1. India Eyes State Digital Currency to Cut $90 Million Banknote Bill: India’s central bank is researching how to introduce a rupee-backed central bank digital currency (CBDC) into its monetary policy in a bid to reduce its hefty annual bill for minting physical cash. An inter-departmental unit has already been formed within the organization to study the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency. The effort apparently comes in response to a rapidly changing landscape of digital payments and the rising costs of managing fiat paper/metallic money. While the RBI did not reveal whether the potential CBDC may be blockchain-powered, it claimed the utilization of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in payment and settlement solutions holds the promise of significant economic benefits in future.
2. Yahoo Finance Integrates Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin Trading: Yahoo Finance has integrated trading with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) on its platform. While statistics are available on the platform for other digital currencies like Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum Classic (ETC) or EOS, they currently do not have buy and sell options. The development has led some in the crypto community to say that it is an important step forward for crypto adoption.
3. Standard Chartered, Siemens Partner on Blockchain Pilot to ‘Fully Digitize’ Bank Guarantees: UK multinational banking and financial services company Standard Chartered (SC) disclosed it is working on a blockchain pilot for bank guarantees using R3 Corda blockchain technology. In partnership with Siemens’ financing arm Siemens Financial Services (SFS) and trade finance platform TradeIX, the pilot began operating in March and aims to be complete by the end of 2018. If successful, the project will “digitize trade and leverage real-time data to deliver efficiency gains and transform the way trade finance is conducted,” SC’s global head of trade products Samuel Mathew commented.
4. EU to Discuss Further Crypto Regulation Amid Concerns About Lack of Transparency: Economic and financial affairs ministers from European Union’s 28 states will hold an informal meeting on the challenges posed by digital assets and the possibility of tightening regulations. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has previously warned customers about ICO-s, but despite that warnings, ICO’s have established an effective and efficient way to raise capital. The new rules set by The E.U. Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, bring more stringent transparency requirements aimed at the use of “anonymous payments through prepaid cards” and “virtual exchange platforms” for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing.