Today in Crypto: Binance Becomes First Fully Licensed Exchange in El Salvador, Coinbase Offers to Buy Back Up to $150 Million of Its $1 Billion Bonds, Bitstamp in Talks to Raise Fresh Funding, Brazilian CBDC Gets Its Official Name and Logo

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Exchange news

• Binance announced today that it has become the first fully licensed crypto exchange in El Salvador after being granted the Bitcoin Services Provider license (BSP) by the Central Reserve Bank and the first non-provisional Digital Assets Services Provider license (DASP) by the National Commission of Digital Assets. Per the press release, the company has approvals and registrations in 18 markets worldwide – “more than any other crypto exchange.” Daniel Acosta, General Manager for Colombia, Central America, and the Caribbean, said that “these licenses allow Binance to expand the products and services offered including options tailored to the needs of our customers in El Salvador. It is also a great opportunity to collaborate closely with government authorities to support the adoption of crypto assets in the country, foster financial inclusion, innovation and ensure customer protection.”
• Coinbase offered to buy back up to $150 million of its $1 billion bonds maturing in 2031, the company said on Monday. Participating investors will receive $645 for every $1,000 of the bond’s face value. This amount includes a special early-tender premium of $30. Those who sell their bonds after August 18 and before September 1 when the offer expires will get $615 for every $1,000 of the bond’s face value, the company said.  
• Bitstamp is in talks to raise fresh funding, Bloomberg reported, citing Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, global chief executive officer of the platform. The London-based exchange plans to use the funds for operations: this includes launching derivatives trading in Europe next year and expanding the number of markets it serves in Asia, as well as its operations in the UK. It started the fundraising process in late June, with Galaxy Digital Holdings acting as an adviser, a spokesperson said.

CBDC news

• The Brazilian central bank digital currency (CBDC), referred to as the ‘digital real’, has been given its official name: the Drex, Reuters reported. The Central Bank of Brazil said that “‘D’ and ‘r’ allude to Real Digital; the ‘e’ stands for electronic and the ‘x’ conveys the idea of ​​modernity and connection, the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT).” Besides the brand name, Drex received its visual identity with the official logo. Officials previously estimated that the adoption of the Brazilian CBDC would commence by the end of 2024, following the completion of its testing phase.

Regulation news

• The Bank of England (BoE) will continue its plans for a systemic stablecoin regime, according to a consultation response published on Monday. It had received 23 responses from a range of financial services actors operating within the sector, the BoE stated. Respondents supported systemic stablecoins being supervised by the BoE and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the consultation said. “As for views concerning FMI SAR (the regime) primacy in cases of insolvency of future systemic payments entities, this was widely well received,” the document said. Respondents and the government also supported extending the accountability framework to systemic stablecoins.
• The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued Blockchain.com a major payment institution license on August 1. Per the company’s press release, this license allows it to provide regulated digital payment token (DPT) services to its global institutional and accredited investor customers. This announcement follows Blockchain.com receiving its in-principle approval from MAS in September 2022. 

Mining news

• Singapore-headquartered bitcoin mining firm Bitdeer Technologies founded by Jihan Wu completed the construction of a mining facility in Bhutan. Per the press release, “with the construction of our Gedu Datacenter in Bhutan now completed, and power-on testing underway, we have made notable progress in securing our future growth,” Chief Executive Officer Linghui Kong said. The CEO added that an additional 15,000 mining machines arrived at the datacenter in July and that there are already around 11,000 miners running stably.

Career news

• Payments technology company ConnexPay announced the appointment of George Hansen as its Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). According to the press release, Hansen brings over 20 years of strategic expertise in the payments industry, having previously served as Head of Global Sales and Account Management at PayPal, where he focused on various aspects of the FinTech ecosystem, including payments, cards, mobile wallets, payouts, FX/cross-border, risk, lending, and data services. As CRO at ConnexPay, Hansen will work closely with the existing revenue teams to support the firm’s revenue goals.