The South African Financial Conduct Authority (FSCA) will require local exchanges to obtain licenses before the end of the year. It is reported by Bloomberg.

The application process began a few weeks ago and will last until November 30th. The FSCA has already received about 20 applications from local cryptocurrency companies.

“The use of cryptocurrency products can cause serious harm to financial market participants. Therefore, it makes sense for us to introduce a regulatory framework,” said FSCA Commissioner Unati Kamlana.

If exchanges continue to operate without proper documentation after the deadline, they face fines or shutdown.

South Africa will be the first country on the continent to require digital asset exchanges to obtain licenses. According to Kamlan, time will show the effectiveness of the measures taken.

ForkLog previously reported that South Africa-based cryptocurrency exchange VALR has closed a $50 million funding round.

In August last year, the Machankura SMS service was launched in South Africa. It allows you to transfer bitcoin without access to the Internet.

UK Finance proposes limiting digital pound ownership to £5,000

UK Finance, the trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, believes that banks should hold no more than £5,000 in the digital pound.

The organization argues that otherwise it will lead to a massive outflow of deposits from financial institutions.

The UK Finance announcement is in response to recommendations from the UK government, which has proposed setting a digital pound holding limit of £10,000-20,000.

The association added that the authorities need to set clear goals for the use of the new means of payment.

“It is not clear from the consultation what market place the central bank digital currency should take,” UK Finance said.
This year, a consultation paper was released in the UK that outlined the functions of the future CBDC.

According to him, the digital pound will be used along with cash “for use by households and businesses in everyday payments.”

Recall that in February, the head of the UK Treasury allowed the launch of a local digital currency after 2025.

Earlier, the Bank of England said that the digital pound can work without blockchain.

Central banks tested Curve AMM technologies for CBDC

The BIS Innovation Hub, in collaboration with the central banks of France, Switzerland and Singapore, tested the Curve v2 hybrid automatic market maker function for operations in pools with wholesale CBDCs.

As part of the project, the parties considered issues related to credit and settlement risks, as well as interoperability in tokenized foreign currency trading.

The initiative tested AMM, token standards, and network bridges. It is assumed that they can become the basis of “an international currency interbank market using wholesale CBDCs on the blockchain.” Participants noted the need to develop technical specifications.

In the model, the liquidity pool is formed by commercial banks – they act as customers for the issuance and redemption of CBDC, as well as their suppliers.

Central banks play the role of wholesale national currency issue managers and bridge operators. They also oversee the “white lists” of access to the platform.

Project Mariana launched in November 2022. The final report will be published at the end of this year.

Recall that in June MAS presented a report summarizing the work with BIS on Project Guardian. The initiative aims to study the compliance of tokenization and DeFi with international standards.

Earlier, BIS experts called CBDC-based tokenization the future of the global financial system, and cryptocurrencies were an erroneous branch of this process.

The initiative is implemented within the framework of Project Mariana. It marks an important milestone in the integration of TradFi and DeFi, participants acknowledged.

“The choice fell on Curve v2 [and its HFMM] purely for experimental purposes. This does not reflect endorsement of the protocol or any of its products,” the document says.

Liquidity pools and a token bonding curve are integral parts of the proposed AMM design, the document says.

Swiss bank to release NFT collection to support women’s football

Credit Suisse will release a collection of NFTs on the Ethereum network to support women’s football in Switzerland.

756 non-fungible tokens will be available for purchase, which are portraits of the players of the Swiss women’s football team. They were created by the artist Daniela Filippelli.

It will be possible to purchase NFTs from July 11 to August 31 using the official Credit Suisse CSX app. 100% of sales proceeds will go towards the development of women’s football in Switzerland.

The cost of non-fungible tokens from the collection depends on their rarity: unique ones will be sold for $11,165, rare ones for $3,900, and limited ones for $167.

“This project paves the way for the innovative use of digital assets in new financing and service models,” said Daniel Gorrera, head of digital assets at Credit Suisse.
The bank uses the infrastructure of Taurus, a startup that offers storage, tokenization and trading of digital assets.

Recall that in March, Taurus raised $65 million in a Series B funding round led by Credit Suisse.