Daily crypto news alerts for 10th December, 2020....
🗞German bank launches EURB stablecoin on Stellar blockchain📈
One of the oldest European banks, Bankhaus von der Heydt (BVDH), announced the launch of a new stablecoin EURB on the Stellar network, the value of which is pegged to the euro rate.
According to BVDH representatives, EURB stablecoin became the first stable cryptocurrency issued by a banking institution. To issue the coin, the bank collaborated with Bitbond, an asset tokenization and custodian company.
Moreover, the asset, according to the bank, is fully regulated. Therefore, there will be no free access to trading EURB on cryptocurrency exchanges due to user identification requirements and regulatory requirements. To buy a stablecoin, the client must make a deposit to an escrow account at BVDH bank, which will start the process of issuing EURB coins.
Already, developers of financial applications can use stablecoin for quick settlements. At the same time, thanks to the Bitbond platform, the bank retains full control over EURB, including the ability to issue and destroy coins.
“We have partnered with Bitbond and Stellar to make it easy to issue and manage assets issued on the Stellar blockchain,” said BVDH Managing Director Philipp Doppelhammer.
According to the bank's top manager, the main purpose of the EURB issue was the use of a stablecoin for international payments by SatoshiPay clients. In addition, such a cryptocurrency may be interesting for other banks as well. Bitbond founder and CEO Radoslav Albrecht said:
“Banks are not very comfortable working with stablecoins like Tether or USDC, as there is a risk of interference from a third party company. They prefer to work with stablecoins issued by banks. The same is true for institutional investors. ”
In early December, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde (Christine Lagarde) said that stablecoins could threaten financial stability.
🗞Russia, Venezuela and Colombia Lead in Bitcoin Trading on LocalBitcoins
According to the P2P trading platform LocalBitcoins, Russia, Venezuela and Colombia are the leading countries in bitcoin trading due to financial and political factors.
LocalBitcoins analysts reported that Russia accounts for 17.4% of the total trading volume on this site. The rates for Venezuela and Colombia are 12.3% and 11.3%, respectively. These three countries have different economic conditions, but they are united by a rather strong interest in bitcoin.
The top five leaders in BTC trading on LocalBitcoins are closed by the United Kingdom (6.3%) and Nigeria (5%). Argentina, Chile and Brazil are also important strategic markets for LocalBitcoins, as these countries have been particularly affected by the crisis due to the pandemic. According to a recent survey of P2P platform Paxful, 74% of Argentines believe that in the current political environment, cryptocurrencies are the best way to protect their savings.
Given the instability of the economies of these Latin American countries, their citizens are showing a high interest in Bitcoin trading and see this cryptocurrency as a “safe haven”. A few months ago, the analytical company Chainalysis also presented a report according to which Russia and Venezuela boast the largest number of cryptocurrency traders and retail investors. This is not the first time Venezuela has set records for the volume of bitcoin trading, as, due to hyperinflation, the bolivar is not popular among the country's population.
Recall that six months ago, LocalBitcoins added transaction tracking tools from analytical company Elliptic to prevent fraudulent transactions and comply with the requirements of the European Union's Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5).
🗞Vitalik Buterin: CBDC will be converted into cryptocurrencies in the future
National digital currencies (CBDC) in the future can be easily exchanged for cryptocurrencies, says Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He shared his expectations at Fintech Festival 2020 in Singapore, reports Cointelegraph.
“It's important to understand how CBDCs will interact with digital currencies. I expect many opportunities for a fair exchange between different types of assets and the transition from one ecosystem to another, ”said Buterin.
The Ethereum co-founder expressed optimism about the development of national digital currencies, stressing that they will bring potential benefits, in particular, simplify the macroeconomics. At the same time, he is concerned about possible privacy issues.
During his speech, Buterin also touched on the topic of blockchain use cases. He believes that as scalability issues improve, the number will continue to grow and that they will find successful practical applications more often.
Recall that the developers of the non-custodial exchange IDEX recently suggested that direct settlements on transactions with assets in different networks will be available in "many, many" years.
Messari analysts have expressed confidence that Ethereum will continue to stand firm thanks to its community. They believe that this will prevent competitors that have created interoperable bridges with the network of the second largest cryptocurrency and are developing Ethereum-compatible virtual machine analogs, to succeed.
🗞CEO Circle urges US to cooperate in regulating crypto industry
The US government should work with the blockchain industry to develop regulatory requirements. This was pointed out by the head of the cryptocurrency company Circle Jeremy Allair in a letter to the US Treasury.
In his opinion, some of the proposed measures threaten the industry itself and the competitiveness of the United States. Allair called one of them a possible restriction on the use of local cryptocurrency wallets.
The head of the company noted that the proposal "does not adequately assess" the real risks and gives an advantage to Chinese organizations. He called on regulators to work with industry to create regulations and supervisory schemes.
Allair’s opinion coincides with the position of several members of the US Congress, who on December 9 demanded from the Treasury Department to comment on rumors about possible restrictions on non-custodial wallets. In the letter, they indicated that the initiative would interfere with the US leadership in technological innovation.
At the end of November, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the plans of the head of the US Treasury, Stephen Mnuchin, to introduce mandatory verification of the owners of non-custodial wallets before leaving office.
Allair had previously criticized a bill requiring stablecoin issuers to obtain banking licenses and regulatory approval.
