Cross-chain interoperability is a domain that has piqued the interest of many financial institutions over the years, as it stands to produce a technology that can potentially mitigate a whole host of their recurring operational issues — such as data leakages, loss of customer funds during international transactions and poor accountability — in a totally automated fashion. In this regard, European payments provider SIA recently revealed that it has partnered with United Kingdom-based tech firm Quant Network after having successfully concluded a series of cross-blockchain interoperability tests designed to facilitate data transfers between different protocols. Through the deployment of such …
SBI Financial Services, a subsidiary of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, has bought a $30 million minority stake in British crypto liquidity startup, B2C2. The investment marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between the firms as B2C2 is set to become SBI’s main liquidity provider. As announced on July 1, the collaboration is aimed to expand SBI’s crypto offering to millions of customers. B2C2 is intended to benefit from SBI’s distribution network as the London-based startup launches an electronic prime brokerage. A spokesperson at B2C2 told Cointelegraph that the investment is “one of the largest in the digital asset …
A digital Canadian dollar should imitate traditional banknotes in terms of availability and accessibility, according to staff from the country's central bank, the Bank of Canada. In an analytical note on June 30, experts from the Bank of Canada revealed some of the goals for its central bank digital currency (CBDC). Analytical notes are a product of staff and analysts at the bank, separate from the Governing Council, so they do not necessarily represent the opinion of the bank itself. The group of experts explained that the CBDC should imitate the features of regular bank notes. This means it must …
In a recent interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Vigna, Ripple’s co-founder and executive chairman Chris Larsen said that the United States has been “slow to the game” in terms of experimenting, implementing and regulating the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Larsen said that the U.S. must change its viewpoint toward blockchain and cryptocurrency, as the industry is already past the 2017 and 2018 hype. The war against initial coin offering scams is won, he said, and now regulators must address the industry so that they can compete with China’s blockchain and cryptocurrency progress. According to Larsen, U.S. regulators have …
This week’s headlines from Japan included research company Xangle releasing a report on Japanese crypto regulation, Binance supporting Japan's language but not its residents, SBI Holdings turning gift certificates digital with blockchain, and Nomura Holdings opening a crypto custody service with Ledger and Coinshares. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Research outfit details Japanese crypto regulation A new report surfaced last week from research outfit Xangle regarding Japanese digital asset regulation. Citing multiple examples of already-approved assets listed on exchanges, the report "analyzes the conditions necessary for listing a new virtual …
Owing to ongoing financial difficulties, the IBM Hyperledger-powered trade finance blockchain platform we.trade is laying off almost half of its workforce. According to a Global Trade Review report, “more than a dozen employees” were laid off and most of them belonged to the commercial and product-focused verticals of the company. We.trade was jointly owned and funded by 12 influential banks and financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Rabobank, Santander and Société Générale. Less than a month ago, IBM bought a 7% stake in the company, which, we.trade said, would help it scale its business globally. We.trade has had quite …
The last two years have witnessed a hefty uptick in crypto-centric ransomware attacks. Not only are bad actors becoming more refined, but they are facilitating access to other, less sophisticated ones. According to experts, crypto crime of this nature has been especially prevalent amid the coronavirus pandemic. But how does it all connect, and what can the industry do to stamp it out? As with all groups, the cryptocurrency sector has its portion of bad apples. Since 2018, ransomware attacks worldwide have increased by 200%. To make matters worse, the software required to carry out such attacks is widely available …
ByteDance, the Beijing-based multinational tech group behind TikTok, is looking into adding banking to its line of products and services. It is currently bidding for a digital bank license in Singapore, according to the Financial Times on Monday. Competition is stiff ByteDance is likely to compete with a few other Asian tech giants including Alibaba’s Ant Financial and electronic leader Xiaomi to obtain one of the five virtual banking licenses that the Monetary Authority of Singapore is about to issue later this year. The news reported, while citing sources familiar with the matter, that the company has applied for one …
The research arm of Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development Bank Group is aiming to develop a blockchain-based smart credit management system. To achieve this, the bank's Islamic Research and Training Institute, or IRTI, has partnered with the Samsung-backed blockchain provider Blocko. The partnership comes as a part of the E24P regional consortium launched by Blocko across the Middle East, Africa, and South-East Asia in April. Curbing technical and economic challenges As the Islamic finance industry is predicted to grow from $2 trillion to $3.78 trillion by 2022, Dr. Sami Al Suwailem, director general of IRTI, says there still are various technical …
The founder of investment firm Wilshire Phoenix, William Herrmann, said his firm’s recently filed U.S. Bitcoin fund notably differs from anything else currently on the U.S. market, based on its Bitcoin price sourcing and involved third parties. In an email exchange with Cointelegraph, Herrmann didn't mention Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust by name, but Grayscale is the most well-known U.S. product in the space. "The digital asset market has obviously experienced exponential growth, but the products currently in the space have not evolved with such growth," Herrmann told Cointelegraph. "We think investors deserve more." Grayscale Investments' Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) sits as one …
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the country’s central bank, announced that it used blockchain technology to deposit funds to local banks. An official statement published by SAMA said that the funds were a part of the bank’s initiative to enhance its “capabilities to continue its role in providing credit facilities.” The bank did not specify the exact amount of the fund transfer. SAMA’s involvement with blockchain technology The Middle East is seeing widespread adoption of blockchain technology in the finance sector. SAMA has performed enormously in terms of using blockchain for remittances for banks located in Saudi and the …
China Zheshang Bank, a national commercial bank, used blockchain technology to issue an asset-backed commercial paper, or ABCP. It was issued as a part of the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors’s (NAFMII) pilot project for ABCPs. An asset-backed commercial paper is a short-term investment issued by financial institutions to help companies meet short-term goals. Dubbed “Lianxin 2020 Lianjie First Phase Asset-backed Commercial Paper,” the period of the Lianxin ABCP is six months and the span of the next issuance is yet to be specified. An official of the NAFMII noted that the use of blockchain technology would provide …