IBM Hints at Stablecoin Cross-Border Payments Solution for Financial Institutions

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IBM Blockchain World Wire

The head of blockchain solutions for IBM, Jesse Lund, has hinted that bank-targeted stablecoins will be a major forthcoming development for the tech giant’s blockchain-powered cross-border payments solution. Lund made his remarks during an interview on financial news channel Cheddar on March 15. While more details are set to be imminently announced next week, Lund told Cheddar that “market demand” is driving IBM to develop a stablecoin solution for financial institutions. “More than a few banks around the world […] see tremendous business benefit to issue stablecoins in their native…

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Crypto Exchange Bittrex Cancels Its First ‘Initial Exchange Offering’

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Bittrex crypto exchange

United States crypto exchange Bittrex has cancelled its first token sale, dubbed an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO), which it had been planning to host on its Malta-based counterpart, Bittrex International. The news was announced in an official statement published on March 14. Earlier this week, Bittrex International had announced plans to host the IEO today, March 15, allowing investors to use Bitcoin (BTC) to purchase “XRD” tokens, developed by international gaming data blockchain project, Raid. In yesterday’s announcement, the exchange outlined that it decided to cancel the IEO “as a…

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Google Deletes Crypto Malware Targeting Blockchain.com

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Crypto Malware

A Google Chrome browser extension tricking users into participating in a fake airdrop from cryptocurrency exchange Huobi claimed over 200 victims, a security researcher reported in a blog post on March 14. The extension for Chrome web browser, with the name NoCoin, gained 230 downloads before Google deleted it, according to Harry Denley, who runs cryptocurrency scam database EtherscamDB. Denley noted that hackers had purposely disguised the malicious extension to look like a tool protecting users from cryptocurrency malware or so-called cryptojacking. “From the start, it looked like it did…

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Businesses Increasingly See Crypto Mining Attacks in Cloud Infrastructures

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cloud crypto mining

Cryptocurrency mining is reportedly one of the most observed objectives of hackers attacking businesses’ cloud infrastructures, according to a report by AT&T Cybersecurity on March 14. The cybersecurity wing of United States telecoms firm AT&T stated that organizations of all sizes continue to face major crypto mining attacks despite the ongoing bear market. In the new report, AT&T examined the most significant forms of cryptojacking associated with mining attacks on organizations’ cloud infrastructure. AT&T outlined four major cryptojacking tactics used by hackers such as compromising container management platforms, control panel…

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Intercontinental Stock Exchange Seemingly to Expand Cryptocurrency Data Feed

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stock trading data

Intercontinental Stock Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) hinted it was adding a slew of new coins to its Cryptocurrency Data Feed in a tweet on March 14. Launched in January 2018, the Cryptocurrency Data Feed is a service offering real-time digital currency information, covering prices and order books. The platform was introduced following a partnership between ICE and Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain technology company Blockstream. Per the recent announcement, ICE is extending the list of supported cryptocurrencies to thousands, also adding hundreds of…

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Insurance Giant AXA XL Launches Security Token and Crowdfunding Insurance Service

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crypto crowd funding

Insurance giant AXA XL and insurance technology startup Assurely have jointly launched a new insurance product covering equity crowdfunding and Security Token Offerings (STOs). The new product dubbed CrowdProtector is designed for issuers and investors, and purportedly protects new online capital formation strategies like equity crowdfunding and STOs. The product also aims increase trust, confidence and safety to potential investors guaranteeing that the issuer is insured. According to Ty Sagalow, CEO of Assurely, the parties have managed to increase underwriting. The releases states: “CrowdProtector provides Issuers protection against investor complaints…

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Venezuelans Trade $60 Million in BTC in 2019

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Venezuela

Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes on LocalBitcoins, a leading peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchange, have increased significantly in countries suffering from political and economic uncertainty. Since the beginning of this year (January 1st, 2019), 160 billion bolivars (appr. $63 million) worth of bitcoins have been traded on LocalBitcoins by Venezuela’s citizens. In the past week, a record 25.16 billion bolivars in BTC were transacted via LocalBitcoins by Venezuelan residents. In the past year, bitcoin trading volume in Venezuela through LocalBitcoins has been increasing steadily and has now reached an average of 2,000…

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IBM Reveals Two Further Blockchain Patents for Security And Database Management

