ChainCatcher news, Raafi Hossain, co-founder and CEO of the Middle Eastern fintech company Fasset, which intends to enter the stablecoin space, introduced several examples of customers using stablecoins, including the sale of a $8 million Dubai property, a Tanzanian buyer purchasing Indonesian cooking oil, renting a villa on Palm Jumeirah for $100,000, and private yacht rentals. Fasset is a Dubai-based "super app" focused on markets from Morocco to Malaysia.Dubai's Careem Networks FZ LLC, which provides taxi, food, and financial services, and Abu Dhabi's Astra Tech, which operates the communication app Botim, are also exploring the launch of payment tools supported by stablecoins.Hossain stated that stablecoins provide users with a way to "bypass geographical and institutional barriers to efficiently and quickly execute high-value transactions."Careem Pay Vice President Mohammad El Saadi mentioned that the technology "has the potential to reduce costs, speed up processing times, and improve working capital management for cross-border transfers." The company has opened 8 new fiat payment channels in the UAE over the past 11 months.Meanwhile, Astra Tech's Vice President of Products Rishabh Singh stated that Botim has been experimenting with the AE Coin, which is pegged to the dirham and has been approved by the Central Bank of the UAE.According to data from DeFi Llama, the total market capitalization of all circulating stablecoins has grown from less than $140 billion at the end of 2023 to over $200 billion today.So far, the dominant stablecoin is USDT, whose issuer, Tether Holdings Ltd., recently stated that it expects to achieve over $10 billion in net profit in 2024. According to CoinGecko, the total circulating supply of USDT is close to $140 billion.The use of USDT is concentrated in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa time zones, particularly in the Middle East. (Bloomberg)

ChainCatcher news, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero announced the launch of a new in-app payment feature. This new tool is built for the Farcaster client Warpcast, allowing users to pay other users with USDC without the need to look up or remember addresses, and it provides almost instant confirmation with zero fees.

ChainCatcher news, decentralized payment tool Slash developer Slash Vision Labs announced on the X platform that the SVL token has started trading, with the SVL/USDT spot trading pair now live on the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. In addition, Slash has launched a reward of 10,000 USDT for the token listing, giving users the chance to earn rewards by completing tasks.Market data shows that the SVL token is currently priced at 0.004027 yuan on Bybit, up 111.95% from the opening price.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by The Paper, Mu Changchun, director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, stated at the main forum of the "2023 China International Financial Annual Forum" during the 2023 China International Service Trade Fair on financial services that after completing the upgrade of currency, the payment tools for the entire society will also need to be upgraded to the new currency accordingly.The first to achieve the upgrade will be the payment tools used in retail scenarios, specifically using digital RMB as the payment tool in all retail scenarios. Wallet providers such as WeChat, Alipay, the commercial bank's mobile banking app, and other third-party payment institution apps, as well as digital RMB operating institutions, must have compliance awareness, obtain the corresponding financial licenses, and comply with regulations. In the short term, we can first unify the QR code standards from a technical perspective to achieve mutual recognition of barcodes; in the long term, we will steadily realize the upgrade of payment tools.The payment tools used in wholesale payment scenarios also need to be upgraded. Currently, the interbank payment clearing system and the internal systems of commercial banks that support wholesale payments are operating normally and can meet the needs of China's economic development. To avoid wasting existing systems and resources, there is no need to replace them with a central bank digital currency system, but we can achieve seamless connectivity by ensuring that digital RMB is fully interoperable with existing electronic payment tools and commercial bank deposits.Additionally, for financial market infrastructures that were previously uncovered, digital RMB can be used for settlement, and smart contracts can be utilized to achieve delivery versus payment (DVP) and payment versus payment (PVP), thereby improving the efficiency of wholesale payments.

ChainCatcher news, Hong Kong Monetary Authority Vice President Chen Weimin stated at the 5th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Financial Development Forum that the People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority are collaborating to test the use of digital renminbi as a cross-border payment tool in Hong Kong, enhancing the efficiency of cross-border payment services and user experience. In the future, it is believed that this will provide residents of both places with an additional safe, convenient, and innovative option for cross-border living, tourism, and retail consumption in the Greater Bay Area. (Source link)