WeBank, the Tencent-backed private Chinese neobank, and Ant Financial-backed MYbank will be the first private banks to join China’s digital yuan pilot. It has been reported that MYbank and WeBank will help the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) extend its user exposure in the ongoing pilots of its central bank digital currency, the digital yuan. However, MYbank’s service, as part of the integration, will soon be introduced to the PBoC’s digital yuan app. The report said that the e

Avanti Bank & Trust has announced plans for a ‘stablecoin disruptor’ that is designed to modernize U.S. dollar payments. According to a July 23 announcement, Avanti said that the payment instrument- ‘Avit,’ is not a security and predicted it “will likely be treated as a cash equivalent” by regulators. Top story: Avanti Financial Group Announces Accelerated Charter Application – Avanti https://t.co/ml61WOnYCi, see more https://t.co/BoHcMI7iIZ — José Antonio Bravo (@jabravo) J

UK based cryptocurrency custody startup Copper has announced support for the United States dollar through the blockchain payment platform of Signature Bank. On July 20. an announcement stated that Signature Bank’s Signet integration will now allow customers of Copper’s to instantly pay and settle in US dollars and other supported fiat currencies. Delighted to announce the integration of Signature Bank services into our platform! The integration marks a pivotal step in our mis

Multinational bank Banco Santander along with four Spanish banks have successfully deployed a proof-of-concept for payment services using smart contracts. The company currently overseeing the Spanish Payment System, IberPay coordinated the proof-of-concept. Iberpay Finaliza con éxito la prueba de concepto de los principales bancos españoles para habilitar transferencias inmediatas programables en redes blockchainhttps://t.co/FMQLmOiKUy pic.twitter.com/GLOEe3ZpYN — 7★ Digita

India’s central bank RBI clarifies that there is no prohibition on banks from providing banking services to cryptocurrency companies or traders, in response to a right to information request. The request was initially filed by cofounder of Indian cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin, Harish BV. An RTI was filed by @bvharish Co-founder of Unocoin. Question: Does RBI prohibited any banks from providing the bank accounts to crypto exchanges or crypto traders ? Answer from RBI: As o

Banco BTG Pactual, the largest private investment bank in Latin America is issuing some of its real-estate backed security tokens on Tezos blockchain. Previously, the bank had issued its ReitBZ tokens on the Ethereum blockchain while raising $10 million in Ether and Gemini Dollars. ⁠Largest Private Investment Bank in Latin America Issues Real Estate Tokens on #Tezos Banco BTG Pactual, the largest private investment bank in Latin America is moving some of its real estate-back

Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), a major Austrian bank, is working on a new form of national currency tokenization using blockchain technology. RBI is extending its collaboration with fintech firm, Billon, followed by a successful test of end-to-end digitized national currency transfers. On May 18 an announcement was made stating that RBI and Billon are working on initial stages of an RBI tokenization platform, currently dubbed as RBI Coin. The pilot is planned to be cond

Users of German neobank Bitwala can now purchase, hold and earn interest on Bitcoin (BTC) in their bank accounts due to new partnership with cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network. Defiprime.com reveals that Bitwala is the first fiat bank to offer interest for holding Bitcoin in their account, with three other DeFi DApps offering similar products. Dear Celsians, meet @Bitwala – the latest Partnership of @CelsiusNetwork ‼️ – introducing their 🔥🔥 #Bitcoin Interest A

JPMorgan Chase has reportedly taken on U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini as customers. On May 12 a report from the Wall Street Journal highlighted that the move is the first time the banking giant has served clients from the crypto industry. JPMorgan Chase has taken on two bitcoin exchanges, Coinbase and Gemini Trust, as banking customers, the first time it has accepted cryptocurrency clients https://t.co/NgbDpwAYEH — The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 12, 20

