Layerzero has integrated with Flare, a layer one (L1) blockchain, to connect it with 75 other blockchains. This integration aims to broaden the scope of decentralized applications (dapps) and improve data sharing across networks. Flare and Layerzero Partnership Aims to Enhance Dapp Accessibility According to an announcement shared with Bitcoin.com News, this integration represents an […]
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Web3 Gaming Platform Zkasino Kickstarts Process Enabling Users to Retrieve Ethereum Tokens
The Zkasino team announced on May 28 that it had initiated a two-step bridge back process, allowing users to retrieve their ethereum tokens. Users have between May 28 and May 31 to bridge back their funds, after which the signup process will be closed, and deposits will be halted. Rug Pull Allegations The team behind […]
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Swiss Regulator Grants Approval Enabling Retail Users to Trade Tokenized Securities and Digital Assets
The Swiss financial markets regulator has granted the digital asset infrastructure firm Taurus the approval which allows its retail users to “create an account and trade digital assets and tokenized securities.” Besides receiving the FINMA approval, Taurus said it will be admitting new tokenized assets from Swiss companies that have selected TDX as their preferred venue.
Secure and Compliant Trading
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has given Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider, the green light to open its financial services and TDX marketplace to retail users. The approval allows Taurus’ clients “to create an account and trade digital assets and tokenized securities.”
According to a statement released on Jan. 23, the approval means that Taurus’ retail clients can now trade all digital securities accepted on TDX “in a secure and compliant manner.” Traders can conduct trades using several currencies, including the Swiss franc, euro, and the U.S. dollar.
Besides receiving the FINMA approval, Taurus said it will be admitting new tokenized assets from Swiss companies that have selected TDX as their preferred venue. These assets will be issued by Investis, la Mobilière, Qoqa, SCCF Structured Commodity & Corporate Finance, Swissroc and Teylor.
Yann Isola, the Product Head at TDX, suggested that the rapidly growing real-world assets (RWA) validate his firm’s move to add new issuers.
“Our core belief at Taurus is that private markets 2.0 shall be digitized so that buying private security becomes as easy as buying a book on Amazon. The growing demand for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, the fastest growing market segment in the digital asset space, validates this belief,” Isola said.
In the statement, Taurus confirmed that it has been preparing for this opening to retail users and has taken measures to ensure their participation remains compliant with regulations and adheres to security best practices.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Opera Launches Blockchain-Based Wallet Enabling Rapid P2P Stablecoin Transfers for African Users
The creator of the Opera Mini web browser recently announced the launch of a blockchain-based wallet which makes it possible for African users to rapidly transfer stablecoins. Integration of the stablecoin wallet into the Opera Mini browser is expected to expose users to decentralized apps (dapps) and projects built on the Celo network.
Rapid P2P Stablecoin Payments
Opera, the global web innovator, recently announced the launch of a blockchain-based wallet built on the Celo blockchain. In a press statement, Opera said the wallet known as Minipay makes it easier and more affordable for people “across Africa to acquire and to send or receive stablecoins.”
The wallet, which is incorporated into the Opera Mini web browser, will initially enable “rapid and seamless P2P [peer-to-peer] stablecoin payments.” According to the press release, the integration of Minipay into the Opera Mini browser will also expose both current and new users of the browser to decentralized apps (dapps) and projects built on the Celo network.
‘Pivotal Moment in the World of Digital Finance’
Commenting on what has been described as a “cutting edge partnership” between Opera and the Celo Foundation, Jørgen Arnesen, the EVP Mobile at Opera, said:
Users in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa have indicated that there are lingering concerns about high fees, unreliable service uptimes, a lack of transparency around transaction progress, and a lack of access to mobile data. This partnership therefore represents a pivotal moment in the world of digital finance, with the ability to send, receive, and ultimately earn money in a permissionless way.
Hailing the partnership with Opera, Celo Blockchain co-founder Rene Reinsberg said his team is relishing closely collaborating with a company which has a global footprint, local insights, and technical capabilities. Reinsberg also suggested that the integration of the Minipay wallet into the browser could turn out to be “the ‘killer’ use case the Web3 industry has been waiting for.”
