To further financial inclusion in the country, India’s government has created 75 digital banking units (DBUs) in 75 districts as part of its budget for 2022-2023. The new DBUs aim to bring the benefits of digital banking to every corner of the country, and will cover all states and territories of the union.

The DBUs are essentially brick-and-mortar outlets equipped with internet-connected tablets that citizens can use to complete basic banking activities.

Small enterprises will also have benefits; indeed, the DBUs will allow loans, credit cards and insurance. The DBUs will give customers cost-effective, convenient access and an enhanced digital experience to banking products and services. The plan foresees providing maximum services with minimum infrastructure, to make banking easier and secure.

Unlike traditional services, the DBUs will enable 24/7 cash deposits and withdrawals. Customers who do not have home or phone internet connectivity can perform paperless banking transactions from the DBU; while bank staff can support and guide the user through banking operations.

The DBUs will offer a full range of banking services, including opening a savings account, fund transfers, applying for credit and debit cards, reviewing bank statements, paying taxes, paying bills, and more. The new units also will help facilitate MSMEs’ onboarding to the government’s multi-departmental Jan Samarth online portal and other tasks.

“DBU is a strategic step toward [easing] living for the common citizens. People living in small towns and villages will find benefits like transferring money to availing loans,” noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a prepared online statement.

Inspired by the Paris Climate Agreement, a new environmental accord seeks to make the energy-intensive electronic mining for cryptocurrency and other digital tokens greener. The new Crypto Climate Accord is the cryptocurrency industry’s attempt to deal with token mining’s negative impact on the environment.

The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates that Bitcoin’s mining and decentralized transactions globally consume 60.45 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually. For comparison, Switzerland consumes only 58.46 TWh annually.

The Crypto Climate Accord sets out three primary objectives toward reducing crypto mining’s carbon footprint: to have all blockchains powered by 100% renewable sources by 2025, to develop an open-source standard to account for emissions from the cryptocurrency industry, and to achieve net-zero emissions across the whole industry
by 2040.

The agreement brings together the crypto and fintech industries. It has support from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Climate Champions, and from such participants as Consensys, Ripple and the XRP Ledger Foundation.

The impact of cryptocurrencies on the environment is growing in tandem with its acceptance by mainstream financial institutions. In the past month, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have both announced the incorporation of Bitcoin into their wealth management services; while online payment platform PayPal has begun accepting crypto payments.

“We have the technical solutions required to decarbonize blockchains. What the industry does not yet have—and needs—is a concerted effort,” says Walter Kok, CEO of the Energy Web Foundation. Energy Web is a public, low-cost open-source application that helps renewable energy buyers reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing different renewable energy products.

However, some cryptocurrency critics, such as Alex de Vries, a data scientist at the Netherlands’ central bank, argue that Bitcoin’s excessive energy consumption and environmental degradation cannot be reduced by using alternative renewable energy.

Some blockchain networks, such as Neo and Dash, have sought to address environmental concerns by using a verification protocol called proof-of-stake that requires fewer computing resources than Bitcoin’s proof-of-work protocol to verify and process transactions.

The study of more than 9,000 people in 14 countries reveals that as many as 67% of respondents trust robots more than people to manage the financial aspects of their work life. Almost 60% said they would trust a robot with finances more than themselves, while 77% trust robots more than their corporate finance team.

Respondents to the survey believe that robots are necessary for activities such as approvals, budgets and forecasts, reporting, compliance and risk management. But a human touch is still needed for things like communicating with clients, negotiating discounts and approving transactions.

Global payments service provider SumUp just obtained an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland. SumUp will now offer payments and issue e-money wallets for its initiatives in 26 countries across Europe. With existing licenses in Lithuania and the UK, SumUp hopes to transform its Irish office into a key regulated hub. Services on offer include the introduction of payment links and billing options, a new e-commerce suite and gift-card partnerships with Google, Facebook and Instagram. They are designed to support customers with safer payments.

Gareth Walsh, Ireland CEO at SumUp, said in the press release: “Our core products allow our users to take remote and contactless card payments during lockdown situations.”

The European Banking Authority established a central register with information regarding payment and electronic-money institutions authorized or registered within the European Union and the European Economic Area.

