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China

Crypto-friendly bank DBS has conducted the first e-CNY transaction for corporate clients, involving a catering company in Shenzhen.

Cryptocurrency-friendly bank DBS is cooperating with mainland China on the development of a new payment solution for the digital yuan, also known as e-CNY.

DBS Bank China officially announced on July 5 the launch of the e-CNY merchant solution, allowing mainland businesses to receive payments in the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The new service will allow corporate clients of DBS Bank China to collect payments from their customers in e-CNY and conduct automated settlement of e-CNY directly into their CNY bank deposit account.

DBS’ solution is designed to enable a number of benefits, allowing businesses to collect CBDC “without having to go through manual settlement processes,” the announcement notes. The tool also features capabilities allowing merchants to receive payments in underserved regions with limited internet connectivity.

Additionally, the solution provides reconciliation through consolidated merchant reports with itemized e-CNY transactions available via DBS' digital platform for business banking.

According to DBS Bank China CEO Ginger Cheng, the company has completed the first e-CNY transaction involving a catering company in Shenzhen. He said:

“By seamlessly integrating a CBDC collection and settlement method into our clients’ existing payment systems, this will help position their business for a digital future where consumers in China use e-CNY for their daily activities."

He added that the development showcases the firm’s commitment to improving user experience while “actively supporting the development of China’s financial market innovation.”

Lim Soon Chong, DBS Bank head of global transaction services, noted that the new CBDC service marks another milestone in the firm’s efforts of enabling instant and frictionless 24/7 payments. “We look forward to building on this launch to explore new digital payment solutions, such as cross-border CBDC payments,” the exec added.

Since launching the CBDC in 2019, China has significantly progressed in promoting and expanding the digital yuan. According to the country’s central bank, there were 13.6 billion e-CNY in circulation, or about $2 billion by the end of 2022. The CBDC is currently accepted across 26 cities and 17 provinces in China, with adoption expected to scale further as the program gradually expands to more regions.

While supporting centralized finance initiatives like e-CNY, DBS Bank is known for its pro-crypto stance. In 2020, the Singaporean megabank launched cryptocurrency trading and custody services for institutional clients. The firm was reportedly among the few companies in the world that reaped benefits from massive collapses in the crypto industry, seeing a 80% spike in Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes in 2022.

Apart from assisting China in expanding its CBDC ecosystem, DBS also participated in various government-related blockchain initiatives in Singapore, including Project Orchid, Project Guardian and Project Ubin.

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Bitcoin trading up 80% at DBS Bank due to crypto crashes in 2022, says exec

May 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banks

DBS Bank’s crypto trading platform has been attracting more institutional investors due to crypto exchanges that collapsed last year.

Singapore government-owned megabank DBS is among the few companies around the world that reaped major benefits from massive cryptocurrency collapses in 2022.

DBS Digital Exchange, DBS Bank’s institutional crypto trading platform, saw a significant increase in Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes last year. According to DBS Digital Exchange CEO Lionel Lim, the number of DBS crypto clients more than doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year.

“Bitcoin trading volumes grew 80% at the digital exchange during the same period,” Lim said in an interview with Cointelegraph on May 8.

The executive believes that the spike in demand for crypto services at DBS Digital Exchange is a consequence of crypto exchange collapses in 2022. Lim noted that DBS continues seeing a growing trend in volumes. He stated:

“DBS continues to benefit from the flight to safety and quality following the implosion of several exchanges last year.”

Evy Theunis, head of digital assets at DBS Bank, also told Cointelegraph that DBS has seen more cooperation enquiries from digital asset and blockchain firms in recent months.

Launched in 2020, DBS’ cryptocurrency exchange serves exclusively institutional investors. Despite considering expanding services to retail customers last year, DBS continues to be a members-only exchange serving corporate and institutional investors as of May 2023, Lim noted.

