The cryptocurrency market remains rangebound with Bitcoin (BTC) hovering around $23,000. While preparing this report, Bitcoin was trading at $22,500, an increase of 0.50% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.90% to trade at $1,575. XRP was trading at $0.3692, up 1.40% in the same period.
The major cryptos, which have gained ground in the past 24 hours, are VeChain (VET, $0.02489, 4.20%), IOTA (IOTA – $0.2160, 1.40%), Stellar (XLM, $0.0841, 2.10%), Polkadot (DOT, $5.98, 1.60%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $125.78, 2.30%), Cardano (ADA, $0.3346, 0.60%), Tezos (XTZ, $1.15, 3.90%), Solana (SOL, $20.80, 0.10%), ChainLink (LINK – $6.96, 1.50%), Avalanche (Avax- $16.65, 4.70%), and Internet Computer (ICP, $5.41, 2.70%), Binance Coin (BNB – $288.71, 0.90%), Dogecoin (DOGE – $0.0758, 2.7%), and Shiba Inu (SHIB, $0.00001128, 3.10%).
The major cryptos, which have lost ground in the past 24 hours, are EOS (EOS – $1.21, -0.80%),
Government level initiatives
Bank of Japan to Launch CBDC Trial in April
The Bank of Japan has announced that it will begin a trial of central bank digital currency (CBDC) in April, following the proof of concept (PoC) phase run for the last two years.
Nevertheless, the central bank is yet to decide on issuing a digital yen. The final decision may be taken after a referendum. The central bank believes that several stages of trials are required before arriving at a suitable model of CBDC that caters to the requirement of users, participants, and society as a whole.
In this regard, Executive Director, Uchida Shinichi, outlined two goals for the trial stage. To date, the PoC trials have been mainly in-house. Therefore, the central bank now intends to pilot the technical feasibility of integration with platforms run by banks, other financial institutions, and stakeholders. It aims to trial the end-to-end transfer of payments. Nevertheless, in the initial stage, there will be only simulations rather than real-time transactions. The second objective is to involve the private sector to enhance the digital yen structure.
Russia to Trial Digital Ruble with Consumers in April
Russia will start trialing the digital ruble through real consumers on April 1, as per Olga Skorobogatova, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia. Thirteen banks are queued up to partake in the retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) trial.
Of late, there have been unconfirmed reports that the central bank is expediting plans for cross-border CBDC trials. As per the earlier schedule, cross-border CBDC trials were planned for 2024.
In the meantime, the draft of the law granting powers to the central bank for the issue of a CBDC was tabled at the State Duma last year’s end and added to the lineup in mid-January. The law tasks the central bank with the responsibility over the CBDC issuance and also grants the powers to ascertain the fees and other rewards for all participants.
Skorobogatova said, “We intend to roll out the digital ruble venture into a demonstration phase on April 1, commencing with processes such as inter-person transactions and payments in commercial and service businesses.”
Private sector initiatives
Sony and Astar Launch Web3 Incubation Program on Polkadot
Sony Network Communications has partnered with Astar Network to roll out a web3 incubation program. Astar Network is a multichain smart contract solution, built as a parachain of Polkadot blockchain. The firm has already partnered with NTT Docomo and Toyota for a hackathon.
The incubator will be managed through Startale Labs, a Singapore headquartered firm.
The selection process for the incubation program has already commenced and roughly 15-20 initiatives are expected to take part in the incubation program by mid-March. The program will run for roughly three months.
It intends to offer connections to top-profile web3 companies, including Web3 Foundation and Alchemy, and also technical and financial assistance.
NowCM and Marketnode Partner to Digitize Asia-Pacific Primary Debt Markets
Luxembourg-headquartered NowCM, the platform facilitating digital bond issuance, has successfully issued over €10 billion worth of bond and commercial debt to date. The firm has entered into a partnership with Singapore’s Marketnode, the blockchain system jointly developed by The Singapore Exchange (SGX), and government-owned investment firm Temasek. The two firms will cooperate on the digitization of Asia-Pacific primary debt markets.
Notably, just a month ago, NowCM purchased the major assets of Nivaura, the capital markets automation company aided by the London Stock Exchange. The stock exchange also employed Nivaura’s technology as a portion of its DCM Flow platform. Even though Nivaura is not a blockchain firm, it offered a workflow platform for bond issuance through a DLT-ready system, paving the way for tokenization without depending on any specific blockchain.
The acquisition of the Nivaura assets may be a portion of a takeover roadmap for NowCM. Just a year back, a huge chunk of ownership in NowCP was bought by EPPF, which was set up by prevailing NowCM CEO Robert Koller. The firms were collaborators before the takeover.
The Marketnode Gateway workflow platform for fixed-income issuers has been embedded with NowCM’s transaction administration platform aiming at Asia-Pacific customers. It will handle SGX-traded bonds. The intention is to clear manual stages in the procedure, which paves the way for the bonds of lower volume and value to be released quickly due to minimizing operational expenses.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
