The uncertainty surrounding the US election has provided the necessary impetus for Bitcoin (BTC), which is slowly transforming into a dependable, safe-haven asset and a store of value, to cross above the resistance level of $14,000. At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin, which currently has a dominance factor of 63.4%, was trading at $14,143.28, up 2.4% in 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) has gained 5.4% to trade at $403.54. XRP was trading flat at $0.2387.
Other major altcoins which have gained ground in the past 24 hours include Tether (USDT-$1, 0.1%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$242.61, 0.1%), OKB (OKB-$4.33, 4.4%), Binance Coin (BNB-$27.29, 2.4%), Polkadot (DOT-$4.09, 2.3%), Litecoin (LTC-$54.88, 2.6%), Cardano (ADA-$0.0961 3.1%), ChainLink (LINK-$10.51, 2.4%), Dash (DASH-$64.67, 1.0%), Bitcoin SV (BSV-$153.29, 0.9%), EOS (EOS-$2.37, 0.9%), Tezos (XTZ-$1.87, 1.1%) and Cosmos (ATOM, $4.40, -1.1%).
Major altcoins which have lost value in the past 24 hours include Monero (XMR-$115.87, -3.8%), Huobi (HT-$3.57, -0.7%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.2371, -3%), Stellar (XLM-$0.0744, -1%) and Tron (TRX-$0.0243, -0.6%).
Government level initiatives
Cambodia’s Bakong blockchain payment platform goes live
After a prolonged trial period, the National Bank of Cambodia’s Bakong blockchain payment platform has gone live. The central bank has named the government-backed digital currency as a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). Contrary to other CBDC trials, the currency is not innately digital. On the contrary, it symbolizes a tokenized form of commercial bank deposits of the US dollars or Cambodian riel.
One of the principal reasons for introducing Bakong is to achieve financial inclusion. Cambodia’s mobile phone penetration rate is over 100%. However, only 22% of the population above the age of 15 owns a bank account.
Interestingly, a bank account is not necessary to operate Bakong. Only a wallet is required to receive cash from someone else. Even a payment agent can be used to exchange cash for tokenized funds.
Serey Chea, Director General at the NBC, said, “We aim to improve financial inclusion, efficiency and security, as well as promote the use of local currencies. Bakong is Cambodia. It plays a central role in placing all players who use their payments under the same platform, making it easier for users to cross the boundaries between banks and pay each other.”
Other objectives are to minimize the use of US dollars as the economy is heavily dependent on the overseas currency. The country lacks a real-time gross settlement system. The aforesaid blockchain platform was created by Japan headquartered blockchain-focused firm Soramitsu, which is also the renowned firm involved in Hyperledger Iroha protocol, which is basically a permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) with which Bakong was developed.
While the central bank administers the master ledger, commercial banks run the nodes. The project involved participation from 18 financial institutions. The conventional database of the country’s interbank payment system (FAST) was substituted by DLT.
Ocean Protocol wins contract to develop a decentralized network for Bundesbank
Ocean Protocol, a Singapore headquartered non-profit organization, has been contracted to develop a decentralized network for Germany’s Bundesbank, as per a supplement notice published with the Official Journal of the EU.
Interestingly, the central bank stated that the Ocean Protocol, which is a little known startup firm, was selected because there were no other competitors who were able to match the criteria.
In its public notice, Bundesbank has mentioned that the primary objective of the venture is to establish a “decentralized network approach, which allows participants a permanent, symmetrical data access for the realization of real-time updates of statistics while preserving data sovereignty.”
The institution anticipates working in tandem with the Ocean Protocol to create a platform for safely publishing, distributing, and obtaining private and public data.
Private sector initiatives
Mastercard and GrainChain join forces
Mastercard has entered into a collaboration with agricultural blockchain company GrainChain. With Provenance, the patented blockchain of Mastercard, the two firms intend to pave the way for the digitization of documents pertaining to commodities via supply chains in Mexico, Central America, and the US Agritech company GrainChain, which is supported by Overstock’s Medici Ventures. Notably, the tailor-made blockchain solution of Medici Ventures serves the Honduras Coffee sector, which employs almost 20% of the country’s population. The blockchain platform facilitates settlement and also tracking of the coffee supply chain.
With Provenance, stakeholders are facilitated to ‘forensically track’ commodities, with the produce being certified by blockchain technology. In this manner, brands and farmers will be able to safeguard clients and their notoriety.
Deborah Barta, Senior VP of Mastercard’s Innovation and Startup Engagement, said, “The traceability market is a global industry, and the digital identity of products and goods is even more critical today as consumers, brands, and governments demand to know where products and services are from.”
Luis Macias, CEO and Founder of GrainChain, asserts the collaboration will enhance the supply chain in the Americas. “Small suppliers in countries around the world suffer from a lack of reliable real-time information and deserve transparency, accountability, and profitability with streamlined global trade.”
GrainChain initially used Hyperledger Fabric for its platform. However, it shifted to Symbiont’s Assembly seven months ago. GrainChain justified the shift by describing the outcome as beneficial and revealed that it is utilizing for strategic use scenarios in the financial services arena.
HSBC’s Banglades division carries out a letter of credit through Contour DLT
The HSBC’s Bangladesh division has carried out the first letter of credit (LC) transaction using a blockchain-powered platform named Contour DLT. The LC is for shipment of 20,000 tons of fuel oil by United Mymensingh Power, Singapore subsidiary of the United Group. Contour was built using R3’s Corda that links financial institutions and corporates through a “decentralized trade finance network.”
Eight financial institutions, namely HSBC, ING, Citi, Bangkok Bank, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, SEB, and CTBC, has a stake in the blockchain-powered platform.
Md Mahbub ur Rahman, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, has opined that the transaction reflects the bank’s dedication to aid cross-border dealings using “cutting-edge technology platforms.”
“I believe this will usher in a new era of routing international trade transactions as businesses and governments recognize transparency, security and swiftness in performing tasks using blockchain technology.”
SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) has assessed that Bangladesh firms utilize LCs worth over $34 billion during the first half of 2020. By adopting blockchain technology, the transaction processing time has declined to less than 24 hours, from 5-10 days.
Regarding the importance of saving time in fuel oil-related transactions, Moinuddin Hasan Rashi, United Group’s managing director, said: “Fuel oil LCs are highly time-sensitive where every second counts and we believe this blockchain technology will help to manage time efficiently and also ensure increased efficiency and better cost management.”
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