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Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a news conference during the Web Summit in Lisbon on 2 November that he did not consider CBDC as a threat to Binance or other cryptocurrencies. He thought the governments’ adoption of blockchain technology that applied to CBDC could validate blockchain technology and build trust among those who worry about the technology. His attitude seems to have changed when compared to the comments he made last year saying that CBDC would never provide the same freedom as cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as many of them would be subject to lots of control by the central banks.

The South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the National Assembly have reportedly aimed to pass a new law in 2023, which authorizes financial authorities to oversee and penalize unfair trade acts, including the use of undisclosed information, price manipulation and fraud while supervising crypto exchanges. It is expected that such unfair trade practice in the crypto industry will have an equivalent regulatory outcomes as compared to the traditional financial industry, though the details on the specific penalties have yet to be disclosed.

BANDESAL, a state development bank of El Salvador, has reportedly refused to disclose information regarding the Bitcoin acquisition in the country to ALAC El Salvador, which is a non-governmental anti-corruption bureau. A $150 million Bitcoin Trust (FIDEBITCOIN) was created by the bank to guarantee the convertibility to dollars. BANDESAL said the trustee or the board of directors of the trust could not share any information related to the trust due to the protection of national interests.

Global digital peer-to-peer (P2P) payments company MoneyGram has reportedly allowed the users in nearly all U.S. states and the District of Columbia to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) on its mobile app. The company said the new service was launched through its existing partnership with Coinme, a licensed crypto exchange and API-driven crypto-as-a-service provider.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has published a circular setting out the requirements for the authorization of the public offering of the exchange traded funds (ETFs) that obtain exposure to virtual assets (VAs) primarily through futures contracts (VA Futures ETFs) in Hong Kong on 31 October. The regulator said in addition to the existing regulatory requirements applicable to VA Futures ETFs, the application should meet the additional requirements set out in the circular. The management company shall have a good track record of regulatory compliance and demonstrate at least three years’ proven track record in managing ETFs. SFC said only VA futures traded on conventional regulated futures exchanges are allowed, subject to certain exceptions and it initially only allowed Bitcoin futures and Ether futures traded on Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, has reportedly launched the pilot for the digital rupee for the wholesale segment on 1 November. The pilot will include nine banks, including the State Bank of India, the biggest bank in the country. The use case will be to settle secondary market transactions in government securities at lower transaction costs. The digital rupee is expected to increase efficiency in the interbank market. The central bank also plans to launch digital rupee for the retail segment within a month in select locations.

The Monetary Exchange of Singapore (MAS) has reminded all authorized cryptocurrency exchanges in the country to conform to financial sanctions against Russia, following the research finding showing that pro-Russia groups raised funds through crypto donations and more countries’ financial authorities have imposed sanctions on Russia. The statement makes Singapore align with the international response to Russia. The latest European Union sanctions prohibited cross-border crypto payments between Russians and the EU, which included a total ban on all crypto-asset wallet, account, or custody services, irrespective of the amount of the wallet.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance said on Twitter that the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) would integrate its central bank digital currency (CBDC) into its distributed blockchain network BNB Chain. The country is reportedly being the world’s top three destinations for Bitcoin mining. Zhao said he looked forward to further development of use cases by the bank to “bridge the gap between traditional banking and the crypto ecosystem.” The crypto exchange has been granted a permanent license from the Kazakh Financial Services Authority early this month.

Australian Federal Budget 2022 has been released on 25 October. It states that Bitcoin would continue to be classified as digital asset rather than foreign currency for tax purposes, which would remove uncertainty following the Government of El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender. Therefore, Bitcoin investors are subject to capital gains tax treatment when they profit from selling the asset. However, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be treated as foreign currency.

Hong Kong-based crypto investment platform Q9 Capital has reportedly obtained provisional virtual asset approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). The provisional approval allows Q9 Capital to set up offices in Dubai and offer digital asset exchange services to pre-qualified investors and financial companies. After obtaining a full operating license, it could provide services to qualified investors and financial service providers. James Quinn, a managing partner of the crypto platform, said the company will comply with the regulatory framework in Dubai and continue building partnerships to expand the firm’s presence in the region.

Luxembourg-based crypto exchange Blockchain.com has reportedly partnered with Visa to launch a crypto debit card that enables users to use their crypto as a form of payment in shop that accepts Visa debit cards. The card is only issued to US residents at this stage. The news comes after Visa’s recent partnership with crypto exchange FTX to roll out a debit card to 40 countries worldwide. The crypto exchange announced on 26 October that there would be no sign-up or annual fee. The users could also earn a 1% rebate for all payments using crypto. Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith revealed in an interview that the card already had 50,000 signed on a waiting list.

Spain has reportedly had more crypto ATMs than El Salvador currently, making it the third-largest crypto ATM hub that accounts for 0.6% of the world’s total crypto ATMs. The figure is also the highest in Europe, which represents 14.65% of the crypto ATM installed in the continent. However, global crypto ATM installations have recorded negative growth since September 2022, with an average of around seven crypto ATMs being installed daily.