December 28, 2020
- Russian Parliament foresees a surge of token issuance for 2021 in the wake of Crypto Law Promulgation
- Visa Grants Principal Membership to Crypto Payments Platform Wirex
- Amex Ventures Invests in a Cryptocurrency Trading Platform
- Jefferies, An American Multinational Investment Bank to Buy Bitcoin and Reduce Gold Exposure
Russian Parliament Foresees a Token Issuance Surge for 2021 in the Wake of Crypto Law Promulgation
According to the Parliamentary Gazette, Anatoly Aksakov, said, ‘a large number of large enterprises’ had requested the State Duma (Russian Parliament) to pass the law as soon as possible, further adding that industry firms are preparing to issue stable coins.
The Crypto Law Promulgation is expected to be announced on January 1, 2021, with increasing number of firms showing interest in the new crypto regulation. A substantial number of companies are in the exploitation of minerals and are seeking to tokenize their processes.
Aksakov further stated:
“From my point of view, digital ruble is one of the future forms of our ruble, and it should contribute to the development of the financial assets market.”
Under Russia’s crypto bill, cryptocurrencies in Russia are “recognized as an aggregate of electronic data capable of being accepted as the payment means, not being the monetary unit of the Russian Federation or a foreign state, and as investments.” although they “cannot be used simultaneously to pay for any good and services.”
The Russian Ministry of Finance also announced new revisions to the country’s cryptocurrency law on November 13, 2020, detailing a new set of regulations for owners, exchanges, and miners of cryptocurrencies.
Source | Bitcoin.com
Visa Grants Principal Membership to Crypto Payments Platform Wirex
Wirex, a London-based crypto-payments network, will now autonomously issue Visa accounts and process transactions as the company has become a major member of the payments giant.
Wirex now enables its users to transfer crypto and fiat currencies through the platform across the globe. According to an announcement, as a result of a long term cooperation, Wirex has been added as a member of the European network of Visa – Becoming the second crypto company after Coinbase to get such kind of membership.
Senior director and head of cryptocurrency at Visa, Cuy Sheffield, stated:
“Digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places. We’re excited to work with innovative Fintech’s like Wirex, and enable their customers to use digital currencies at more than 61 million merchants on the Visa network.”
Concurrently, Wirex is planning to launch a single currency Visa card as they prepare to land in the US market.
Source | Bitcoin.com
Amex Ventures Invests in a Cryptocurrency Trading Platform
American Express says Amex Ventures has invested its investment arm in the cryptocurrency trading platform Falconx, which focuses on serving institutional trading customers. The investment by Amex, reported for bitcoin during a record-breaking week, emphasizes the willingness of the credit card issuer to cash in on the growing institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.
The acquisition of a stake in Falconx by Amex Ventures is the result of a cryptocurrency investigation that took an undisclosed number of years, according to a study. Harshul Sanghi, the global head of Amex, briefly clarified the reasoning behind the financial services giant’s involvement in crypto startups in comments made after the announcement. Sanghi states:
“Amex Ventures invests in startups as a way to better understand emerging areas of the payments ecosystem.”
Falconx’s chief executive and co-founder, Raghu Yarlagadda, stated that the firm is seeing an “increasing number of traditional service providers and hedge funds have become interested in cryptocurrencies.”
Yarlagadda further added that Falconx would be the forefront witness of the institutional growth in Bitcoin.
Source | Bitcoin.com
Jefferies, An American Multinational Investment Bank to Buy Bitcoin and Reduce Gold Exposure
Christopher Wood, the global equity head of Jefferies, a global financial services firm, says the company is going to limit gold exposure in favor of bitcoin – Further citing plans to raise the long-only global portfolio of Jefferies’ crypto portion for the U.S. dollar-denominated pension fund when the price of bitcoin drops from current levels. Bitcoin will take up 5% of Jefferies’s fund as a result of this initiative.
Wood stated,
“The 50 percent weight in physical gold bullion in the portfolio will be reduced for the first time in several years by five percentage points with the money invested in bitcoin. If there is a big drawdown in bitcoin from the current level, after the historic breakout above the $20,000 level, the intention will be to add to this position.”
Institutional investors’ interest in Bitcoin, the dominating cryptocurrency, has been rising steadily, especially after Bitcoin hit a breakthrough over the Christmas weekend.
Source | Bitcoin.com
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