What has happened this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? The most relevant local and international events, as well as appealing background reports, are presented in a pointed and compact manner in the weekly review.
Selected articles of the week:
The DLT law in Switzerland defines a DLT trading system as a system that facilitates the trading of digital assets, such as tokens or cryptocurrencies, using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). It ensures a transparent, secure, and efficient exchange of these assets in compliance with Swiss financial regulations. Since its adoption in 2021, however, FINMA has not issued a single license for it—until now. Once “certain conditions” are met, the Stuttgart Stock Exchange subsidiary BX Digital will be the first provider to offer a DLT trading system to Swiss customers. This is expected to happen within the next six months, a media spokesperson told CVJ.CH.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has granted BX Digital the first approval for a DLT trading system in Switzerland.
Victory against the SEC?
In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple and its two executives. The agency accused the company of distributing unregistered securities to investors. For two and a half years, Ripple fought the SEC’s lawsuit, until a US court made its first ruling in July 2023. The XRP token itself was not considered a security, only the offer to institutional investors violated federal laws. The SEC dropped its lawsuit against Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen but appealed the decision defining XRP as a commodity. This step has now been withdrawn. Only the institutional sales are still under dispute, with a settlement potentially bringing the case to a close soon.
After years of litigation with Ripple over the cryptocurrency XRP, the SEC is now raising the white flag and withdrawing its appeal.
International trade with stablecoins
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Western countries have imposed countless sanctions on Russia, including restrictions on the SWIFT banking network, making it more difficult for Russian banks and companies to carry out international financial transactions. The country is now increasingly using digital assets like Tether (USDT) to handle international payments in the oil trade. Russian traders are increasingly turning to stablecoins, especially in the lucrative oil trade. According to insiders, payments are made through wallets, often with intermediary financial hubs like Dubai. From there, the amounts are either converted into fiat currencies or transferred into alternative assets. The advantage: cryptocurrencies are faster, cheaper, and harder to trace than traditional bank transfers.
Russia relies on cryptocurrencies like USDT in oil trading to bypass Western sanctions and circumvent the global financial system.
US also moves towards digital dollars
Bank of America, Standard Chartered, PayPal, Revolut, and Stripe are among the players looking to enter the stablecoin market. These are digital assets pegged to traditional currencies, like the US dollar, offering a cost-effective and immediate alternative to conventional settlement systems. Market leaders such as Tether and Circle have already captured significant market shares and generate billions in annual profits. However, now established banks like Bank of America want to compete with their own stablecoins. These developments are driven, in part, by the increased legal certainty under the new Trump administration.
US banks develop blockchain system for tokenization and stablecoins – a milestone for the digitalization of payment transactions.
Abu Dhabi dives deeper into the industry
In addition: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is once again sending a strong signal. The state-backed investment fund MGX from Abu Dhabi is planning a multi-billion-dollar investment in the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The funds are intended to help Binance overcome regulatory challenges and drive its own expansion. Talks are well advanced, but specific details about the ownership structure have not yet been made public. Should the investment go through, it would be one of the largest crypto deals in recent years—and a strategic move to further establish the Gulf region as a global hub for digital finance. Just recently, Mubadala, one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, revealed Bitcoin ETF investments of nearly 500 million USD.
Abu Dhabi’s MGX invests $2 billion in Binance – a strong signal for institutional crypto engagement in the Middle East.
