Central Bank
Wholesale CBDC Would Improve Cross-Border Payments, French Central Bank Tests Show
Banque de France said it ran multiple experiments to test central bank digital currencies for wholesale payments, issued "directly on" distributed ledger technology.

Stablecoins Pose 'Existential Threat' to Policy Sovereignty, Says India Central Bank Official: Report
"If large stablecoins are linked to some other currency, there is a risk of dollarization," RBI Deputy Governor Rabi Sankar has said.

Brazilian Central Bank Adds Crypto Exchange Mercado Bitcoin in CBDC Pilot Including Mastercard
The approved consortium includes Mastercard, broker Genial, registrar Cerc and financial software fintech Sinqia as partners.

Colombia’s Central Bank Partners with Ripple to Explore Blockchain Use Cases
The Latin American country will conduct a pilot to test Ripple's technology for its high-value payments system.

Brazil Appoints Central Bank and Securities Commission as Crypto Market Regulators
The executive branch issued a decree with directives following the approval of a crypto law in December 2022.

Brazil's Central Bank Selects 14 Participants for CBDC Pilot
Among those selected are the largest local banks, Visa and Microsoft.

Pakistan Announces Fresh Ban on Crypto, but Adoption as a Hedge Remains Popular
Cryptocurrencies will “never be legalized in Pakistan,” said Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha.

The Need for Clarity in Washington – Not Just on Crypto
The recent ambiguous messaging from the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting, which left markets struggling to interpret signals from the FOMC statement and Chair Jerome Powell's comments, is typical of the abstruse signals that can be found in central bank policy-setting. But new tools, such as blockchain's cryptographic verification systems, could guide policymakers' decisions.

World's Leading Central Banks' Balance Sheets Look to Have Troughed
The world's most influential central banks appear to have stopped shrinking their balance sheets, a tactic they adopted last year to control inflation in a program that destabilized risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. "The Hash" panel discusses the implications for the crypto industry and global finance at large.

UAE Unveils CBDC Strategy, First Phase to Be Completed by Mid-2024
The first phase of the Digital Dirham is expected to be completed over the next 12 to 15 months.

