Home Latest News Blockchain Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 28 (2021)

Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 28 (2021)

July 19, 2021

This is Charles Brett’s start-of-the-week Enterprise Times ‘blockchain catch-up’ Week 28. Necessarily it is idiosyncratic and selective.

It is not intended to be comprehensive but does seek to highlight ‘Quick Takes’ on specific developments as well interesting pieces to read, a listing of some (not all) announcements/press releases and pointers to upcoming events.

Quick Takes – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 28

Eurosystem launches digital euro project

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to launch the investigation phase of a digital euro project. “It has been nine months since we published our report on a digital euro. In that time, we have carried out further analysis, sought input from citizens and professionals, and conducted some experiments, with encouraging results. All of this has led us to decide to move up a gear and start the digital euro project”, says ECB President Christine Lagarde. “Our work aims to ensure that in the digital age citizens and firms continue to have access to the safest form of money, central bank money”.

Quick Take: according to the ECB, the investigation phase will last 24 months. It will aim to address key issues regarding design and distribution. A key recognition is that any digital euro must:

meet the needs of Europeans
inhibit (preferably prevent) illicit activities
avoid undesirable impacts on financial stability and/or monetary policy.

While the ECB is not committing to a digital euro, the key emphasis (to Enterprise Times) is that any digital euro will complement cash, not replace it. This is a significant point of emphasis that many miss. The idea is to complement cash, no replace the traditional euro-based financial system. Should the ECB move forward in (say) 24 months) a valid pair of questions will be:

will the digital euro be a digital Yuan competitor?
what would/will any emergence of a digital US$ mean?

There is much to chew on…

7 pieces to read – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 28

Unmanned traffic management: 5 challenges solved by blockchain
Iced tea-to-blockchain pivot prompts SEC insider trading lawsuit
South Korean internet giants bid for central bank digital currency pilot (original announcement in Korean)
El Salvador’s move to accept Bitcoin as legal tender could stress the blockchain
5 top emerging blockchain technology trends to follow in 2021
New data reveals timeline of China’s Bitcoin mining exodus (dropping from 75.5% in September 2019 to 46% in April 2021)
Silvergate Bank to automate KYC for crypto business.

Selected announcements/press releases/opinions – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 28

Blockchain coinvestors unveils list of global blockchain unicorns (announcement)
What’s more secure: blockchain or database? (opinion)
Conspiracy law could solve blockchain’s oversight problem (opinion)
S&P Dow Jones Indices launches new cryptocurrency indexes (announcement)
The 25 countries most prepared for a cryptocurrency takeover (report).