Institutional Engagement with Digital Assets
Follow along as Valkyrie's Head of Portfolio Management, Bill Cannon, highlights a notable "byte" from the markets each week.
Bill's Byte:
Despite the recent negative headlines in the sector, institutional engagement with digital assets continues to move ahead with two exciting new developments announced this week. A twelve week pilot program simulating a digital dollar token transaction and payment efficiency platform was introduced involving established financial services names like Citi, BNY Mellon, and PNC Bank, in addition to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. All of the firms will participate in the project and use simulated data in a test environment. Banks will issue tokens which will be processed through a simulated central bank. The project will initially focus on simulating digital dollars issued by institutions, but it could expand to include multi-currency operations and stablecoins.
Apple Pay also announced new support from Circle, the issuer of a US dollar backed stablecoin, USDC, which will bridge consumer retail payments to digital currency. Apple Pay is one of the most popular mobile payments services in the US, with almost 44 million people having used it at least once. For crypto-native businesses, it's a powerful way to build connections with customers who enjoy using traditional methods such as Apple Pay for payment while also accepting payment from customers who don't use crypto at all. It should benefit NFT marketplaces, crypto gaming, crypto exchanges, crypto wallets and cross-border remittance providers. At the same time, traditional businesses can take the opportunity to adopt digital currency, including USDC, as a settlement option for retail payments. Please read about the exciting developments here.
