Lee Hardman, FX analyst at MUFG, said the dollar should strengthen in the first half of 2025, buoyed by the likely swift implementation of tariffs by US President-elect Trump and the limited prospect of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates. More upfront tariff increases support the bank's forecast for further dollar strength in the first half of the year. In addition, the Federal Reserve sent a clear signal in December that they would be much more cautious in further rate cuts this year. I...
The Advisory Group on Innovation and the Digital Economy of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) recommends a hybrid architecture for a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), issued and governed by the central bank, with commercial banks providing consumer services. The report proposes a modular approach to design, with a focus on a token-based model for privacy protection, while supporting an account-based model where user identity information is retained in private intermediaries...
According to Reuters, Ubisoft's acquisition talks are continuing, with the Guillemot family, Ubisoft's owners, continuing discussions with Tencent and other investors about buying the company. Tencent is still hesitant to increase its stake in the company, but Tencent's negotiations are designed to prevent "any potential hostile takeover of Ubisoft by other investors". Tencent declined to comment on previous reports that Ubisoft is interested in being taken private by Tencent, Ubisoft's second l...
On December 6th, local time learned on December 5th that about 20,000 bodies were found in a hangar at Bogota International Airport in the capital of Colombia. At present, the investigation is ongoing.
On December 1st, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and central banks recently published papers on legal issues and the design of CBDC systems. Participating central banks include the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, and the European Central Bank.
On November 1st, Henry Cook of Mitsubishi UFJ said that the Bank of England will cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.75% on November 7th. However, after Wednesday's budget commitment to increase public investment, a subsequent rate cut in December looks unlikely. Some members of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee may be concerned that additional government spending could push up inflation. Data show that the market expects the Bank of England to cut interest rates by a total ...
Mitsubishi UFJ analyst Derek Halpenny said that if Republican candidate Trump wins the US Presidential Election on November 5, the dollar and the US stock market could rise, at least at first. Trump said in an interview with the media last week that there is a higher risk that he will raise tariffs faster than during his first presidency. However, the dollar's nearly 4% gain in October suggests that this has been digested and could limit the dollar's gains. If Trump wins, the euro could fall bel...
Bolivian bank Banco Bisa has launched a stablecoin custody service that allows customers to buy, sell and transfer USDT. The service will enable users to hold their assets, send them to relatives and make cross-border transfers, Bisa said. Yvette Espinoza of the Bolivian financial regulator Autoridad de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero (ASFI) supports the bank's move, saying it allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies within the country's regulatory framework. The regulator says it reduces ...
Brokerage firms such as Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank, Nomura, and Daiwa Securities, as well as a consortium of Japanese institutions such as cryptocurrency exchanges such as BitFlyer and Bitbank, have proposed launching cryptocurrency ETFs focused on bitcoin and Ethereum in Japan.
Blockchain key management platform Cubist has launched a cross-chain bridge security system "Bascule" under the leadership of a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report highlights that major Financial Institutions Groups are piloting tokenized deposits to improve settlement efficiency and programmability, but there may be risks associated with the transition to tokenization in traditional finance, including potential governance and legal framework issues as well as credit, liquidity, custodial and operational risks, which may differ from those faced by traditional market infrastructures and therefore require a...