Blockchainreporter Weekly News Review, CBDCs Gaining Attention

As a result of the years-long struggle, the crypto industry has reached a point where several measures are being taken by authorities around the world for it. Many countries are endeavouring to come up with effective regulatory frameworks for crypto assets. In addition to this, some governments are also launching pilot projects for their separate central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Moreover, prominent players within the market are also making new developments to earn more user base.

EU to Regulate Crypto as Finance Ministers Approve Legal Agenda

Recently, the finance ministers from the European Union (EU) took an important move by supporting revolutionary crypto regulations. The council of the EU, which represents up to twenty-seven participant states, unanimously authorized the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. The respective decision is historic to develop a thorough licensing regime for cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, the council agreed upon exclusive measures for money laundering in the case of crypto fund transactions. The respective regulations denote an important milestone in the endeavours taken by the EU to offer regulatory clarity, minimize the financial risks posed to the swiftly advancing crypto industry, and improve customer protection.

Pakistan Prepares to Prohibit Crypto Trading within Its Jurisdiction

The authorities in Pakistan have made a crucial step with the decision to ban the purchase and sale of crypto assets within the country’s jurisdiction. The country’s Standing Committee on Finance of the Senate made the respective decision during its meeting under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwala. The purpose of this prohibition is to stop the utilization of crypto assets and the services related to them on the Internet. The country is not even interested in launching its central bank digital currency (CBDCs)

Furthermore, the authorities have begun endeavours to implement limitations on digital assets’ circulation. Along with this, the software related to cryptocurrencies has also been prohibited by the government. During a briefing regarding crypto assets, some risks related to the crypto assets were indicated by the State Bank of Pakistan. The crypto market has slumped to a great extent from a volume of up to $2.8T to just $1.2T.

Tether Declares Investing 15% of Returns in Bitcoin to Further Enhance Reserves

Tether, the top stablecoin issuing platform, is moving in a unique direction with a reserve-based strategy. The company is now providing more attention to prominent crypto. The firm has also announced that it will make a regular allocation of up to a certain amount of its returns to buy Bitcoin (BTC). It also added that the purchased BTC tokens will be utilized by the company to support its stablecoin.

The cumulative amount of up to 15% of the returns will be used by Tether to acquire Bitcoin. This signifies a great modification of the company’s investment approach. The firm will now be able to have comprehensive control over its BTC assets’ management. At the denouement of the 1^st quarter of this year, the BTC holdings of the platform were reportedly around $1.5B, denoting nearly two percent of its cumulative reserves.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority Starts e-HKD Pilot Project

On the 18^th of May, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced initiating the exclusive e-HKD Pilot Programme. This endeavour takes into account sixteen well-known platforms dealing with technology, payment, and financial sectors. These entities have been selected to take part in the first pilot round for this year.

These pilots will explore likely diverse use cases concerning 6 classes. These classes include tokenized assets’ settlement, settlement of the transfers in the Web3 sector, tokenized deposits, offline payments, programmable payments, as well as full-fledged payments. With the respective move, Hong Kong adopts the digital revolution in the financial landscape thereof.

Ripple Begins a CBDC Protocol for Developing CBDCs and Stablecoins

Amid the CBDC taken by most countries, the well-known crypto exchange Ripple has begun a new project called the Ripple CBDC Platform. It would provide a convenient end-to-end solution by letting financial companies, authorities, and central banks issue new central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

The project will effectively drive an exclusive trend of digitization by improving financial services. The crypto exchange has collaborated with the Republic of Palau to provide the CBDC service to the country through this project. The country’s President Surangel Whipps Jr additionally remarked on this endeavour. He considers that this move will let the country advance its financial strategy with a nationwide digital currency.

OKX Permits Withdrawals of Assets to zkSync Era

OKX, a famous crypto exchange company OKX has announced that its consumers can withdraw assets in their possession to the zkSync Era network. The company added that this feature will be launched shortly. As per the company, the clients can smoothly carry out asset extraction following the feature’s launch. Additionally, they will also be allowed to conveniently perform this by using mobile phones. The crypto exchange lets its clients expand their portfolios while enjoying substantial liquidity and decreased fees.