A digital euro to go alongside the EU’s traditional currency is now a project of the European Central Bank. ECB President Christine Lagarde said in early October that the continent must be ready to issue a digital euro. “Payment systems are changing,” added Fabio Panetta, ECB executive board member, “sometimes very rapidly, and contactless payments are emerging.”

The infrastructure of a virtual currency would need to meet some exacting standards. It would have to offer specific guarantees to citizens, provide the same services that the euro supports, give free access to a means of payment that is easy to use, and be universally accepted, reliable and risk-free.

The ECB has announced that it will decide by mid-2021 when to launch a digital euro project, beginning with an investigative phase.

Other central banks around the world have been experimenting with digital versions of currency. The People’s Bank of China will likely be the first major institution of its kind to issue one, after advanced commercial testing.

Angus Brown, Co-Founder of Centbee, commented, “Experts strongly believe that regulatory compliance is an essential element to building the BitcoinSV ecosystem.”

France’s central bank, the Banque de France, has called for applications to test the integration of a central bank issued digital currency (CBDC) in the exchange and settlement of tokenized financial assets between financial intermediaries.

Based on a desire to avoid fragmentation in settlement procedures, the central bank will review and adjust the conditions under which it provides financial intermediaries with central bank money. “We as central banks must want to take up this call for innovation,” said François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Banque de France.

The aim of the experiment is to show how conventional uses for central bank money can be achieved via a CBDC; identify benefits, such as how a CBDC might foster financial innovation; conduct an analysis of the potential effects on financial stability and test the regulatory environment.

Those wishing to participate can submit applications individually or as part of a temporary business grouping. The application window closes at 3pm CET on Friday, May 15. 

The Marshall Islands, in Micronesia, is set to become the first country to issue a sovereign digital token.

The island country, which boasts a population of just 58,000 people, has teamed up with Algorand and SFB Technologies to deliver the pioneering Marshallese sovereign (SOV) digital currency, which will coexist alongside the US dollar, before gradually becoming the prime currency.

Algorand is the creator of an open source blockchain protocol. The founder of Algorand, Silvio Micali, said, “We are proud to support the country on its groundbreaking journey toward mainstream digital currency adoption.”

The partnership ensures that the SOV will be built on a scalable platform. The government of the Marshall Islands will oversee the new digital currency and leverage the combination of Algorand’s blockchain functionality and SFB Technologies’ identity-management and compliance platform. 

The Swiss ski resort of Zermatt became the second city in Switzerland to let citizens pay their taxes in Bitcoin. Zug was the first city to accept Bitcoin payments in 2016.

According to an official note dated January 28, local taxes and other government services can now be paid using the cryptocurrency. The Zermatt authorities will convert taxpayers’ Bitcoins into Swiss francs through a broker, Bitcoin Suisse, and the amount will be transferred in fiat currency to the municipality’s bank account.

Local taxpayers will be able to make their Bitcoin payments through a point-of-sale tablet installed in town hall or pay online through a special online payment portal. They will have to apply directly to the Zermatt Tax Office.

Romy Biner-Hauser, the mayor of Zermatt, said the new payment option aims to satisfy the growing demand for Bitcoin-based tax payments. “An innovative, pioneering spirit is one of the trademarks of Zermatt, which is why we are happy to support residents in providing them with the solutions they require,” he said.

Citizens of Venezuela and Argentina appear to be using Bitcoin to escape inflation. Cointelegraph reports that weekly Bitcoin trading volumes on the LocalBitcoins peer-to-peer trading platform in Argentina and Venezuela reached all-time highs in their respective national currencies just before the end of last year.

In mid-September, the Central Bank of Argentina had raised a floor on its benchmark interest rate in an effort to curb the country’s inflation. In November, in an attempt to slow capital outflow, it imposed a ban on buying cryptocurrencies using credit cards. The policy appears to have backfired.

CoinDance cryptocurrency data show that during the week ended December 21, over 32.6 million Argentine pesos (about $545,000) were traded on LocalBitcoins, 45% more than the record registered two weeks before.  In Venezuela, over 248 billion bolivars (about $5 million at the time) were traded on LocalBitcoins during the same week in December, 18.5% more than the record volume registered during the previous week.

Ironically, the Central Bank of Venezuela is itself reportedly exploring the possibility of holding bitcoin and Ether (Eth), at least in part to avoid sanctions.