Russia could become first country to make entire currency DIGITAL as cryptocurrency booms

The Sun 19 Feb 2021, 1:42

Discussions are underway about the launch of the digital ruble with local banks and the country’s financial watchdog has reportedly said it would present a more detailed concept by summer.

The head of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said the regulator had received detailed feedback from the banking community about the prospect in a report back in October.

According to an RT report, most lenders expressed their support over a two-level model of the digital ruble.

The model would allow banks to open wallets for their clients on the central bank’s platform and conduct operations with the currency.

Nabiullina said: “We will develop a more detailed concept and start discussing it with the public, market participants, and banks at the beginning of summer.”

 

Your face could be set to replace your bank card

BBC 24 January

To pay she simply looks at her reflection in a small LCD screen attached to the cashier's counter. Then to add her preferred amount of tip she flashes a quick peace sign at the monitor.

The entire process takes less than five seconds, and is entirely contactless. Moreover, Ms Stewart doesn't need to carry her mobile phone or bank card with her, or show any form of identification, or even enter a pin number.

Welcome to the futuristic world of facial recognition payment. It might sound like something from a science fiction movie, but this kind of transaction is already happening millions of times a day across China's major cities.

With the technology now being introduced in the US, and other countries such as Denmark and Nigeria, are we all going to be using it within a few years' time? And, are there data security and privacy issues that we should worry about?

Ms Stewart, an 18-year-old university student, says she has no such concerns. "I feel like technology is moving so fast that people don't even think twice about using something like this.

America says banks can now transact using so-called digital dollars

The Register6 Jan 2021

The US Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Monday published a letter clarifying how federally chartered banking groups can use cryptocurrency and associated technology to manage financial transactions.

The letter endorses the use of independent node verification networks (INVN), such as blockchain distributed ledgers, and stablecoins – cryptocurrencies tied to fiat currencies, like Ethereum-based USD Coin (USDC) – as a means to settle customer transactions.

"Our letter removes any legal uncertainty about the authority of banks to connect to blockchains as validator nodes and thereby transact stablecoin payments on behalf of customers who are increasingly demanding the speed, efficiency, interoperability, and low cost associated with these products," said Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks in a statement.

The agency letter blesses the use of independent node verification network (INVN) systems to validate, store, and record payment transactions, and lets banks use INVNs and associated stablecoins (those pegged to a physical currency) for other lawful payments, per existing banking laws.

In an email to The Register, David Yermack, a professor of finance at the New York University Stern School of Business and adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law, said that this looks like a big deal.

"It indirectly encourages banks to explore using FinTech platforms, and it seems to open the door for them to transact in instruments such as Tether, Diem (Libra), and other so-called stablecoins that are pegged to the US dollar," said Yermack.

Paper bank notes are being upgraded for a digital future around the world

Market Watch Sept. 21, 2019

The Federal Reserve has never been more famous than it is today. It drew praise, and ire, for its handling of the financial crisis a decade ago, and the extraordinary measures it took subsequently to stimulate the U.S. economy have made it an important driver of financial markets. Meanwhile, President Trump has made its chairman, Jerome Powell, a household name by frequently criticizing the central bank’s policies on Twitter and to the press.

A movement, meanwhile, has been brewing among economists, financial-services professionals and central bankers to encourage a rethinking of the technology of currency — those paper notes we carry in our wallets — with an eye toward issuing a digital currency. Some argue that could give central banks the tools necessary to break free of chronic disinflation and persistently low or negative interest rates, while providing Americans a risk-free means to transact in a world where digital commerce constitutes a growing share of the economy. 

“The debate isn’t about whether we need [a digital currency],” Michael Bordo, an economist at Rutgers University and a fellow at the Hoover Institution, the public-policy think tank at Stanford University, told MarketWatch. “It’s about how you do it.”