Singapore-based multinational banking firm DBS Bank has joined the blockchain trade-finance network Contour, built over R3’s Corda. On May 11 The Business Times reported that DBS Bank is the first bank from Singapore to join the network. DBS Bank joins blockchain trade-finance network Contour https://t.co/Uvi2CtiYpb — The Straits Times (@STcom) May 11, 2020 The bank looks forward to digitizing its end-to-end letters of credit settlement process through the platform’s blockch

A multinational bank headquartered in Spain, The Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has announced a partnership with Madrid-based research center IMDEA Software Institution to explore zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) alongside other “advanced cryptographic techniques.” Both entities will utilize each other’s technologies and research to drive innovation as quickly as possible. 🔵 The #IMDEA #Software Institute -through @dariofiore0 and Antonio Faonio- and @bbva are partnerin

Sygnum Bank, the world’s first digital asset bank announced that Ripple’s XRP tokens are now available through its banking services platform. On April 30 Sygnum Bank announced that users can access deposit, exchange, and credit services using the popular digital currency. The bank will now allow the third most capitalized digital token behind Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to be used by clients seeking to diversify their direct investments in digital tokens, in conjunction

Hong-Kong based artificial intelligence (AI) startup SenseTime has partnered with the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) Digital Currency Research Institute to provide its AI expertise. On April 17. South China Morning Post reported that the government taps another tech partnership to continue the development of China’s digital yuan amid the reported trials of the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). National AI champion SenseTime enters pact with China’s central bank amid di

WeBank, ranks third place for the number of Blockchain patents filed globally in 2019. Alibaba and Tencent took the first and second places respectively. WeBank is China’s first digital bank initiated by Tencent. On April 24. a report was published stating that the bank rose from fifth place to third after filing nearly 632 patents in 2019. 80% of them were related to technologies such as blockchain, AI, cloud computing, and big data. WeBank’s patents have focused on open sou

Bank of China has issued 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in blockchain-based bonds for small and micro-sized enterprises with their own blockchain platforms. On Dec. 6, Bank of China announced in a statement that it completed pricing and issuance of bonds for the first period of this week and the two-year bond will come to the market with a 3.25% coupon rate. The bank said in the statement: “We have used our own blockchain-based bond issuance system in the process, This is als

The Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) denies report that it is developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The official announcement from BCT apparently follows a piece of false news that Tunisia is the first country to launch its national digital currency “e-dinar” through a blockchain platform. BCT Exploring Digital Payment Alternatives The BCT refuses all claims of the central bank launching its digital currency solution. The bank does clarify that it is looking for oth

Standard Chartered, the international banking group has become the latest member of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA), the blockchain standard building organization. In a Nov. 6, press release Standard Chartered shared that the move will allow in expanding its client offerings across its 60 international markets. Standard Chartered Is The Latest EEA Banking Member Group Chief Information Officer, Dr. Michael Gorriz, commented: “Technology enables us to facilitate trade a

Four Major South Korean institutions including the Shinhan and NH Nonghyup banks have joined a South Korean decentralized identity initiative for blockchain-based digital identity. Major Players in the Initiative It’s a government-backed initiative that aims to secure and share personal data using blockchain technology. Major banks that are included: Shinhan bank NH Bank Two major payment processors are also included: BC Card Hyundai Card Bringing the total number of partici

A Singaporean bank branch of the CIMB group has completed its first blockchain-based trade financing transaction. Using Blockchain in Finance Sector On Oct. 17. Yahoo Singapore reported that the transaction was done using blockchain and Internet of things (IoT) platform developed by the local trade financing firm iTrust Trading. CIMB intends to minimize the risks associated with commodity trade financing while facilitating credit extension for its customers. It will be done b

YES Bank a private sector bank in India is hopeful about its API banking platform and blockchain initiatives as part of its financial banking services. API Banking “We have been very active on blockchain…Blockchain will happen when all participants agree to be on it. It is the technology of the future,” said Asit Oberoi, Senior Group President and Global Head, Transaction Banking Group, and Chief Experience Officer, YES Bank. API Banking in YES Bank was launched in 2015 where