The cryptocurrency market remains range-bound with a slight bullish bias. Bitcoin (BTC) has once again crossed the psychological $60,000 level, and market participants are hopeful that it will consolidate and move higher from that level.
While writing this article, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $60,669.34, up 1.8% in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH), which hit a new all-time high of $2,195 earlier today, was trading at $2,165, an increase of 1.1% in 24 hours.
XRP, which crossed the $1-mark last weekend, was trading at $1.44, mirroring a gain of 5.8% in the same period.
The two significant altcoins, which have gained ground in the past 24 hours, include Tron (TRX-$0.1320, 0.3%) and Cardano (ADA-$1.32, 2.2%).
Major altcoins, which have lost ground in the past 24 hours, include ChainLink (LINK-$31.84, -1.5%), Monero (XMR-$309.02, -6.1%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$673.64, -1.9%), Bitcoin SV (BSV-$264.08, -3.3%), Stellar (XLM-$0.5832, -1.9%), IOTA (IOTA-$2.02, -0.7%), EOS (EOS-$6.54, -3.6%), Dash (DASH-$283.98,-3.9%), Polkadot (DOT-$40.70, -0.5%), Binance Coin (BNB-$593.66, -14%), Cosmos (ATOM, $22.29, -4.1%) and Tezos (XTZ-6.37, -0.8%).
Private sector initiatives
PFL unveils fan tokens on the Socios.com platform
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) unveiled fan tokens on the Socios.com platform. As against the individual team, it is the initial sports league to roll out fan tokens on the app.
Socios.com is a platform facilitating fan interaction. Supporters can buy fan tokens, which can be utilized in the app to access VIP rewards, chat forums, exclusive promotional offers, games, and contests.
Furthermore, token owners can partake in the league’s plan by taking part in specific surveys for the Socios.com app.
The token value is fluctuating, totally contrasting to a non-fungible token (NFT), and is not linked to any object or a virtual collectible. Notably, Chiliz, the firm behind Socios.com, operates a cryptocurrency exchange for fan tokens.
Even though the collaboration was inked five months before, the official fan token was launched only now. The PFL season starts on April 23, and the initial poll is scheduled to take place on April 9 to hand over the power of deciding the token owners’ contests.
In the case of Socios.com, the collaboration with PFL, which claims to have 550 million fans worldwide, paves the way for the platform to utilize PFL logos in its commercialization initiatives. Furthermore, Socios.com logos will be put up on the fight cage and the stadium.
Nomura’s Instinet and Credit Suisse complete US-listed settlement
Paxos Trust has stated that Nomura’s Instinet and Credit Suisse has completed the settlement of US-listed equities on a T+0 basis, implying settlement on the same day rather than conventional T+2-day settlement process using Paxos Settlement Service, which is based on a permissioned variant of the Ethereum blockchain. Société Générale is also a partaker in the platform.
During the trial, two trades were settled on the same day at 4.30 PM ET. Notably, one of the trades was executed at 3 PM. Trades can be settled on the same day using the traditional method only if they are executed before 11 AM.
Regarding the trial, Emmanuel Aidoo, Head of Digital Assets Markets at Credit Suisse, said, “We’re excited to make progress in forging a path to faster settlement times at lower costs in public equities. These advancements will ultimately benefit the broader market as more firms join the platform.”
The post-trade solution, which is compatible with legacy trade settlement platforms, rolled out a year back, continues to follow the traditional T+2 settlement cycle.
The US SEC has granted permission to run the platform until October by issuing a “no-action relief letter.” Only seven participants, with each of them having over $100 million as capital, are allowed.
The SEC has also provided guidelines on the volumes and types of stocks used for the settlement process. In case the SEC endorses the platform, Credit Suisse intends to offer the leeway of T+0 or T+2 settlement, in addition to multilateral netting in real-time.
GO-NET unveils initial service to link payment service providers
Global Open Network (GO-NET), the fast-paced payment network that utilizes blockchain, unveiled its initial service to link payment service providers.
GO-NET was initially set up at the beginning of 2019 and was established as a collaboration between Japan’s MUFG and tech partner Akamai. MUFG holds an 80% stake in the partnership.
The firm positions itself as a local payment framework comparable to the extensive card networks even though it is partnering with both Mastercard and Visa.
One of GO-NET’s main advantages is its cost-effectiveness. MUFG identified that merchant acquisition costs are considerable, particularly for small dealings where the fees are certainly not viable.
Therefore, GO-NET is ideally appropriate for small payments such as the use of cards at vending machines. GO-NET intends to advance the platform by incorporating IoT (internet of Things) payments in the future.
Hitachi is a collaborator on the IoT front-end and is studying GO-NET’s incorporation in its IoT platform Lumada. The GO-NET platform assets of having the ability to conduct 100,000 transactions per second.
Miscellaneous
BoJ affirms it has begun piloting its CBDC
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) affirmed that it has begun piloting its central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The intention is to study the technical viability (Proof of Concept or PoC) of a digital yen in the initial stage, which is expected to last until March 2022. However, the central bank is yet to take a final decision on the use of CBDC.
The statement issued by the Bank of Japan indicated that it would pilot basic features such as distribution, issuance, and redemption.
Six months back, the central bank unveiled a CBDC document in which it has highlighted three-phase of trials, including two stages of PoC (Proof of Concept) followed by a trial.
Japan’s intention is slightly different from many countries because of the heavy utilization of cash in retail payments and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that created a significant disruption. Therefore, there is tremendous stress on the capability to process payments on an offline mode.
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