Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged the former CEO of bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital with fraud. The regulator accused Stephen Ehrlich and the company of luring investors with promises of high-yield returns while breaking derivatives rules. Ehrlich was also sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). U.S. Commodities Regulator Takes Legal Action Against Former Chief Executive of Voyager The CFTC filed a lawsuit against co-founder and ex-CEO of Voyager Digital, Stephen Ehrlich. The complaint submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charges him with fraud and registration failures in connection with Voyager and the operation of an unregistered commodity pool, the Commission announced . The U.S. regulator also alleged that Ehrlich and the company falsely touted Voyager as a “safe haven” offering an opportunity to earn high-yield returns, of up 12%, in order to lure customers to purchase and store digital assets...

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has initiated a pilot for a second use case of its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), focusing on the call money market. The Indian central bank reportedly plans to expand its e-rupee testing to cover the entire wholesale segment, including asset tokenization and repo transactions. RBI Begins Testing Second Use Case of Its Wholesale CBDC India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has begun testing its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the call money market, Money Control reported Thursday, citing two unnamed people who claimed to be aware of the development. One of them was quoted as saying: We have started the wholesale CBDC pilot in the call money market and some deals have also taken place. The call money market is an essential part of the Indian money market, where banks and other financial institutions trade their surplus funds overnight or for a few days at market rates. Nine ...

Mastercard says its new solution that enables central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to be tokenized or wrapped onto different blockchains provides consumers with “a new option to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains with increased security and ease.” A Mastercard executive described: “As the digital economy continues to mature, Mastercard has seen demand from consumers to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains, including public blockchains.” Mastercard’s New CBDC Tokenization Solution Payments giant Mastercard announced Thursday that it has “successfully demonstrated capabilities of a new solution that enables CBDCs to be tokenized (or ‘wrapped’) onto different blockchains.” The company stated that this solution will provide consumers with “a new option to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains with increased security and ease.” Richard Wormald, Mastercard Australasia’s division president, commented: “As the digital economy continues to ma...

Shenzhen has become home to an industrial park established to promote China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). Several financial companies are already settling there, the Chinese megacity announced while unveiling almost a dozen initiatives to boost the digital yuan use in the region. Shenzhen to Invest $14 Million in 3 Years to Develop Digital Yuan Ecosystem The city of Shenzhen, a global center for technology, manufacturing, and finance in the Chinese Guangdong province, has launched the country’s first business and industrial park for the purpose of promoting China’s CBDC . The digital yuan (e-CNY) park is located in the city’s Luohu district, reported the China Internet Information Center (China.org.cn). Nine financial companies, including the fintech platform Lakala Payment, have already set up offices there, according to the state-run portal. The district government announced 10 initiatives to back the development of the local digital yuan ecosystem. A total of 100 mill...

A recent report published by River, a Bitcoin technology and financial services company, has revealed that the Lightning Network, a scaling layer for Bitcoin, has grown by 1,212% in two years. River’s estimation comes from examining operators of nodes comprising 52% of the public capacity on the network, concluding that it has “become much more global, with more equally distributed activity.” River States Lightning Network Transactions Grew by 1,212% in Two Years A report published by River, a Bitcoin services company, has released estimations indicating a significant growth in the use of Lightning Network, a Bitcoin scaling layer. The report, which used data provided by node operators that facilitate 52% of the public capacity of the network, estimates that 6.6 million transactions constitute a “lower bound” of the routed transactions of the whole network in August 2023. River states that an upper bound for these transactions could be a multiple of this number “if there was data ...

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Decentralized finance (defi) brings risks for investors but is yet to pose “meaningful risks” to financial stability, according to Europe’s securities watchdog. The agency believes, however, the phenomenon deserves attention in light of the EU’s new crypto rules as well as growing user base and has presented its assessment of the sector’s development. Defi Requires Monitoring as It Continues to Evolve Quickly, ESMA Says The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Union’s financial markets and securities regulator, has published an article focused on decentralized finance which it recognizes as the most innovative development in the crypto space. While investors’ exposure to defi remains limited, it comes with “serious risks” to investor protection, the report notes, emphasizing on the speculative nature of defi offerings, the absence of responsible parties as well as associated operational and security vulnerabilities. At the same time, ESMA remarks: Defi...