The cryptocurrency market remains slightly bullish as Bitcoin (BTC) inches towards $45,000. While preparing this report, Bitcoin was trading at $42,831, an increase of 0.90% in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) has gained 1.20% to trade at $3,025. XRP was trading at $0.8326, reflecting a loss of 0.20% in the last 24 hours.
Major altcoins, which have gained ground in the last 24 hours, include Cosmos (ATOM, $28.36, 1.40%), Shiba Inu (SHIB- $0.00002451, 4.60%), Terra (LUNA- $94.85, 1.30%), Polygon (MATIC- $1.56, 2.70%), VeChain (VET, $0.05537, 2.30%), Avalanche (Avax- $84.66, 0.2%), ChainLink (LINK-$15.72, 2.1%), Uniswap (UNI, $10.09, 2.40%), Polkadot (DOT, $20.97, 1.90%), Binance Coin (BNB- $409.05, 1.20%), Cardano (ADA, $1.10, 12.60%), Dogecoin (DOGE, $0.1360, 10.90%), Near (NEAR- $12.01, 7.90%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $359.87, 0.10%), Tezos (XTZ-3.51, 2.90%), Internet Computer (ICP, $18.91, 1.50%) and Solana (SOL, $95.03, 4.50%).
Major altcoins, which have lost ground in the last 24 hours, include EOS (EOS-$2.45, -2.20%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.7712, -1.40%), and Stellar (XLM-$0.2071, -0.40%).
Government level initiatives
Bank of Uganda contemplating a CBDC
The Bank of Uganda (BoU) is studying the feasibility of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for use by firms and households.
Even though the BoU is preparing to amend the country’s financial laws to facilitate the adoption of a CBDC, the probability of CBDC issuance will be decided by local scenario. Regulators are worried that the issuance of CBDC will affect financial inclusion, specifically the older people who are not familiar with the technology and also communities which do not have easy access to the internet.
Almost 28% of Ugandans do not have a bank account, as per a 2015 survey. Similar to the rest of the African countries like Kenya, smartphone payments are available in Uganda, with cash on and off-ramps facilitated by domestic kiosks instead of banks. As per Bank of Uganda statistics, in a country with a population of 45 million, there are 32 million mobile phone-based payments accounts. However, only 2/3rd of the accounts are active.
Private sector initiatives
McLaren partners with Infinite World
Renowned supercar manufacturer McLaren has partnered with Infinite World for entering metaverse. Under the partnership, Infinite World will assist McLaren in releasing a series of non-fungible token (NFT) collections based on McLaren’s premium cars.
Infinite World offers NFT and metaverse framework to aid brands to create a virtual environment to interact with clients and additionally widen their digital presence. The framework is a portion of the SUKU Ecosystem, which functions as a bouquet of Web3 tools aimed at brands intending to utilize the blockchain to improve the delivery of their offerings.
In 2021, Infinite World inked a deal to merge with Aries 1, a listed special acquisition company (SPAC), with the takeover anticipated to get completed in 3Q 2022.
A domain that might have drawn the attention of McLaren is Infinite World’s innovative computer-generated imagery (CGI) skills. The firm has a range of tools for digital product creation and also augmented and virtual reality. Along with minting NFTs and an NFT marketplace, Infinite World also offers social and games-focused tools.
Diginex unveils diginexLUMEN
In partnership with Coca-Cola and Reckitt, Diginex, which is using blockchain technology to sort out ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) issues, has unveiled its latest ESG supply chain tracking system, named diginexLUMEN. The aforesaid conglomerates will use the platform to carry out due diligence of their respective supply chains regarding working conditions.
The necessity for this platform has arisen due to the problematic state of human rights and bonded labor in worldwide supply chains. A joint survey between Diginex and the US Department of Labor assessed that 160 million children worldwide are used in child labor. Specifically, 25 million adults and children are subjected to forced labor.
Unfortunately, these disturbing working scenarios are not unique, and several enterprises are currently exploring methods to track their supply chains in an in-depth manner, to eliminate and also avoid a repeat of those incidents. This is where diginexLUMEN, which collects data in a continuous manner, can assist significantly.
The platform utilizes blockchain to link all the info together, highlights likely threats, and underlines the degree of ESG compliance by companies. The partakers in the project trust that continuous tracking and blockchain technology will aid in minimizing forced labor and enhance the human rights environment for workers.
Bank of Canada and MIT partner for a CBDC study
The Bank of Canada is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) study. Specifically, the twelve-month venture will involve MIT’s Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative (DCI), the institution that has joined hands with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on Project Hamilton.
Concerning Project Hamilton, the objective is to trial multiple technical ideas. Notably, the Bank of Canada stressed that it is yet to decide on releasing a CBDC.
Earlier the central bank had pointed out the rollout of the US digital dollar as a likely inspiration for Canada to develop its own CBDC on worries that Canadian residents could begin using the US dollars in an extensive manner. President Biden’s digital assets executive order has established a firm timeline for the US CBDC report and legislative program, efficiently speeding the US research plans.
The Bank of Canada has been studying CBDC for many years. In fact, the government had conducted a university contest and released the three papers that bagged the top three positions.
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