ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the European Central Bank's payment system experienced a major failure last Thursday, and the chaos that ensued during the 10 hours it took to identify and resolve the issue led to disruptions in welfare payments for over 15,000 Greeks, a large number of wages and pensions in Austria, and several financial transactions. The situation could have potentially worsened.If the situation had occurred or continued into the next day, i.e., at the end of February, it would have been a payday for many public sector employees, pensioners, and welfare recipients, and this chaos could have impacted millions of people and businesses, putting a strain on the banking system. According to officials from the Eurozone central bank, the core of the escalating turmoil was a hardware failure, but technicians took hours to identify the problem after initially misdiagnosing a database issue.Markus Ferber, a member of the European Parliament and a member of the committee overseeing the European Central Bank, stated, "A hardware failure is forgivable, but it is inexcusable if there is no backup that can be immediately activated when problems arise." An official from the European Central Bank indicated that the affected hardware did indeed have multiple backups, and the bank is analyzing why they did not activate.

ChainCatcher news, according to Tree News, the European Central Bank aims to establish a blockchain-based payment system.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the Associated Press disclosed that the U.S. Treasury Department's Inspector General has begun an audit of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team's access to the federal government payment system.

ChainCatcher news, according to market news, lawsuits have been filed by various states in the U.S. to prevent Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the government payment system.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors have agreed to temporarily restrict access to information in the Treasury Department's payment systems for staff of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) led by Musk.Previously, a group of union members and retirees sued the Treasury Department, alleging that providing DOGE access to the federal government's vast payment system and the personal data stored within it violated federal privacy laws.The Trump administration submitted a motion on Wednesday night seeking to sign a proposed order detailing the agreed-upon terms. The proposed order states that "the defendants will not provide any access to payment records or payment systems maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department or its internal services." The order allows for exceptions, permitting two special government employees within the Treasury (Tom Klaus and Marco Elez) to access these records "as needed" while performing their duties, but this access is limited to "read-only."

ChainCatcher news, the U.S. Treasury Department stated that the personnel sent by Musk to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have "read-only" access to its $5 trillion sensitive payment system, and no payments have been paused or denied.An unnamed official stated in a letter on Tuesday evening: "The ongoing review of the Treasury's systems will not result in any payment instructions submitted to the Treasury by other federal agencies being paused or denied. In particular, the review by the Treasury has not led to delays or changes in payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare."This letter marks the first public acknowledgment and explanation by the Treasury regarding the role of Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, in relation to DOGE. In recent weeks, Krause has been described as a central figure connected to DOGE, pushing efforts to ensure access to the payment system, and ultimately received access granted by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.The letter stated that Krause is now an employee of the Treasury, with "read-only access to the encoded data of the Treasury's payment systems to continue this operational efficiency assessment."

ChainCatcher news, according to CNN, the U.S. Treasury Department stated that the personnel from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent by Musk have "read-only" access to its $5 trillion sensitive payment system. In response to a letter from lawmakers, the Treasury emphasized that the current review work will not result in any payments being suspended or denied, particularly mandatory payments such as Social Security and Medicare are unaffected.This is the first time the Treasury has publicly detailed the functions of DOGE personnel, especially the role of Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group. The letter mentioned that Krause is now an employee of the Treasury, responsible for continuously assessing the operational efficiency of the payment system, and has "read-only access" to the coded data.

ChainCatcher news, Cannes Mayor David Lisnard announced on his LinkedIn account that he is promoting the city's merchants to adopt cryptocurrency payment systems and will host the 8th Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) from June 30 to July 3, 2025.The city government will provide local merchants with training on cryptocurrency payment technology, legal, accounting, and tax issues at the Palais des Festivals on February 4, and plans to release a "crypto-friendly" merchant map. As a three-time World Festival Capital, Cannes is expected to attract over 6,500 registered attendees for this EthCC, with total participation reaching 10,000, including 300 parallel events. Lisnard's move is seen as a strategy for the 2027 French presidential election.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the latest code leak from Elon Musk's social media platform X suggests that its payment system "X Money" may be launching soon. Currently, X has obtained money transfer licenses for its payment subsidiary X Payments LLC in 39 states in the U.S., but it has not yet covered all states.The code displays the message "X Money is not available in your state," raising speculation that it may launch ahead of obtaining approval from all states. X Money will support users in tipping content creators and may integrate cryptocurrency features. Analysts believe that Bitcoin and Dogecoin could be among the payment options.X CEO Linda Yaccarino has confirmed that the feature will launch in 2025, but has not verified the authenticity of the latest code. If true, X Money may launch first in the states where it has been licensed, temporarily not supporting 11 states including New York and Washington.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, KuCoin has launched a peer-to-peer payment system called KuCoin Pay, allowing users to pay merchants directly from their exchange account balances. The tool supports payments in 54 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC).

