Bitcoin banking expert Caitlin Long has founded Custodia Bank (formerly Avanti Financial Group) with the aim to bridge the gap between traditional banking and digital assets. While Bitcoin is often marketed as an alternative to traditional banking, Custodia Bank seeks to bring the two together.
The bank is currently in a court battle to become a digital asset bank with a Federal Reserve account, a move that is facing opposition from the Federal Reserve. Long, who has a 22-year background in Wall Street and is seen as a legend in many circles due to her work championing sound money, argues that it is important to keep the gender gap in Bitcoin adoption low. She believes that women must be encouraged to stay in the STEM majors in order to achieve full migration towards Bitcoin.
In a recent report by crypto market data provider Kaiko, USD Coin (USDC) has become the most liquid stablecoin on centralized exchanges (CEXs) with around $38m bids preventing a 0.1% price deviation of the asset. USDC’s liquidity is followed by that of Tether (USDT), Binance USD (BUSD), True USD (TUSD) and Dai (DAI). The data includes the 0.1% bid-side depth across all markets that use USDC as a base asset. Kaiko also noted that while stablecoin issuers ensure their tokens maintain their parity, de-pegging could still occur on spot markets, making stablecoin spot markets essential for price discovery.
Quant’s native currency, which helps financial institutions incorporate digital currencies into their businesses, saw a 20% increase following its partnership announcement with the Bank of England for Project Rosalind. Project Rosalind is a central bank digital currency initiative aimed at exploring the implementation of APIs in CBDC systems to facilitate retail payments. Quant contributed by designing and developing API functionalities needed for the interoperability of central bank ledgers. The project seeks to improve public-private sector collaboration by creating prototype APIs that enable a central bank to interact safely with private sector service providers.
Overall, the world of blockchain and digital assets continue to evolve as banks seek to create a bridge between traditional banking and digital assets. As more initiatives like Project Rosalind and Custodia Bank continue to emerge, it is likely that the gap between traditional banking and digital assets will continue to narrow.
