the release of the Bitcoin (BTC) white paper. With author Satoshi Nakamoto explicitly calling for the deconstruction of financial intermediaries, regulators around the world were put on alert, particularly as Wall Street faced one of its biggest crises since the 1930s. While Bitcoin’s lack of a stable pricing mechanism has prevented it from becoming a commonly accepted medium of exchange, Tether (USDT) — one of the earliest stablecoins, developed by Tether Ltd. — has addressed this. In 2014, Tether Ltd. issued its namesake stablecoin, Tether. As the earliest U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, Tether …

Thai Stellar-based blockchain startup Lightnet has raised $31.2 million to boost cross-border payments in Southeast Asian countries. The Bangkok-headquartered firm has completed a Series A funding round led by major financial conglomerates in the region, Singaporean United Overseas Bank (UOB) and South Korea’s Hanwha Investment & Securities, Business Insider Malaysia reports Jan. 10. Stellar blockchain is used to replace “inefficient” payment systems like SWIFT Implementing the Stellar blockchain, a major blockchain protocol that is used to operate eponymous cryptocurrency Stellar Lumens (XLM), Lightnet has a brave plan to replace established payment systems like SWIFT in Southeast Asian market, the report …

Earlier this week, a story published by Chinese state-run media outlet Xinhua featured some pro-Bitcoin comments that referred to the flagship digital currency as being the world’s “first successful application of blockchain technology.” This latest endorsement comes against the backdrop of China’s stringent anti-crypto stance, wherein the country’s lawmakers implemented a blanket ban on its local cryptocurrency exchanges as well as initial coin offerings back in 2017. The aforementioned Xinhua article takes a balanced approach toward crypto tech, outlining the history of Bitcoin’s development and its overall evolution. It starts off by asking readers the question “Does BTC present the …

As many as 99% of all cryptocurrencies will likely go to zero, according to a new prediction by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. There are too many crypto projects, says Garlinghouse In an interview with Bloomberg released Nov. 5, Garlinghouse claimed that there are too many cryptocurrencies so far, forecasting that only 1% of all crypto is here to stay. That small number of crypto projects will be game-changing and grow significantly in the decades since they will be focused on solving real problems for real customers, Ripple CEO declared. Growth is caused by the hype around the market According to …

Blockchain technology is reshaping the face of our global financial system, and it goes far beyond cryptocurrencies alone. Since Bitcoin’s arrival, the conventional finance world has been intrigued by blockchain, Bitcoin’s underlying disruptive technology. Now we are seeing that intrigue being transformed into a full-fledged and active public interest, and the potential onset of popular mass adoption. But why is the white-collar financial world interested in adopting the very technology that holds profound implications for permanently altering “business as usual?” We headed to London in attendance of a conference called Sibos 2019 to find out. Sibos is the premiere financial …

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), an interbank payments network provider, has dismissed cryptocurrencies as being “useless and unstable.” An FXStreet report published on Sept. 10 cites unnamed SWIFT representatives at a London briefing earlier this week, who reportedly claimed that: “They go down in value like a yoyo, they’re useless and unstable. And even if crypto companies do make it stable, it’s still a basket of currencies.” SWIFT: unruffled by competitors such as Ripple At the briefing, representatives reportedly conceded the shortcomings of the SWIFT network itself, which connects roughly 11,000 banks and financial institutions worldwide. While …

The emergence of blockchain technology has undoubtedly altered the course of global digital payment development. With the likes of Ripple and Facebook’s Libra challenging the monopoly of banks and other financial institutions, mainstream players like SWIFT, Visa and Mastercard have been forced to seek significant improvements to the legacy system. Moving forward, the burning issue appears to be relevance. Blockchain systems run on the premise of replacing the legacy system with a more secure and efficient payment infrastructure. The mainstream players seem forced to face the quintessential evolutionary puzzle of “adapt or die out.” Like in every technological race, competitors …

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) announced a successful trial of instant cross-border transfers in Asia in a press release published on July 18. Fast or FAST enough? Per the release, the trial performed instant payments between 17 banks located in Australia, China, Canada, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Singapore, and Thailand, taking up to 25 seconds, with the fastest taking 13 seconds. The tests involved communication between SWIFT’s Global Payments Innovation (GPI) instant payment platform and Singapore’s domestic instant payments solution, FAST. SWIFT also explains that its GPI instant system uses existing payments infrastructure, this is expected to result …

The Japanese government is attempting to spearhead the creation of a new, global cryptocurrency payments network that would be similar to SWIFT. Replace SWIFT with a global crypto payments network? Citing an anonymous source, a Reuters report published on July 18 claimed that the country’s push for the network is motivated by a resolve to combat money laundering more effectively. While plans are being kept firmly under wraps, the source alleged that Tokyo hopes to have the network established within the next few years. Plans for the network were reportedly initially proposed by Japan’s Ministry of Finance and its national …

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) will allow distributed ledger technology (DLT) firms to use its global payments innovation (GPI) platform, according to a recently published report. In the report, SWIFT revealed that it will soon allow GPI payments on DLT-base platforms. The product will purportedly increase savings in reconciliations and boost the movement of collateral. The announcement follows a proof-of-concept (PoC) of a new gateway to interlink trade and e-commerce platforms with GPI, which the organization launched in collaboration with enterprise blockchain platform R3 in January. The product is designed to connect various trade platforms to GPI …