Weekly Blockchain News, November 29, 2021

Welcome back in the weekly summary of leading developments in the crypto/blockchain space, presented from Billon's point of view. Check what happened in the last days when it comes to CBDC and other enterprise uses of blockchain. Enjoy the read!

The NFT Bay asks if you would steal all the JPEGs.  In what may be one of the better pieces of performance art this year, Australian Geoffrey Huntley has created a website that promises to let you torrent an entire blockchain’s worth of NFTs. It’s called, appropriately, The NFT Bay, and it’s an almost exact replica of the famous pirating site

Republic of Palau joins hands with Ripple to develop digital currency strategy. The partnership will initially focus on developing strategies for cross-border payments and a USD-backed digital currency for Palau. This could lead to the implementation of the the the government-backed stablecoin in the first half of next year.

India to ban private cryptocurrencies and launch official digital currency.  The proposed legislation follows warning from PM Narendra Modi who said last week that cryptocurrencies could “spoil our youth” and the country’s central bank has repeatedly warned, in line with other central banks, they could pose “serious concerns on macroeconomic and financial stability”.

Japan to launch bank-deposit-backed digital currency in 2022. A new digital currency backed by bank deposits is set for a test run in Japan as early as this year, an effort that will involve the nation's top banks and about 70 other companies and organizations. The test run will focus on the digital currency's feasibility for low-cost business transactions, such as large payments between companies. The group aims to bring the currency into circulation as soon as the latter half of 2022.

El Salvador plans first 'Bitcoin City', backed by bitcoin bonds,  president Nayib Bukele said on Saturday, doubling down on his bet to harness the crypto currency to fuel investment in the Central American country. Speaking at an event closing a week-long promotion of bitcoin in El Salvador, Bukele said the city is planned in the eastern region of La Union would get geothermal power from a volcano and not levy any taxes except for VAT.

British fintech Atom Bank will move its staff to a four-day week without cutting wages in the latest shakeup to the workplace since the start of the pandemic. The banking app says its 430 staff would see working hours fall to 34 from 37 hours in a bid to improve “employee mental and physical wellbeing”. 

And that's it for now. See you next week!