Patrick Tibke’s Post

Circle has become the first global stablecoin issuer to comply with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, after its new rules for stablecoins came into effect on June 30 Under MiCA, the only stablecoins that should be offered to the public are those issued by credit institutions or holders of an electronic money institution (EMI) licence issued within the EU Up until Monday (July 1), none of the major stablecoins that dominate the EU’s crypto markets met those criteria However, that all changed when Circle announced that regulators in France have approved the company’s EMI licence application, which was originally submitted in March 2023 Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, wrote a 2,000-word post on X to break the news. “Today’s announcement from Circle is a major milestone in the ongoing development of the internet financial system,” he said “With one of the largest economies in the world having established clear regulations that make stablecoins legal electronic money, we are ushering in a phase in the crypto market’s development as a mainstream infrastructure for payments, finance and commerce” https://lnkd.in/ei-f6Mzp

The stablecoin provisions of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation came into effect on June 30 After this date, the only stablecoins that should be offered to the public in the EU are those issued by credit institutions or EMI licence holders The problem is, none of the major stablecoins that are currently in use in the EU fit that description Circle is en route to becoming compliant but is not quite there yet, while Tether has said it's not going to comply and would rather leave Europe instead But for the time being, Tether will remain available on major exchanges, including Binance 👇 It will be interesting to see how long this arrangement lasts, as it kinda defeats the whole point of stablecoins becoming regulated under MiCA https://lnkd.in/eZ7qYews

Louisiana has become the fifth US state to enact legislation banning the use of CBDC, following in the footsteps of Florida, Alabama, Indiana and South Dakota Louisiana’s Republican governor Jeff Landry signed the Blockchain Basics Act into law on June 19, following near-unanimous votes in the State Senate and House of Representatives The Blockchain Basics Act prohibits Louisiana “governing authorities” from requiring use, payment or testing of CBDC The bill also establishes new protections on the rights of Louisiana citizens and businesses to hold, store, stake, mine and transact in “digital assets” https://lnkd.in/emviFSSB.

India Links Up With ASEAN To Facilitate Instant Cross-Border Payments The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has joined Project Nexus, a multilateral initiative to enable instant cross-border retail payments by interlinking domestic payment systems Nexus, which is led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, aims to connect the instant payment systems of Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and now India The platform is expected to go live by 2026 and will be extended to more countries. Indonesia currently has special observer status "Once functional, Nexus will play an important role in making retail cross-border payments efficient, faster and more cost-effective," said the RBI

Ethiopia Moves Towards Legal Framework For CBDC Launch Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers has approved two draft bills that could pave the way for the launch of a CBDC Earlier this month, the Council approved the National Bank Ethiopia (NBE) Proclamation and the Banking Business Proclamation, both of which will now be referred to the House of Representatives for review The draft NBE Proclamation establishes a “legal framework for introduction of central bank digital currency, as necessary” In November 2023, the NBE announced that it had partnered with German currency solutions firm Giesecke+Devrient on exploring a potential CBDC An Ethiopian CBDC would be the second CBDC to go live in Africa, after Nigeria’s eNaira https://lnkd.in/e96iNfRy

The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic (Iran) has confirmed that its retail CBDC, the digital rial, will launch on a limited basis in July Initially, the digital rial will go live on Kish Island - a holiday resort and free trade zone in the Persian Gulf, which is home to about 140,000 residents The CBDC will be available to bank customers and tourists, and can be used for person-to-merchant (P2M) payments using a QR code The central bank said the launch of the digital rial follows several periods of experimentation in partnership with the country’s banking sector, beginning in 2021 https://lnkd.in/gAHg6ySa

Singapore's Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA), which came into effect in full today, will impose new obligations on social media companies that also act as e-commerce platforms Under the new rules, Facebook Marketplace will be forced to verify the identities of all "risky sellers" by the end of 2024 If verifying these sellers does not lead to a "significant drop" in reported scam activity, Facebook will be forced to verify all sellers by Easter 2025 As far as I'm aware, this is the first law of its kind which introduces ID verification specifically for peer-to-peer (P2P) merchants on social media... If you know of any other jurisdictions that are ahead of Singapore on this, please let me know in the comments, thanks! https://lnkd.in/e8Q-YpMH

America's oldest consumer watchdog has declared war on Tether... Consumers' Research, founded in 1929, has launched a multi-million dollar campaign to raise awareness of allegations of criminal activity against Tether The campaign includes a nationwide TV ad; a website, TetheredToCorruption.com; a digital billboard in Times Square; and a series of mobile billboards in other locations in New York and DC “We are shining a light on Tether for their suspicious business practices, including a decade-long refusal to perform an audit and the routine use of the product by terrorists and traffickers,” said Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research “Consumers should be wary of any so-called stablecoin that refuses to properly certify that they actually hold the assets they claim. "Given these warning signs, we fear that Tether may very well be the next FTX” https://lnkd.in/dhRJUMPH

Spare a thought for the Aussie merchants who are still losing almost 4% per transaction to accept BNPL payments... On the bright side, this has come down from closer to 5%... 😲 This is where the bill for the "interest-free" credit is really being paid... https://lnkd.in/etg7C9GA

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is calling on card networks to be more transparent about the scheme fees they charge to issuers and acquirers... Ellis Connolly, head of payments policy at the RBA, said scheme fees are rising and are increasing costs for merchants "These fees can be very complex and opaque, and unlike interchange fees, there are no regulations restricting their growth," he said. The RBA wanted to publish data on the fees charged by each network, but it sounds like they got the door slammed in their face... Instead, the RBA has to make do with aggregates... The days of scheme fees being shrouded in mystery may be coming to an end... https://lnkd.in/etg7C9GA