BoE working on blockchain POCs via FinTech Accelerator

The Bank of England is working with fintech firms on a number of proof of concepts (POCs) through its FinTech Accelerator launched in June 2016, which includes data analytics, information security, and distributed ledgers. This was revealed by Charlotte Hogg, the bank’s Chief Operating Officer, in a speech given last week.

PBoC seeks blockchain experts to develop official digital currency

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is looking for blockchain experts and developers to ramp up its efforts to develop official digital currency for the country announced earlier this year. According to Shanghai Daily, the PBoC’s institute of printing science is seeking to fill six positions for the design and development of digital currency-related software and hardware framework, a recruitment notice said.

SEC’s working group evaluates blockchain implementation in securities market

Speaking at the SEC’s first Fintech Forum held on November 14, SEC Chair Mary Jo White said that the SEC is watching closely how innovators will overcome challenges to the widespread adoption of distributed ledger technology, such as interoperability and scalability, and to what extent such systems will be permissioned. She said that the SEC is currently assessing the roadmap for blockchain implementation in the securities market.

MAS and R3 partner to carry out blockchain-based inter-bank payments

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced its partnership with R3 blockchain consortium in order to conduct inter-bank payments using the distributed ledger technology. The partnership project will include other financial institutions and aims to potentially avail a payment system for participants in order to transact in different global markets, which are presently limited by time zone differences and office hours.

South Korea to introduce bitcoin regulations in Q1 2017

South Korea’s financial regulator has revealed plans to introduce regulatory guidelines for digital currency exchanges operating in the country by the first quarter of 2017. Korea Joongang Daily reported that for this purpose, a task force has been launched by the Financial Services Commission. The task force will hold regular meetings to discuss the regulatory status of digital currency, prepare licensing rules for exchanges, and formulate measures to prevent money laundering and fraud in transactions.

Riksbank decides on issuing ‘e-krona’ digital currency

Swedish Riksbank is deciding on whether to issue a digital currency as a move to curb the difficulty in accessing the central bank’s money and fast decline in the use of cash in Sweden. According to the reports by Financial Times, there is a dramatic drop in the use of cash in Sweden, where the amounts of notes and coins in circulation has fallen by 40 per cent since 2009. The Scandinavian bank hopes to take a decision on whether to start issuing what it calls an ‘e-krona’ – digital currency – in the next two years.

Austrian financial market regulator warns against digital currencies

The Financial Market Authority (FMA), an integrated supervisory authority or the Austrian financial market, has issued a warning against with virtual currencies and virtual currency-based business models and investment products. The regulator emphasized that virtual currencies such as bitcoin are currently not subject to any form of regulation, and in particular are not subject to supervision by the FMA.

Ethereum gears up for upcoming hard fork ‘Spurious Dragon’

Ethereum developers have announced details about an upcoming technical fork that aims to resolve the ongoing issues in its network. CoinDesk explains that the new rules will be activated at block number 2,675,000, which is expected to take place sometime around next Tuesday. Called “Spurious Dragon”, the hard fork is aimed at erasing empty accounts that the attackers used to bloat the Ethereum blockchain.

Digital Currency/Blockchain research studies:

HKMA digs deeper into blockchain technology, releases white paper

Bitcoin and blockchain investment activity drops in Q3 2016

Blockchain disruption coming sooner than you think: Deutsche Bank

Conferences/ Events:

Dubai SLC to discuss bitcoin frameworks on November 20

Chamber of Digital Commerce announces first event at DC Blockchain Center

Important deals, partnerships, and more:

CME Group officially launches bitcoin reference rate and real-time index

Blockchain startup Fluent rebrands as Hijro, announces Trade Asset Marketplace

Blockchain firm Bitmark raises $1.7M in seed funding

Blockchain startup Colu announces integration of Colored Coins and Lightning Network

Digital Currency Group leads angel round of blockchain-powered social network Yours

Deloitte and SETL collaborate to produce blockchain-based contactless card for payment

PwC and blockchain startups Bloq, Libra, Netki launch Vulcan Digital Asset Services

Melonport collaborates to offer first decentralized application on Polkadot multi-chain network

Blockchain partners with Coinify to enable near-instantaneous wallet funding

UNICEF makes investment in a South African blockchain startup

KYCK! to use IBM Blockchain to improve customer onboarding process in financial institutions