The number of companies holding cryptocurrency in Brazil has reached new record highs as of August, amid an increased trust in cryptocurrencies and high inflation rates. According to local media reports, the country’s taxation authority, Receita Federal do Brasil (RFB), also known as the Federal Revenue of Brazil, recorded 12,053 unique organizations declaring crypto on their balance sheets in August 2022. The number is a 6.1% increase from the 11,360 companies in July and is the month with the highest recorded number of companies with crypto holdings to date. The RFB noted that Bitcoin (BTC) is the most popular cryptocurrency …

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce, released an initial public draft highlighting the various security considerations in relation to the architecture and implementation of stablecoins. Based on the study of the top 20 stablecoins over the past year, NIST found that the top five coins that retained their peg represented 87 % of the total top 20 market capitalization. Out of the lot, the top 5 stablecoins based on market capitalization that managed to maintain their pegs are listed below. Coincidentally, all five tokens are pegged to the …

Multinational fast food chain McDonald’s started to accept Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method in the 63,000-populated city of Lugano in Italian Switzerland, which is becoming a hotspot for crypto adoption in Western Europe. A one-minute video of ordering food on McDonald’s digital kiosk and then paying for it at the regular register with the help of a mobile app was uploaded on Twitter by Bitcoin Magazine on Monday, Oct. 3. The Tether (USDT) logo could be spotted next to the Bitcoin symbol on the credit cash machine, which is not surprising, as in March 2022 the city of Lugano …

Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) has nearly completely slashed its commercial paper holdings, with less than $50 million worth of commercial paper units as of Sept. 30, 2022. Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino made the announcement in an Oct. 3 tweet, adding also that Tether’s United States Treasury bills increased to 58.1% of its total portfolio, up 25.1% from its Jun. 30 figure of 43.5%. #tether portfolio update. Tether as of 30 September 2022 holds ~58.1% of its assets in US t-bills. Up from 43.5% on June 30 2022. CP exposure is < 50M now.@Tether_to — Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) October 3, 2022 …

Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) can work well with decentralized finance (DeFi), and they have a lot of potential to boost DeFi adoption, according to a Swiss central bank official. Among many various types of digital currencies, it is CBDC that could provide more stability and lower risks to the development of DeFi, according to Thomas Moser, a governing board member at the Swiss National Bank (SNB). In order to grow, DeFi needs stable money, which is why stablecoins were invented, and stablecoins clearly helped DeFi to become more popular, Moser told Cointelegraph. Despite being polar opposites, centralization and decentralization …

Despite Russia pushing the idea of using cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments, it still remains unclear what digital asset exactly the government plans to adopt for such transactions. Russian authorities are quite unlikely to approve the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) for cross-border transactions, according to local lawyers and fintech executives. Bank of Russia needs to control cross-border transactions It’s “highly questionable” that Russia would allow usage of Bitcoin or any other similar cryptocurrency for cross-border payments because such assets are “hard to control,” according to Elena Klyuchareva, the senior associate at the local law firm KKMP. Klyuchareva emphasized that …

The market capitalization of USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin issued by U.S.-based payment tech firm Circle, has dropped below $50 billion for the first time since January 2022. On the weekly chart, USDC's market cap, which reflects the number of U.S. dollar-backed tokens in circulation, fell to $49.39 billion on Sep. 26, down almost 12% from its record high of $55.88 billion, established merely three months ago. In contrast, the market cap of Tether (USDT), which risked losing its top stablecoin position to USDC in May, crossed above $68 billion on Sep. 26, albeit still down 17.4% from its record …

Cryptocurrencies have been in a bear trend since mid-August after they failed to break above the $1.2 trillion market capitalization resistance. Even with the current bear trend and a brutal 25% correction, it has not been enough to break the 3-month-long ascending trend. The crypto markets' aggregate capitalization declined 7.2% to $920 billion in the 7 days leading to Sept. 21. Investors wanted to play it safe ahead of the Federal Open Markets Committee meeting, which decided to increase the interest rate by 0.75%. By increasing the cost of borrowing cash, the monetary authority aims to curb inflationary pressure while …

The judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Katherine Polk Failla, ordered Tether to prove 1-to-1 backing of its eponymous stablecoin, Tether (USDT). The company is required to provide “general ledgers, balance sheets, income statements, cash-flow statements, and profit and loss statements” and other documents to the court. The order was published on Sept. 20 as a part of a case that started back in 2019 — the initial complaint by a group of investors against iFinex, Tether and Bitfinex's parent company, alleged that the firm manipulated the crypto market by issuing unbacked …

Major Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has opted to delist the USD Coin (USDC) from its platform and convert the remaining balances into Binance-backed Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin. WazirX officially announced on Monday that it has stopped deposits of USDC alongside other stablecoins like Pax Dollar (USDP) and TrueUSD (TUSD). According to the announcement, the platform will instead offer the BUSD stablecoin to enhance liquidity and capital efficiency for users. WazirX will implement BUSD auto-conversion for users' existing balances of USDC, USDP and TUSD at a 1:1 ratio on Oct. 5, the firm said. “Users will be able to view their …

The fallout from the leaked Kyle Roche videos has continued after two law firms submitted a document to the court asking that his law firm Roche Freedman be removed as interim co-lead from the Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset Litigation. Roche Freedman are acting for plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit initiated in 2019 alleging Tether and Bitfinex manipulated the crypto market by issuing unbacked USDT. Kirby McInerney LLP (Kirby) and Radice Law Firm, P.C. (Radice), who are also representing three plaintiffs in the case, submitted the request that Roche Freeman be removed to the court on Sept.5. In the document, …

Crypto exchange giant Binance has confirmed it has no plans to “auto-convert” Tether (USDT) to Binance USD (BUSD) at the moment, though noted that this “may change.” On Sept. 6, the crypto exchange surprised the market with the announcement it will cease trading support for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) on its platform, along with USDP Stablecoin (USDP) and TrueUSD (TUSD). Any users that are still holding the three stablecoins on Sept. 29 will begin to have their holdings auto-converted to BUSD at a 1:1 ratio over a 24-hour period. Binance stated that the move was a decision to …