Meanwhile, the press statement also revealed that the stablecoin wallet will initially be operational in Nigeria only before expanding to Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and other African countries.
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Blockchain Technology: Enabling A Decentralized Future
What started as a distributed digital ledger enabling a peer-to-peer network has now become a whole new dimension of the internet. Blockchain, the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies, evolved in an immense way over the last ten years. Bitcoin is its first real use case, and it is now recognized as a global monetary network with a fixed supply that several countries have accepted as legal tender.
Yet, blockchain’s functionality doesn’t end with Bitcoin. There are many prominent use-cases of blockchain technology that helped the crypto market accrue over .8 trillion in market cap. That too, despite little or no attention and participation in the early days of growth.
The Scope of Blockchain-Powered Disruption
Blockchain technology will be a disruptive force across industries. For example, it can transform the venture capital industry, reshaping how companies raise money with the help of tokenization. This in turn will help companies increase capital efficiency exponentially while enabling decentralization. Security Token Offerings (STOs) are a working use case in this regard. With STOs, startups can freely distribute tokens in the form of equity and raise capital in an adequately regulated manner.
Gaming is another prominent industry that blockchain disrupts. GameFi is emerging as the next era in gaming and entertainment, innovating in-game assets and NFTs. Thus, gamers have access to unprecedented revenue streams, which is substantiated by the immense popularity of Play-to-Earn (P2E) games. Moreover, unlike traditional video games, blockchain gaming enables players to retain asset ownership and derive value in open marketplaces.
NFTs are critical to GameFi. But even beyond that, they facilitate several use cases, including those in digital art and entertainment. Moreover, DAOs or exclusive communities use NFTs to determine whitelists and for access control. Emerging artists and creators also use NFTs to tap into their fan bases and generate considerable revenue compared to what they are making on Web2 platforms.
Having said that, however, blockchain has a bigger purpose overall. It solves the problems of fragmented monetary systems with digital assets. Stablecoin is one prominent example of such an asset that also addresses the volatility of ordinary cryptocurrencies. Since stablecoins are pegged to the value of some underlying fiat or cryptocurrency, they maintain a ‘stable’ price and become relevant for day-to-day transactions. This also makes stablecoins key to blockchain’s mass adoption, especially for cheaper and faster cross-border payments.
Unlocking Blockchain’s Full Potential
Blockchain disrupts existing industries in many ways. But for the technology to achieve its full potential, there’s a need for solutions that boost interoperability and cross-chain functionalities. Progress is already being made on this front, because of platforms like Konstellation Network.
Built with the Cosmos SDK, Konstellation caters to the expanding decentralized capital markets through its cross-chain infrastructure. It strives to make asset management more seamless for users by operating under one umbrella.
In doing so, Konstellation has integrated VegaX, an ASM known for its crypto investment products. Users thus have access to the index strategies of VegaX that can improve overall returns in DeFi. Moreover, the platform has a separate set of portfolio management tools, available on Taebit—a South Korean DeFi platform simplifying crypto investing and staking.
Konstellation also gives investors exposure to the metaverse through the Solana-based NFT game, Squid Squad OG, and an integrated marketplace, Kambrian. People who own a part of this collection can earn high rewards by playing a simple game of rock, paper, and scissors.
Furthermore, Konstellation recently went a step further to promote blockchain-oriented innovation by launching an incentive pool in collaboration with Osmosis Zone. The pool initially held 10 million $DARC — Konstellation’s native token — and has two equal sub-pools paired with $ATOM and $OSMO. This strategic partnership also sheds light on the significance of Cosmos as a whole, when it comes to shaping the future of blockchain.
Towards Mass Adoption
Besides strengthening decentralized capital markets, projects like Konstellation significantly enhance blockchain’s value proposition for individuals and institutions alike. They unlock cross-chain liquidity, which prepares the ground for scalable and sustainable markets.