FTX is one of the biggest crypto exchanges that subsided in 2022. Before FTX collapsed in November 2022, the platform traded a significant amount of crypto coming from institutional investors. In March 2022, FTX launched a dedicated unit working with institutions. At the time, about two-thirds of trading volumes on FTX and FTX US were reportedly coming from institutional accounts.

While indicating a positive impact from crypto exchange crashes in 2022, DBS Digital Exchange CEO sees no influence coming from the ongoing banking crisis in the United States.

“Some of our market makers sought new USD banking rails following the collapse of the crypto-friendly US banks,” Lim said. However, there has been no direct impact on DBS’ crypto exchange, he noted, stating:

“The collapse of the US banks has not impacted our product and service pipeline. That said, we keep a close watch on these developments and are prepared to adjust our plans if necessary.”

While being a crypto-friendly bank itself, DBS is not worried about any risks allegedly stemming from its crypto exposure.

“DBS does not rehypothecate or trade digital assets in clients’ custody. As such, there is no liquidity risk,” Lim told Cointelegraph. “Our clients’ digital assets are in custody with DBS Bank, separate from DBS Digital Exchange,” the CEO noted.

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Coin Telegraph

As Hong Kong has been opening up to crypto, major financial institutions like DBS Group are targeting new crypto services in the Chinese territory.

Singapore state-owned megabank DBS Group is planning to expand its cryptocurrency services to Hong Kong as the Chinese territory pushes to become a digital asset hub.

DBS Bank plans to apply for a license to allow it to offer crypto trading services to Hong Kong customers, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 13.

“We are planning to apply for a license in Hong Kong so that the bank could sell digital assets to our Hong Kong customers,” DBS Bank Hong Kong CEO Sebastian Paredes said.

Paredes noted that DBS welcomes new crypto-related policies in Hong Kong, and is also “very sensitive” to the risks associated with digital assets. The bank is willing to become one of the first lenders offering crypto in Hong Kong once the regulations are fully clear and DBS “understands exactly the framework,” he added.

DBS Bank made a massive move into the cryptocurrency industry a few years ago, launching its institutional crypto exchange in Singapore in late 2020. The company has also been working to expand its crypto platform to retail investors and applying decentralized finance technology to joint projects with Singapore’s central bank.

The news comes amid DBS announcing that its net profit rose 20% to record 8.19 billion Singaporean dollars (SGD), or $6.7 billion, in 2022. Total income increased 16% to 16.5 billion SGD ($12.4 billion), crossing 16 billion SGD for the first time in history.

DBS Bank's plans to expand to Hong Kong come amid China’s special administrative region continuing to reaffirm its pro-crypto stance. In January, Hong Kong’s financial secretary Paul Chan declared that the Hong Kong government is open to collaboration with crypto and fintech startups in 2023. The official also said that a lot of industry firms expressed willingness to expand operations in Hong Kong or to go public on local exchanges.

As previously reported, Hong Kong lawmakers passed legislation to set up a licensing system for virtual asset service providers in December 2022. The new regulatory framework is designed to provide the same degree of market recognition to crypto exchanges as the one that is currently applicable to traditional financial institutions.

While Hong Kong authorities have been opening up to crypto recently, Singapore has taken a more stringent approach to the crypto industry in the aftermath of major industry failures in 2022. In October, the Monetary Authority of Singapore proposed to ban all forms of cryptocurrency credit following the bankruptcy of the Singaporean crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

JP Morgan executes first DeFi trade on a public blockchain: Finance Redefined

November 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

MakerDAO co-founder's death opened a new pandora box of conspiracy theories, based on some of his recent tweets.

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week.

The first week of November proved to be the institutionalization of DeFi markets as major international banks and financial institutions executed and completed their first DeFi transaction.

The global financial giant JP Morgan completed its first-ever cross-border transaction using DeFi on a public blockchain with the help of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian. DBS Bank started a trading test of foreign exchange (FX) and government securities using permissioned DeFi liquidity pools.

