Blockchain & Digital Assets

August 25, 2020 @ 8:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

MANTRA DAO (distributed autonomous organization) describes itself as a community-governed decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that aims to make staking, lending, and governance more accessible to traders and investors. The MANTRA team notes: “MANTRA DAO leverages the wisdom of the crowd to create … a transparent,… Read More

August 25, 2020 @ 7:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Messari, an online database for the digital asset sector that offers key data insights, pricing, and research on cryptocurrencies, has argued that Yearn.Finance’s YFI token is one of the least costly or reasonably priced assets in the emerging decentralized finance (DeFi) sector…. Read More

August 25, 2020 @ 6:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Aave protocol, an open-source and non-custodial DeFi protocol to earn interest on digital asset deposits while also being able to borrow assets, has been awarded an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license by the UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Aave Ltd received… Read More

August 25, 2020 @ 8:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a global financial institution owned by reserve banks that aims to support international monetary and financial cooperation and acts as a bank for central banks, has noted that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are now “in the limelight.” However,… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 10:38 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Blockchain security and analytics firm Chainalysis announced on Monday it has formed partnerships with Australia-based payments provider Assembly Payments and cryptocurrency exchanges CoinSpot and CoinJar to improve compliance standards. Chainalysis reported that CoinSpot and CoinJar will use Chainalysis KYT (Know Your Transaction) and Chainalysis… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 10:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Qatar has been ranked or classified as a high-income economy by the World Bank. Although the Middle Eastern country only has a GDP of around $200 billion (a lot less compared to many trillion-dollar economies), it’s home to just over 2.7 million people so the… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 9:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Taro Aso, the Japanese Finance Minister, has reportedly said that blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) could potentially help with combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Aso believes that DLT-powered solutions may be used for contact tracing while ensuring the privacy of user data. Aso, whose comments… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 3:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

LIFULL Co., Ltd., operator of a Japanese real estate listing website “LIFULL HOME’S” has partnered with Securitize to offer digital securities based on real estate assets. According to a note from Securitize, LIFULL and Securitize are emblematic of the evolution of the global digital securities… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 11:26 am By JD Alois  |  

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a law firm that is active in the Fintech sector, has announced several new hires to boost its Fintech practice. According to a note from the firm, corporate partner Marc Boiron and litigation partner Rebecca Rettig have joined Manatt’s financial services… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 11:05 am By JD Alois  |  

Aspen Digital, a digital security, is now trading on tZERO – a regulated ATS and subsidiary of Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK). Aspen Digital is utilizing the Tezos blockchain and is said to be the first digital security based on Tezos to trade on a marketplace. The shares… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 10:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ukraine’s reserve bank claims that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may work well when the private sector is involved. The country’s central banking institution had launched a pilot program back in 2018 that had focused on developing a digital version of Ukraine’s national currency (the… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 9:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Brian Armstrong, CEO at San Francisco-based Coinbase, a leading digital asset exchange, claims that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been “very restrictive and hostile” to cryptocurrency during the past few years. Armstrong says that Apple is “still blocking some functionality right now, including the ability to… Read More

August 24, 2020 @ 8:46 am By JD Alois  |  

The Cyberpolice of Ukraine reports that it has exposed a criminal group that laundered approximately $42 million in cryptocurrency. Last week, the law enforcement agency posted that three individuals have been accused of the crime and now face up to 8 years in jail. According… Read More

August 23, 2020 @ 3:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

INX Limited, a company that filed an F-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2019, that was subsequently approved earlier this year, will kick off its public sale of the digital asset this week on August 25, 2020. The security token (INX) will… Read More

August 23, 2020 @ 2:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Taviner, the power generation and transmission company of Iran, has shut down 1100 crypto mining farms that apparently were not licensed to do business in the country. In the summer of 2019, it was reported that the Iranian government had legalized crypto mining companies for… Read More

August 23, 2020 @ 2:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

As consumer behavior begins to shift, for the most part, towards greener and more sustainable products due to increased awareness about the effects of climate change, companies across the globe have been adopting a more sustainable approach to how they conduct business. Global market leaders… Read More

August 22, 2020 @ 6:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Blockchain Research Lab published a report on August 20, 2020, in which it noted that previous studies have alleged or found that cryptocurrency exchanges use wash trading to “falsely signal their liquidity.” The team at Blockchain Research Lab said they had monitored twelve digital… Read More

August 22, 2020 @ 6:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Avalanche team, which develops blockchain-powered apps including those involving decentralized finance or DeFi, says it’s been working to ensure Avalanche has “a successful, decentralized launch” while offering a great user experience. The developers at Avalanche, which is led by Cornell computer science professor Emin… Read More

August 22, 2020 @ 6:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Reserve Bank of Australia, Payments System Board, recently held a meeting to review several issues including the issuance of Central Bank Digital Currency (CDBC). The Bank noted that the Australian payments system has performed well during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cash during COVID has become… Read More

August 22, 2020 @ 5:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Qtum Foundation, which supports the ongoing development of Qtum (QTUM) (an open-source public blockchain-enabled platform that leverages the security of UTXO while enabling several virtual machines including the Ethereum Virtual Machine), has announced a special grant program for DeFi (decentralized finance) developers. The Qtum… Read More