The cryptocurrency market remains range-bound with a slight bullish bias. Bitcoin (BTC), which declined to $30,230 earlier this week, has rebounded to $37,430, reflecting a gain of 12.4% in the last 24 hours. Ether (ETH) has appreciated $1,113, mirroring a growth of 7.4% in the same period. XRP continues to remain under selling pressure, with the crypto token losing 1.3% in the last 24 hours to trade at $0.2899.
Major altcoins which have gained ground in the last 24 hours include ChainLink (LINK-$15.58, 12.5%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.4036, 11%), Cosmos (ATOM, $6.24, 9.5%), Cardano (ADA-$0.3055, 7.60%), Tezos (XTZ-2.44, 3.9%), Stellar (XLM-$0.2926, 2.9%), Binance Coin (BNB-$39.69, 4.9%), Dash (DASH-$130.62, 3.2%), Polkadot (DOT-$11.28, 36.8%), EOS (EOS-$2.71, 3.9%), Tron (TRX-$0.0297, 4.5%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$489.78, 3.4%), and Monero (XMR-$165.61, 5.1%).
Other significant altcoins that have lost ground in the past 24 hours include USD Coin (USDC-$0.9972, -0.5%) and Bitcoin SV (BSV-$206.05, -5.7%).
Government level initiatives
The UK publishes 46-page document on methodologies for stablecoins and crypto’s
The UK government has published a 46-page document on likely regulatory methodologies for stablecoins and cryptocurrencies. The document indicates that the government intends to follow a flexible course of action for cryptos, partially because the industry is still budding and investors are mindful of the considerable speculative risk. Nevertheless, it intends to regulate stablecoins as it can be used in the mainstream financial spectrum, where stability and protection of consumer interest is a huge requirement.
John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, has pointed out that the institution understands that the crypto assets industry is evolving very quickly and needs to be a flexible approach to deal with it. So, Treasury and Parliament will provide only broad goals and suggestions in legislation. With that as a base, independent regulators will prepare elaborate codes of practice.
The government intends to have only minimum control of cryptos, barring Bitcoin, speculative tokens, and other utility tokens. Nevertheless, it plans to toughen AML (anti-money laundering) regulation. The government has no interest in working out nitty-gritty aspects of law and independent regulators will carry it out in simpler terms.
The UK government, however, will deal with stablecoins firmly within regulatory bounds. Furthermore, the government aims to govern both stablecoin issuers and companies offering stablecoin based services. Both wholesale and retail stablecoins will be brought under regulatory purview. Interestingly, the government prefers to omit algorithmic stablecoins, which are not pegged to any assets as the sector is not perceived as a niche. Only stablecoins, which guarantee redemption and stable value, will be governed by stringent rules.
Private sector initiatives
Thai Reinsurance Public Company launches ‘Insurer Network’
Thai Reinsurance Public Company has rolled out ‘Insurer Network,’ a smart contracts platform that leverages IBM blockchain technology. The non-life reinsurance company is one of the two Thailand based reinsurers recognized by The Asian Insurance Review. The pros of a blockchain platform based on Hyperledger Fabric are transparency, efficiency, and quickness in processing transactions. It is estimated that the platform will process over 10,000 reinsurance contracts on an annual basis.
There are times when reinsurance contracts demand manual conciliation. Whenever there is a need to amend policy, insurer, reinsurance intermediate, and reinsurer must work together to ensure that their database matches. The process is cumbersome and involves a lot of paperwork. Distribution of data with associates in a permissioned way utilizing blockchain should considerably minimize manual processing.
Oran Vongsuraphichet, CEO of Thai Re, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic and the need to digitally transform have urged organizations, not only in the insurance industry but all, to bring efficiency to the way we work.”
South Korea’s Bank acquires stake in Korea Digital Asset Trust
South Korea’s Shinhan Bank has acquired a stake in Korea Digital Asset Trust (KDAC), an association of startup firms that offer a cryptocurrency custody facility. In March 2020, the cryptocurrency exchange Korbit, enterprise-level blockchain company Blocko and research institute Fair Square Lab joined together to establish KDAC. Shinhan already has invested in Blocko, which created the Aergo enterprise blockchain covenant.
The Shinhan KDAC agreement was inked in October 2020 to collaborate to build a custody solution and investment. Currently, KDAC has created a cold wallet facility and intends to develop a hot wallet in addition to decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
A year before, the tech segment Shinhan DS inked an agreement with top Korean IT company Hancom to build digital asset solutions. Two months before, another Korean bank, KB Kookmin, entered into a cryptocurrency collaboration with Hashed and Haechi Labs, KODA (Korea digital assets).
Miscellaneous
HQLAX completes Series B financing round
HQLAX, which offers a blockchain-based platform to trade collaterals, has completed a Series B financing round of €14.4 million with backing from Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Deutsche Börse Group, and Citigroup.
Deutsche Börse Group is one of the collaborators and early funder in the venture. The platform paves the way for banks to buy and sell High-Quality Liquid Assets (HQLA) while enabling intraday settlement. Even though custody of asset stays with the collateral agents, the ownership change is recorded on the platform’s digital collateral registry.
Stephan Leithner, a member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse and Clearstream Chairman, explained the benefits offered by the platform.“Deutsche Börse and HQLAᵡ have the same ambition: to enable financial institutions to mobilize their collateral and optimize their funding needs.”
While Goldman acts as a principal, Citi will perform the role of a custodian. Furthermore, BNY Mellon will function as Agent Lender. BNP Paribas and BNY Mellon are the latest Triparty Agents to become a Clearstream member (owned by Deutsche Börse), Euroclear, and JP Morgan.
ING is another investor that announced its backing in the first-quarter last year. Interestingly, Swiss Bank, Commerzbank, and UBS carried out live trades during a trial conducted in December 2019.
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.
