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The cryptocurrency markets were tense early this week, due to increased regulatory scrutiny of digital currencies by US authorities. On Thursday, Bitcoin rose to $25,000 for the first time since August amid concerns about a US regulatory clampdown. Apart from that, here are some of the top stories from the crypto industry this week.
According to India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Group of 20 (G20) big economies is looking into the possibility of regulating cryptocurrencies as a group.
She noted that crypto assets and Web3 are relatively new and emerging sectors that require significant international collaboration for any specific legislation to be fully effective.
India is set to host G20 finance ministers and central bank governors this month. The country has debated drafting a law to regulate or even ban cryptocurrencies for several years but has not made a final decision yet.
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) is planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of the first of its newly-launched financial infrastructure transformation (FIT) program to accelerate digital transformation in the country.
The program aims to support digital payments and boost the UAE's competitiveness as a centre for finance and electronic payments. The project sets up a series of digital payment infrastructures and services, including the issuance of a CBDC for cross-border and domestic uses.
Apart from a CBDC, the government is also planning to introduce a unified card payment platform to promote the growth of e-commerce and an instant payment platform to assist financial inclusion and enable a cashless society during the first stage of the program.
Crypto-exchange Binance has officially launched its Mastercard crypto card in Brazil.
Binance offers its customers a debit card that can be used at any location that accepts Mastercard to make purchases using their cryptocurrency holdings. Mastercard will proceed to convert cryptocurrencies into euros in real-time, at the time of the transaction.
Binance’s crypto card will allow payments using 13 crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Binance USD (BUSD).
The trading platform had announced earlier this year its expansion plan to increase the countries where its card can be used.
El Salvador, a country that adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, is extending its Bitcoin strategy in a new partnership with the government of Texas in the United States.
The intergovernmental partnership seeks to establish a Texas Bitcoin Embassy, or El Salvador's representative office, to work on fresh cooperative initiatives to encourage Bitcoin usage in the country.
One of the more crypto-friendly US states today, Texas is also home to some of the biggest Bitcoin miners in North America.
The Central American country has also agreed to launch a comparable business in Lugano, Switzerland, in October in an effort to promote the use of bitcoin throughout Europe.
Wirex, payments and crypto company based in London, has signed a long-term global partnership with Visa to expand its footprint in Asia-Pacific (APAC) and the United Kingdom.
The company, with over 5 million customers offering cryptocurrency-linked card services, will be able to reach customers in over 40 countries with this partnership.
Wirex was also the first company in the world to create a crypto-enabled card in 2015.
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Disclaimer: This article was authored by Giottus Crypto Exchange as a part of a paid partnership with The News Minute. Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Please do your own research before investing and seek independent legal/financial advice if you are unsure about the investments.