ChainCatcher news, BlackRock released the "2025 Global Outlook" report stating that Bitcoin, with its fixed supply and demand growth driven by investor confidence in its widespread adoption as a payment technology, shows potential as a new type of diversified asset, with lower correlation to stocks and other risk assets. Emerging assets like Bitcoin and traditional assets like gold are expected to become new diversified investment tools. As demand increases and supply remains limited, the value of Bitcoin will continue to rise.In fact, Bitcoin reached an all-time high after the U.S. presidential election, possibly due to investors considering the promises of elected President Donald Trump. Moreover, the widespread adoption of Bitcoin will fundamentally change the investment risk and return landscape. By then, Bitcoin may be better suited as a tactical hedge against certain risks (such as gold). In the past, investors bought gold to cope with high inflation, and as major central banks purchased gold as an alternative reserve currency, gold prices soared. It is crucial to understand how the performance of these alternative assets changes compared to traditional asset classes. Due to Bitcoin's role as a store of value and payment system, it can become a potential diversified investment tool.

ChainCatcher news, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller expressed skepticism about whether the U.S. payment system needs a central bank digital currency (CBDC) during the 2024 Clearinghouse Annual Meeting held on November 12. He questioned whether there are problems within the system that a CBDC could solve.He stated, "In a speech I gave in August 2021, I asked, what problem does a CBDC solve? In other words, what market failures or inefficiencies require this specific intervention? Over three years later, I still have not heard a satisfactory answer regarding CBDCs."Waller advocated for market-driven solutions, emphasizing the benefits of private sector innovation in the payment system through competition.He noted that the private sector, driven by profit and competition, often makes better decisions about which technologies are worth investing in and which may not meet consumer needs.Waller further stated that the government's role should remain supportive rather than directly competing with private payment innovations until there is a clear demand that the private sector cannot meet.

ChainCatcher news, according to Ledger Insights, UBS has successfully piloted a blockchain-based payment system known as UBS Digital Cash, aimed at improving the efficiency of cross-border transactions.UBS stated in a press release that the pilot involved transactions with multinational clients and banks, including domestic transactions in Switzerland and cross-border payments in USD, CHF, EUR, and CNY. UBS plans to further expand and develop UBS Digital Cash.It is reported that the system uses a private blockchain network, accessible only to authorized clients.

ChainCatcher news, according to Coindesk, German industrial giant Siemens AG successfully issued and settled tokenized commercial papers using JPMorgan's blockchain payment system Onyx and the private blockchain of SWIAT.On September 13, Siemens issued crypto securities worth 100,000 euros under Germany's Electronic Securities Act (eWpG) and redeemed them three days later. The payment was completed through JPM Coin system on the Onyx network, while the asset transfer was settled on the SWIAT network's "delivery versus payment" (DvP) mechanism. The entire process took only 93 seconds from the confirmation of the transaction by both parties on SWIAT to the final confirmation of asset and payment transfer.This transaction marks the beginning of cooperation between Onyx and SWIAT to develop blockchain-based asset issuance products for commercial banks. The two parties aim to shorten the value chain, enhance transaction flexibility and speed, and ultimately enable scalable applications of blockchain-based financial transactions for commercial banks.

ChainCatcher news, DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev stated on X platform that the company is in talks with one of the largest payment systems in Central Asia. Grachev mentioned that one of the pillars of DWF Labs' development is acquiring infrastructure to provide compliant, low-cost, and efficient fiat/cryptocurrency trading services in emerging markets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the UK's Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) jointly called for information provision regarding digital wallets.

ChainCatcher news, JPMorgan's blockchain division Onyx is collaborating with fintech company Broadridge to introduce the Web3 payment system JPM Coin to one of Broadridge's repurchase platforms.As part of the deal, Onyx's JPM Coin will serve as the settlement mechanism for Broadridge's distributed ledger repurchase platform, which utilizes blockchain technology to provide intraday, overnight, and term repurchase services. JPM Coin settlement is set to launch in June of this year.

ChainCatcher news, open-source blockchain payment system developer UPCX ($UPC) announced that it will be a major sponsor of the upcoming Asia's largest global cryptocurrency professional gathering WebX2024. WebX2024 is produced by Japan's largest Web3 media CoinPost. The event is scheduled to take place from August 28 to 29, 2024, at the Prince Park Tower Tokyo.During the two-day conference, the UPCX project will set up a booth to showcase the unique features of its payment system, including User Issued Assets (UIA), Non-Fungible Assets (NFA), Decentralized Exchanges (DEX), and the UPCX digital wallet, along with other advanced payment solutions.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Russian news agency TASS, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov stated in an interview that the BRICS countries (China, Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa) are committed to creating an independent payment system based on digital currency and blockchain.He stated: "We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, and this system will be based on advanced tools such as digital technology and blockchain. The most important thing is to ensure that it is convenient for governments, ordinary people, and businesses, and that it is cost-effective and free from political interference."

According to ChainCatcher news, the stablecoin TUSD has established a partnership with the crypto payment system ivendPay. Currently, TUSD has been added to ivendPay's payment options, providing greater accessibility and usability for TUSD users worldwide.It is reported that ivendPay is an international payment service provider with operations in seven countries and over three hundred active merchants.TrueUSD (TUSD) is the first stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, with on-chain real-time verification provided by independent third-party institutions. It is currently listed on over 100 trading platforms, including Binance and HTX, and circulates on more than a dozen major public chains such as Ethereum, TRON, Avalanche, and BNB Chain. TUSD is committed to promoting the development of crypto payments and has previously become an important payment method for projects such as the Web3 store UQUID, the cryptocurrency-friendly travel booking platform Travala.com, and the one-stop shop for crypto trading CryptoWallet.com.