Apart from JP Morgan and DBS Bank, the Bank of International Settlements also said that automated market-making technology in DeFi can serve as a “basis for a new generation of financial infrastructure.”

In other news, the Team Finance hacker returned $7 million of the $14.5 million stolen and intends to keep 10% of the stolen amount as a bounty. MakerDAO co-founder Nikolai Mushegian was found dead at 29 in Puerto Rico, which started several conspiracy theories.

Looking at the weekly DeFi market performance, the majority of the DeFi tokens in the top 100 started the first week of November on a bullish note. The Fed rate hike helped a majority of the tokens to post double-digit weekly gains.

JP Morgan executes first DeFi trade on a public blockchain

Multinational banking firm JP Morgan has successfully executed its first-ever cross-border transaction using DeFi on a public blockchain. The trade was facilitated by the MAS’ Project Guardian on Nov. 2.

The pilot was another step into examining how traditional financial institutions can use tokenized assets and DeFi protocols to conduct financial transactions, among other use cases.

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Bank for International Settlements will test DeFi implementation in forex CBDC markets

According to a new announcement on Nov. 2, the Bank for International Settlements, or BIS — along with the central banks of France, Singapore and Switzerland — will embark on a new initiative dubbed “Project Mariana” in its exploration of blockchain technology. Project Mariana intends to use DeFi protocols to automate foreign exchange markets and settlements.

This includes using DeFi protocols to stimulate the hypothetical exchange of cross-border transactions between the Swiss franc, euro and Singapore dollar wholesale central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.

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Singapore bank DBS uses DeFi to trade FX and state securities

DBS Bank, a major financial services group in Asia, is applying DeFi to a project backed by Singapore’s central bank. DBS has started a trading test of FX and government securities using permissioned, or private, DeFi liquidity pools, the firm announced on Nov. 2.

The development is part of Project Guardian, a collaborative cross-industry effort pioneered by the MAS. Conducted on a public blockchain, the trade included the purchase and sale of tokenized Singapore government securities, the Singapore dollar, Japanese government bonds and the Japanese yen.

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MakerDAO co-founder Nikolai Mushegian dies at 29 in Puerto Rico

Nikolai Mushegian, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency lending platform MakerDAO and decentralized Dai (DAI) stablecoin, was found dead in Puerto Rico last week.

Mushegian died due to drowning after being dragged by sea currents on the Condado beach in San Juan, the local newspaper El Nuevo Día reported. Mushegian had no vital signs by the time his body was rescued. The Condado beach is considered one of the world’s most dangerous places for swimmers, reportedly taking the lives of at least eight people in 2021.

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Team Finance hacker returns $7M to associated projects after exploit

Four projects have received some $7 million worth of tokens from the hacker behind the $14.5 million Team Finance exploit on Oct. 27. Over the weekend, the attacker confirmed in a series of messages that they would keep 10% of the stolen fund as a bounty and return the other tokens to the affected projects.

The exploiter — a self-described “whitehat” — drained assets from Team Finance through the Uniswap v2-to-v3 migration

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DeFi market overview

Analytical data reveals that DeFi’s total value registered another weekly surge rising to $52 billion. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView show that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bullish week, with the majority of the tokens trading in the green on the 7-day chart.

Fantom (FTM) was the biggest gainer over the past week with 25..38% surge, followed by Chainlink (LINK) with a 19.05% surge. The Graph (GRT) surged over 17%, while Basic Attention Token (BAT) registered a 15.66% weekly surge.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education in this dynamically advancing space.

DBS Bank

JP Morgan executes first DeFi trade on a public blockchain

Bank for International Settlements will test DeFi implementation in forex CBDC markets

Singapore bank DBS uses DeFi to trade FX and state securities

MakerDAO co-founder Nikolai Mushegian dies at 29 in Puerto Rico

Team Finance hacker returns $7M to associated projects after exploit

DeFi market overview

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