2020 Digital Financial Services Recap!

January-Feb 2020:

Shopify joins Libra, Cash App users generate more than $30 in annualised revenue per user in December, but “bitcoin actives generated 2-3x annual revenue”

May 2020:

• Visa seeks a patent for digital fiat currency – and the filing points to a central bank use case
• Visa CEO Alfred Kelly said he views digital currencies backed by a fiat currency as a potential emerging payments technology at the J.P Morgan TMC Virtual Conference.

July 2020:

• PayPal reveals that it is developing crypto capabilities, reported buy/sell offering through pacts
• U.S. OCC says national banks can custody crypto
• PNC and US Bank respond to OCC Letter — want further clarity on crypto custody and servicing
• Revolut teams up with pacts to launch crypto service in the US
• Mastercard announces expansion of cryptocurrency efforts, inks card deal with Wirex
• Chinese finch giant Ant Group launches new blockchain brand “AntChain”

August 2020:

• Federal Reserve Bank Boston partners with MIT DCI on multi-year engagement to test and explore CBDC prototypes
• ConsenSys acquires Quorum from JP Morgan
• Cash App generated $875 million of bitcoin revenue and $17 million of bitcoin gross profit during the second quarter of 2020, up 600% and 711% year over year
• Aggregate supply of stable coin passed $16 billion while stable coin transaction volume on blockchains surpassed more than $114B in a 4th consecutive monthly all-time high, and +5x the avg monthly volume in 2019

Septembre 2020:

• Goldman Sachs appoints a new global head of digital assets, exec reveals interest in token tied to fiat
• Mastercard launches customisable CBDC testing platform
• Square forms a consortium to widen access to crypto technology by creating a library that pools members’ patents

October 2020:

• OCC confirms banks can hold reserve deposits behind stable coins
• Paypal confirms crypto trading support in app and onsite with Paxos.