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Bitfinex Securities debuts as El Salvador’s first licensed digital asset service provider , aligning with the country’s pioneering Bitcoin-focused financial initiatives. The securities token platform, gearing up for a dynamic phase, is now open to customer applications. This development is accompanied by the anticipation of numerous tokenized financial asset issuances, expected to hit the market in the first half of this year. Bitfinex Securities CTO Paolo Ardoino expressed enthusiasm about the launch in El Salvador, highlighting the country’s unique position due to its adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender and efforts to nurture a Bitcoin-centric economy. Ardoino believes the move will benefit Bitfinex and enable El Salvador to attract global investment through competitively priced securities offerings. You might also like: Coinbase challenges SEC’s rejection of digital asset rulemaking petition The company’s optimism is partly fueled by the succ...

The UK’s approach to a potential digital pound is drawing significant attention, particularly regarding privacy concerns.  The Bank of England (BoE) and the Treasury, in their response to the extensive 2023 consultation, have highlighted a robust framework to ensure that privacy and user rights are at the forefront of this digital currency initiative. Crypto industry insiders, including legal and technical experts, have expressed cautious optimism about the government’s approach to privacy in an exclusive CoinDesk report. Jannah Patchay, from the Digital Pound Foundation, commended the government for recognizing privacy concerns at every stage. This sentiment reflects the already widespread concern among respondents and industry participants alike that neither the bank nor the government should access personal data. The consultation, which saw over 50,000 responses, echoed a unanimous sentiment: the need for a secure and private digital currency system. Ackno...

The Biden administration is urging Congress to consider the most significant updates to the Treasury’s sanctions authority since 2001. This move aims to better regulate the use of digital assets for financial transactions in regions impacted by terrorism. According to Bloomberg, U.S. foreign trade representative Wally Adeyemo said it was necessary to introduce a “secondary sanctions regime.” Such sanctions control a company or person within the U.S. financial system because it “also puts at risk any firm that continues to do business with a sanctioned target,” he said. The Treasury “provided Congress a set of common-sense recommendations to expand our authorities and broaden our tools and resources to go after illicit actors in the digital asset space,” Adeyemo added. Over the past few months, U.S. authorities have stepped up oversight of the cryptocurrency industry and are demanding stronger measures to combat the use of cryptocurrency by terrorists. You might also lik...

Crypto-friendly bank DBS has conducted the first e-CNY transaction for corporate clients, involving a catering company in Shenzhen. Cryptocurrency-friendly bank DBS is cooperating with mainland China on the development of a new payment solution for the digital yuan, also known as e-CNY. DBS Bank China officially announced on July 5 the launch of the e-CNY merchant solution, allowing mainland businesses to receive payments in the central bank digital currency (CBDC). The new service will allow corporate clients of DBS Bank China to collect payment s from their customers in e-CNY and conduct automated settlement of e-CNY directly into their CNY bank deposit account. DBS’ solution is designed to enable a number of benefits, allowing businesses to collect CBDC “without having to go through manual settlement processes,” the announcement notes. The tool also features capabilities allowing merchants to receive payments in underserved regions with limited internet connectivity. Additionally...

The funding round was led by Foundation Capital, with follow-on investment from CMT digital. London-based digital asset protection firm, Coincover, has secured $30 million in a Funding round led by Foundation Capital, with a follow-on investment from CMT digital .  According to Coincover’s announcement, the funds will be used to scale its operations, drive recruitment, develop new products, and form partnerships to help strengthen the security of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, thereby, providing even more comprehensive protection to businesses and individuals holding digital assets.  Coincover was founded in 2018 and launched in 2019 with the aim of providing trust to the digital asset industry. The company already works with over 300 businesses including exchanges, wallets, hedge funds, family offices, and banks, and directly with a number of digital asset custodians. Coincover is determined to tackle the Security concerns plaguing the digital asset industry, by offering busine...

Shortly after the Turkish central bank completed the first CBDC tests, Türkiye announced a blockchain-based digital identity application. Türkiye, formerly known as Turkey, plans to use blockchain technology for online public services logins. e-Devlet, Türkiye’s digital Government portal used to access a wide range of public services , will use a blockchain-based digital identity to verify Turkish citizens during login. Fuat Oktay, vice president of the Republic of Türkiye, announced during the Digital Türkiye 2023 event that citizens will be able to use blockchain-based digital identity to access e-wallet application, Cointelegraph Turkey reported. Oktay called the blockchain-based application a revolution for e-government efforts, adding that online services will be more secure and accessible with blockchain. Users will be able to keep their digital information on their mobile phones. “With the login system that will work within the scope of the e-wallet application, our ci...

The first and the last major attempt to encourage a comprehensive crypto framework was buried in the House of Commons on Nov. 23. In October, Toronto-based Coinsquare became the first crypto trading business to get dealer registration from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). That means a lot as now Coinsquare investors’ funds enjoy the security of the Canadian Investment Protection Fund in the event of insolvency, while the exchange is required to report its financial standing regularly.  This news reminds us about the peculiarities of Canadian Regulation of crypto . While the country still holds a rather tight process of licensing the virtual asset providers, it outpaces the neighboring United States in its experiments with crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), pension funds’ investments and central bank digital currency (CBDC) efforts. An era of restricted dealers Coinsquare, which happens to be Canada’s longest-operating crypto asset trading platf...