Saudi Arabia Eyes Blockchain Business Passport | PYMNTS.com
Saudi Arabia has proposed a business passport built off of blockchain technology to help overcome trade finance challenges brought about by the pandemic, CoinDesk reported.
A “Global Value Chain” (GVC) passport would let companies that adhere to the financial rules in their own nations display their qualifications in other places. The GVC Passport would reportedly offer a distributed, up-to-the-moment and credible way for watchdogs to check out credential claims through the blockchain technology, the report stated.
Saudi Arabia reportedly proposed the idea to commerce officials from different parts of the world at a B20 summit.
In other news, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey called for a global regulatory response to stablecoins and said that current standards aren’t easily applicable, according to prepared remarks for a speech given at a Brookings Institution virtual event.
“There need to be minimum international standards for stablecoins,” Bailey said. “In addition, any stablecoin with potential for wide scale use in the U.K. must meet our domestic expectations.”
He also pointed out that a global stablecoin is a “cross-border phenomenon,” noting that it “can be operated in one jurisdiction, denominated in another’s currency and used by consumers in a third.”
And, a 50-year-old California man admitted to tax and securities violations regarding a purported $722 million BitClub Network “fraud scheme,” according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The news comes after the man and four codefendants were charged through an indictment in December of last year. According to the release, BitClub Network was a “fraudulent scheme” that asked for funds from investors for shares of so-called digital currency mining pools and provided incentives for investors to bring new participants.
The 50-year-old man served as a “large-scale promoter” for the BitClub Network, according to the release, citing documents filed in the case and information provided in court.
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NEW PYMNTS DATA: HOW WE SHOP STUDY – SEPTEMBER 2020
The How We Shop Report, a PYMNTS collaboration with PayPal, aims to understand how consumers of all ages and incomes are shifting to shopping and paying online in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research builds on a series of studies conducted since March, surveying more than 16,000 consumers on how their shopping habits and payments preferences are changing as the crisis continues. This report focuses on our latest survey of 2,163 respondents and examines how their increased appetite for online commerce and digital touchless methods, such as QR codes, contactless cards and digital wallets, is poised to shape the post-pandemic economy.
