Video Source: CNBC Television on YouTube
The cryptocurrency market has turned bearish with Bitcoin (BTC) going below $29,000. While preparing this report, Bitcoin was trading at $26,044, down 0.20% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) had lost 0.80% to trade at $1,664. XRP was trading at $0.5216, reflecting a decrease of 2.50% in the same period.
Major cryptocurrencies, which have lost ground in the past 24 hours, are Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $185.28, -1.50%), ChainLink (LINK – $6.16, -0.90%), IOTA (IOTA – $0.1435, -2.60%), Shiba Inu (SHIB, $0.00000791, -5.1%)
Solana (SOL, $21.11, -1.80%), Cardano (ADA, $0.2621, -3.30%), VeChain (VET, $0.01606, -2%), and Avalanche (Avax- $10.34, -4.10%), Stellar (XLM, $0.1245, -2.10%), Binance Coin (BNB – $210, -2.80%), EOS (EOS – $0.5809, -0.10%), and Polkadot (DOT, $4.43, -1.70%).
Government Level Initiatives
Honduras’ Central Bank is conducting a consultation on CBDC
The Central Bank of Honduras has begun an elaborate two-month consultation to study the likely implementation of a retail-focused Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The main focus of this initiative is to improve financial inclusion, with specific stress on enabling cross-border transactions, particularly remittances.
In partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the central bank, which is currently in its preliminary research stage of CBDC creation, has rolled out an elaborate paper underlining its idea for the prospects of the currency and payment mechanisms.
To put things in perspective, it is important to note that Honduras is classified as an economy with a comparatively low income. This country faces the challenge of a substantial percentage of its population, which is close to ten million people, living below the poverty threshold. The projected number of individuals who are living in impoverished circumstances is approximately 60%. According to the World Bank’s 2021 information, the level of financial inclusivity in Honduras is still quite restricted, just 37.85% of the population aged 15 and above is stated to have bank accounts.
The main objective of introducing CBDC is to establish a 24/7 central bank retail payment system, structured for real-time settlement. Another goal of the likely rollout of the CBDC is to promote interoperability among several payment mechanisms.
Private Sector Initiatives
The DDP achieved a milestone, concluding a cross-border CBDC trial
The Digital Dollar Project (DDP) has achieved a major landmark by successfully finishing a trial that studies the capabilities of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border payments. Partnering with The Western Union Company and BDO Unibank in the Philippines and backed by Accenture, this state-of-the-art research is on course to make a lasting change in the domain of global payments.
Against the backdrop of a growing digital payment environment, the DDP’s trial is intended to evaluate the advantages of capitalizing on CBDCs for enabling cross-border payments. Collaborating with Western Union, a key tech-led international payments player, the research scrutinized the benefits of using CBDCs in the vital facet of financial dealings.
By employing distributed ledger technology (DLT), partakers in the project carefully structured and modeled a system to simulate the payment platform necessary for moving digital dollars to Philippine pesos. The research outcome has been released in an elaborate whitepaper named “Retail Cross-Border Remittance Payments,” providing valuable visions into the capabilities of CBDCs in shaking up global payments.
Korea’s Hyundai and KIA have introduced a pioneering Supplier CO2 Emission Monitoring System
Korea-headquartered automobile companies Hyundai and KIA unveiled a fresh blockchain and AI-based Supplier CO2 Emission Monitoring System (SCEMS). The public Hedera DLT will be utilized to retain the carbon emissions data from suppliers, and artificial intelligence (AI) will forecast future carbon emissions.
The carbon emissions will be monitored throughout the lifecycle, including the materials utilized, the manufacturing procedures, and the transport of finished goods.
Hyundai trusts that by utilizing recent technology, regulators and other partakers will have total trust in the veracity of the information.
According to Seung Hyun Hong, the Head of the Materials Research and Engineering Center at Hyundai Motor and Kia, the SCEMS solution represents a groundbreaking method for effectively managing carbon emissions and addressing the pressing issue of climate change. This creative solution is set to transform the supply chain industry, promoting sustainability within our cooperative network.
PayPal has launched the PYUSD stablecoin in collaboration with Paxos Trust.
PayPal has introduced a new stablecoin, named PayPal USD (PYUSD), issued by its crypto-focused associate firm, Paxos Trust. The stablecoin, issued on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, will initially be offered only to chosen PayPal clients in the US.
Dan Schulman, president and CEO, of PayPal, stated “The transition towards digital currencies necessitates the presence of a reliable instrument that is inherently digital and seamlessly linked to traditional fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar. With our unwavering dedication to ethical creativity and adherence to compliance standards, coupled with our proven ability to consistently deliver novel experiences to our valued customers, we possess the essential groundwork required to actively contribute to the expansion of digital payments facilitated by PayPal USD.”
Notably, this is the first big-scale rollout of stablecoin by a prominent financial institution. The launch comes when US legislators are debating stablecoin legislation.
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