Category: Cryptocurrency News

Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings and blockchain consortium startup R3 have formed a joint venture to boost the adoption of R3’s Corda platform in Japan and beyond. Announcing the news on Tuesday, SBI said that the new venture, SBI R3 Japan, will be setting up and licensing the Corda platform for new customers, as well as providing collaboration with R3’s global offices and other Corda partners. Eventually, the plan is to expand the business across the Eastern Asian region. Read more …

BitGrail, a cryptocurrency exchange that was recently the subject of a second class-action lawsuit, has found no relief in an Italian bankruptcy court. According to unverified documents published by a victims group, the Bankruptcy Division of the Court of Florence has ruled that Francesco “The Bomber” Firano is personally liable for losses incurred in the exchange’s early 2018 NANO hack. The court had previously ordered the seizure of BitGrail’s crypto wallets. Now the funds within them have been moved to Read more …

Major global securities marketplace Deutsche Börse has reported it is “making significant progress” on its blockchain-based securities lending platform, according to an official press release on Jan. 29. The platform is being co-developed by the German securities marketplace and Luxembourg-based blockchain liquidity management platform, HQLAx. According to the press release from Deutsche Börse, six banks have to date confirmed their plans to join the ​​securities lending platform, and have initiated “their connectivity processes.” The platform’s launch is scheduled for the Read more …

Iran has lifted the ban on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as it takes another step towards its own sovereign cryptocurrency amid talks with foreign nations as potential partners. Iran Unbans Bitcoin, ICOs Today, Iran’s central bank has released an early draft of its cryptocurrency laws, lifting the previous ban on Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, digital tokens, and ICOs, reports to Al Jazeera. Nevertheless, the regulations will impose restrictions on the use of virtual currencies inside the country. Thus, individuals will be able to Read more …

The ongoing “crypto winter” would lead more cryptocurrency exchanges to their deathbeds, predicted Travis Kling. The former Wall Street portfolio manager issued his statement after Kiev-based Liqui, a cryptocurrency exchange, closed down its operations citing illiquidity. He asserted that the ongoing implosion of the cryptocurrency industry was a good thing, stating that the market would move higher only after the wipe off. We need more. More exchanges gone. More projects shuttering. More SEC enforcements. More developer ragequits. More ICO Treasury Read more …

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) central bank (UAECB) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) have announced that the interbank digital currency they are co-developing will be called “Aber.” The news was reported by the national Saudi Press Agency on Jan. 29. A joint statement from the banks has reportedly outlined that the use of Aber will be limited to financial settlements using distributed ledger technologies (DLT) “on a probational basis and [for] exclusive use by a limited number of Read more …

Launched less than two years ago, Tesla’s Model 3 is already proving a major thorn 81-year old automotive giant Toyota. According to Electrek, Tesla is responsible for about 50% of the defection rate that Toyota is experiencing in North America. Among the top five cars that buyers of the Model 3 were trading in last year, Toyota Prius was leading. Per WardsAuto, U.S. sales of the Prius (excluding the subcompact Prius C) declined by 17.7% last year to 79,171 units. Read more …

The central banks of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have jointly launched a digital currency trial. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and the Central Bank of the UAE jointly announced Tuesday that the project is aimed to facilitate blockchain-based financial settlements between the two countries. While the central remittance systems in both countries have “evolved overtime and proved their feasibility,” international remittances have need for improvement, the central banks said. The proof-of-concept trial will examine if Read more …

Hong Kong-based money transfer platform Bitspark has launched what is reportedly the first stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar (HKD), local tech and finance news outlet Fintech Hong Kong reports Jan. 29. Bitspark, which has positioned itself as a platform where stablecoins form the medium of value transfer, launched the Sparkdex.HKD stablecoin as a feature on its SparkDEX decentralized exchange. “Until now, US Dollar stablecoins have dominated the market but there are other national currencies in the world, like Read more …

South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea (BOK), says it won’t be issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the near term, local English-language newspaper the Korea Herald reports Jan. 29. Having conducted a study into the prospects for domestic CBDC issuance, the BOK has reportedly concluded there is no urgent need to pursue such a project in the close future. An unnamed BOK official told the Korea Herald that the study was focused on examining the possible Read more …

Regulation A lawyer representing the Internet and Mobile Association of India in its writ petition against the RBI banking ban has shared new details of the progress to lift the ban with news.Bitcoin.com. The supreme court recognizes the urgency of hearing the RBI case without waiting for the Indian government to introduce crypto regulation. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations The Urgency of Hearing RBI Ban Case The Indian supreme court is hearing two Read more …

Years of growth, trillions in government bonds, and substantial capital sought from outside investors may see a U-Turn in the coming days as Japan’s prized economic policies were found to be reliant on fraudulent data. As per estimates, over 40 percent of Japan’s 56 economic policies contain errors, casting a shadow on all of the country’s analysis and reports generated over the years. Faulty Methods Research methodologies – for all their benefits – suffer from a critical point-of-failure; that of Read more …