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IBMBlockchain

Multinational computing giant IBM is adding to its stack of blockchain patents with two new applications, the United States Patent and Trademark Office confirmed, publishing documents on March 5. According to one patent document, IBM now seeks to target network security using blockchain technology. A second patent focuses on database management using the tech. “Securing a data log using monitor security protocols may be accomplished with different levels of security, ranging from low security to high security, and have various combinations of hardware and software configurations,” the description of the…

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Smart Contract Firm Quantstamp Reveals Investment From Financial Giant Nomura

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Nomura Japan

United States smart contract security company Quantstamp has announced its expansion to Japan following an investment from local financial giant Nomura Holdings. The news was revealed in a press release from Quantstamp published on March 6. According to the announcement, the U.S. firm has received a “significant investment” from Nomura, which provides investment, financing and related services to individual, institutional and government customers. Venture company Digital Garage, which invests in successful internet startups across the world, reportedly also contributed to the round. Information that the corporate funding round was led…

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Germany Proposes Launching State-Run Electronic Register for Blockchain Sector

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Bundestag Reichstag Berlin

Germany’s justice and finance ministries have proposed to launch a state-run register to boost the use of blockchain, Reuters reports on Friday, March 8. According to the Reuters, the seven-page initial guidelines offer to create a register to regulate the sector and protect investors from possible abuses. The document reportedly states that regulation in the sphere could contribute to the development of the technology behind cryptocurrencies, along with enhancing Germany’s position in financial markets. The guidelines also propose easing existing requirements, which assume that financial instruments must have tangible counterparts…

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Singapore Launches Pilot of TradeTrust Blockchain Shipping Initiative

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Blockchain Shipping Initiative

The Singapore government will press ahead with a pilot of its blockchain-based maritime trade platform TradeTrust through an official partnership, trade news outlet Asia Middle East Maritime Focus reported on March 7. TradeTrust, which aims to leverage blockchain to streamline complex manual processes involved in international shipping, will first focus on blockchain-powered electronic bills of lading (EB-Ls). Processing the essential trade document can often incur long time spans and considerable extra costs using paper-based methods. The pilot follows a January Memorandum of Understanding signed by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority…

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Google added six new blockchain datasets

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Google Six new cryptocurrencies in BigQuery Public Datasets

A new raft of crypto and blockchain analytics tools has just been launched by search giant Google. They will provide deep data sets for the top cryptocurrencies and aim to revolutionize blockchain search as the company did for information on the internet. Over the past year Google Cloud has released blockchain transaction history datasets for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Yesterday the company announced the release of six more datasets in addition to a deeper set of queries that enables multi-chain meta-analyses and integration with conventional financial record processing systems. The six…

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Two ethereum hard forks are likely to happen this week

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ethereum hard forks

The developers of Ethereum have confirmed that the two hard forks – Constantinople and St. Petersburg – are scheduled to take place this week. Constantinople was delayed last month for security vulnerability issues. According to the February 22nd announcement, both the forks are set to be executed at Ethereum’s block number 7,280,000 and the developers are expecting that the block will be mined on February 28th. However, considering the unexpected mining scenarios, the set block can also be achieved a day or two before or after the scheduled date. Hard…

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Is Rakuten moving toward crypto payments?

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Rakuten Pay

The latest version of Japan-based e-commerce giant Rakuten’s mobile pay app may support cryptocurrency payments, according to the company’s 2018 earnings report presentation. The new version of the app, called Rakuten Pay, will be released on March 18th, and will support “all payments solutions embedded into one platform.” Rakuten has been accepting Bitcoin as a payment option through its American portal, Rakuten.com, since March 2015. In January, Rakuten revealed that its cryptocurrency exchange, “Everybody’s Bitcoin,” had been incorporated as part of the company’s new payments subsidiary, Rakuten Payment. The subsidiary,…

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Waste management company launches blockchain platform in UAE

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Sharjah’s first Blockchain platform

A blockchain-enabled waste permit portal will be launched in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the country’s official news agency, Emirates News Agency (WAM), reported on Feb. 17. The blockchain-based waste permit portal will be jointly developed by environmental, recycling and waste management company Bee’ah and the Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA) — the city of Sharjah’s free trade zone. According to WAM, the platform is the first in the city to employ blockchain technology to validate, process and store transactions. According to the report, the platform will cut costs…

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