Cryptocurrency startup Pundi X has partnered with major Venezuelan chain Traki, who will now offer Pundi X’s blockchain-based point-of-sale devices for crypto payments. Pundi X announced the expansion in an official blog post on Aug. 20. The device, called XPOS, will allow Traki’s customers to pay with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) — as well as a number of other cryptocurrencies and Pundi X’s native tokens. Traki’s progressive use of crypto With 49 outlets, Traki is one of Venezuela’s largest department store chains. The co-founder and CEO of Pundi X, Zac Cheah, said: “Traki has been one of the early …

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi’s native Huobi Token (HT) is now available for making real-world online purchases of a wide range of products from the e-commerce platform FomoHunt. Per a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 22, users of HT can now purchase clothes, art, hardware and other products from the e-commerce and cryptocurrency industry news platform FomoHunt. James Lawrence, co-founder of FomoHunt, commented on the development: “Being able to work directly with Huobi is an amazing opportunity. We are working together to allow our community users to use Huobi Token and make real-world purchases for clothes, art, FomoHunt subscriptions, event …

American retail giant Walmart has submitted a patent application for a drone communication system that is based on blockchain technology. Walmart filed its patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Aug. 1. The filing describes a system on a drone that encrypts and stores that drone’s operational parameters. That information is subsequently passed to another drone, which decrypts, reads and then configures to those parameters. In essence, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication system between unmanned drones would relay messages, mesh communications networks and allow machines to be aware of each others’ location and bearing. Walmart’s venture into blockchain …

Retail giant Overstock’s blockchain subsidiary company, tZERO, has opened up its preferred equity security tokens — dubbed TZROP — for trading by accredited and non-accredited investors. TZERO announced the news in a press release on Aug. 12, the previously proclaimed day of the launch. According to the announcement, the TZROP token allows investors to directly participate in the company’s revenue growth via a quarterly dividend model. The announcement further states that the company could distribute a quarterly dividend of 10% of the company’s adjusted gross revenue for TZROP holders. However, it also specifies that this is subject to approval from …

Retail giant Overstock has released its Q2 2019 financial results, revealing a 23% decrease in revenue and a 19% loss in gross profit. In a shareholder announcement published on Aug. 8, Overstock stated that its blockchain subsidiary firm, tZERO, is progressing as planned, with a focus on six key areas — notably security tokens. No pain no gain While the fresh results point to a decrease by most metrics, Overstock has returned to a positive adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization for the first time since Q2 2017. Moreover, gross margin has seen a 79 basis point increase …

Retail giant Overstock’s blockchain subsidiary company, tZERO, plans to allow the public to trade its security tokens in four days. Saum Noursalehi, CEO of tZERO, shared the announcement with CoinDesk, per a report published on Aug. 8. According to the announcement, Aug. 12 marks the end of a one year lock period following the company’s 2018 token offering. Noursalehi additionally commented that the company is expecting as many as 50,000 new investors, who have already bought Overstock shares, to begin trading their digital security tokens. Despite not seeing a large amount of registration by press time, Noursalehi said that investors …

Bitcoin (BTC) rewards shopping app Lolli has partnered with major American grocery chain Safeway to give customers 3.5% back in Bitcoin on all their purchases. Making Bitcoin ‘part of everyday life’ According to a blog post announcing the new partnership on July 25, Safeway – and Albertsons Companies’ subsidiary – operates 894 locations across 17 American states. The system will reward customers in Satoshis (sats) — the name given to one hundred millionth of one Bitcoin — the smallest unit of the cryptocurrency. In an interview with Yahoo! Finance, Lolli CEO & co-founder Alex Adelman said that teaming up with …

United States-based snack food company Brimhall Foods has partnered with Surge Holdings to deliver its BRIM’S products through a blockchain-based ordering system, according to a report by Foodprocessing-technology.com on June 27. According to the report, BRIM will be able to use the SurgePays blockchain network to access tens of thousands of new stores. Surge Holdings CEO Brian Cox says that BRIM will initially offer 15 products through its SurgePays blockchain network. Additionally, Cox remarks that these products can be ordered and replenished by their in-network convenience stores, corner markets, and bodegas. Additionally, Brimhall Foods Company president Terry Brimhall stated that …

As bitcoin’s price keeps setting new yearly highs, the question on everyone’s mind right now is whether it’s different this time. Let’s take a closer look at why this rally is nothing like the “bubble” in 2017. Bitcoin all-time performance. Source: coin360.com As many experts pointed out, BTC going above the key psychological $10,000 mark is likely to trigger FOMO (i.e., fear of missing out), according to Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, who adds that bitcoin can now easily take out its all-time highs. Other market analysts, such as Tone Vays, however, disagree. He told Cointelegraph: “I actually don’t think it’s important …

IBM has announced upgrades to its Blockchain Platform, according to a report by Ledger Insights on June 18. The new IBM Blockchain Platform will reportedly be able to run on multiple cloud networks, such as major tech corporation Microsoft’s Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is apparently the main upgrade over its previous iteration, which was available solely through IBM’s cloud. The multicloud platform will be available via Kubernetes, a container program that will reportedly allow users to scale their blockchain networks as needed. One of the main upshots of its new multicloud framework is that IBM Blockchain Platform …

United States-based retail giant Target is creating an open source blockchain project for supply chain tracking, according to an official blog post from the company’s VP of architecture on April 22. According to the post, Target ran a pilot test using blockchain technology to certify its paper products along the supply chain in 2018. The blockchain used in the test period was reportedly made open source on GitHub recently as “ConsenSource” — at least as far back as two months ago, judging by the repository’s update history. According to the GitHub documentation, ConsenSource is built on blockchain platform Hyperledger Sawtooth, …

Russia’s third-largest food retail firm, Dixy, has implemented blockchain technology in its corporate finance system, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on June 5. The Moscow-based retailer has deployed blockchain in cooperation between suppliers and factoring firms, which represent third parties that purchase businesses’ invoices at a discount in order to help those businesses to raise funds. Specifically, following a successful pilot test, Dixy is now moving the interactions between suppliers and factoring companies to an Ethereum (ETH) blockchain-powered open trade finance platform called Factorin. The Factorin platform provides suppliers with a factoring management tool that can be …