This week’s Crypto Biz covers the buzz surrounding Bitcoin, the outlook for Ether ETFs, Ubisoft as an XPLA validator, Coinbase’s challenges and global banks taking on blockchain.
Banks News
While one of the goals of cryptocurrencies is to render traditional banking obsolete, banks as a financial institution still play a critical role in the advent and adoption of the emerging crypto economy in two ways.
Firstly, outside of a physical cash exchange for cryptocurrency, banks provide the fiat bridges to cryptocurrency markets. Without them, the influx of capital and interest in the blockchain industry would be nowhere near the magnitude it is today.
Secondly, many of the world’s leading banks are researching and, in some cases, developing their own central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, which aim to secure hegemony in the digital asset space largely in response to the growth of the crypto economy.
As digital finance evolves before our eyes, banks as a commonplace financial organization may change drastically in their role and purpose in society — even if it leads to obsolescence.
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The landlocked country of Andorra sought technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund on various topics, including effectively monitoring crypto assets.
2064Since the Canton Network’s inception, 155 participants from 45 major organizations have settled real-world assets across 22 blockchains.
10134The price of Bitcoin has pushed to reach new all-time highs above $72,000, spurred by record-breaking weekly inflows into crypto funds.
5200Institutions representing “trillions of dollars” in assets are expected to buy into spot Bitcoin ETFs by June this year, says Bitwise’s Matt Hougan.
40482Stock prices for the embattled lender have slumped 83% since the beginning of 2024, hitting an all-time low this week before rebounding.
6318The House Financial Services Committee has voted to advance a resolution that could overturn the controversial Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121.
13914Bitwise’s CIO Matt Hougan’s comments come as Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo reportedly started offering spot Bitcoin ETFs to its wealth clients.
14014A deep-rooted distrust toward banks in many developed countries subsists, so crypto and fintech firms will first need to regain their trust.
5780The crypto industry is at an inflection point following legacy bank failures and black swan events in the crypto space, according to the Mad Lads founder.
875Michael Hsu urged international cooperation and collaboration in a bid to prevent crypto firms from leveraging competition among jurisdictions.
1446CBDCs have some benefits but also many drawbacks, which has sparked debate about whether adopting them is a good idea.
1439The Chamber of Digital Commerce claimed Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown were “trying to kill the entire industry” with the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act.
14252Banks continue to raise objections that have already been accounted for in digital euro design, the authors say.
21290The banking associations argued that U.S. banks were “notably absent” as asset custodians for Bitcoin ETFs despite them playing that role for other ETPs.
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