This Month In Crypto: NAB to Introduce Stablecoin & Etheruem’s Shanghai Upgrade Targeted for April

Discover the top news stories circulating the block March 2023

NAB to introduce stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain

One of the largest banks in Australia, The National Australia Bank (NAB) has created and internally tested a stablecoin called AUDN. The successful pilot demonstrated the potential to significantly reduce the time and cost of cross-border transfers in Australia. The stablecoin is aimed to launch mid-year to allow for Business accounts to settle transactions on-chain using Australian dollars. AUDN will be fully backed with the Australian dollar with fiat currency held on trust in the bank.

In an interview with AFR, NAB’s Chief Innovation Officer Howard Silby also mentioned several other purposes for AUDN, such as “carbon credit trading, overseas money transfers and repurchase agreements”.

NAB’s stablecoin AUD will launch on both Ethereum and Algorand blockchains. This launch makes NAB the second major Australian bank to get involved with stablecoins after ANZ launched the creation of A$DC, their stablecoin pegged to the Australian Dollar back in 2022.

Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade finally has an official target date

Since ‘The Merge’ took place on the 6th of September 2022. Anyone with their eyes on ETH has been waiting to hear when the Shanghai hard fork will take place. It has now been confirmed that the official target date of the 12th of April has now been set by developers.

There are two significant things about the Shanghai upgrade, it firstly marks the completion of Ethereum’s full transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network. Though more importantly for some, the upgrade will finally allow for staked ETH withdrawals. Since December 2020, anyone who has staked ETH has been made aware that any rewards will remain locked up until the Shanghai upgrade. Once the upgrade has been completed, validators that joined Ethereum’s PoS blockchain will be able to finally withdraw their staked ETH along with any rewards earned.

Mastercard to settle transactions in USDC in Asia Pacific where Mastercard is accepted

Global payment provider Mastercard is launching a stablecoin digital wallet integration with the Australian stablecoin platform Stables, a stablecoin platform to allow retail customers to conduct transactions using stablecoins in the Asia-Pacific region.

This partnership provides customers with a stable-coin-only wallet built by Stables and is integrated with a Mastercard-accepting payment card. The wallet will accept deposits of various stablecoins and will automatically be converted to USDC. The payment card will enable users to store and spend USDC anywhere Mastercard is accepted by converting the stablecoin into fiat and settling on Mastercard’s network. The Mastercard wallet integration is expected to become available initially to Australian users in the second quarter.

More news stories circulating the block:

• Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood says that Bitcoin’s price action amid the US banking crisis “is going to attract more institutions.”
• Silicon Valley Bank (the 16th largest bank based on assets in the U.S.) collapsed due to poor risk management and a bank run. U.S. regulators stepped in and ensured that all accounts were made whole.
• USDC, the second largest stablecoin depegged as USD 3.3 billion worth of assets was locked up in Silicon Valley Bank.
• U.S stock market exchange operator, Nasdaq plans to launch a crypto custody service by the end of the second quarter
• The eNaira, Nigeria’s CBDC is seeing adoption rise due to a physical cash shortage as their central bank undertakes a note replacement program
• Do Kwon, co-founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs (creators of the Terra Blockchain) has been arrested in Montenegro. South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant last September.
• Russia looks ‘to roll out crypto legislation in April’. Lawmakers say that crypto regulations will be up for debate in parliament next month.
• UK Treasury has dropped its plans to issue an NFT made by the Royal Mint

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