A key figure involved in preparing legislation for the digital euro has been accused of stalling by rival politicians—and over in Russia, Vladimir Putin wants his country to "seize the moment" and embrace the digital ruble.
For all the key details of new Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) projects in the banking world, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, stablecoins, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) updates, the Observers 'Banking and CBDC Roundup' has you covered.
A German media report has claimed that Conservative members of the EU Parliament are "stalling" efforts to launch a digital euro.
Netzpolitik has published a complaint from politicians in Brussels—claiming Stefan Berger, who is responsible for getting laws about this CBDC passed, is dragging his feet at the negotiating table.
The letter alleged Berger's actions "are at odds with the democratic process," and working with him has been "extremely difficult."
Berger is a member of the European People's Party, which Netzpolitik says has "established connections to banks" that are highly critical of plans to introduce a CBDC.
Such financial institutions are now calling for lower limits on the amount of digital euros a single consumer can hold, which could fall to just €500.
In the United States, Cynthia Lummis, the Republican senator for Wyoming, has also doubled down on her criticism of CBDCs—describing them as "The Beast."
She believes a retail-facing digital dollar should never launch.
Bitcoin and digital assets are the future. Here’s my agenda:
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) July 12, 2024
✅ No retail Central Bank Digital Currencies
✅Clear protections for self-custody Bitcoin wallets
✅Restore Dollar Dominance for the 21st Century pic.twitter.com/yEy9tcxU5b
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is calling on Russia to "seize the moment" and "move to a broader, full-scale implementation of the digital ruble."
He said early trials of this CBDC have led to more than 30,000 transactions being completed so far. According to the Russian Central Bank commentary, in the second half of 2024, they plan to extend the pilot from the current 34 to 1,200 banks and merchants.
A more aggressive push of the digital ruble in Russia could potentially help the country sidestep economic sanctions, and fuel de-dollarization.
Meanwhile, China is extending CBDC use cases by testing its e-CNY for the prevention of wage arrears for migrant workers in construction projects. The Chongqing Human Resources and Social Security Bureau piloted the use of digital renminbi for wage payments in Liangping District.
Recently the People's Bank of China declared that the total value of transactions completed using the digital yuan has now surpassed 6.6 trillion yuan ($910 billion), which is 7.3 times higher than it was a year ago.
That's a pretty impressive figure considering this CBDC remains in a pilot stage, with 26 regions now putting the digital asset through its paces.
Neighboring Kazakhstan plans to use its digital tenge CBDC to pay for the construction of a rail line to China. The programmability feature of the digital money will be tested for automatic release of payment to contractors that have fulfilled certain milestones.
The World Bank Group has published a new report, and warned close attention must be paid to ensuring CBDCs are properly integrated into major economies. It said:
"CBDCs, if and when they are introduced, will become a critical component not just in the context of national payment systems but may also have significant importance in the context of cross-border payment infrastructures. The jury is still out with regard to what form and shape the CBDC systems will have; however, it is fair to state that CBDC interoperability with legacy and new payment systems will be essential in order to avoid furthering payment system fragmentation."
Elsewhere, Colombia and Papua New Guinea have put their countries on the global CBDC map, quite differently, however. The Colombian central bank issued a report concluding initial research saying "no use cases or functionalities in sight that
merit the implementation of CBDC in the short term". Authorities of Papua New Guinea, on the contrary, anticipate an immediate effect from the digitalization of the local currency – to mitigate the effects of frequent robberies and muggings in the country. According to the press release by the contracted developer, Soramitsu, the CBDC will address the crime issues by implementing the recoverability function.
The asset management giant State Street is reportedly examining ways of settling payments on blockchains—and may even create its own stablecoin and deposit token.
Now the third-largest ETF manager, this builds upon an increased focus on tokenizing assets in response to growing demand from institutional investors.
21.co researcher Tom Wan has predicted that the total value of tokenized U.S. Treasuries could reach $3 billion by the end of this year.
$3B Tokenized US Treasuries by the end of 2024?
— Tom Wan (@tomwanhh) July 15, 2024
We are seeing a trend of DeFi Project's DAO diversifying their treasury to RWAs, including stablecoins and Tokenized US Treasuries.
With the maturity of tokenized US treasuries, over 15+ products on EVM Chains, and close to $2B… pic.twitter.com/rzRNvUNYWJ
Finally this week, the real estate platform Propy has announced that U.S. homes worth more than $10 billion are now ready to be tokenized—and 200,000 addresses are already on-chain.
As well as simplifying and expediting real estate transactions, it's hoped a partnership with Parcl will deliver instant data on the state of the property market. Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva said:
"By leveraging Parcl's advanced analytics and real-time housing data, we are providing unparalleled accuracy and transparency in property valuations, empowering our users with the best possible tools to navigate the on-chain real estate landscape."