The cryptocurrency market has turned bullish after the short-term correction that took place last week. With a 2.6% gain in one week, Bitcoin (BTC) leads the way by crossing the $5,400 level at the time of writing this article. Ethereum (ETH) follows with a gain of 2% to trade at $172.03. Other altcoins are trading with a weekly gain of 1.5% to 10%. This includes Ripple (XRP-$0.3245, 1.8%), EOS (EOS-$5.25, 2%), Stellar (XLM-$0.1138, 3.2%), TRON (TRX-$0.02504, 1.5%), Cardano (ADA-$0.07946, 10.4%) and Litecoin (LTC-$77.35, 1.9%).
Government level initiatives
Afghanistan and Tunisia central banks considering issuing a Bitcoin bond
The central bank of Afghanistan and Tunisia are exploring the option of issuing a Bitcoin (BTC) bond. The governors of both central banks revealed the plan at the annual Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, held in Washington between April 8th and 14th. Afghanistan’s central bank governor Khalil Sediq also revealed that a sovereign crypto bond issuance is considered by the country to raise $5.80 billion.
The funds raised by issuing Bitcoin bonds are planned for use in the development of the mining, agriculture, and energy sector. Sediq also believes that lithium metal futures may also be launched considering that Afghanistan has mineral reserves worth over $3 trillion. Similarly, Marouane El Abassi, former World Bank official and governor of Tunisia’s central bank, has announced that the institution is looking at the possibility of issuing a Bitcoin bond.
Abassi also pointed out that Tunisia was one of the first to introduce a cryptocurrency and already facilitated money remittance through an electronic system.
Additionally, Abassi praised blockchain, Bitcoin, and Hyperledger by saying that it can serve as an essential tool to fight money laundering, handle money transfers, restrain grey markets, and battle terrorism. Notably, Javlon Vakhabov, Uzbek ambassador, has also revealed Uzbekistan’s interest in the issuance of a Bitcoin bond.
Russia’s central bank evaluated the prospective advantages and disadvantages of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in a policy brief published on weekend.
Central bank of Russia highlights the benefits and disadvantages of CBDCs
A CBDC is a cryptocurrency developed and issued by a central bank, with a legal tender designation. CBDC generally exhibit all features of a centralized fiat currency. In the report entitled “Is there a Future for Central Bank Digital Currencies,” the Russian Federation’s Central Bank illustrated several possible advantages of CBDCs, such as their ability to bring down transaction fees in the economy, in addition to providing a less risky, liquid asset.
Furthermore, the Bank of Russia observed that the ability of CBDCs to reduce transaction fees could only be realized with a better medium facilitating ease of use in payments and achieving cost savings compared with fiat currency and bank cards.
While recognizing CBDC’s adequate advantages, the central bank identified CBDC’s lack of privacy and security as the only possible negative feature. Specifically, the bank emphasized CBDC’s inability to offer a similar level of privacy as cash.
The policy document further states: “CBDC de facto cannot provide the same level of anonymity that is provided by cash. This is certainly an advantage for regulators, but can be considered a disadvantage by users, not only those who are involved in suspicious activities, but those who are concerned about privacy.”
The Bank of Russia also concluded that CBDCs could keep pace with commercial bank deposits with low inflation and mild interest rates. CBDCs can turn out to be a complete equivalent of cash only in terms of liquidity and user-friendliness.
Private sector initiatives
Responsible mining of cobalt through blockchain for Volkswagen
Volkswagen joins a blockchain-driven program to guarantee responsible sourcing of cobalt, one of the main components of lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. The German company wishes the technology, created on the IBM Blockchain Platform, will “increase efficiency, sustainability, and transparency in global supply chains.”
Cobalt has now become a vital component for consumer goods, from smartphones to cars, and two-thirds of global supply arrives from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where two million mine workers face “profound challenges including human rights violations.” In 2017, Reuters alleged that a few of the cobalt mines utilize child labor and is operated by terrorists.
The custom-built platform, powered by the Hyperledger Fabric of the Linux Foundation, intends to guarantee major corporations in tracing and recording “mineral flow across the supply chain in near-real-time.”
Elaborating how a permanent, safe database will assist in meeting accountable importing criteria, Volkswagen says: “Traditionally, miners, smelters and consumer brands had to rely on third-party audits and laborious manual processes to establish compliance with generally accepted industry standards.”
LG Chem and Ford Motor Company are some of the prominent multinationals who have signed up to trial the platform.
FPT Corp and SBI Holdings buy a stake in the blockchain firm, Utop
Technology company FPT Corporation and SBI Holdings Inc. have acquired a stake in Vietnamese blockchain firm Utop by investing $3 million. In this regard, FPT Corporation and SBI Holdings Inc. have supposedly inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Utop, a tech company based on FPT’s enterprise-level blockchain platform, dubbed akaChain. Utop is structured to obtain and redeem reward points at retailers operating within the same network.
The venture supposedly enables small companies enrolled on the network to lower costs and save data via the akaChain platform. FPT Chairman Truong Gia Binh said that “the development of Industry 4.0 technologies has created breakthrough opportunities for businesses, mushrooming so many innovative business models. We call it digital transformation.”
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