Latest news with #BIS
Time of India
20 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Standards for success: BIS workshop at IIT-K empowers startups
Lucknow/Kanpur: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) at IIT-Kanpur hosted a workshop bringing together innovators, startups and BIS leaders to discuss the crucial role of standards in India's innovation journey. The workshop-- 'From Innovation to Impact: BIS Standards Serving the Startups'-- aimed at highlighting how Indian standards can accelerate commercialization, enhance quality assurance and support global market access for startups. BIS plays a vital role in developing national standards, with over 400 technical committees and over 25,000 standards across 17 sectors. Standards are essential across all sectors, and BIS supports the Government of India and startups in using them as tools for impactful growth. The workshop provided actionable insights on managing post-launch quality, meeting Quality Control Orders (QCOs), and addressing sustainability and regulatory challenges. Dean of research and development at IIT-K Prof Tarun Gupta emphasised the importance of innovation and quality going hand in hand. Professor-in-charge of SIIC IIT-K Prof Deepu Philip highlighted the role of BIS in enabling startups to view standards as launchpads rather than constraints. "BIS is helping make standards a springboard rather than a speed bump, empowering the innovation ecosystem. We have always emphasized the need for innovative, high-quality, market-ready products that can thrive both nationally and on the global stage," Gupta said. Deputy director general (standardization-I), BIS, Reena Garg said: "BIS plays a vital role in developing national standards, with over 400 technical committees and 25,000+ standards across 17 sectors. Standards are essential across all sectors, and BIS supports the Government of India and startups in using them as tools for impactful growth." The workshop provided an overview of BIS's key functions, including standard formulation, product certification, and system certification. BIS reiterated its commitment to co-developing future-ready, inclusive standards by engaging with India's entrepreneurial community.
Time of India
21 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
BIS & IIT-K organize workshop on standards for startups
Kanpur:The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in collaboration with the Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur, organised a workshop titled 'From Innovation to Impact: BIS Standards Serving the Startups' at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur) on Friday. The workshop brought together deep-tech innovators, early-stage and growth-stage startups, and the BIS leadership for dialogue on the critical role of standards in shaping India's innovation journey. It aimed to highlight how Indian Standards can accelerate commercialisation, enhance quality assurance, and support global market access for startups. Startups participating in the event engaged directly with senior BIS officials and explored standardisation frameworks across diverse sectors—including electronics, IT, healthcare, agritech, AI-ML, defence & aerospace, and cleantech. The sessions offered actionable insights on managing post-launch quality, meeting Quality Control Orders (QCOs), and addressing sustainability and regulatory challenges. Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Director General (Standardization-I), BIS, Reena Garg said, "BIS plays a vital role in developing national standards, with over 400 technical committees and 25,000+ standards across 17 sectors. Standards are essential across all sectors, and BIS supports the Govt of India and startups in using them as tools for impactful growth." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Doutor: Reverter encolhimento muscular após os 50 depende deste hábito noturno Revista do Homem Saiba Mais Undo Dean of Research & Development at IIT Kanpur, Prof. Tarun Gupta said, " BIS is helping make standards a springboard rather than a speed bump, empowering the innovation ecosystem. We have always emphasised the need for innovative, high-quality, market-ready products that can thrive both nationally and on the global stage." The knowledge-sharing session provided an overview of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), highlighting its key functions such as standard formulation, product certification, hallmarking, and system certification. The session emphasised BIS's international presence, laboratory testing, consumer protection, and the importance of standards education. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India, responsible for the harmonious development of standardisation, marking, and quality certification. BIS actively supports innovation, ensures consumer safety, and promotes industry best practices across sectors through the development of Indian Standards.
