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Accenture and Digital Dollar Foundation to trial United States CBDC this year

Fortune 500 company Accenture has teamed up with Digital Dollar Foundation to conduct Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, trials in the United States.

Announced on Monday, May 3, the newly formed Digital Dollar Project will carry out five CBDC pilot programs over the next 12 months. The project’s objective is to generate data to inform U.S. policymakers on how to develop a domestic digital currency.

The Digital Dollar Project will launch three pilot programs in the next two months, generating data on the functional, sociological, and business benefits of a digital greenback.

Al Jazeera reports that former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and co-founder of the Digital Dollar Foundation, Christopher Giancarlo, emphasized the lack of U.S. data regarding CBDC:

“There are conferences and papers coming out every week around the world on CBDCs based on data from other countries. What there is not, is any real data and testing from the United States to inform that debate. We’re seeking to generate that real-world data.”

However, the Fed is taking a cautious approach as the guardian of the world’s reserve currency, the report added, with chairman Jerome Powell responding that it is far more important to get a digital dollar right than it is to be fast.

Giancarlo countered that Powell was correct to be cautious, but warned that the U.S. could fall further behind as China pushes ahead with its own CBDC testing and deployment.

While the U.S. Federal Reserve has been conducting research into the technology and applications for a CBDC, the United States lags behind the digital currency initiatives currently ongoing in numerous other jurisdictions.

China’s central bank and leading state banks have recently been preparing to test the digital yuan for a shopping festival on May 5.

Accenture has also worked on a number of CBDC projects in other countries, including Canada, Singapore, France, and Sweden — which has already completed the first phase of its pilot.

According to a study by the Bank for International Settlements, 80% of the world’s central banks are already researching central bank-issued digital currencies.

Accenture and Digital Dollar Foundation to trial United States CBDC this year

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Fintech Ant Group Affiliate MYbank Is Planning to Expand Operations in China to Serve More Rural SMEs

China-based MYbank, an online private commercial bank and an affiliate of the Ant Group with a special focus on working with rural areas and SMEs, has revealed that it will be doubling the number of rural counties it serves in the coming years.

MYbank and its business partners plan to provide financial services in 2,000 rural counties in China within the next four years (by 2025). This should coincide with the bank’s 10th year since its launch. The initiative will ensure that rural clients are able to access the same modern financial services that are offered in some of China’s largest cities. The initiative should also help with addressing the last-mile problem in the rural finance sector.

This latest announcement from MYbank has come along with the release of the firm’s 2020 annual report, which reveals that MYbank had been serving 70% more (year-on-year) SMEs in 2020 when compared to 2019. This rise in activity has mainly been driven by MYbank’s expansion into rural areas.

Since launching operations 6 years back, MYbank has managed to serve clients in over 750 different counties across China.

Xiaolong Jin, President of MYbank, stated:

“We have continued to record remarkable growth in customer base for five consecutive years. We expect rural finance to play a significant role in advancing financial inclusion, and will further our efforts to make rural finance more accessible with our financial institution partners.”

MYbank has reportedly kept its non-performing loan ratio at around 1.52%, which is a lot lower than the 2.99% average for Chinese SME loans (as of June of last year).

MYbank had teamed up with the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the China Banking Association (in March 2020) in order to introduce a “Contactless Loans” initiative, in which 118 Chinese banking institutions had come together to provide supportive loans for small and medium-sized businesses as they tried to maintain operations.

The initiatve reportedly offered more than RMB 870 billion worth of loans to many different SMEs in sectors that were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak (including local dining and retail outlets).

During the 6 months since the campaign began, MYbank and its partner banks have waived RMB 665 million in interest payments for Chinese SMEs.

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Australian senate committee calls for national blockchain land registry

An Australian senate committee has published a report calling for a blockchain-based national land registry, better clarity over laws relating to smart contracts, and continued efforts to establish international standards for DLT.

The Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre’s second interim report offers 23 recommendations spanning blockchain, consumer data, and corporate taxation.

Five recommendations deal specifically with blockchain and digital assets, including that the Council of Financial Regulators Cyber Working Group takes into account international data standards.

The committee recommended that National Cabinet consider supporting a blockchain-powered national land registry as a pilot project for Commonwealth-State cooperation on “RegTech’ to highlight ways to streamline administrative processes in both the public and private sectors.

“The committee was particularly impressed with the potential for blockchain to drive efficiencies in the area of land registries, and is recommending that this issue be further explored in the context of the National Cabinet.”

Zooming out, the committee noted there was a need for more clarity and certainty in digital asset regulations, and highlighted concerns from industry stakeholders regarding “the uncertain status” of smart contracts under Australian law.

Despite hearing about the concerns, the committee didn’t hear many solutions:

“While the committee heard extensive evidence on the need for such regulation, it heard less on concrete ideas for how this regulation should best be crafted.” 

Instead it recommended the Australian Government “consider how best to improve clarity with respect to the standing of smart contracts.”

The report called on the Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources, or DISER, to publish regular updates on the progress of the National Blockchain Roadmap and to to review and update the roadmap as the space evolved. 

Moving forward, the committee plans to review how capital gains are applied to cryptocurrency transactions, and give deeper consideration to the regulatory implications of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins during the final phase of its inquiries.

Australian senate committee calls for national blockchain land registry

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KingsCrowd, a Ratings and Analytics Firm for Private Securities Market, Releases New Regulation CF Report

KingsCrowd, the online private market’s data-driven ratings and analytics platform, announced on Tuesday (April 27, 2021) the publication and availability of the KingsCrowd Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report.

The KingsCrowd Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report reportedly covers more than 150 Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) market statistics, key insights, and analytics. These items are presented in an “easy-to-read” visual format. Readers get an extensive overview of the Reg CF market as of last year, along with a preview of what is set to be a “record-shattering” 2021, according to a release.