In turn, this initiates a positive feedback loop—innovation boosts adoption and adoption encourages innovation. As more sectors implement blockchain, the closer the world will get to Web3.
Rentible.io: A First-Mover Platform Enabling Crypto-Payments between Tenants and Landlords Introduces Deposit Smart Contract to Tackle “Let-and-Run” Schemes
Rentible.io, a next-generation proptech platform aiming to advance the move towards a decentralized sharing-economy and making blockchain use-cases in its respective sector more mainstream-accessible, has passed yet another milestone with the release of its novel deposit smart contract.
The platform, aimed to be launched in Q4 and which will make it possible for tenants and landlords to conveniently send and receive rent payments in different cryptocurrencies with increased privacy protection while optimizing outdated market verticals via the deployment of DeFi principles and trustless smart contracts, puts additional emphasis on protecting market participants from online “let-and-run” fraud, reducing costs through disintermediation, and serving as a gateway for both blockchain enthusiasts and less-savvy users.
As part of its recent milestone checkmarks, Rentible was recently whitelisted by Bancor with a co-investment of 100K BNT (approx 350.000$) by Bancor DAO, as well as listed on Bittrex Global – a top 20 CoinMarketCap exchange, both quite rare achievements for a young and still under-the-radar project, further demonstrating Rentible’s long-term potential as a nextgen accommodation dapp operating on a global scale.
“In a similar way to how sharing-economies like Uber, Lyft, or Airbnb reshaped industries and consumer behaviour in the previous decade, we are now witnessing a core transformation of IT foundations via the growing mainstream adoption of new economic doctrines and concepts based on decentralized characteristics, laying the groundwork for the next evolutionary step of IT implementations in general and of community-based or decentralized sharing-economies in particular, which will constitute an integral part of the sharing-economy reaching 5B in 2025 projection.
If you’re a landlord renting out a property, had you received your rent payments in Bitcoin rather than in Fiat throughout 2020, your actual yield would have quadrupled if not more in 2021. This sounds obvious to crypto savvy enthusiasts, yet we need to remember that most landlords and homeowners worldwide, many of whom are actually very interested to venture into crypto and receive rent in BTC, ETH or other cryptocurrencies, don’t know even how to open a wallet, and this is something Rentible aims to help them with and be a facilitator of”, – Lupu Dror, CEO at Rentible.io.
Founded by a team of seasoned Proptech entrepreneurs and experienced developers, and built upon the award-winning Lakotarsak platform and its partnering site RoomMatesUK, the vision of an autonomous, transparent, intuitive platform that will inject the industry-disruptive capabilities of blockchain technology into Proptech is the compass guiding Rentible’s trajectory as it sets to assume the position of a first-mover in the highly energetic sector of mid-to-long-term online rentals, paving the way for other nextgen ventures to follow its footsteps into this massive yet untapped multi-trillion space.
Algorand Updates Protocol Enabling Block Creation Time of 4 Seconds
n The Algorand Foundation releases a protocol upgrade to include more tools for Dappsn
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Zhao: Binance Chain to Be Ready in “Months,” Enabling Projects to Issue Tokens
Some of Asia’s most wealthy people have gathered in Singapore today to learn about blockchain technology and crypto from the planet’s most influential thought leaders in the space.
Amongst those presenting at Forbes Asia’s “Decrypting Blockchain for Business” event was Binance’s Changpeng Zhao and BTCC’s Bobby Lee.
Interest in Blockchain Remains High, Despite Crypto Bear Market
Earlier today, the Asia wing of respected news publication Forbes hosted a blockchain conference for the continents most wealthy families and individuals. The event, titled “Decrypting Blockchain for Business” drew in around 130 of Asia’s most influential people keen to better understand the implications of the much-hyped, potentially revolutionary technology.
Presenting at the event were some of the technology’s most respected pioneers who were able to see the potential in blockchain before others. One of the many sessions was delivered by Anderson Tanoto, director of manufacturing giant Royal Golden Eagle (RGE).
