A Fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and former adviser at the Central Bank of Russia has weighed in on the digital ruble, Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), highlighting its potential role in reshaping Russia’s financial landscape amid sanctions. While the digital currency could offer new avenues for trade and reduce reliance on…
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Swift will begin live trials for digital asset and currency transactions in 2025, engaging banks across North America, Europe, and Asia in a major step toward real-world applications. By leveraging its existing network, Swift aims to merge digital and traditional assets, addressing the challenges of disconnected platforms. The trials build on successful blockchain experiments, seeking…
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Swift has unveiled a plan to enable the movement of digital assets and currencies on its global payment network. The initiative aims to integrate regulated digital currencies into Swift’s platform, building on past experiments. “We’re paving the way towards real-world solutions that will enable our members to access and transact with regulated digital assets and…
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The largest Japanese banks—MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho—plan to use a stablecoin-based system to facilitate cross-border payments in the future. The initiative, Project Pax, replaces correspondent banks with blockchain technology, linking it to SWIFT to allow users to initiate payments conventionally using regular banking rails. Japanese Banks Aim to Ditch Intermediaries for Blockchain-Based Stablecoin System Traditional…
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Welcome to Latam Insights Encore, a deep dive into Latin America’s most relevant economic and cryptocurrency-based news from last week. In this edition, we discuss the recent proposal from El Salvador to settle their trade transactions with Russia using crypto, and how this might encourage other nations to do the same. El Salvador Might Start…
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The BRICS economic bloc is progressing towards a digital payment platform, Russia’s Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has revealed. The initiative, named BRICS Bridge, aims to establish an independent financial system. This system could mitigate dependency on Western institutions, especially amid sanctions and Russia’s SWIFT disconnection. BRICS Moves Forward With Digital Payment Platform Initiative The…
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Alexander Babakov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma, highlighted the need to create a BRICS equivalent to the SWIFT messaging system, which routes payments alongside the current banking infrastructure. Babakov emphasized that this new system would help to reduce the dependence on Western institutions and simplify settlements outside the dollar-dominated system. BRICS SWIFT Equivalent…
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The most recent European Union sanctions against the Kremlin prohibit Eurozone operators from engaging with crypto asset providers that facilitate transactions supporting Russia’s defence-industrial base. Additionally, the new sanctions regime forbids Eurozone operators from utilizing the Russian-developed System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS). These restrictive measures also focus on tankers associated with “Putin’s dark…
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Some Russian companies have turned to using crypto to settle payments and protect themselves from potential secondary sanctions from Western countries. At least two top metal producers have transacted using USDT, the largest stablecoin in the crypto market, as the G7 and the EU mull more sanctions against alternatives for these operations. Crypto Used as…
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As the Consensys 2024 conference commences this week in Austin, Texas, the LINK community is abuzz with anticipation over a potential pivotal announcement from Chainlink in collaboration with SWIFT. Speculations are rife that this announcement, set for May 30 during a session on tokenization, could significantly influence LINK’s market performance. Chainlink And Swift Partnership Going…
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