Bitcoin trading in Asia on Friday was decidedly bullish, bringing price just slightly above a new barrier to a daily and weekly high so far of USD 9,009 (CoinDesk). Now that Europe is trading, prices have pulled back on almost immediate profit taking, but steady above USD 8,800 with hours left before the Americas take over.

Altcoins are enjoying massive gains, with Ethereum marking above USD 170 and coins like Ethereum Classic enjoying revivals they haven’t had in months.

One of the big items of news that could have prompted this rally comes from the US, where the former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo has teamed up with one of the world’s largest management consultancies, Accenture, to launch a new Digital Dollar Foundation non-profit organization.

Nicknamed Crypto Dad by those in the financial market sector, Giancarlo is joined by the ex director of LabCFTC Daniel Gorfine and his brother Charles Giancarlo, where they hope to build work on the digital US dollar, long before the Federal Reserve has even committed to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

A huge plan is already drawn up, that aims to start on potential proposals and designs. It hopes to bring together multi-disciplinarians, from law experts to economists, and ademics to technologists, helping assess and evaluate these designs before drawing up a testing framework for the new system.

The ultimate goal? A dollar that can be transacted as easily as a text is sent. The men behind the new initiative of course have been in familiar territory, with them backing a blockchain platform for the same late last year, suggesting that an independent body could operate the project, supported by the US central bankers and others. In a statement, Giancarlo said that the physical dollar had not found relevance in the modern era, insisting:

“A digital dollar would help future-proof the greenback and allow individuals and global enterprises to make payments in dollars irrespective of space and time.”

If successful, the new digital dollar would be a tokenised US dollar, acting as a medium for digital settlement to “meet the demands of the new digital world and a cheaper, faster and more inclusive global financial system”.

Accenture is the lead architect and technology partner, and its global blockchain lead and managing partner David Treat said they would seek to bring together experience and ability to realize the project. The consultancy’s experience with central banks in innovation already count the likes of Bank of Canada, Monetary Authority of Singapore and the European Central Bank.

Meanwhile, we look at Russia’s sudden development that happened late yesterday evening, when the prime minister and entire government resigned from office, paving the way for President Vladimir Putin to make changes to the Russian constitution.

One of the first orders of the day for newly-installed Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mishustin, is to implement modern IT, including a program for national digital economy. He was quoted by local media RIA Novosti as saying:

“The state should become a digital platform that is created for people.”

The statement came only hours after Putin had addressed the Federal Assembly, saying he would make fundamental changes to the constitution of Russia. Blockchain will not be new in the discussions and many would suspect stronger, clearer lines regarding blockchain and crypto.

Already, the national energy grid operator Rosetti had trialed blockchain-based payments in retail electricity, enabling more transparent transactions between energy producers, suppliers and customers. Just two months ago, majority state-owned and largest bank in Russia Sberbank, trialed a blockchain platform for repurchase agreements. using patented smart contract technology to automate repo transactions between parties.

Might Russian-developed blockchain platforms like Waves see an uptick in use and demand? Time will tell!

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