Editor's note
It may be too late for resolutions and too
early for Lent, but lacking any discrete occasion I would still like to
give up U.S. political news for a while, or at least for the duration of
one Law Decoded.
Fortunately, in the spirit of going
international and leaving the bonkers election cycle of the U.S.,
blockchain technology and stablecoins are playing a major role in the
latest developments in cross-border payments and settlements. It’s long
been one of the most talked-about applications of blockchain technology.
Diplomatic scheming shows up in payments by regular folks in the
form of higher fees between countries in conflict. However, the issues
of how money crosses borders through traditional alleys are so deeply
ingrained as to be invisible to the average end user. This happens
because while national payments systems have gotten streamlined with new
technologies, they largely involve major commercial banks dependent on
networks and systems set up by their respective central banks. Between
central banks, many of these systems are stitched together clumsily.
The
rise of stablecoins has inspired many major banks, otherwise turned off
by the volatility of crypto assets, to reconsider these systems. JPM
Coin may well be the most famous — until the central banks came along,
of course.
This week has seen major news in stablecoins from
commercial and central banks as well as the financial sinew connecting
them. Unfortunately for the average user, these will remain the most
permissioned of permissioned blockchains for the foreseeable future.
Retail CBDCs, however, are also moving forward.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/law-decoded-bank-payments-going-global-with-stablecoins-and-cbdcs-jan-15-22
