Sept. 21st: Wells Fargo Pilots Stablecoin For Internal Settlement

This is your daily roundup for Sunday, September 22, 2019. Wells Fargo pilots a stablecoin for internal settlement, Upbit delists 6 privacy coins, and CipherTrace develops a tracker for tracking illicit tokens.

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Upbit Delists Privacy Coins

South Korea’s Upbit exchange has announced the delisting of privacy coins monero (XMR), dash (DASH), zcash (ZEC), haven (XHV), bittube (TUBE), and PIVX (PIVX). The six privacy coins will no longer be supported after September 30th. Upbit said money laundering and the possibility of inflows of privacy coins to the exchange were the leading reasons for delisting, following the guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force. This follows OKEX dropping five privacy coins earlier this month.

Wells Fargo Pilots Stablecoin

Wells Fargo says its blockchain for internal cross-border money transfers is faster and more efficient than SWIFT. Wells Fargo Digital Cash uses R3’s Corda Enterprise software to handle internal book transfers, when funds move from a payer’s account to a payee’s account at the same bank.

Unlike JPMorgan’s JPM Coin, Wells Fargo’s digital cash will be backed 1-for-1 with fiat. Wells Fargo will hold the fiat currency and will issue digital cash tokens. The tokens are placed into digital wallets and are able to be exchanged. Wells Fargo Digital Cash is strictly an internal settlement service and will go into a pilot phase next year. Using the digital cash would allow the bank to move funds 20 hours a day, rather than only six to nine hours when it relies on SWIFT.

CipherTrace Develops Tracker For Illicit Tokens

Blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace has developed a mobile tool for tracking bitcoin and ethereum tokens with an illicit history. CipherTrace Scout generates an instant report after inputting a wallet address. US federal agencies like the IRS and FBI already use similar tracking software by Chainalysis. Casey Bohn, a crime specialist and educator for the National White Collar Crime Center, trains agents to use CipherTrace and says law enforcement loves the transaction visualization that it provides.

Seed CX Cut Trading Fees

Cryptocurrency exchange Seed CX has cut trading fees from eight basis points to five basis points for takers, and  makers will receive a basis point rebate. The lower fees beat out top players like Bittrex and Gemini. Seed CX provides institutional investors with execution and settlement services, including crypto derivatives trading through subsidiaries.

EA Trolls Crypto Twitter

Video game company EA trolled crypto Twitter by sending out a tweet stating quote “invest in Crypto.” The tweet was intended as a marketing stunt aimed at introducing a new character in its game, Apex Legends Season 3: Meltdown, in which the new character is named “Crypto” – referring to traditional cryptography and not cryptocurrency.