Coin Geek
a day ago
- Business
- Coin Geek
BIS finds tokenization is the future of financial system
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... In a report published on June 24, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an institution made up of central banks from around the world, claimed that fiat-pegged stablecoins 'fall short of requirements to be the mainstay of the monetary system' as they fail the three key tests of singleness, elasticity, and integrity. However, it argued that tokenization does meet this test. In a 'special chapter' of the BIS's Annual Economic Report 2025, titled 'The next-generation monetary and financial system,' the BIS concluded that, building on the proposal for a unified ledger, the 'trilogy' of tokenized central bank reserves, commercial bank money and government bonds is 'the next logical step to deliver profound change for the financial system.' The report argued that tokenization can enhance efficiency and open new possibilities in cross-border payments, securities markets, and beyond while maintaining the key principles of sound money. 'Tokenisation represents a transformative innovation to both improve the old and enable the new. It paves the way for new arrangements in cross-border payments, securities markets and beyond,' wrote the BIS. 'Tokenised platforms with central bank reserves, commercial bank money and government bonds at the centre can lay the groundwork for the next-generation monetary and financial system.' However, while the report was effusive in its praise for the possibilities of tokenization, it was less enthusiastic about stablecoins, suggesting that they fall short of requirements to be the mainstay of the monetary system when set against the three key tests of singleness, elasticity, and integrity. This test is how the BIS judges the suitability of a payment system. The ' singleness of money ' refers to whether money can be issued by different banks and accepted by all without hesitation, otherwise known as 'acceptance for payment at par'; elasticity refers to whether money provides the flexibility to meet the need for large-value payments in the economy, 'so that obligations are discharged in a timely way without gridlock taking over'; and integrity refers to a system's ability to safeguard against financial crime and other illicit activity. According to the BIS, stablecoins do not meet any of these three criteria and are, therefore, not suitable to become the cornerstone of the next financial revolution. How stablecoins fall short According to BIS, stablecoins failed the first test, the singleness on money, partly because their value can depend on the relative 'creditworthiness' of their issuers and partly because stablecoins traded in secondary markets at an 'exchange rate' can deviate from par—meaning a situation can occur where different stablecoin that are supposed to be equivalent do not trade at equal value and can no longer be accepted at face value. 'Stablecoin holdings are tagged with the name of the issuer, much like private banknotes circulating in the 19th century Free Banking era in the United States. As such, stablecoins often trade at varying exchange rates, undermining singleness,' wrote the BIS. When it comes to elasticity, stablecoins failed the test because assets, such as Tether's USDT—the world's largest stablecoin by market cap—can be backed by a 'nominally equivalent amount of assets,' which means any 'additional issuance requires full upfront payment by holders' imposing a 'cash-in-advance constraint.' In other words, the stablecoin issuer's balance sheet cannot be expanded at will; any additional supply of stablecoins requires full upfront payment by its holders, which differs from banks, which can 'elastically expand and contract their balance sheets within regulatory limits.' Finally, stablecoins have been well publicized and have 'significant shortcomings when it comes to promoting the integrity of the monetary system' and are prone to Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance weaknesses. The BIS particularly highlighted the ability of digital asset mixers to obfuscate the origin of money and hamper traceability, as well as blockchain's propensity for anonymity, or pseudoanonymity, which hampers KYC efforts. Despite these critiques, the report wasn't wholly dismissive of the potential of stablecoins, noting that they offer certain advantages, such as programmability, pseudonymity, and 'easy access for new users.' In addition, their 'technological attributes mean they can potentially offer lower costs and faster transaction speed,' particularly for cross-border payments. 'It remains to be seen what role innovations like stablecoins will play in the future monetary system,' wrote the BIS. 'But stablecoins do not stack up well against the three desirable characteristics of sound monetary arrangements and thus cannot be the mainstay of the future monetary system.' There was, however, another asset type and financial system that did stack up well. Tokenization for the win As pessimistic as the report was in its appraisal of stablecoins as the next big thing in international payment systems, it was equally optimistic in its take on tokenization—the digital representation of assets on programmable platforms. 'Tokenisation stands to be the next logical step in the evolution of money and payments,' said the BIS, adding that it 'integrates messaging, reconciliation and settlement into a single seamless operation, and can transform cross-border payments and securities markets, ushering in a new era for the financial system.' Specifically, the report pointed to recent proposals for a unified ledger that provides a blueprint for the tokenized financial system. Key elements of the blueprint are tokenized central bank reserves, tokenized commercial bank money, and other tokenized claims on financial and real assets—all 'brought together in a new type of financial market infrastructure.' The report argued that the unified ledger can transform intermediary interactions, particularly when it comes to cross-border payments and, by combining programmability and transaction bundling, it can integrate and automate sequences of financial transactions. 