Crypto news recap: UAE completes first CBDC payment transaction

Coming every week, the Crypto News Recap is your weekly pulse of the markets that help you track every single important news story that happened in the crypto sphere. This week, The Central Bank of UAE Completes its first real-value cross-border payment transactions, Binance to back Musk’s acquisition of Twitter with $500M, and Visa ventures into crypto products. Let’s get to it, shall we?

The Central Bank of UAE Completes First CBDC Payment Transaction

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has announced the completion of mBridge, the world's largest pilot of central bank digital currency (CBDC) transactions, in collaboration with the People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Institute. According to the institution, other partners included the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, and the Bank for International Settlements.

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“Five banks located in the UAE took part, including First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank, in some of these fifteen cases. International trade settlement was prioritised in the identified business test cases given the high volume of trade between the four jurisdictions, amounting to USD 731 billion,” according to the CBUAE.

According to the Emirati bank, during the "pilot project, commercial banks in the four jurisdictions used the mBridge platform to conduct over 160 payment and foreign exchange transactions totaling over AED80 million (USD22 million) over a six-week period."

Binance to Invest $500M in Musk’s Twitter Takeover

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has confirmed its involvement as an equity investor in Elon Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter.

CZ confirmed earlier this week that Binance would stick to its earlier promise to contribute $500 million to Musk's bid to buy Twitter, emphasizing that the deal would provide an opportunity to help bridge social media and news into Web3.

According to Forbes, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays were the primary financiers who assisted the Tesla and SpaceX CEO in funding the deal, each committing at least $2.5 billion in debt financing for the deal.

Visa Files Trademark Applications for Crypto Products

Visa has filed two trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) concerning digital wallets, non-fungible tokens, and the metaverse.

Part of one of the applications seeks trademarks for software for "management of digital transactions; use as a digital currency wallet and storage services software; use as a cryptocurrency wallet; and managing and verifying cryptocurrency transactions using blockchain technology," while another seeks trademarks for "providing temporary use of non-downloadable software for users to view, access, store, monitor, manage, trade, send, receive, and transact in cryptocurrency."

Other applications concern "non-downloadable virtual goods" and "a collectible series of non-fungible tokens," as well as "providing virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, leisure, or entertainment purposes accessible in the virtual world."