The two South African brothers behind the crypto investment platform “Africrypt” have disappeared along with 3.6 billion USD in bitcoin bought with investors’ funds. Regulators in South Africa are now looking to take action following what might be one of the world’s biggest crypto frauds. Two South African brothers, Ameer and Raees Cajee, have reportedly disappeared, taking […]
Since the beginning of the year, China has shut down Bitcoin mining farms nationwide. On the one hand, this is an attempt by China to reduce its carbon emissions. On another, the country ostensibly wants to protect its financial system from a volatile asset. In May, senior economic officials in Beijing announced they would crack down on […]
The University of Basel’s Center for Innovative Finance (CIF) decided to make its introductory “Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptoassets” bachelor’s course open access. Some of its courses have been around for years and enjoyed decent popularity among students. The University of Basel (UniBas) has been offering Blockchain courses since 2017. From courses on Bitcoin and Public […]
Spain’s second-largest bank, BBVA, is launching a new business for private banking clients in its Swiss arm that will allow investments in alternative digital assets alongside Bitcoin trading and custody services. The banking giant, which was founded in 1857 and has about $870 billion in assets, first tested the service late last year. Banco Bilbao […]
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is continuing its experiments in the field of central bank currencies (CBDCs). “Project Jura” is investigating cross-border payment processing in cooperation with the central bank of France. The G20 has prioritised the improvement of cross-border and has submitted a multi-year timeline to coordinate efforts in this regard. The current experiment contributes to […]
Thailand has recently imposed restrictions on cryptocurrency trading. The South-east Asian nation’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has implemented a ban on various types of blockchain currencies such as meme tokens and NFTs. According to the Thai SEC, the new rules aim to protect traders and users from cryptocurrencies that have “no clear target or substance” and […]
Social media in China is blocking recent search results, and suspending the accounts of popular crypto-related content creators. If the situation continues, then this appears to be the latest step in Beijing’s increasing censorship of cryptocurrency information over the Internet. Searches for the Chinese or English names of Huobi, Binance and OKEx have recently been censored in […]
After a boom in decentralized financial applications (DeFi) regulators are increasingly looking into the young subsector of the crypto industry. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chief has talked about DeFi in a critical manner and mentioned that some apps might be illegal. Commissioner Dan M. Berkovitz of the US CFTC made comments on […]
Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) wants to establish an institutional trading platform for cryptocurrencies in the UK and Europe. The new exchange is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2021, depending on approvals from the relevant regulators. London-based Standard Chartered is one of the most influential financial institutions globally. Its innovation arm now wants to create […]
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the Chinese central bank, plans to use their digital yuan during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. It could be the first test for China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) with international users. With the increasing adoption of crypto-assets, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have once again become a […]
