New Grayscale Ad: The History of Money in 30s & 'Digital Currencies'

A snapshot of the new commercial. Today, US-based major crypto asset management firm Grayscale launched its new national ad campaign in the US that aims to bring new crypto users by telling them the history of money in 30 seconds. "The commercial is not your average financial services ad — it is a wakeup call that people everywhere should seize what we feel is a once in a generation

Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s Largest Bank Will Offer Cryptocurrency Custody

Kookmin Bank, the largest commercial bank in South Korea, will start offering Bitcoin custody services through a new partnership with exchange Cumberland Korea and blockchain venture fund Hashed.

South Korean Highways Will Have Blockchain-Powered Toll Payments

One of the biggest commercial banks in South Korea has partnered with the Korea Expressway Corporation for a blockchain-based toll system. KEB Hana Bank, one of the biggest commercial banks in South Korea, reached an agreement with the state-backed highway operator, the Korea Expressway Corporation, to bring blockchain-based toll payments system across the nation’s highways. According to D Daily, the project is expected to launch before the end of the year.

South Korea’s Largest Bank Unveils Bitcoin Custody Services

KB Kookmin Bank (KB), the largest commercial bank in South Korea, has agreed on a deal with blockchain venture fund Hashed and crypto exchange Cumberland Korea to offer bitcoin custody services.

Chinese State Grid Launches Blockchain-Based Blackout Insurance Policy

Zhejiang province issued its first blackout insurance policy backed by a blockchain platform. A branch of China’s state-backed grid released its first blockchain-powered blackout insurance policy issued to the chairman of a local company that needed to compensate for a power outage loss suffered recently. According to Shupeidian, Zhejiang Ningbo Power Supply Company, in partnership with Yingda Taihe Property Insurance Co., Ltd., released the policy to a sprinkler manufacturing company in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Both companies believe that the process of issuing insurance via a blockchain network provides a commercial solution to compensate for the loss caused by an electric outage in a faster and expedited way. Sharing data between parties involved through blockchain The system relies on the distributed storage of blockchain data.

Another Major S Korean Bank Now Set to Join Bitcoin Custody Race

Kookmin Bank (KB), one of South Korea’s biggest commercial banks, could be set to move into crypto sector business after the KB Group, the company that operates the bank, signed a “digital assets” cooperation deal with three major domestic blockchain firms. And it looks as though KB could be heading into the crypto custody business.

Blockchain-based Pay’s the Way for South Korean Highways

Blockchain-powered payments are coming to South Korea’s highways – with the nation’s motorway operator sealing a deal that will see it use blockchain technology to power toll payments across the country before the end of the year. Per D Daily, KEB Hana Bank, one of the nation’s biggest commercial banks, has signed on blockchain-based services and cooperation with the

China’s Major State-Run Commercial Banks Test CBDC Digital Wallet

China’s major state-run banks are testing out its central bank digital currency (CBDC) digital wallet application.

China’s State-Run Banks Reportedly Testing Wallet for Digital Yuan

State-owned commercial banks in China are reportedly testing a wallet for the country's forthcoming digital yuan. A group of state-run commercial banks in China are reportedly conducting a large-scale internal testing of a digital wallet designed for China’s national digital currency, the digital yuan. According to an Aug.

Chinese Commercial Banks Test A CBDC-Linked Digital Wallet

Multiple Chinese commercial banks have begun testing a digital wallet app linked to the country's expected CBDC.

China’s Central Bank Partners with Three Commercial Banks to Develop Blockchain-Based Trading Platform

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has signed an agreement with China Minsheng Bank, China CITIC Bank, and the Bank of China for cooperating on a blockchain-based trading platform.

State-Run Bank in Switzerland to Launch Crypto Services

Swiss cantonal bank Basler Kantonalbank becomes the first bank in Switzerland to announce its crypto plans. Basler Kantonalbank, or BKB, a government-owned commercial bank in Switzerland, is planning to launch cryptocurrency services through its banking subsidiary. According to an Aug.

Smart Contract Language DAML Is Now Available on R3's Corda

R3’s widely-used open source blockchain platform Corda now supports the DAML smart contract language. DAML, a major smart contact language designed for building business-level blockchain applications, has been integrated with R3’s blockchain. Developed by United States’ blockchain startup Digital Asset, DAML, or Digital Asset Modeling Language, is now available on R3 commercial blockchain platform, Corda Enterprise. A cross-platform alternative to Corda’s native programming language In order to bring the cross-platform language to the Corda platform, Digital Asset partnered with international tech firm IntellectEU, the firm announced on July 27. Focused on emerging technologies like blockchain, IntellectEU provided commercial integration, enabling a new smart contract language on Corda.

Second Lawsuit Filed Against Plaid

Another class action lawsuit against Plaid has been filed citing the company violated user data privacy. A new class action lawsuit complaint against fintech startup Plaid has been filed with more plaintiffs alleging the company violated the data privacy of users.  The new complaint filed on behalf of four new plaintiffs alleged that Plaid—which was bought by Visa for $5.3 billion this year—collected information on over 200 million distinct financial accounts who use services such as Venmo, Coinbase, Square’s Cash App and Stripe. The complaint states Plaid obtained “direct and full access to consumers’ personal financial banking information for Plaid’s own commercial purposes wholly unrelated to the consumers’ use of the apps.” It adds:  “Plaid exploits its ill-gotten information in a variety of ways, including marketing the data to its app customers, analyzing the data to derive insights into consumer behavior, and, most recently, selling its collection of data to Visa as part of a multi-billion dollar acquisition.

Singapore’s National Payments System Can Guide Global Crypto Adoption

Blockchain payments project Ubin can lay the financial blueprint for countries looking to explore crypto tech in a fully regulated manner. With cross-border interoperable blockchain systems gaining traction across the globe, it comes as no surprise that an increasing number of government agencies are looking to explore the full potential of this technology to make international transactions hassle-free in addition to ensuring the process is streamlined and transparent for users. In this regard, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, announced on July 13 that its much-talked-about blockchain payments project, Project Ubin, was finally ready for mainstream commercial deployment. The project’s roots can be traced all the way back to 2017, a time when the Singaporean government was seeking to develop a digitized Singapore dollar.

Blockchain Bites: It’s Never Been Harder to Mine Bitcoin

Bitcoin's mining difficulty is at a record high, Singapore's CBDC may find commercial use and Chinese companies are going in on Filecoin.

Singapore’s Central Bank Eyes Commercial Role for Its Blockchain Payments Tech

Project Ubin has completed its last development phase and is now being considered as the basis for commercial digital currency ventures.

Singapore & JPMorgan to Rollout Blockchain-powered Payments Platform

Singapore’s central bank says its prototype blockchain-powered cross-border payments network is now ready for commercial rollout. As previously reported, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) began “industry testing" for its new solution with JPMorgan and the state-operated Singaporean holding company and investor Temasek late last year. And it seems the

Singapore's Blockchain Payments Platform Ready for Commercial Launch

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is ready to deploy its multi-currency blockchain payments project for commercial use. Singapore authorities announced today that their blockchain payments project, Project Ubin, is complete and ready for commercial launch.  The Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, first undertook Project Ubin in 2017 with plans to first develop a digitized Singapore dollar (SGD).

Renters Threaten US Real Estate Market, 20 Million Americans Face Eviction

The aftermath of the coronavirus-provoked business shutdowns in the United States caused a number of market observers to focus on the US real estate and rental markets.