In 2020, startups secured over $210 million via equity crowdfunding. This total represents year-over-year growth of about 110% from 2019’s total funding and notably marks the fourth year early-stage firms have been able to acquire investment capital from the public under the JOBS Act’s Regulation Crowdfunding rules.

KingsCrowd Founder and CEO Chris Lustrino, stated:

“The release of this first edition of our Regulation Crowdfunding Intelligence Report couldn’t come at a better time. On March 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange increased the maximum raise amount under Regulation Crowdfunding rules from $1.07 million to $5 million. This marks a watershed moment for our industry and makes Regulation Crowdfunding a viable alternative to traditional venture capital and. KingsCrowd’s Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report was written for anyone interested in the Reg CF market and looking to update themselves on this fast-growing space quickly.”

A few takeaways from the report:

  • For the year 2020, “more than $210 million was invested in Reg CF raise campaigns.”
  • The average valuation of companies raising funds in 2020 “was $11.35 million, a 24% increase from 2018’s average valuation and up slightly from 2019’s $11.19 million figure.”
  • Second half 2020 data “shows 291 out of 964 start-up companies raised capital exhibited mixed-gender founding teams while 27% of all entities that raised funds through Reg CF included minority founders.”

KingsCrowd says that it’s at the “intersection between early-stage companies seeking growth capital and startup investors.” By offering “institutional-grade” data and analysis that stakeholders can “trust,” KingsCrowd allows anyone to “invest like a venture capitalist.”

KingsCrowd’s Merlin™ Ratings Platform analyzes over 150 data points to offer key insights, analytics, and ratings “to help investors navigate the startup investing market and vet the best deals worth adding to their investment portfolio.”

In late January 2021, Wefunder, a leading securities crowdfunding platform, highlighted Q4 performance in the Reg CF crowdfunding sector. According to the numbers generated by Kingscrowd, Wefunder dominated this sector of online capital formation.

Now crowdfunding encompasses other exemptions, including Reg A+ and Reg D (506c). Each of these exemptions is unique in its own way (Reg D is only available for accredited investors, for example), and many platforms offer securities under all three exemptions, including Wefunder but the bulk of the platform’s securities offerings are from issuers raising capital under Reg CF.

The numbers show Wefunder topping its nearest competitor under Reg CF by almost $10 million:

Wefunder – $29 million
StartEngine – $19.8 million
Republic – $9.9 million
All others – $12.6 million

As covered in March 2020, KingsCrowd closed on a $1 million crowdfunding round on the NetCapital marketplace.  NetCapital lists private securities under both Reg CF and Reg D. The KingsCrowd offering leveraged both exemptions in a side-by-side offering. KingsCrowd said it raised $902,952 under Reg CF and $97,048.80 under Reg D 506 (c). 555,556 units were sold. Kingscrowd is a ValueSetters, Inc. (OTC:VSTR) portfolio company.

You may download a copy of the KingsCrowd’s Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report here.

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100 fascinating facts about crypto’s last 100 days

Crypto data aggregator CoinMetrics has compiled a list of 100 insights into the recent performance of the digital asset markets — and the figures add up to a very bullish picture for the ecosystem. 

Released to celebrate the 100th issue of its State of the Network report, the list notes that a $100 investment made into Dogecoin 100 days ago would be worth $2,742 today — outperforming the same $100 investment in Bitcoin (which would be valued at $135 today), Ethereum ($186), and Uniswap ($401).

Price performance of BTC, ETH, UNI, and DOGE over past 100 days: CoinMetrics

The report states that Bitcoin has seen $14.5 billion worth of “trusted trading volume” in 100 days, alongside $6.1 billion worth Ether, $2.4 billion worth of XRP, $2.3 billion worth of DOGE, and $1.3 billion worth of Cardano (ADA) over the same period. 

When looking at recently active addresses, veteran networks appear to still be the most popular — with nearly 611,000 active daily Ethereum addresses over the past 100 days, and 1.12 million active Bitcoin wallets. Bitcoin set a new record for daily activity on April 14 with 1.36 million wallets engaging with the network.

Over the past 100 days, a total of 1.4 million addresses have engaged with the top DeFi protocols — Uniswap, Aave, Compound, MakerDAO, and Synthetix — while the Litecoin network has hosted 24.4 million active wallets.

Users are paying to access the Ethereum mainnet at an accelerated pace, with $2.3 billion of the $3.17 billion in total fees that have ever been generated by Ethereum, having been recorded since the start of 2021. By contrast, Bitcoin has generated roughly $2 billion fees over the network’s lifetime.

The average Bitcoin transaction fee was $20.68 over the past 100 days, while Ethereum transactions averaged $16.68 over the same period. Bitcoin’s average transaction size of $30,000 has been almost double Ethereum’s $15,660 since the start of 2021.

Despite Ethereum’s impending transition to Proof-of-Stake, Ethereum hash-rate has grown at 4.5 times the rate of Bitcoin since the start of the year, with Ethereum up 89% while Bitcoin’s hashing power has increased by 20%.

The report also notes the surging popularity of stablecoins, with Tether’s supply on Ethereum increasing from 13.5 billion to 24.4 billion this year— however that was outshone by the amount of USDT on TRON, which grew from 6.8 billion to 26 billion. USDC expanded 234%, from 4.1 billion to 13.7 billion, and circulating DAI was up 192%, from 1.2 billion to 3.5 billion, since the start of the year.

“It took about 2.5 years for stablecoin supply to grow from 1B to 10B. It took less than a year to grow from 10B to over 75B,” CoinMetrics wrote, adding:

Total stablecoin supply is on pace to pass $100 billion before the end of 2021.”

100 fascinating facts about crypto’s last 100 days

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