FreeCryptoCurrency.Me

Adjusted on-chain activity on the Bitcoin network has passed $170.57 billion in December — the second-highest peak ever. December also saw an increase of 25.7% compared with November, which had the fourth-highest adjusted on-chain volume recorded.

The record monthly volume occurred during the last big bull run, in December 2017, when it peaked at $207.86 billion. As of today, this month’s volume is $30.3 billion behind that record.

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Quick Take

• ‘Fiat Freeway’ is a weekly column providing the latest updates on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins. 
• This week’s column explores Visa’s novel offline payment system (OPS) protocol, which expands the global payments technology company’s fast-growing digital ecosystem into CBDC.  

This research piece is available to
members of The Block Genesis.
You can continue reading
this Genesis research on The Block.

Quick Take

• The well-known stablecoins today are custodial (e.g. USDC), crypto-collateralized (e.g. DAI), and algorithmic (e.g. Empty Set Dollar).
• Each of these designs trades off the kinds of adversarial conditions they can defend against. For example, a custodial stablecoin like USDC can be subject to regulatory pressures.
• A stablecoin designed from tokenizing funding rate arbitrage positions can provide an interesting and trust-minimized alternative to current approaches.

This research piece is available to
members of The Block Genesis.
You can continue reading
this Genesis research on The Block.

The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has given Japanese tech giant GMO Internet the green light to issue two stablecoins — a dollar-pegged coin (ZUSD) and a yen-pegged coin (GYEN).

GYEN is the first non-USD stablecoin approved by the NYDFS. Both GYEN and ZUSD will be issued by GMO-Z.com Trust Company, a limited liability trust company that has been granted a charter by the NYDFS.

GMO said to win approval for the trust, it had to meet stringent requirements for cybersecurity programs, as well as federal standards for anti-money laundering and economic sanctions. The stablecoins are expected to launch next month and will be powered by Ethereum.

“We seek to dramatically reduce execution times and expand the digital options for retail and institutional clients in trading, settlements, payments, lending and remittances,” said Kurt Bierbower, SVP of business development at GMO-Z.com Trust Company.

The stablecoins are also expected to get listed on crypto exchanges to enhance accessibility and liquidity. They will, however, not be available in Japan.

GMO is not new to the crypto space. It already operates a regulated crypto exchange in Japan and a bitcoin mining operation. The company also claims to run the world’s largest online forex trading platform, besides its core internet services business. 

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.