Tanoto played a key role in launching the blockchain supply chain initiative, Sustainability Assurance & Innovation Alliance (SUSTAIN) – aimed at moving RGE’s supply chain to the blockchain. According to a report in Forbes, he spoke about the difference between crypto investors and those experimenting more generally with the technology:
“There are two herds of people in blockchain. Those who want to get rich off crypto, and those who want to change the world with blockchain. I would like to associate myself with the second group.”
Supply chain management was just one of the many potential uses for blockchain technology presented at the event.
Other speakers included Janil Putcheary, Singapore minister, who presented on blockchain applications for the nation’s government; Bobby Lee, BTCC founder; Tinku Gupta, the executive vice president of the Singapore Stock Exchange; and Jehan Chu, co-founder of blockchain development company Kenetic.
Although much of the event was dedicated to blockchain technology rather than cryptocurrencies per se, some time was given to the subject of digital assets. In one session, Changpeng Zhao “CZ”, Binance founder, had a lengthy, on-stage chat with Forbes reporter Pamela Ambler.
Much of the conversation was focused on ways to help digital currency use become more widely adopted. CZ stated:
“Fundamentally, I would like to see payment adoption increase. That’s the original intent, but for some reason that’s not taking off, so we’re pushing really hard into that space.”
Related Reading: Binance Updates Stablecoin Listings to Create Combined Market
The Binance co-founder also focused on his company’s plans to launch its own blockchain for digital token issuance and creating initial coin offerings (ICOs) like those offered on Ethereum and other smart contract platforms. The Binance Chain is expected to go live in early 2019.
#Binance is pushing for blockchain adoption and doing many things to help advancement of the industry. E.g. we will have the Binance chain ready in the coming months, on which millions of projects can easily issue tokens. @cz_binance @ForbesAsia #ForbesBlockchain pic.twitter.com/0pc0r1lXd2
— Binance (@binance) December 4, 2018
Finally, Matthew Roszak, the co-founder and chairman of tokenisation specialist Bloq, also delivered a presentation on the potential for investors wanting to get involved in the space, as well as a more general view of the current state of the industry:
“Hype is turning into pragmatism, but we see the momentum there… This is a good time when we see these lulls to think about your strategy and your approach to the space.”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Coinbase COO: Crypto is Enabling the Creation of Internet 3.0
The financial technology emerged from the underlying protocol of a crypto could be just the thing internet 3.0 is all about, believes Asiff Hirji.
The president and chief operating officer of one of the largest regulated U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase put crypto technology at the forefront of the next internet revolution.
Speaking at the latest Money2020 conference in the U.S., Hirji said that the next wave of innovation could witness the launch of many amazing companies that would solve two of the most significant problems of the internet today: money and privacy.
“We are on the cusp on internet 3,” he explained. “We went from mainframe computing to distributed computing and created lots of value and amazing companies. Then, we went from distributed computing to cloud mobile – another wave of innovation, another wave of great companies being created. We are now creating a decentralized web.”
Defining a Decentralized Web
The term decentralization describes the state of being distributed while retaining a combined control over the system. It is more like a bottom to top approach, in which a system is governed by a protocol created and enforced by its limited number of actors.
Bitcoin, for instance, became a prime example of a decentralized financial network. It is run by a protocol called blockchain, a chronologically-arranged chain of blocks containing information. In the case of Bitcoin, the info is mostly transactions.
A single authority does not govern blockchain itself. Instead, it is run by a large group of miners that offer their computing power to record transactions on blocks. Therefore, the probability of data tampering becomes close to impossible as each miner keeps an eye on the rest of the miners. In return, miners receive Bitcoin tokens as rewards which, like Gold, can be traded over-the-counter (OTC) or online crypto-exchanges.
Similarly, web decentralization also highlights a vision of a network that is genuinely peer-to-peer like that of Bitcoin. That said, this new internet should not require servers to run. Instead, it would need end-users to lend a part of their computing powers to run the entire network, making web 3.0 more autonomous than its predecessors.
In its current format, the internet has become a highly controlled environment. It is now in the hands of a few players that creates the risks of data tampering and hacking. It also allows governments to misuse their power by putting their citizens under surveillance and impose censorship. Then, there are privacy issues that enable central authorities to steal, as well as sell users’ data to other bodies for monetary benefits.
