The Republic of San Marino has officially adopted the Register of Blockchain Entities, inviting companies in the industry to apply for certification. Companies can apply for blockchain certification online The project was initiated by San Marino’s fully state-owned tech innovation company, the Institute for Innovation of the Republic of San Marino, Cointelegraph Italia reports Oct. 22. According to local public service broadcaster San Marino RTV, companies in the microstate of San Marino can now apply to be recognized as a blockchain entity via an official form on the official website of the Republic of San Marino Innovation Institute. As per …

According to new data from marketing analysis firm SEMRush, Bitcoin (BTC) is the third-most preferred online payment method in Italy. Bitcoin comes in third place On Oct. 31, the Italian news outlet La Stampa reported that the Boston-based marketing analysis company, it was stated that in the list of the most used methods of online payment systems in Italy, Bitcoin comes in a strong, third place, just behind PayPal and the Italian reloadable prepaid card service PostePay. The data further revealed that Italians use Bitcoin for shopping online more widely than traditional credit cards, such as Visa, Mastercard or American …

Five European Union member countries have reportedly teamed up to prevent the issuance of Facebook’s stablecoin Libra. Private meetings to turn EU against Libra Following a series of private meetings in October, France is reportedly leading the anti-Libra effort with Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, political news publication Politico Europe reports on Oct. 30. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Politico states that the countries’ deputy finance ministers have presented their unified position against Libra to other EU ministers at a private meeting on Oct. 28 in Brussels. According to the report, the group intends to prevent Libra from …

The Italian Banking Association (ABI) successfully processed the reconciliation data of an entire year of local banking activity on a blockchain platform. The association announced the successful test of the Spunta Project’s system in a press release published on Oct. 12. The successful test of the framework has been first announced by Italian media at the end of September though with little details. Platform viability has been demonstrated Now ABI reveals that the test has seen 200 million data entries being processed by the blockchain banking reconciliation system, effectively simulating one year of Italian banking activity. The successful test allegedly …

The Republic of San Marino has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with blockchain application platform VeChain. Per the agreement, the two entities aim to deploy blockchain technology to incentivize sustainable ecological behavior from citizens, local news agency askanews reported on July 22. The MoU was signed between San Marino Secretariat of Industry, Craft, Trade, Labor, Cooperation and Telecommunications, Republic of San Marino Innovation Institute S.p.A, management systems certification body DNV GL Business Assurance Group AS, and VeChain Foundation Limited. “To become the first zero-emissions country in the world” The cooperation is part of San Marino’s strategy to create and …

Italian football club AS Roma will join blockchain-based voting platform Socios through a partnership with sports and entertainment blockchain firm Chiliz. In an official announcement published on July 19, Chiliz revealed that AS Roma is joining Socios, a sports platform powered by Chiliz, in order to launch an AS Roma fan token. The dedicated tokens are set to provide fans with the right to vote in certain club-delegated decisions. The post further explains that “the more fans vote and interact with the club through the app, the more rewards they can earn, competing for once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and gaining access to …

Former CEO of now-defunct crypto exchange WEX, a spin-off of controversial BTC-e exchange, was arrested in Italy. No official statement to date Dmitri Vasilyev, who reopened BTC-e exchange as WEX.nz in September 2017, was detained by Italian prosecutors. While no official statement has been disclosed to date, BBC Russia reported the arrest on July 19. In the report, the publication cited an unnamed friend of Vasilev and two anonymous WEX investors. The reason for detention remains unclear. In April 2019, Vasilyev became the subject of a criminal investigation by the police department in Kazakh city Almaty, as the alleged suspect …

Italy, Sweden and the Czech Republic will share the next one-year presidency of the European Blockchain Partnership, Cointelegraph Italy reported on July 9. Following a meeting of the European Blockchain Partnership today in Brussels, the three countries took on the one-year presidency, which will last from July 2019 to July 2020. Marco Bellezza, Legal Advisor to Minister Di Maio for communications and digital innovation and Coordinator of the Italian delegation of the EU Blockchain Partnership, said: "The Italian Presidency of the EU Blockchain partnership is a first acknowledgment of the activity carried out on this front on the impulse of …

Fintech firm Token has received a $16.5 million injection from investors including the venture arm of banking giant BNP Paribas, a news release announced on June 18. The self-described open banking platform says it will use the capital to further develop its TokenOSTM operating system — and “accelerate new ways of innovating payments with digital money and ID solutions.” According to the company, its ecosystem enables banks, customers and developers to complete transactions securely, instantly and with less friction. Token claims more than 4,000 banks have connected to its platform, with Mastercard recently coming on board as a partner. Steve …

Italian banks will deploy blockchain technology to run reconciliations starting in March 2020, as the Italian Banking Association reported on June 15. The Italian Banking Association (ABI) has announced that Italy’s banks will integrate distributed ledger technology (DLT) into internal processes to boost settlements. The deployment of blockchain is also set to improve transparency in transactions between banks and efficiency of communication between counterparties. The initiative comes as part of a program managed by ABI Lab dubbed Spunta Project, a blockchain interbank solution based on blockchain consortium R3’s open-source distributed ledger platform. The ABI began testing Spunta in February. At …

The captains regent of the Republic of San Marino, Nicola Selva and Michele Muratori, have issued a governmental decree on blockchain tech for businesses, according to a recent document. The new decree outlines procedures for registering a blockchain-based organization with the “Istituto per l’Innovazione della Repubblica di San Marino,” or San Marino Innovation Institute. According to the decree, blockchain-based organizations in the Republic of San Marino, the EU, or any country not classified as “high risk” and also considered relevant to the purview of San Marino legislation, may apply for registration with the institute. The institute sets out to provide …

Italy's national securities regulator, La Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB), has issued a notice suspending investment firm Tessline and its cryptocurrency liracoin. The news was reported by Cointelegraph Italy on June 4. In its notice, CONSOB stated that a series of entities and websites affiliated with both Tessline and liracoin are ordered to terminate their violation of Article 18 of Italy’s Consolidated Law of Finance. According to a translation from the European Corporate Governance Institute, Article 18 stipulates statutory requirements for the provision of investment services in Italy, subject to the conditions established by the country’s …