An aggregated liquidity platform says it has identified four key directions for the future of crypto that will address the current points of pain in blockchain trading. BitCloud says it aims to deliver a “closed loop ecosystem” that fully embraces fiat trading as an integral part of the new digital economy. Unlike other platforms that struggle to support such channels in a compliant, regulated way, the company says it is determined to deliver fiat trading capabilities that give Visa and Mastercard owners as much freedom as consumers who have fully embraced Bitcoin and Ethereum. The company also claims that the …

Facebook’s Calibra digital wallet will not be available in some of the social network’s largest markets, including India, according to a TechCrunch report on June 19. A spokesperson told the website: “The libra blockchain will be global, but it will be up to custodial wallet providers to determine where they will and will not operate. Calibra won’t be available in U.S.-sanctioned countries or countries that ban cryptocurrencies.” Estimates by Statista suggest there were 260 million Facebook users in India as of April this year — far ahead of the tech giant’s second-largest market, the United States. Earlier this month, Indian …

Visa has launched a payment system for business-to-business (B2B) transactions partially based on blockchain technology. The United States payment behemoth says its platform, called Visa B2B Connect, offers seamless cross-border payment processing for institutional clients without going through the complex web of third-party intermediaries. In doing so, Visa becomes the latest entrant into the blockchain-based payment processing arena. This move brings the company into direct competition with cryptocurrency startups like Ripple and mainstream players, such as Barclays and BNY Mellon with their Utility Settlement Coin (USC) project under the aegis of the Fnality Consortium. Visa B2B Connect — three years …

On June 10, one of the top cryptocurrency media sites, CCN, initially announced that it would shut down, citing a June 3 Google Core Update for stifling its traffic. Writing on the website, the director and founder of CCN Markets and Hawkfish AS, Jonas Borchgrevink, blamed the update for an overnight fall of 71% of the site’s mobile traffic. While Borchgrevink noted that ups and downs are part of the business, such a vertiginous fall is unprecedented in its history. At the time of the post, the founder said that it could not support new additions to its team or …

Facebook has allegedly sealed backing from over a dozen firms that include Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Uber for its soon-to-be-unveiled cryptocurrency project. The news was reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on June 13. Source ostensibly familiar with the matter told the WSJ that the firms — extending across the finance, e-commerce, venture capital and telecoms industries — have each invested around $10 million in a consortium that will govern Facebook’s forthcoming digital token, dubbed Libra. The WSJ’s sources reiterated details that had previously surfaced in regard to the highly secretive project, notably that the social media giant’s forthcoming …

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service Coinbase has launched its Visa debit card in six European countries, CNBC reports on June 11. As of today, cardholders in Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands will be able to use the cards, which sync directly to their Coinbase accounts. The card comes as both a mobile app for iOS or Android, and as a physical card that can be used to withdraw fiat currencies from automatic teller machines. Coinbase’s new offering purportedly allow users to spend cryptocurrencies they hold at any merchant that accepts Visa cards. Users can decide …

United States’ payment giant Visa has launched a cross-border payment network derived from some aspects of blockchain technology, Reuters reports June 11. The network, called “Visa B2B Connect,” is designed to facilitate international payments made by global financial institutions by enabling direct interbanking transactions between businesses and beneficiaries. According to the report, the network already covers 30 trade channels worldwide to enable faster and cheaper cross-border payments, and is expected to expand to 90 markets by the end of 2019. Visa B2B Connect is partially based on blockchain technology, containing elements of Hyperledger, the open source distributed ledger technology (DLT) …

LINE Pay Corporation, the operator of fintech services on major Japanese messaging app LINE, is partnering with American payment services firm Visa on new blockchain and digital payments solutions. The news was revealed in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on June 6. As of Q4 2018, there were an estimated 1.66 billion Visa debit cards and 781 million credit cards in circulation worldwide. According to today’s press release, LINE counts 187 million global users monthly, with an estimated 50 million users registered its mobile payment service, Line Pay. The two firms’ strategic partnership will reportedly herald cooperation on a …

A multicurrency digital wallet that enables consumers to store crypto and spend their funds at more than 40 million outlets worldwide has fully integrated Apple Pay. Spend says the latest version of its Spend Wallet app unlocks instant access to the popular iPhone feature, meaning that more than 20 supported cryptocurrencies can be instantly converted to fiat and used to complete a mobile transaction on demand. The platform says its priority has been ensuring that users can access all of these features instantly. An emphasis has been placed on streamlining the Know Your Customer process, and once this is complete, …

Emin Gun Sirer, a professor at Cornell University and a major global blockchain expert, will launch his own cryptocurrency and blockchain network, Bloomberg reported on May 16. Sirer, the creator of the first crypto based on proof-of-work (PoW) — Karma System — is now planning to launch a blockchain network that he touts as running as many transactions per second as payment giant Visa. Having raised $6 million from major investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain and MetaStable in February, Sirer’s Ava Labs has reportedly launched a private test version of the Ava network on May 16, while the public …

A “next-generation” mobile payment platform has unveiled two products that are designed to help users smartly manage money matters and enjoy “greater financial empowerment.” Crypto.com’s first new offering, Crypto Earn, gives the public “the freedom to grow their assets.” Available through the platform’s flagship app, the service allows users to deposit virtual currencies and accrue incentives, the company said. Consumers can choose to hold their assets for either one month or three months, and the company said a flexible plan will follow in the future. The Hong Kong-headquartered company, which was founded in 2016, has also launched a second product …

Social media giant Facebook is seeking investments worth $1 billion for its rumored cryptocurrency stablecoin, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on May 3. Citing people familiar with the plans, the publication revealed Facebook was currently talking to major payment networks Visa and MasterCard about potential support, along with payment processor First Data Corp. The cryptocurrency project, dubbed “FB Coin,” has fuelled rumors for around a year that Facebook wants to provide in-house payments to users. As more information trickles down to the outside, it appears various options are under consideration by executives, including payments via a user’s Facebook profile. …