'This eliminates delays and reduces manual interventions and reconciliations arising from the traditional separation of messaging, clearing and settlement,' noted the report. According to the BIS, tokenization also enables the joint execution of three previously separate steps: the debiting of the payer's account, the crediting of the receiver's account, and settlement on the central bank balance sheet. This allows for the 'synchronous exchange' of assets so that each transfer occurs only upon the transfer of the others. In terms of singleness—one of the areas stablecoins fell down—the report suggested that singleness on private tokenized money and cash would be supported in the same way it is now for commercial bank deposits, as long as all private tokenized money issuers complied with the same regulatory standards and had access to the same safeguards. It added that singleness between the private tokenized money issued by non-banks and cash could also be maintained under the proper arrangements. Tokenization can also utilize smart contracts—computer programs that run on a blockchain and automatically trigger when certain pre-agreed conditions are met, without the need for human intervention—which enables central banks to instantly create and adjust their tools, such as deploy new facilities and adjust interest rates or collateral requirements. In this way, 'tokenisation could offer flexibility and speed in monetary policy operations' as well as 'improve operational efficiency and promote automation in back office tasks.' Finally, as tokenized platforms could—in principle—operate continuously, smart contracts could support extended or even 24/7 market operations. 'Tokenisation of deposits and central bank money means that both the primary means of payment as well as the settlement function of central bank money can be integrated seamlessly on the same programmable platform,' said Hyun Song Shin, Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the BIS, in a June 24 press release. 'It has the potential to transform securities markets and its application to correspondent banking is especially promising.' This sentiment was echoed by Agustín Carstens, General Manager of BIS, who commented: 'The next-generation monetary and financial system combines the time-tested principles of trust in money underpinned by central banks with the functionality unlocked by tokenisation. This system is poised to deliver substantial improvements to current practices and to enable entirely new economic arrangements.' Amongst all the praise, the BIS did acknowledge that the transition to a fully tokenized financial system would not be without its challenges. Interoperability between existing account-based systems and emerging tokenized infrastructures must be ensured; changes to existing systems will be needed, including adjustments to booking and reconciliation processes or messaging standards; fragmentation across both legacy and new networks could pose a challenge; and the emergence of tokenized repo transactions adds to demands on sound collateral management. However, overall, the BIS concluded that tokenization represents a 'transformative innovation to both improve the old and enable the new' and one that could well be the basis for the next-generation monetary and financial system. Watch | Rediscovering Blockchain: Here's how you build trust at scale title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Business Times
a day ago
- Business
- Business Times
Gold glitters as mistrust spreads
A DECADE ago, I asked officials at the New York Federal Reserve if I could peek at their gold reserves. They refused point blank. The reason? Fed officials have long taken pride in having the world's biggest gold vault, dug 80 feet down into Manhattan's bedrock. But they prefer to keep it discreet, partly because many of the vault's 507,000 bars belong to countries such as Germany and Italy. Silence was literally golden. Now, however, a discordant note has been sounded. In recent weeks, politicians in Germany and Italy have demanded the repatriation of their gold bars, worth an estimated US$245 billion. So have others. 'We are very concerned about (US President Donald) Trump tampering with the Federal Reserve Bank's independence,' explains the Taxpayers Association of Europe. Neither the Fed nor European governments seem minded to act, and there are no signs of bullion moving east. On the contrary, gold has flooded into, not out of, America since Trump's election, prompting speculation that US government agencies, like private investors, might be stockpiling it (although there is no public proof of that). Either way, what is indisputable is that these repatriation appeals are a sign of spreading mistrust. The reason those bars were placed in New York vaults in the first place is that America's allies have hitherto assumed that Washington was a responsible leader of the west – and the dollar-based finance system. