EU to introduce digital currency, and Upbit exchange gets hacked

EU to launch digital currency

European Union to introduce digital platform by the end of 2021, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said. ECB board member Benoit Coeure explained that this will help European countries wean off American payment systems (Visa, MasterCard, PayPal) and will help to move away from cash.

“A central bank digital currency could ensure that citizens remain able to use central bank money even if cash is eventually no longer used. A digital currency of this sort could take a variety of forms, the benefits and costs of which the ECB and other central banks are currently investigating”, — Coeure said.

Hackers stole $50 million from Upbit exchange.

One of the largest South Korean exchanges, Upbit, confirmed it had been backed. The official website of the platform informs that on 27 November the criminals transferred 342,000 ETH (approximately $50 million) to an unknown wallet.

The Upbit’s CEO, Lee Seok-woo apologized for the any “inconvenience” caused. Currently the work of the exchange is frozen. Lee Seok-woo promised to reimburse all the damage to the clients and restore the functionality of the exchange within two weeks.

Analysts: stablecoins to reduce dollar influence

Stablecoins can reduce US dollar hegemony, Fusion Foundation’s John Liu and Lapa Capital’s Peter Lyons believe.

In the article published by the World Economic Forum, the analysts argue that stablecoins to temper the systemic threats posed by the United States dollar’s domination of global foreign currency reserves.

Today, authors note, US dollar still accounts for 62% of all central bank foreign reserves. Dollar hegemony perpetuates the systemic threats which appeared as a result of 2008 financial crisis, when investors flocked to dollar-denominated safe-haven assets, which caused global liquidity crunch.

The experts agree with the Bank of England’s governor Carney, who said argued that a diversified digital currency must be weighted in USD, euro, the British pound and the yen. It could reduce over-reliance on the dollar globally and become a new international reserve currency.