China News by Thebittimes.Com

BRICS members Brazil and China have officially agreed to settle cross-border payments in local currencies rather than the US dollar. Brazilian authorities support expanding the use of national currencies and are looking at opportunities to increase the payment option. The Luiz Lula da Silva administration is gearing up to end reliance on the US dollar before the upcoming summit. Also Read: BRICS: New Country Rejects Local Currency for Oil, Wants US Dollar BRICS: Brazil & China Look at Local Currencies For Trade Settlements Source: iStock Both the BRICS members Brazil and China are drawing plans to push local currencies forward for mutual payments. Brazil’s Secretary of the Finance Ministry Tatiana Rosito said that some trade between the two countries is already being settled in national currencies and not the US dollar. Lula da Silva had previously stated that the alliance must slowly end dependency on the US dollar. Also Read: BRICS Considers New Financial Options For Trade Settl...

Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has officially launched its Bybit Physical Card exclusively for its Brazilian users, based on information shared with Finbold on Tuesday, January 7. Building on the success of the virtual card introduced in September last year, the new product comes with Bybit Card’s full virtual and physical payment capabilities.  Exclusive benefits and widespread crypto support The Bybit Physical Card allows Brazilians to seamlessly incorporate crypto into their everyday lives by supporting mainstream cryptocurrencies, including USDT, BTC, and ETH. Picks for you Sui founder reveals the next AI ‘big opportunity,’ eyes partnership with OpenAI 12 mins ago ‘Rich Dad’ K...

Brazil’s largest lender, Itau Unibanco, announced its entrance into the crypto market by introducing a trading service for clients on its investment platform.  The initial offering includes trading in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), with plans to incorporate additional cryptocurrencies. According to the announcement, the decision would position Itau to compete with local entities like crypto exchange MB, investment bank BTG Pactual’s digital assets unit Mynt, and global players like Binance in the Brazilian market. “Our initial focus is on Bitcoin, but our broader strategic plan involves expanding to other crypto assets, contingent upon the evolving regulatory landscape in the country.”  Itau Unibanco representative At present, uncertainty has shaped the market, with the financial services firm PicPay, owned by conglomerate J&F, attributing its recent decision to exit to “regulatory uncertainties” and XP, a brokerage and investments comp...

Brazil’s Central Bank revealed the official name of the new central bank digital currency (CBDC), also known as the digital real, DREX. The name was revealed during a live broadcast on the bank’s YouTube channel, hosted by Fábio Araújo, coordinator of the digital real, and Aristides Cavalcante, deputy head of the Central Bank’s technology and information department. Araújo explained that DREX combines elements representing digital, real (Brazil’s currency), electronic, and transaction. It complements the Pix platform, a successful system in Brazil that offers free, instant electronic fund transfers using QR codes and simplified IDs like phone numbers. The branding for DREX includes two arrows leaning into the ‘D,’ symbolizing the evolution of currency from physical to digital, and a color transition from blue to light green, signifying ‘transaction completed.’ You might also like: Brazil central bank launching CBDC in 2024 DR...

Soccer fan tokens have seen their prices and trading volumes plummet since the start of the World Cup on Nov. 20. Cryptocurrencies tied to national soccer teams have failed to keep the attention of 2022 FIFA World Cup fans, with many soccer-linked fan token prices plummeting since the tournament began. Between Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Argentina, the associated digital fan tokens have fallen between 60% to 88% percent in price since the start of the World Cup on Nov. 20, according to CoinGecko. This is despite Brazil, Argentina and Portugal reaching the quarter-finals, while Spain was a strong contender up until they were knocked out on Dec. 6.  The tokens do generally react to immediate results, with Spain's SNFT token down 39.1% over the past 24 hours following the team's loss against Morocco, however, Portugal's POR token is also down 6.1% over that same time frame, despite them beating Switzerland 6-1 on Dec.6. Such suggests that the tokens are becoming less reactiv...