ECB Moves to Smooth Digital Euro Rollout With Standards Deals
Policy
”The European Central Bank moved to minimize adoption costs and encourage early coordination among those involved in its digital euro project, part of efforts to get the currency up and running this decade. Agreements with standard-setting organizations CPACE, nexo standards and Berlin Group will help support tap-to-pay payments, connect merchants’ systems with those of payment-service providers and facilitate transactions using aliases like mobile phone numbers, the ECB said Friday. 'This partnership shows our strong commitment to making sure the digital euro works with existing European standards that the private sector can also use,' ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said.”
Source: Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley Launches Stablecoin Reserves Fund Aligned With GENIUS Act Requirements
Stabelcoins
“Morgan Stanley Investment Management has launched a government money market fund designed for stablecoin issuers to hold reserve assets in line with GENIUS Act requirements. Dubbed the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio (MSNXX), the fund sits inside the Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds trust and targets payment stablecoin issuers needing an eligible investment vehicle for reserves backing their outstanding tokens. Shares are primarily expected to be held by stablecoin issuers but may also be held by non-issuers, the asset manager said in a statement on Thursday. According to the statement, the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio seeks preservation of capital, daily liquidity, and maximum current income while maintaining a stable $1 net asset value.”
Source: The Block
Brazil Blocks Polymarket, Kalshi Over ‘Illegal Betting’
Prediction Markets
“Brazil’s government blocked access to Polymarket and Kalshi, part of a crackdown on prediction market platforms it said were out of compliance with federal gambling laws. A total of 27 sites were blocked for offering 'illegal betting,' Finance Minister Dario Durigan said at a Friday news conference in Brasilia, after the government published a resolution banning prediction markets tied to elections, sports and other events. Durigan cast the move as part of a broader effort to protect the savings of Brazilians and address rising levels of household debt, a problem President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has attributed in part to online gambling. 'We have advocated for stricter enforcement and very rigorous regulation, which will continue to advance, so that we can curb the negative externalities and social harm that unregulated gambling causes to the Brazilian population,' Durigan said.”
Source: Bloomberg
CFTC Sues New York Over Prediction Market Crackdown as 38 AGs Back Massachusetts' Kalshi Case
Legal
“The state-federal fight over prediction markets escalated on multiple fronts Friday as New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a bipartisan coalition of 37 other attorneys general urging Massachusetts' top court to uphold a preliminary injunction against Kalshi, and the CFTC sued New York later in the day to block state enforcement against CFTC-registered exchanges. The amicus brief, filed in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, asks the court to affirm a January ruling that Kalshi cannot offer sports event contracts to in-state residents without a Massachusetts Gaming Commission license. The signatories span the political spectrum and include attorneys general from 37 states and the District of Columbia.”
Source: The Block
India Pushes E-rupee Through Welfare Pilots as BRICS Digital Currency Plan Takes Shape
Tokenization
“India is turning to welfare payments to drive adoption of its central bank digital currency as it prepares to put the CBDC in the spotlight at a summit of BRICS nations later this year. The Reserve Bank of India is running about 10 pilot programs routing portions of the country’s roughly $80 billion welfare system through the e-rupee, Reuters reported Thursday. The effort aims to reduce leakage and corruption in subsidy programs while giving the CBDC a clearer use case after a slow rollout. In Maharashtra’s Phulenagar village, farmers are receiving programmable subsidies covering up to 80% of drip-irrigation costs, spendable only at approved vendors. A separate pilot in Gujarat aims to onboard all 7.5 million households eligible for subsidized food by June, effectively using targeted transfers to scale adoption.”
Source: CoinDesk
