It has often been said that mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies can be attained through an integration with the payment systems that people are already familiar with. Recent reports indicate that Visa understands this concept, given the fact that the company has announced that they are working towards integrating digital currencies with their payment network.

In a recent blogpost, Visa has stated that alternative means of payment, such as fiat-backed stablecoins, have the potential of revolutionizing the world’s payment systems. According to the company, “We’re reshaping how money moves across the globe, and that means pursuing a broad array of technologies and partnerships. In that regard, digital currencies offer an exciting avenue for us to continue doing what we do best: expanding our network-of-networks to support new forms of commerce”.

During the last couple of months, China has been showcasing an interesting approach towards Bitcoin and the other digital currencies available on the market, but also towards the blockchain network which is basically the system that powers everything up.

With this in mind, recent reports indicate that the People’s Bank of China, also known as the PBoC, is preparing to start up a development plan that will continue over the period of five years, meant to bring in improvements, upgrades and advancements in the country’s financial market. For long, China has been seen as one of the world’s most promising economies, given their huge market infrastructure, the billions of dollars-worth of investments being made in areas from all around the world, and their attitude towards small and big businesses. However, they’ve been fairly close-minded to the idea of digital currencies for a while now, due to the possible risks they may pose to the country’s own financial system. However, the Beijing Government will finally take the example of other countries and likely become a bit more open to digital currencies.

The year of 2016 brought along major developments on the blockchain market, with numerous banks and financial institutions considering to make the move, and switch their systems to a blockchain-based one. This is completely understandable, given the benefits of the blockchain network over the traditional system.

For those who do not know, using blockchain for trading can lead to lower costs, faster transactions and more efficient processes. According to recent reports, it seems like the Japanese Financial Services Agency has just allowed the operator of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Japan Exchange Group, to go ahead and use the blockchain network for its core trading infrastructure.

Blockchain technology has often been referred to as a great way of facilitating interbank payments, through private digital currencies. According to recent reports, it seems like the Monetary Authority of Singapore will become the newest central bank to launch its trial, blockchain-based system meant for carrying out interbank payments.

The project reportedly also involves a total of eight banks alongside with the city’s stock exchange, and its main purpose is to simplify the payment process with bitcoin, while also reducing transaction costs. Not only this, but this FinTech concept is likely to also include cross-border transactions, made possible by the participation of another central bank in the foreseeable future. According to the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ravi Menon, “Today, banks have to go through correspondent banks to intermediate these payments. It takes time and adds to cost (…) this project marks the first step in MAS’s exploration of ways to harness the potential of central bank-issued digital currency.”

Not long ago, the Swiss rail operator has announced that their customers will now be able to purchase bitcoin via the ticket machines present in all stations. This was great news for the digital currency ecosystem, but it also looks like it started something in Switzerland.

With this in mind, around a week after the SBB announcement, the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, also known as the FDF has outlined its plan to go ahead and find ways of regulating the bitcoin network, and introducing actual legislation in 2017.

During the last couple of years, the state of bitcoin in South Korea was quite unclear, due to a set of laws that cannot be easily interpreted. Yet, this is about to change, as the South Korean Government is trying to break its rigid financial laws, and come up with better ones, suited for the financial environment that we live in.

With this in mind, the Chairman of the South Korean Financial Services Commission, also known as the FSC, recently carried out a presentation, introducing a project named ‘The FinTech Development Roadmap’. With this in mind, this development roadmap is supposed to remove all of the irrational regulations present in the legislative framework, but also find ways to change up and revamp the systems being currently used, in order to make more room for the FinTech technology that will soon hit the market.

Leaving aside a couple of regulation talks and conferences, China's attitude towards Bitcoin has mostly remained unchanged during the last couple of years. However, according to recent reports, this may change soon enough.

The Chinese Government has recently published a whitepaper, meant to set out some of the key milestones for the development of the blockchain network and technology in the country, which represents its strongest signal so far, that it is ready to encourage the growth of both Bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain.

During the last couple of months, as blockchain technology gained significantly more popularity, governments have also started discussing about blockchain-related regulation. According to recent reports, it seems like the United Kingdom may be the world’s first country to present its regulatory framework for the blockchain network.

It seems like the Fintech Accelerator deployed by the Bank of England is one of the main reasons why this regulation will be put into place, considering the fact that blockchain networks now represent the basis for new innovative financial products and services.

In a recent article, we talked about the main advantages and disadvantages of investing in bitcoin. While the currency continues to evolve, its underlying technology, the blockchain is seeing an even quicker growth.

With this in mind, blockchain technology can be regarded as one of the hottest trends in the financial market at this moment in time, as it has the potential of completely transforming traditional business models in numerous sectors. Numerous banks, governments and financial institutions have openly discussed about their plans to adopt blockchain technology, which is why more and more people are actively looking for ways to invest in the blockchain boom.

Regardless of the fact that China doesn’t have an open attitude towards bitcoin and alternative digital currencies, recent reports indicate that the Chinese government will soon start using blockchain technology to process social security payments.

As the National Council for Social Security handles around $300 billion, and is continuously increasing its budget, this could call for the biggest implementation of blockchain technology yet. Blockchain technology will allow Chinese authorities to rule out the need of a middle man, thus increasing efficiency, decreasing costs and making record keeping an easier task. So far, it seems like blockchain technology will be used to handle unemployment benefits alongside with the pensions of tens of millions of people throughout the country.