Analysis Crypto by Thebittimes.Com

The Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc., more commonly known as Unionbank, announced that the financial institution launched bitcoin and ethereum custody and trading services. The ninth largest bank in the country by assets, Unionbank, will leverage Metaco’s platform Harmonize to pilot the crypto services for clients. Unionbank to Provide Bitcoin and Ethereum Custody and Trading Services via Metaco On Nov. 2, 2022, the Philippines-based financial institution founded in 1981, Unionbank, revealed it is now offering bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) services for customers. According to the announcement published on Wednesday, Unionbank is one of a number of select financial institutions approved by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP). Unionbank has started the pilot with bitcoin and ethereum custody and trading services. In 2019, Unionbank launched a stablecoin pegged to the value of the Philippine peso. At the end of April 2022...

Source: AdobeStock / picsmart The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, has started a pilot program of its digital currency today, in cooperation with nine banks. It also released a Concept Note on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for India. Bloomberg reported that “several lots of bonds were traded,” citing data from Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIL), which showed “7.38% 2027 debt and 7.26% 2032 bonds were among the first to change hands using the new form of currency.” Per the press release, the pilot for the wholesale segment (e₹-W) starts today, saying: “The use case for this pilot is settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. Use of e₹-W is expected to make the inter-bank market more efficient. Settlement in central bank money would reduce transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settle...