City Sandbox Financial News

Android 16 introduces several key features, including an embedded photo picker, allowing users to share specific images or videos with apps rather than granting access to their entire media library. This change enhances user privacy by limiting exposure of personal data.Another significant update is to Google’s Health Connect platform.

As part of the Spring Statement documents, it revealed that trading is expected to begin later in the year. Spring Statement 25: OBR halves UK growth forecast to 1% for 2025 Following the unveiling of the secondary legislation, the Financial Conduct Authority will publish its rules and establish the PISCES Sandbox. Additionally, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has provided some clarity on the tax implications associated with trading on the private exchange, after issues were raised in response to the consultation last year. In 2024, during the Autumn Budget, it was revealed that PIS...

In her Mansion House speech in November last year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said the government intended to trial a pilot digital gilt instrument (DIGIT) issuance using DLT. In an update on Tuesday (18 March), Reeves added that the government was engaging with the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) «to understand what technological options are available to facilitate an issuance» and how DIGIT can «best be designed to stimulate wider development and adoption of DLT infrastructure across UK capital markets». FCA launches AI Lab to bolster innovation and development in fin...

green projects to boost flow of climate-related financing. The central bank has also proposed to set up a dedicated “on tap” cohort on climate change risks and sustainable finance under its Regulatory Sandbox initiative. Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Thursday said that the lack of bankable green projects slowed the adequate flow of credit and a collaborative approach could address this constraint. «Capacity and expertise constraints limit the ability to appraise and thus finance climate change mitigation. It also enhances the risk of funding such projects. Thus, creation of a common pool of such bankable projects will have multi-fold benefits for the entire ecosystem,» Malhotra said at a seminar on climate change risks and finance organised by the central bank in New Delhi. He stressed upon capacity building and improving technical know-how to better appraise risks in financing projects which use green technologies.

Sam is a financial journalist with a focus on cryptocurrency market news, based in London. With a Master’s Degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics, Sam’s passion for...

As part of the regulator's innovation services, the lab will allow deeper understanding of the risks and opportunities AI can present to both UK consumers and markets, the watchdog said. The lab will also aim to promote the «safe and responsible use» of the technology to drive growth, competitiveness and innovation, with four components: AI Spotlight, AI Sprint, AI Input Zone and Supercharged Sandbox. The first category will group together projects that provide a «real-world insight and practical understanding» into how firms are putting AI to use in financial services. AI emerges ...

Tanzeel Akhtar has been covering the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector since 2015. She has written for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CoinDesk and Bitcoin Magazine.

Hongji is a crypto and tech reporter. He graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a Bachelor's and a Master's. He has previously interned at HTX (Huobi Global),...

The Web3 community has launched a number of projects to help bring The 2024 Olympics to life digitally.

White Matter Advisory on Monday announced the acquisition of a 90% stake in fintech startup Fairexpay for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will help White Matter Advisory in expanding its portfolio in the area of cross-border remittance and fund collection services, a release said.

Google is dropping plans to eliminate cookies from its Chrome web browser, making a sudden U-turn on four years of work to phase out the technology that tracks users for ad purposes

Google is planning to keep third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, it said on Monday, after years of pledging to phase out the tiny packets of code meant to track users on the internet.

US Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce is pushing for a collaborative digital securities sandbox between the US and the Bank of England. This initiative would allow businesses to test innovative financial tools in a controlled environment.

The two FS giants worked with Standard Chartered-owned Hong Kong digital bank Mox and asset tokenisation tech firm Libeara on the PoC, which took place on the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Fintech Supervisory Sandbox. It saw the first live test of the Mastercard Multi-Token Network (MTN) used for a test scenario where a Mox client wants to buy a carbon credit to offset personal carbon usage and deposit the funds for this in their bank account. In the pilot, Mox requests Standard Chartered tokenise the desired carbon credit using Libeara. Then, through the Mastercard MTN, the client’s deposit is also tokenised and an atomic swap is initiated between the two instruments. The result is a transparent, real-time transaction between Standard Chartered and Mox, with the end client receiving access to a tokenised version of their carbon credit. This can be held in a digital wallet, or used to offset their carbon footprint. Mary Huen, CEO, Hong Kong, Standard Chartered, says: "The tokenisation of real-world assets and the potential use of different forms of tokenized currency is integral to the future of the financial industry."

Web3 games are having an excellent week, with Nyan Heroes, Shrapnel, and The Sandbox in the spotlight.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Tuesday formed a working committee in order to set industry standards for wholesale CBDC interoperability. The group also aims to facilitate tokenized asset transactions and interbank settlement using wCBDC.

Google’s yearslong effort to make online advertising less invasive has hit another snag. The U.K. privacy regulator says Google’s proposed replacements for cookies need to do more to protect consumer privacy, according to internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

UK Member of Parliament (MP) Lisa Cameron called for increased digital training regarding Web3, AI, and blockchain technology in a debate Tuesday, to increase the country’s “necessary talent pipeline” and bolster the UK crypto economy .

The Bank of Israel is launching a sandbox environment for testing CBDC use cases, in an effort to refine the design of the digital shekel and ensure its capacity to facilitate advanced applications.

Starting in January 2025, crypto firms seeking to operate in Indonesia must undergo evaluation in a regulatory sandbox before being licensed. This regulatory change will come into effect as supervision of the crypto industry transitions to the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

The mainstream opinion says that crypto will change gaming forever, and GameFi will bring a billion users to Web3. But the reality is harsher; still, there is no genuinely mainstream Web3 game where users come to play, not to make money, and stay for a while. Let’s break down why this is the case and how soon that will change.