The EU's MiCA regulation aims to provide a comprehensive framework for regulating centralized crypto actors. The regulation includes specifications for stablecoins, with E-Money Tokens (EMTs) referencing a single fiat currency, and Asset-Referenced Tokens (ARTs) referencing a basket of currencies, commodities, or cryptos. MiCA also creates carve outs for decentralized organizations but may alienate developers building projects aiming to decentralize progressively. While mature DeFi stablecoin issuers may prove full decentralization, early-stage issuers reliant on centralized features may find the regulatory atmosphere hostile and avoid incorporating in EU member states.
The lack of clarity on crypto rules in the US has pushed businesses to expand abroad, as seen in Gemini's push into Asia Pacific and Coinbase's registration in Bermuda. The EU's MiCA regulation may have negative consequences for crypto builders, but it is still a significant step forward in regulating the industry. However, crypto is a rapidly evolving landscape, and creating comprehensive legislation for an industry just starting is a tall order. Despite the challenges, it is up to people in the crypto industry to fight for the ideals they hold dear and continue building.
EUR CoinVertible , but convertible only if Société Générale is ok with
Societe Generale Forge, the group's technology branch, has launched its new stablecoin, the EUR CoinVertible. This project is clearly innovative in the French banking sector and aims to offer an alternative to investors seeking stability in the crypto-currency market.
It is clear that Société Générale Forge is looking to meet the logical needs of its institutional clients as well as adapting to the evolving market. Societe Generale was already a partner of Lugh, the EURL, where it serves as a depository bank to guarantee the equivalent value of the lugh, the casino group's stablecoin.
This time it is directly the subsidiary of the Société Générale group which is the issuer of the stablecoin. This coin is a major and historic step in Société Générale's trajectory towards integrating crypto-assets into its mainstream services. As with any stablecoin promise, innovation can serve institutions in corporate treasury, cash management and cash pooling.
Overall, the creation of an institutional stablecoin reflects a strong and clear awareness of the importance and impact of crypto-assets in the financial and institutional sector. Forge wants to attack the activity of Circle by integrating it directly into its banking practices and with well-sorted third parties.
However, Forge opted to create a stablecoin on Ethereum, offering the network transparency of this decentralized blockchain but opted for an entirely centralized smart contract. Just like for each centralized stablecoin, it is obviously possible for the issuer to freeze or destroy tokens on an address but even worse, Societe Generale must approve each transaction. Each user must therefore comply with and abide by all the requirements triggered by the regulation of their issuer.
Send satoshis to a colleague's email address?
This will be possible via Lightning Network.
MicroStrategy CEO Integrates Bitcoin Lightning Network to his Corporate Email. By utilizing The Lightning Address protocol, developers can replace traditional Lightning invoices or payment requests with an internet identifier, like an email address, as part of the integration. This will enable faster and more affordable Bitcoin payments through the Lightning Network, which is a scaling solution for the Bitcoin blockchain's second layer.
Visa accelerates
Visa is planning to expand its involvement in the Web 3.0 industry and is actively hiring senior software engineers to develop scalable products. The company is particularly interested in candidates with experience using AI-assisted tools to write and debug smart contracts. Visa is searching for software engineers with a good understanding of public and permissioned distributed ledger technology networks, security protocols, and private key custody. The company is also seeking candidates with knowledge of Ethereum enhancements including ERC-4337 and experience using the Solidity programming language. Visa is likely to use the Polygon network to scale its Ethereum smart contract capabilities in Web 3.0 development. The goal of the new hirings is to drive mainstream adoption of public blockchain networks and stablecoin payments.
Sources : Blockworks, Coindesk
