Crypto exchange Binance is launching a new Ethereum-compatible blockchain, with BNB as a native token. Dubbed “Binance Smart Chain” (BSC), the new blockchain would have smart contracts functionalities like Ethereum. “The first practical and widely-used Smart Contract platform is Ethereum. To take advantage of the relatively mature applications and community, BSC chooses to be compatible with the existing Ethereum mainnet,” Binance said in a whitepaper published on Friday. Binance already operates its native blockchain called Binance Chain (BC), which powers its decentralized exchange Binance DEX. But as it “doesn’t provide…

The provincial council of Bizkaia, one of the provinces of the Basque Country in Spain, is letting companies and citizens run experiments with its blockchain platform in the hope of spinning off useful public and commercial services. “We consider this part of the public infrastructure, similar to roads or healthcare,” explains Valentin Garcia Souto, head of development and innovation at the IT department of the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia. A first version of the platform, called Blockchain4all, was presented at the end of 2018. “It puts at the disposal of…

Standard Chartered has become the first financial institution to join the TradeLens blockchain-enabled container logisitics platform developed by IBM and Maersk. Standard Chartered will be the first financial intitution to join an ecosystem consisting of more than 150 members, including 100+ ports and terminals, 20+ ocean carriers and intermodal providers, and 10+ government authorities. Commercially-available since December 2018, TradeLens captures millions of supply chain events and tens of thousands documents per week, having processed information on over 15 million containers worldwide since its launch. The platform enables participants to digitally…

Payments firm Ripple has given MoneyGram, a remittance firm, over $11 million in the past half year, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The funds are broken up between two quarters, $2.4 million in Q3 and an additional $8.9 million in Q4, for a total of $11.3 million. The Q4 “financial benefit” as MoneyGram calls the sum, was not included in its Q4 revenue, reported as $323.7 million. Instead, it was accounted for a contra expense in its operating expense on the recommendation of the…

Security token platform Dusk Network says it will tokenize shares for thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Netherlands and the broader Benelux region. The Amsterdam-based company announced Thursday it has partnered with Firm24, one of the region’s largest shareholder registries, and will use blockchain for an automated infrastructure that could introduce market efficiencies and transform how shares, that are not publicly listed, are traded. Blockchain infrastructure provider LTO Network will also provide an interface between Dusk and Firm24 to link off-chain activities to the blockchain system and…

Electronics giant HTC has announced a new privacy-focused portable 5G blockchain router that enables users to run a full Bitcoin node. Due to arrive by mid-year, the Exodus 5G Hub follows on from the success of the Tawainese manufacturer’s Exodus 1 phones, which also have the ability to run nodes. The Hub provides 5G connectivity to all internet enabled devices and uses Zion Vault software to enable users to store Bitcoin, Ethereum (including ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens), Binance Coin, Litecoin and Stellar. The software offers security features including social recovery…