The devastation of virtual currencies is not over yet.
Regulators are approaching and innovation is accelerating. It is no exaggeration to say that the blockchain landscape remains a competitive battleground.
Price fluctuations continue unabated, and fraud remains rampant, with OpenAI accounts on social platform X being hacked to promote fraudulent tokens on Monday (September 23). But blockchain believers aren’t backing down from laying the foundations for what they believe is the digital economy of tomorrow.
Blockchain believers are increasingly enlisting financial heavyweights on their side. As technology continues to advance, leading companies are betting big on the benefits of tokenization. On Tuesday (September 24), PYMNTS covered what is shaping up to be a memorable September for tokenized deposits.
“Deposit tokens can also be integrated into banking infrastructure, allowing for smooth interoperability with traditional banking services,” PYMNTS reported in June. “This integration will allow users to realize the benefits of blockchain technology without abandoning the familiar framework of their existing financial system.”
That’s why, as the effects of the summer’s crypto rally subside, questions remain about the usefulness of Web3 technology across traditional industries. Each week, PYMNTS rounds up the most pressing crypto and Web3 news, updates and announcements, tracking key data points as the sector advances global payments and commerce.
Stablecoins seek to simplify financial complexity
As the FinTech sector continues to mature, stablecoins are emerging as a key component, with impact across payments, remittances, decentralized finance (DeFi) and the broader financial ecosystem, disrupting traditional financial has become a bridge between the world of blockchain and blockchain payments.
“Traditional cross-border payments still have a lot of issues with transparency and cost,” Sheraz Shea, general manager of payments and commerce at Solana Foundation, told PYMNTS in an interview published Monday. Ta. “For the experience to be a 10, at least from a user experience standpoint, it has to be like using Venmo. You find your recipient, choose the currency you want to send money to, and they instantly You can get that funding.”
“We found that blockchain solutions and stablecoins (I don’t want to use the word crypto because this is about fintech) have a good product market fit in cross-border payments,” Scheer said. emphasized.
In the UK, FinTech Revolut is reportedly well underway in the process of creating its own stablecoin, while PayPal launched its PYUSD stablecoin in 2023 and has since grown to a market cap of 730 million yen. It has become the fourth largest stablecoin, surpassing the dollar.
When PayPal Ventures announced Friday (September 20) an additional investment in blockchain risk management company Chaos Labs, PayPal confirmed that the investment was made using its PYUSD stablecoin. I took note.
Still, not everyone is pushing stablecoins full speed ahead. The Bank of Canada announced Monday that it is moving forward with the idea of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), a type of sovereign stablecoin, after years of considering it.
Meanwhile, memecoins, the cryptocurrency industry’s volatile stablecoin alter ego, have soared as a result of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts.
Cryptocurrency payments continue to proliferate across digital commerce
Fiat cryptocurrency payment gateway Alchemy Pay’s Virtual Card now supports Google Pay, allowing users to pair their card with the digital payment platform. Alchemy Pay announced on September 18 that it will add crypto cards to Google Pay, allowing users to pay for everyday transactions faster and more securely.
On the same day, Visa and Singapore-based digital payment solutions provider dtcpay partnered to help consumers and businesses convert their digital currencies to fiat and make digital payments. This partnership provides access to 130 million merchants in more than 200 countries and territories.
According to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Shopping with Cryptocurrency: Technology-Driven Consumers Driving Market Acceptance,” technology-driven consumers (typically 15% of those who first purchase the latest connected devices) are likely to be regular users of cryptocurrencies. 24% of these consumers use cryptocurrencies at least 10-20 times a month.
Elsewhere, cryptocurrency-native travel platform Travala integrated the Solana blockchain network on Monday. As part of the integration, Travala will add SOL travel benefits as an option for loyalty program members and deploy AVA tokens, used to access the loyalty program, to Solana.
Regulatory Scandal, Surveillance, and Survival
In the wake of high-profile bankruptcies like FTX, the broader landscape of digital assets is now facing increased regulatory scrutiny.
Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, ex-girlfriend of FTX founder and criminal fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, played a role in the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, and later became a star witness for the Bankman-Fried prosecution. received an even harsher punishment on Tuesday. He was sentenced to two years in prison, rather than three years of supervised release without prison time as recommended by the Federal Probation Service. She was also ordered to forfeit $11 billion.
Elsewhere, Coinbase Global filed a lawsuit Monday in a federal appeals court seeking to force the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enact new rules regarding digital assets. Coinbase Global has asked the SEC to clarify when digital assets are securities and create a framework for market structures compatible with cryptocurrencies, but the SEC believes that current regulations cover the crypto sector. He said there was.
See more: Alchemy Pay, Bank of Canada, Bitcoin, blockchain, Caroline Ellison, CBDC, central bank digital currency, Chaos Labs, Coinbase Global, cross-border payments, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, digital currency, dtcpay, fraud , FTX, Fundraising, Google Pay, Hacking, Investing, News, OpenAI, PayPal, PayPal Venture, PYMNTS News, Regulation, Revolut, Fraud, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Security, Shera’s Share, Solana, Solana Foundation, Stable coin, tokenization, tokenized deposit, Travala, travel, virtual card, Visa, Web3
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