An integration between payments provider Fiserv and NYDIG, which works in bitcoin tech and financial services, will enable financial institutions (FIs) to allow consumers to buy, sell and hold bitcoin via their bank accounts, according to a press release.
Banks and credit unions can now grow their customer bases as interest in cryptocurrency increases, the release stated. The offering will also help those institutions broaden their revenues.
The integration will also allow customers to handle bitcoin-related transactions on online and mobile banking portals, according to the release.
And, Fiserv and NYDIG are working on additional functionality, including rewards programs based on bitcoin, the release stated.
In other news, Paraguay-based Universidad Americana will start taking cryptocurrencies as payment, CoinDesk reported.
The university has 17,000 students, and 60 percent of them study virtually, according to CoinDesk. It will take Bitcoin, Ether, Dash and XRP as payment.
General director Camilo Jiménez Agüero has said the university is prepared to take crypto payments but won’t be activating its crypto wallet until the fall term begins. Then, a payment button will be added to the website, CoinDesk reported.
Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said there are 111 unregistered crypto asset firms, which could threaten the general financial system, U.S. News reported.
“We have a number of firms that are clearly doing business in the U.K. without being registered with us, and they are dealing with someone: banks, payment services firm, consumers,” FCA Head of Enforcement and Market Oversight Mark Steward said in the report. “This is a very real risk, so we are worried about that.”
Crypto asset businesses have had to get full FCA registration before operating since January, but the report noted that only a few of them have done that.
Lastly, crypto exchange Bullish, formed by blockchain software company Block.one and backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, could be merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Far Peak Acquisition Corp., Bloomberg reported.
The deal could value the company at $12 billion and establish a new achievement for Block.one Founder and CEO Brendan Blumer, setting up a decentralized crypto exchange, according to Bloomberg.
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