The Central Bank of Brazil (BC) selected nine companies as allies to work together on the development of its digital currency, CBDC, where some decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms such as Aave, the Brazil-based digital asset exchange Mercado Bitcoin and the financial entities Santander Brasil and Itaú Unibanco.

Other selected partners include the Brazilian banking federation (Febraban), German payments company Gieseck+Devrient, and Brazil-based banking service Tecban and its partner Capitual. One of the projects includes the collaboration between Brazil’s Visa, Microsoft and blockchain firm ConsenSys. As well as Vert, the software services company, Digital Asset and the management consulting company, Oliver Wyman.

After accepting approximately 50 project proposals from different companies from Brazil, Germany, USA, Israel, Mexico, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, the central bank decided to select nine allies to execute the project that will aim to create its digital currency, CBDC, according to what was expressed in a press release released by the official entity.

The financial entity highlighted that it is evaluating use cases for a digital currency and its technological feasibility. “Given the large number of projects of relevance and interest for the development of the real digital initiative, the selection process sought a balance between the diversity of the portfolio of proposals submitted to the laboratory and the need for detailed monitoring of the selected projects.”

The projects were selected by the Brazilian central bank for the implementation phase, estimated to start on March 28 and remain until July 27 of this year.

Brazil is a pioneer in the region’s crypto market

The most important economy in the Latin American region, through its official financial entity, announced last November 2021 that it had started the pilot test to create its digital currency, which would be backed by the Brazilian real (BRL) and the culmination of the project was scheduled for 2024.

It is important to note that “Brazil has become the region’s pioneer in the field of digital assets.” The mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, plans to invest 1 % of the treasury in Bitcoin, while the assembly members work on the approval of laws and regulations that allow regulating the use of cryptocurrencies in favor of the development of the sector in the country.

As will be recalled, the Senate Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) recently passed a bill that has the purpose of regulating the crypto market, and it is up to the Senate to discuss and vote on the legislative proposal to regulate cryptocurrencies. In 2021 Brazil was the first Latin American country to launch a Bitcoin ETF.

M.  Rodríguez

Source: diariobitcoin.com

La entrada Brazil will work with private allies in its digital currency apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Some 300 community banks in the US are finalizing an alliance with NYDIG, a company of products and services based on the main digital currency, to offer Bitcoin transactions through different mobile applications. This is revealed by some recently published reports.

The information highlights that NYDIG is working together with the Association of American Banks and the Independent Community Bankers of America to start commercial operations during 2022.

This alliance is a consequence of the great demand that users are exerting on the financial sector to be able to access cryptocurrencies from “their trusted banks, instead of doing it through the use of commercial platforms and/or services operated by third parties.”

By finalizing the alliance, community banks will not have to struggle with the regulatory aspects inherent to the possession of cryptos for users, since these custody services will depend on NYDIG.

Banks migrate to the crypto ecosystem

Many financial institutions, globally, have already joined or are in the process of offering transactions with digital currencies. One of them was Vas Bank, which started these activities last August 2021, with a service designated “Crypto Banking”. Brad Scrivner, CEO of the entity, said: “We take this challenge head on and dedicate significant resources to respond to this unmet need.”

While Flushing Financial Corporation, an entity associated with Flushing Bank, recently announced that it had established an agreement with NYDIG in order to provide its users with the possibility of buying and selling Bitcoin.

In the statement he said: “As part of our ongoing digital transformation, we recognize the importance of keeping up with emerging market trends and consumer demand for alternative financial services. By using NYDIG’s innovative technology to provide seamless access through our relationship with Q2, our online banking provider, we will be able to offer our customers the ability to buy, sell and hold bitcoin.”

For his part, Harold Reynolds, CEO of BankSouth, said: “We have seen significant activity in transactions associated with cryptocurrencies from our clients’ accounts, and some investments have been quite large, so we are obviously interested.”

M. Rodríguez

Source: diariobitcoin.com

La entrada Community banks in the US will start operations with cryptocurrencies apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The number of cryptocurrency users doubled in the first half of 2021, to register, at the end of June, more than 221 million, as shown by the research carried out by the Exchange Crypto.com, which was carried out using the chain data and other parameters to compile the figures of 24 of the largest crypto platforms, among which are Binance, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Gemini, Huobi, Kraken.

According to the results obtained, the months of February to May of this year show that the figures increased from 106 million to 203 million users in that period. A quite significant example was the growth registered by altcoins, which increased the participation of its beneficiaries “by 20 % of the total between January and April to approximately 37 % in May and June,” the study found.

Currently, the users of virtual currencies are 10 times more than the inhabitants of Chile, 5 times more than the people who reside in Argentina and almost twice the inhabitants of Mexico.

It is important to remember that cryptos, in general, appeared in the different media, including the traditional ones, due to the increase in their prices and all the measures and actions that the different countries of the world took and continue to manage with respect to the cryptocurrency market.

According to the research, the events that generated the most interest to new users comes from the adoption of altcoins, dogecoin and shiba, in addition to news such as the crackdown on Bitcoin miners in China, and statements by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who pointed out that the company would no longer accept Bitcoin, as a means of payment due to the carbon footprint of its mining.

M. Rodríguez

Source: bancaynegocios.com

La entrada Crypto asset users reaches 221 million at the end of June apareció primero en Bitfinance.

Bio Mercados, a supermarket chain in Venezuela, made an alliance with dash, the cryptocurrency trading platform Cryptobuyer and the payment processing system MegaSoft to initiate the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in the different branches in Venezuela.

Bio Mercados has a presence in the states of Carabobo and Lara, where they have seven branches. Now, consumers are able to cancel with Bitcoin (BTC), Dash (DASH), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT) and other cryptos without having to carry out the conversion to fiat.

The information was posted in the official Dash account, through a video which highlighting that this alliance benefits more than “500,000 customers in the city of Valencia”, through the 90 payment desks the supermarket has. This implies a great integration because in other businesses, which accept this type of payment, they only have one desk to carry out the operations and in most cases the manager of the store must supervise the payment process.

With the activation of this service, the Bio Mercados supermarket chain intends to “reduce waiting timeswhen paying or avoid problems due to the lack of low-denomination bills for the delivery of changes, among other difficulties” that limit cash transactions

M. Rodríguez

Fuente: lanacion

La entrada Cryptocurrency payment adoption increases in Venezuela apareció primero en Bitfinance.