The cryptocurrency market remains mixed, with Bitcoin (BTC) hovering around $40,000. While preparing this report, Bitcoin was trading at $39,380, up 2.70% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) had gained 2% to trade at $2,890. XRP was trading at $0.6519, an increase of 0.10% in the same period.
Major altcoins, which have gained ground in the last 24 hours, include Terra (LUNA- $89.86, 1.20%), Binance Coin (BNB- $391.04, 0.50%), Cardano (ADA, $0.8413, 0.70%), VeChain (VET, $0.0519, 0.20%), Polkadot (DOT, $17, 0.80%), Internet Computer (ICP, $15.31, 0.8%), Avalanche (Avax- $69.79, 0.20%), ChainLink (LINK-$12.67, 1%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $305.07, 1.40%), Solana (SOL, $99.27, 2.60%), Stellar (XLM-$0.1858, 1.40%), Cosmos (ATOM, $21.23, 3.10%), Polygon (MATIC- $1.26, 0.1%), Tezos (XTZ-$2.80, 1.60%), Shiba Inu (SHIB- $0.00002334, 0.10%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.6160, 1.80%), EOS (EOS-$2.27, 2.20%), Dogecoin (DOGE, $0.1419, 0.80%) and Uniswap (UNI, $8.25, 1.10%).
Private sector initiatives
OOCL Logistics completes successful trial
OOCL Logistics has revealed the successful completion of a trial involving a blockchain-based Cargo Release solution developed by the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) at the Port of Rotterdam. The cargo was owned by SUMEC; a state-owned Chinese company focused on industrial machinery.
GSBN intends to offer a complete digital solution, minimizing the snags and ineffectiveness involved in swapping paper-based records. Cargo Release facilitates all the partakers in a transaction to make use of the digital platform.
Hong Kong-headquartered GSBN is backed by Beijing-owned shipping enterprise COSCO SHIPPING. Notably, COSCO also owns OOCL and Hapag Lloyd, and also manages numerous ports, including the port of Hutchison. The trial also involved two firms, COSCO and Hutchison.
Xiang Chen, CEO of OOCL Logistics, said, “Information and digitization provide freight forwarders with a distinct chance to improve worldwide supply chains.”
SIX Digital Exchange partners with daura
The Switzerland-based digital asset exchange, SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), has entered into a partnership with daura, a stock tokenization platform. The agreement will pave the way for enterprises listed on daura to release digital securities or security tokens in the regulated central securities depository (CSD) of SDX and utilize the latter as a secondary market.
The blockchain-powered daura platform currently enables digitization of share register by unlisted SMEs and get funded through the issue of security tokens. As of date, 55 enterprises have raised more than CHF 17 million (~18 million) through the platform. SDX offers a CSD and marketplace for institutions. The platform, developed using the enterprise-level blockchain platform Corda (owned by R3), was unveiled in November 2021. Since its rollout, SDX has signed up top investment banks such as Credit Suisse, UBS, and Zürcher Kantonalbank. Notably, SDX will be the second marketplace of daura.
Singtel issues tokenized bonds on ADDX
Singapore headquartered telecom company Singtel has issued $100 million worth of tokenized bonds on the ADDX digital securities exchange. Specifically, the five-year bond was issued by Singtel Group Treasury, a 100% owned associate firm of Singtel. Additionally, Singapore’s third-largest bank, UOB, acted as the lead manager for the issue of the US dollar-denominated bonds.
Frederick Chin, Head of Group Wholesale Banking and Markets, UOB, opined that the market is now focusing on asset tokenization, and there is a rising enthusiasm from the customers to digitize their assets.
Chin further stated that smart contracts and blockchain platforms are becoming more popular among corporate bond issuers, as seen by Singtel’s decision to tokenize its whole US$100 million sustainability-coupled bond offering.
A year ago, HSBC joined hands with Singtel for the issuance of tokenized $1 billion perpetual securities using the Marketnode platform, which was developed jointly by SGX and Temasek. Notably, ADDX is backed by both SGX and Temasek.
ADDX, previously known as iSTOX, had recorded trades (involving bonds and equities) worth $150 million on its platform last year. Also, DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, has issued bonds by unveiling a blockchain tokenization platform.
Miscellaneous
Hyundai Motors enters the NFT domain
South Korea’s Hyundai Motors has become the first automaker to enter the community-based non-fungible token (NFT) domain. The car manufacturer has partnered with the ‘Meta Kongz’ NFT brand to unveil 30 unique and limited versions of ‘Hyundai x Meta Kongz’ NFTs. More such initiatives are planned for the rest of the year.
Meta Kongz is a bundle of randomly created profile photo NFTs modeled around the idea of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT series, which was launched on the Korean Klaytn blockchain. Each Meta Kongz NFT is offered for about $13,000. Ten such NFTs were initially sold at a discounted price of $3,000 to prevailing holders of Meta Kongz. Hyundai is also partnering with the NFT and Meta Toy DragonZ; a play-to-earn blockchain-powered gaming brand, and WITCH, a metaverse platform.
Intending to create its native NFT community, Hyundai has set up a public Discord server and a specific Twitter account for the NFTs it offers. With this initiative, the company aims to lure a young audience, specifically those falling under the Millennial and Generation Z (MZ) category.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
