Late last week, Canadian cryptocurrency platform Coinsquare announced its plans to launch eCAD, the first stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Canadian dollar. Similar to most stablecoins, each unit of eCAD cryptocurrency will be backed by a Canadian dollar held in a traditional bank account. In Japan, the fifth-largest bank in the world announced plans to launch its own stablecoin that would be backed 1:1 by Japanese yen. According to reports, the bank is seeking to design functionality that would allow bank customers to use an app to automatically convert bank deposits into the stablecoin.
Earlier this week, Bitstamp, Europe's largest cryptocurrency exchange, became the 19th company to receive a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). This week DFS also rejected the BitLicense application of Bittrex, a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange based in Seattle. According to reports, DFS denied the application based on deficiencies in Bittrex's capital and anti-money laundering requirements.
This week Coinbase announced the launch of Coinbase Card, a card that looks and is used like a traditional debit card in point-of-sale transactions, but that is funded by customers' Coinbase account balances. According to a Coinbase blog post, the Coinbase card is available to Coinbase customers in the United Kingdom and will be available soon in the European Union. In a final note related to the cryptocurrency exchange industry, the court-appointed monitor of the defunct Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX recently recommended that the exchange should be transitioned from restructuring to bankruptcy proceedings.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Coinsquare Announces the Pre-Launch of eCAD", Canada's First Fiat-Backed Stablecoin
- World's Fifth Largest Bank MUFG to Put Stablecoin to Practical Use in 2019
- Bitstamp Granted Virtual Currency License by New York State DFS
- Bittrex virtual currency license rejected by New York financial regulator
- NY DFS Rejection Letter – Bittrex
- Spend your crypto instantly with Coinbase Card
- Quadriga Should Shift to Bankruptcy Proceedings, Monitor Says
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