Blockchain & Digital Assets

February 7, 2021 @ 11:36 am By Xu Gao  |  

SWIFT and the People’s Bank of China Digital Currency Research Institute Establish a Joint Venture Public records show that SWIFT has recently established a Financial Gateway Information Service Co., Ltd. in China with the People’s Bank of China Clearing Center and the People’s Bank of… Read More

February 6, 2021 @ 3:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Jeffrey Amico, Counsel at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, notes that cryptocurrency protocols are supposed to be governed by these so-called “decentralized” communities of stakeholders. Amico explains that it’s not necessarily the case that decentralized communities are more efficient, or “important” for various ideological reasons, but… Read More

February 6, 2021 @ 2:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

On Thursday (February 4, 2021), an unknown entity reportedly stole $2.8 million from a shared digital or online vault via the investment platform Yearn.Finance. The hacker(s) exploited the vault using Aave, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that lets investors make flash loans. These DeFi solutions… Read More

February 6, 2021 @ 11:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Authorities in Germany have reportedly “confiscated” over €50 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from a fraudster. But there’s just one problem. The officials are unable to unlock the account because the fraudster won’t give them the password or the SEED phrase needed to gain access to… Read More

February 6, 2021 @ 9:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at digital asset exchange Kraken notes that the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) has brought a wave of innovation to the broader cryptocurrency and blockchain space, and it has also provided the opportunity for investors to generate substantial returns on their investments or… Read More

February 5, 2021 @ 7:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech firm Ripple notes that in May 2020, McKinsey had identified that consumer and enterprise digital adoption had “matured five years, in a matter of eight weeks.” For financial institutions, digital technologies — such as Cloud-enabled models — provide the flexibility and scalability needed to… Read More

February 5, 2021 @ 1:34 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Uhive, a UK-based cryptocurrency-powered social network, has raised more than £662,0000 through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. The funding round, which launched month, sought to secure a minimum of £500,000, has attracted nearly 400 Seedrs investors. As previously reported,  Uhive describes itself as a… Read More

February 5, 2021 @ 1:26 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

    SEBA Bank, a Switzerland-headquartered digital asset bank that holds regulatory licensing, announced on Friday it has added discretionary mandates to its investment solutions suite. According to SEBA, Mandates on digital assets are a “natural extension” of the bank’s asset management capabilities and a… Read More

February 5, 2021 @ 11:12 am By JD Alois  |  

Better Internet Search, based in Scotland, and Partisia Blockchain, based in Denmark, have received a grant from the EU-funded Next Generation Internet Trust (NGI Trust), to develop a new alternative search engine. According to a release, the NGI Trust seeks to support the “development of… Read More

February 5, 2021 @ 8:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Balaji S. Srinivasan, a prominent angel investor and entrepreneur, says that Fintech is “the frontend,” while crypto is like “the backend.” Balaji, the former CTO at leading digital asset exchange Coinbase, points out that Fintech and blockchain/crypto technologies have been “built mostly in parallel over… Read More

February 5, 2021 @ 8:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

  Garrick Hileman, Head of Research at Blockchain.com and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, says that the future “doesn’t look like Robinhood.” Hileman writes in a blog post that “disgust over GameStop’s trading shutdown” will most likely accelerate the adoption of decentralized… Read More

February 4, 2021 @ 9:39 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

U.S. banking group Vast Bank announced on Thursday it has teamed up with cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase to complete an end-to-end cryptocurrency transaction. The bank claims it is the first nationally chartered financial institution to both purchase and provide custody services for a digital asset on… Read More

February 4, 2021 @ 5:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset exchange Coinbase recently published its Around the Block #11: “A snapshot of decentralized finance (DeFi) and two sides of the crypto regulatory spectrum” (report), which aims to cover important issues in the crypto and blockchain industry. In this latest edition, released on February… Read More

February 4, 2021 @ 12:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Switzerland is currently home to around 130 startups that are actively applying blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT) to improve processes in the finance sector, according to new data from Swisscom. The majority of these firms (48%) offer services related to banking infrastructure, with many… Read More

February 4, 2021 @ 7:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Finland’s peer to peer (P2P) Bitcoin exchange, LocalBitcoins says that 2020 was an “extraordinary” year and during the past quarter (Q4 2020), the BTC price reached its all-time high and has continued to surge this year. Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at just over $38,000 at… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 11:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Switzerland-based Sygnum Bank, a licensed digital asset bank founded on “Swiss and Singapore heritage” operating globally, and Fine Wine Capital, a privately-held specialist trading firm with a special focus on the fine wine market, have reportedly tokenized a range of premium investible wines. This initiative… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 8:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BNP Paribas Asset Management and the CAIA Association and Hong Kong-based Liquefy have released a research paper covering how tokenization may be used to offer improved access to illiquid alternative investments. The joint paper explains how tokenization may have a lot of potential for use… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 2:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

tZERO has announced a partnership with Vertalo, a transfer agent that facilitates digital securities, to integrate Vertalo’s tech stack. tZERO is a registered alternative trading system (ATS), similar to an exchange, and a regulated broker-dealer. tZERO CEO Saum Noursalehi said they are excited to integrate… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 12:21 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

    Uphold, a U.S.-based digital finance platform, announced on Wednesday it is set to launch crypto-enabled credit/debit cards across Europe, following its acquisition of debit ad credit card issuer Optimus Cards UK. According to Uphold, Optimus is Electronic Money Institution (EMI) regulated by the… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 12:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

FINRA’s 2021 Report on Examination and Risk Monitoring Program mentions several current topics including digital assets and “game like” trading. According to the report, Exam Findings regarding digital asset trading has uncovered shortcomings when it comes to investors using digital asset marketplaces. To quote the… Read More