Iran and Russia Consider Issuing Gold-Backed Stablecoin, Officials Unveil

January 18, 2023 Bitcoin.com

China floats idea of ‘Asian yuan’ to reduce reliance on US dollar

October 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Asia

The proposed distributed ledger technology-backed “Asian yuan” token would supposedly help reduce Asia’s dependence on the U.S. dollar for international business.

Researchers from a Chinese state-run think tank have floated the idea of an Asia-wide digital currency with the aim to reduce its reliance on a United States dollar-based economy.

The views of researchers Liu Dongmin, Song Shuang, and Zhou Xuezhi from a unit of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) were published in an issue of the “World Affairs journal” posted online in late September, who said the establishment of an “Asian yuan” token would lower Asia’s reliance on the U.S. dollar.

Much like similar existing and trialed Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), the researchers said distributed ledger technology (DLT) would form the backing of the Asian token which would be pegged to a bundle of 13 currencies.

The currencies would include those of all 10 of the member nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with China’s Yuan, Japan’s Yen, and South Korea’s Won according to the researchers.

“More than 20 years of deepened economic integration in East Asia has laid a good foundation for regional currency cooperation. The conditions for setting up the Asian yuan have gradually formed,” the researchers wrote in the journal seen by the South China Morning Post.

The journal is affiliated with China’s Foreign Affairs department with the researchers hailing from the “Institute of World Economics and Politics” one of many research units under CASS, a think tank with various ties to the country's ruling party.

The U.S dollar, and more recently cryptocurrencies have become a popular method for those in South East Asia to conduct business, send remittances, and hedge against the inflation of their respective local currencies.

The research came a few weeks before a milestone in China’s CBDC pilot, the Bank of China on Oct. 10 said its e-CNY had transacted over 100 billion yuan, around $14 billion in value, with around 5.6 million merchant stores already supporting the digital yuan.

The country’s central bank is also partaking in Project Inthanon-LionRock, a DLT-backed cross-border payment CBDC trial also involving the Thai, Hong Kong, and United Arab Emirates central banks.

In September the trial saw the “successful” transaction of over $22 million worth of value in a month on its “Multiple CBDC Bridge” platform overseen by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Terror groups may turn to NFTs to raise funds and spread messages — WSJ

September 5, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

National security experts have raised the alarm bells over the "IS-NEWS #01" NFT, which is being seen as the first case of an NFT created and shared by a “terrorist sympathizer."

The first known case of a nonfungible token (NFT) created and shared by a “terrorist sympathizer” has come to light, raising concerns that the immutable nature of blockchain tech could help the spread of terrorist messages and propaganda.

In a Sept. 4 article in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), intelligence experts said the NFT could be a sign that Islamic State and other terror groups may also be using blockchain technology to evade sanctions and raise funds for their terrorist campaigns.

The NFT in question was reportedly discovered by Raphael Gluck, co-founder of the U.S.-based research firm Jihadoscope, who found the NFT through pro-ISIS social-media accounts.

Named "IS-NEWS #01" the digital token is said to be an image bearing the Islamic State’s emblem with text praising Afghanistan-based Islamic militants for attacking a Taliban position.

Mario Cosby, a former federal intelligence analyst specializing in blockchain currencies, said the user created another two other NFTs on Aug. 26; one showing an Islamic State fighter teaching students to make explosives and the other condemning smoking cigarettes.

*A screenshot of the IS-NEWS #01 NFT (left). Source: The Wall Street Journal*

The analysts said this could be a sign that terrorist groups may be using the emerging technology to spread their message and test new funding strategies.

"It's very much an experiment […] to find ways to make content indestructible," said Gluck.

The digital token was reportedly listed on NFT marketplace OpenSea, but the company quickly took the listing down and closed the posters account, citing a "zero-tolerance policy on inciting hate and violence."

The trio of NFTs was also reportedly present on NFT marketplace Rarible and several others before being taken down.

While none of the NFTs appear to have been traded, Cosby says the existence of the tokens is a cause for concern because “it’s as censorship-proof as you can get," adding:

“There’s not really anything anyone can do to actually take this NFT down.”

Security experts have previously expressed their concerns about the future potential for terrorists to exploit emerging technologies and markets, including NFTs, to fund attacks.

In February, the U.S. Treasury Department released a study highlighting the growth of the market for NFTs as an area of potential concern.

In March, Israeli authorities seized a set of 30 crypto wallets from 12 exchange accounts linked to Hamas, a militant group based in the Gaza Strip.

Last April, Matthew Levitt, director of the Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy told Cointelegraph that while crypto has been linked to several terror financing cases, "it has not yet become a primary means of terror financing."

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