The cryptocurrency market remains range bound with a slight bearish bias. Bitcoin (BTC) continues to hover between $7,100 and $7,300 levels. At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin was trading at $7,192.64, representing a gain of 0.4% in the last 24 hours. Ether (ETH) has lost 0.3% to close at $144.41. XRP has lost 0.3% to close at $0.2131.
Other major altcoins, which has lost in the past 24 hours include TRON (TRX-$0.0143, -2.2%), Litecoin (LTC-$43.88, -0.5%), Stellar (XLM-$0.0544, -0.5%), Bitcoin Cash ($205.86, -0.1%), Tezos (XTZ-$1.25, -2.4%), LEO (LEO- $0.9158, 0.6%), Dash (DASH-$50.07, -0.4%), Cosmos (ATOM-$3.50, -0.3%), Huobi (HT-$2.79, -2.1%) and ChainLink (LINK-$1.98, -3.7%). The altcoins (top 20) that have gained ground in the past 24 hours are Monero (XMR-$52.23, 0.1%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.1980, 0.2%) OKB (OKB-$2.52, 1.4%) Ethereum Classic (ETC-$3.74, 0.1%), Cardano (ADA-$0.0369, 0.5%), EOS (EOS-$2.63, 1.0%) and Binance Coin (BNB-$15.14, 0.7%).
Government level initiatives
Tribe assists in raising funds to back start-up firms
Tribe, a blockchain platform backed by the Singapore government, has assisted companies in raising $15.70 million. With this funding, a sum of $28 million had been raised through the platform to back start-up firms across the globe aiming to resolve real-world issues with blockchain technology. Tribe, which was launched in December 2018, links tech-oriented established enterprises with blockchain firms in the budding stage. Tribe was established by Tri5 Ventures, a venture capital firm, which intends to back later-stage startups.
The initial batch of startup firms were funded to the tune of $12.20 million in a matter of three months.
Since the day of launch, Tribe Accelerator has been receiving backing from the Singapore government and corporate associates, including “Big Four” audit firm PwC, Intel, BMW Group Asia, and blockchain network Icon Foundation. Of late, IBM, video game publisher Ubisoft and Citibank have sponsors for the second phase of a four-month program conducted by Tribe.
LifeLabs joins up with BVI to build a crypto named BVI-LIFE
LifeLabs, a blockchain firm, has entered into a partnership with the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to build a cryptocurrency named BVI~LIFE. The currency development is one of the initiatives in the major plan of improving the domestic financial technology sector and is planned to be rolled out during the BVI Digital Economy symposium.
LifeLabs and BVI aim to introduce a stable coin pegged to the US dollar on a 1:1 ratio. The coin is anticipated to minimize transactional charges, ensure quick transaction and be available to tourists.
BVI Premier Andrew Fahie explained the reason for selecting LifeLabs for the digital currency project: “The importance of blockchain technology and the significant benefits it offers the BVI, are paramount to the Territory. We welcome this innovation with open arms. Our partner, LIFElabs, has demonstrated with their proven track record that their ideology is not just mere words, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with them on the rollout of BVI~LIFE, our digital currency.”
Private Sector Initiatives
Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, and UBS implement the first live transactions on the Deutsche Börse-HQLAx securities lending platform
The distributed ledger technology (DLT)-enabled security lending platform, developed by the fintech company HQLAX, in partnership with Deutsche Boerse, was used by Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, and UBS to successfully complete the first security lending transaction. The platform, powered by Corda DLT technology, was unveiled by R3.
The platform is used to offer a range of liquidity and collateral management products. UBS and Commerzbank used the platform to exchange a bunch of German government bonds for corporate bonds, with Clearstream Banking acting as a custodian.
Furthermore, a cross-custodian swap transaction involving the exchange of corporate bonds at Clearstream Banking and a bunch of German government bonds at Euroclear Bank was also carried out between UBS and Credit Suisse.
The transaction, notably, did not necessitate the physical transfer of securities between the collateral holding firms as the ownership change was stored on HQLAX’s registry, developed using Corda Enterprise.
Jens Hachmeister, Head of new markets at Deutsche Boerse, explained how a combination of the latest technology and existing framework could offer benefits to the financial sector: “The go-live of the HQLAX operating model demonstrates the power of innovation that DLT is already bringing to the financial services industry. […] It proves how new technology can successfully be combined with trusted market infrastructure – and the positive reception of the model in the market speaks for itself.”
SoFi obtains BitLicenxe from NYDFS
SoFi, which offers financial services, has obtained a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). It is the 24th crypto-related company to receive a BitLicense in the past four years. Specifically, California-based SoFi has received two licenses, a digital currency license (BitLicense) and a money remittance license. With these licenses, Sofi Digital Assets will be able to offer a cryptocurrency trading facility to its clients in the New York jurisdiction.
Furthermore, SoFi is allowed to facilitate the buying and selling of six cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Stellar (XLM). SoFi CEO Anthony Noto revealed that the decision to apply for a BitLicense was in response to demand from customers: “Putting our members’ interests first is our top priority at SoFi […] That includes both offering individuals the products they want, like cryptocurrency within SoFi Invest, as well as protecting them, through a solid regulatory framework like that created by the NYDFS.”
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.