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Now, however, figures in the Trump team – including Stephen Miran, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Scott Bessent, Treasury secretary – are chafing against the 'cost' of this system. Thus, the question that investors need to ask is what other countries might do if trade wars spawn capital battles as well. In Asia, this debate is already under way, as investors look for diversification. One sign is surging gold purchases. Another is that recent unusual price movements in Hong Kong markets suggest a reluctance to buy dollar assets. Meanwhile, Chinese officials are hailing the rising use of the renminbi in trade invoicing, and developing a Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (Cips) to challenge the US-controlled Swift interbank payments system. Investors also need to watch the so-called mBridge initiative, a cross-border central bank digital currency project launched in 2023 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Last year, Washington forced the BIS to withdraw from this, leaving China in control. I suspect this is an own goal by the US. Europe, by contrast, has been fairly passive thus far. However, figures like François Heisbourg, a key European adviser, are urging preparation for a 'post-American Europe'. And while this has already sparked pledges of higher military spending, the focus is now also shifting to 'geoeconomics', or the idea that statecraft must drive industrial policy. However, analysts such as Elmar Hellendoorn, at the Atlantic Council, want to go further, with a policy of 'geofinance' too. After all, he argues, Europe is vulnerable since it not only relies on dollar finance, but is also buffeted by speculative capital flows, due to financialisation of its economy. Thus, 'large parts of the European economy are now under the strong influence, if not the direct control, of Wall Street firms, which are ultimately subject to US laws and Washington's financial statecraft', he frets. Indeed, Enrico Letta, the former Italian prime minister, fears that Europe is becoming a 'financial colony' of the US. Can this change? The European Commission is taking baby steps in that direction, by accelerating efforts to create a single European capital market. Central banks across Europe are also developing cross-border digital currencies, and the European Central Bank (ECB) itself is building a digital euro. That sets up a fascinating policy contest with Washington, which is embracing dollar-based stablecoins instead – partly because Bessent thinks this will create trillions of dollars of new demand for Treasuries. However, these efforts still seem far too timid to actually create a 'global euro moment', to quote ECB president Christine Lagarde. And that seems unlikely to change unless a crisis hits, be that a loss of market confidence in the dollar (perhaps due to fiscal jitters) or extreme aggression by the US towards Europe. Hence, why those Manhattan gold vaults matter: if such crises do ever materialise, it is easy to imagine a scenario in which American leaders (at best) will insist on using that bullion as collateral for dollar swaps or (at worst) as a tool for political coercion. Germany's Bundesbank, for its part, discounts that risk – in public at least. 'We have no doubt that the New York Fed is a trustworthy and reliable partner for the safekeeping of our gold reserves,' it tells the FT. Almost certainly so. But the debate shows that once unimaginable scenarios are at least being imagined. Reclaiming gold is a rational move. FINANCIAL TIMES
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Circle Internet Stock (CRCL) Could Face Pressure. Risk Factors to Watch
Circle Internet (CRCL) stock declined about 11% on Wednesday after plunging 15.5% the previous day. The decline came as some analysts flagged the stock's lofty valuation and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) highlighted some risks related to stablecoins. Notably, Circle Internet, an issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has seen its stock rally by 541% to $198.62 from its initial public offering (IPO) price of $31. Confident Investing Starts Here: The passage of the proposed stablecoin legislation, the GENIUS Act, by the Senate helped fuel investor optimism about the crypto stock. Let's look at the risks that have been recently highlighted. CRCL Stock Faces These Risks While the BIS report spoke positively about tokenization and the digitalization of money, it highlighted some shortcomings of stablecoins. BIS thinks that stablecoins 'fall short of requirements to be the mainstay of the monetary system when set against the three key tests of singleness, elasticity, and integrity.' It added that without adequate regulation, stablecoins could present risks to financial stability and monetary sovereignty. BIS also believes that these tokens cannot assure one-to-one parity with central bank money. They may also struggle due to liquidity issues and the lack of ability to prevent financial crimes. These risks, discussed by BIS, could weigh on investor sentiment. Additionally, experts have noted Circle Internet's high dependence on interest income, which could fall if interest rates are lowered. Further, the company owes 50% of its revenue from interest earnings on USDC reserves to crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN). Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts acknowledge Circle Internet's position as a dominant issuer of regulated stablecoins, which is well-positioned to benefit from increased adoption of stablecoins amid a favorable regulatory framework. However, they are concerned about CRCL stock's steep valuation. For instance, Compass Point analyst Ed Engel, who recently initiated coverage of Circle stock with a Hold rating and a price target of $205, argues that it is tough to justify a higher valuation, as optimistic long-term assumptions are already priced into the stock. Analysts have also noted the threat of rising competition from banks and fintechs, especially after there is more clarity on the regulatory front. Is CRCL Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold? Overall, Wall Street is cautiously optimistic on Circle Internet Group stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on two Holds and one Buy rating. The average CRCL stock price target of $213.33 indicates 7.4% upside potential from current levels.
