Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has introduced a new fintech license with “relaxed” requirements that is applicable to blockchain and cryptocurrency-based firms. The regulator announced Monday that the new license allows approved “innovative financial companies” to accept public deposits of up to 100 million Swiss francs (or just over $100 million), provided the funds are…
Singaporean government body Enterprise Singapore, along with other partners, has supported a new blockchain accelerator launched by a local venture capital firm, daily local newspaper The Straits Times writes Tuesday, Dec. 4. Trive Ventures has launched the initiative, dubbed Tribe Accelerator, to support later-stage startups. According to the unnamed investor cited by The Straits Times,…
A group of university professors and researchers including a Turing award winner have raised $35 million for a non-profit foundation that will support the development of a new blockchain network. Announced Tuesday, the Conflux Foundation is registered in Singapore and will use the proceeds to fuel work on its network. Backers include venture capital firms…
Global retail giant Auchan is expanding TE-FOOD’s blockchain solution to improve the transparency of products’ history, U.S.-based news agency Cision PRWeb reports today, Dec. 4. The French retail group, which is reportedly the 13th largest food retailer globally with operations in 17 countries, has extended TE-FOOD’s FoodChain solution to five more countries. FoodChain is the…
South Korean technological holding SK Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ConsenSys for blockchain business cooperation, according to a SK Group official press release published today, Dec. 4. SK Holdings C&C is the information technology solutions arm of the SK Group, one of the the largest conglomerates in South Korea. The entity…
American trading-communications firm IPC Systems has partnered with enterprise blockchain software consortium R3, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Dec. 3. IPC is a trading technology service company known for producing trading turrets, which are communications systems used by financial traders on their trading desks. Through the Partnership, IPC plans to support the…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking information about investigating and analyzing blockchains, including those used for privacy coins, according to a pre-solicitation notice published Nov. 30. DHS has released a proposal, which invites interested parties to comment and design applications for blockchain forensic analytics in respect to emerging cryptocurrencies. The proposal also…
Games Over the last couple of years, blockchain-based gaming has become more popular with collectible games like “Spells of Genesis.” One peer-to-peer game, “Mafia Wars,” is a blockchain-themed tournament based on well-known organized crime families from the 1920s. Also read: Intel Awarded a Patent for an Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Process The Five Families of New…
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Thailand’s Revenue Department is testing blockchain to track value-added tax (VAT) payments, English-language media outlet Bangkok Post (BP) reports Dec. 3. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, director general of the Thai Revenue Department, said that the department “wants to use blockchain technology to prevent VAT refund fraud.” According to the BP, the nation is “on the path to…
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has released guidelines for their new “FinTech” license, according to a FINMA official press release released Dec. 3 The Swiss financial regulator revealed that license pursuants, which can be blockchain-related and crypto-related firms, will be able to apply for the fintech license with the state authority starting from…
Recently, the CEO of Ohio-based nonprofit JumpStart Inc. announced that his company, along with six others, would invest vast sums of money into Ohio’s blockchain startups. As covered in Cleveland-based news organizations, JumpStart Inc.’s CEO Ray Leach initially announced this donation. Collectively, the seven different funds, which are all based in Ohio, are commitmed “to…
Ohio funds will pour over $300 million into blockchain startups through 2021, Northeast Ohio daily news outlet Cleveland.com reported Dec. 3, quoting executives. Speaking at the ongoing Blockland Solutions conference, nonprofit JumpStart CEO Ray Leach announced that a total of seven funds were primed to invest $100 million in “early-stage startups that focus on using…
A government agency in Thailand is trialing blockchain tech as a means to track value-added tax (VAT) payments in the country. According to a report from the Bangkok Post on Monday, Thailand’s Revenue Department is considering implementing blockchain to prevent fraudulent VAT refund claims in the country. VAT is a form of consumption tax levied on goods…
26 French companies and five major banks have completed a Know Your Customer (KYC) test based on blockchain, according to a press release by the entrant firm RCI Bank and Services released Dec. 3. RCI Bank and Services, a French automotive financing and insurance firm unveiled details of a customer knowledge-focused blockchain solution trialed in…
American car manufacturing giant General Motors (GM) has filed a blockchain patent for a solution to manage data from autonomous vehicles. The patent application was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Nov. 29. GM’s application, first filed May 25, 2017, outlines a system for using blockchain to provide “secure” and “robust” data…
Two startup accelerators in the U.S. state of Ohio are reportedly to invest more than $100 million into blockchain firms. According to a report from Cleveland.com on Monday, JumpStart, an Ohio-based nonprofit that supports and funds startups, is to invest $100 million in early stage blockchain firms focused on business or government use cases alongside…
Major U.S. healthcare companies have formed an alliance to trial blockchain solutions in order to improve data quality and reduce costs, U.S. weekly news outlet Modern Healthcare reports Monday, Dec. 3. The Synaptic Health Alliance group consists of Humana, Multiplan, UnitedHealth Group's Optum, UnitedHealthcare, Quest Diagnostics, and has recently been joined by Ascension — the…
General Motors (GM) may be eyeing a blockchain platform to manage data from future fleets of automated cars. A patent application published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office details a process by which self-driving cars would be able to store all their data on a distributed ledger. The document, produced by GM Global…
Advertisement Investment funds transaction network Calastone, a founding member of the Linux Foundation-led Hyperledger Project, is shifting its entire system to the blockchain. The firm, which assists its client sell their funds all over the world via banks and financial advisors, expects to complete the switch to what it is calling the Distributed Market Infrastructure…
Saudi Arabian developmental institution the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) has partnered with a Tunisian startup to develop interbank blockchain tools, a press release confirmed Nov. 29. IsDB, which will conduct the project through its private sector subsidiary, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector (ICD), wants to improve Islamic financial institutions’ liquidity…
London-based global funds network Calastone is switching its entire system for fund trade clearing services to blockchain this May, Reuters UK reports today, Dec. 3. Calastone processes mutual fund trades for over 1,700 financial companies, including JPMorgan Asset Management, Schroders, and Invesco, according to Reuters. The move will transform current services by using a shared…
After months of expectation and one of the top-five biggest ICOs of 2017, on Nov. 29 Sirin Labs has launched Finney, the 'world's first' blockchain smartphone. Yet, even with the endorsement of football legend Lionel Messi and a $157.8 million token sale behind it, the $999 device has stepped into uncharted territory, where its built-in…
On Nov. 28, e-commerce giant Amazon announced two blockchain-related products: Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB) and Amazon Managed Blockchain. The company hence marked its further expansion into the field of blockchain technology, which started with blockchain-related patents and collaborations that Amazon has seemingly chose over working with cryptocurrencies, per se. So what are those new…
Sberbank and Interros Group have carried out an over-the-counter OTC foreign exchange repurchase agreement (repo) transaction employing smart contracts on a blockchain, Reuters Russia reports Nov. 30. The Interros Group is a Moscow-based private equity firm founded by Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin in 1990, with stakes in Norilsk Nickel, pharmaceutical company Petrovax Pharm, and ski…