“We’re on the cusp of internet 3.” Watch @coinbase COO @asiffhirji explain how crypto is enabling the creation of the decentralized web at @money2020. “This will solve the two biggest problems with the internet today.” pic.twitter.com/Ek9hywE0Mk
— Coinbase (@coinbase) November 28, 2018
“Internet 2.o didn’t take privacy seriously enough, which is why you and I and everybody else use these internet services for free,” said Hirji. “They mine all the data from us, and they turn us into products and sell us to advertisers. That’s the internet model of today, and it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Related Reading: Coinbase Launches OTC Platform, Clients Still Bullish On Crypto
Web decentralization is one of the most potential applications of the blockchain protocol. There are already companies in the space that is attempting to build the said solutions. Protocol Labs, for instance, launched Filecoin in August last year after raising 5m for a decentralized storage project.
Nevertheless, the real potential of blockchain remains untapped due to issues related to scalability and interoperability. A centralized system is more likely to process requests and become adoptable than a decentralized one, which is why a separate digital ledger space is working sideways to find solutions for such problems.
Hopefully, there will be.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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The First SMS Wallet Service Launches Enabling Dash Remittance Payments
A Venezuela-based company has introduced the first SMS wallet service exclusively for Dash transactions, enabling payments to be sent and received in the country without a smart phone or internet connection.
Venezuela Turns to Dash
Last month, Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core Group, said that it was “seeing tens of thousands of wallet downloads from the country each month.” Hyperinflation and economic instability within Venezuela is forcing many citizens to turn to currency alternatives.
As a peer-to-peer digital currency for payments, with over 1,000 per cent year-over-year growth in both value and trading volume since 2015, Dash is providing an inexpensive and fast alternative to Venezuela’s bolívar. Yet, while Dash is becoming a popular choice not everyone is able to take advantage of it.
Figures from Newzoo, a global market intelligence company, found that as of September Venezuela only has a near 41 per cent smartphone penetration rate. This means that a significant number of people aren’t able to access Dash even if they wanted to.
In order to solve this Dash Text was launched. The platform was created by Alejandro Echeverría and Lorenzo Rey, who is also the company’s CTO. By sending the organisation a text message, even from a non-smartphone, it creates a wallet for the phone user straightaway. This is controlled by a phone number and doesn’t require internet access to set up.
Speaking to NewsBTC, Rey said that the response so far has been “extremely good.”
“This service is a real necessity because millions of people do not have good smartphones or internet connectivity,” he added. “We want to expand to other countries and that is something that is in our roadmap, but for now we want to focus on the users in Venezuela.”
Once set up a user can send and receive Dash with simple user commands and actions performed. This is particularly handy when it comes to remittances. According to reports, it’s estimated that Venezuelans who have left the country send at least billion to friends and family back home. Even so, a change in remittance rules is seeing many struggling to receive the money they need.
“At Dash we understand that cross-border transactions are expensive and take long, and in Latin America, there is a clear possibility to help millions of people that need to send money home in any one of the remittance corridors,” said Ernesto Contreras, Dash’s business development manager for Latin America.
For the secure savvy, though, the use of a text message to send and receive Dash payments may not seem very secure. Rey, however, stated that Dash Text is as secure as any messaging app found on a phone, which, in most cases, people share a lot of private information.
“By keeping your phone locked with pin or password even if someone steals your phone they won’t be able to access your funds,” he added. “However, if you are not careful with your phone’s security someone could steal your funds just like they could steal your private pictures or messages.”
He goes on to state that they don’t advertise these SMS wallets to be used as a primary storage. Instead, they should be used for convenience and utility with small amounts.
“Similar to how you shouldn’t carry your life savings in your physical wallet, you shouldn’t carry your life savings in Dash Text either,” Rey said.
The company is hoping that with the adoption of Dash Text it will be a perfect solution to monetary barriers currently seen in Venezuela.
Featured image from Dash Text.
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