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Citigroup become the digital custodian for the BondbloX fractionalized bond exchange. The global investment bank also debuted a pilot program for turning customer deposits into digital tokens, according to a report. Citigroup is expanding its digital asset services with a new custodian partnership and a pilot program for tokenized deposits. The global investment bank became the first digital custodian for the BondbloX Bond Exchange, it said in a statement on Sept. 15. BBX is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is described as the world’s first fractional bond exchange that uses atomic settlement and distributed ledger technology. The...

The federal government this month is set to launch FedNow, a “safe and efficient” instant payments service which will allow the Federal Reserve to facilitate payments between bank customers and receive their transaction data.With FedNow, the Federal Reserve will act as a middleman in transactions between banks and credit unions. Currently, transactions pass through a financial institution called a clearing house, which facilitates the payments. But at the end of this month, the clearing house will instead be the Federal Reserve for many banks. For example, if John Doe wishes to pay a bill, he would initiate the transaction as...

The Fed is becoming quite crafty when it comes to digital currency. They’re aware that it’s not popular, mainly because Americans are wary about handing control of their finances over to a government that could cut them off with a flick of a switch. So, in typical globalist fashion, they plan to “coax” you into using it by introducing the infrastructure as an option they know you’ll love. That’s precisely what they’re doing as we speak with this new FedNow program. This payment system, recently rolled out by the Federal Reserve, sets the foundation for the US government to essentially...

The Federal Reserve is about to launch its new FedNow Service, allowing banks to transfer money instantly. But what many describe as just back-end plumbing for real-time payments could be a slippery slope to an "evil" central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to Rich Checkan, President and Co-Founder of Assets Strategies International. "I'm a big fan of FedNow. But I don't like that it's a slippery slope that leads to the evil of CBDC," Checkan told Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News. "This is not happening tomorrow, but the cornerstone is being laid, and now is the...

The Federal Reserve Thursday officially launched its long-awaited instant payment service FedNow, which allows consumers and businesses to send and receive money in seconds. The system lets Americans pay for groceries instantly, businesses pay their suppliers, or people pay each other. It will be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, with full access to funds immediately. FedNow isn’t offered directly to individuals and businesses, but it will serve as the basis of infrastructure for instant payments by linking banks. Transactions occur between bank accounts and enable funds to be transferred from a sender’s bank account to...

China has just completed its first trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) settled in yuan, the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange said on Tuesday. Chinese state oil and gas giant CNOOC and TotalEnergies completed the first LNG trade on the exchange with settlement in the Chinese currency, the exchange said in a statement carried by Reuters. The trade involved around 65,000 tons of LNG imported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange added. The French supermajor, one of the world’s top LNG traders, confirmed to Reuters that the trade involved LNG imported from...

The United States Federal Reserve has confirmed a July launch date for its long-awaited instant payments system, seen by some as an alternative to central bank digital currencies and stablecoins. The instant payment network will settle payments in seconds and can support transactions between consumers, merchants and banks. It does not rely on blockchain technology. It’s a significant step for the government, as it is controlled by the Federal Reserve. Clearing House’s RTP network, which also offers real-time payments, is operated by a consortium of large banks. According to a March 15 announcement, the U.S. Fed said the debut of...

The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States has announced that it is launching an instant payment transfer service called “FedNow Service,” which has features of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and some analysts believe is the first big step towards a “digital dollar.” On Wednesday, within hours of our reporting that the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failures could spur renewed calls for the U.S. to implement a CBDC, the Federal Reserve announced that the U.S. is rolling out the FedNow instant payment transfer service in July. “The Federal Reserve announced that the FedNow Service will start...

Federal Reserve announces July launch for the FedNow Service For release at 5:00 p.m. EDT Share The Service will Debut with Financial Institutions and the U.S. Treasury on Board CHICAGO – The Federal Reserve announced that the FedNow Service will start operating in July and provided details on preparations for launch. The first week of April, the Federal Reserve will begin the formal certification of participants for launch of the service. Early adopters will complete a customer testing and certification program, informed by feedback from the FedNow Pilot Program, to prepare for sending live transactions through the system. Certification encompasses...

A Federal Reserve official said the agency's new real-time payments system FedNow is slated to launch as early as May 2023. FedNow has been in development for around a decade and is supposed to allow banks to send payments to each other in real-time, thus allowing bank customers to send real-time payments to each other as well. The system, which will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is expected to be less expensive than wire transfer or debit card transaction fees. But while FedNow has been in development, other banks and the cryptocurrency industry have been looking...