The cryptocurrency market continues to remain range-bound with a slight bearish bias. Bitcoin (BTC) continues to hover around $7,000. In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin, which is considered a store of value, has lost 3.7% to trade at $6,878.44. Ether (ETH) has lost 5.4% to trade at $172.20. XRP has lost 4.1% to trade at $0.1849.
Other major altcoins which have lost in the past 24 hours include Tezos (XTZ-2.17, -5.3%), Ethereum Classic (ETC-$5.27, -4.7%), Cosmos (ATOM, $2.30, -4.5%), Dash (DASH-$75.34, -8.3%), ChainLink (LINK-$3.51, -4.3%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.1554, -1.5%), Monero (XMR-$55, -4.7%), EOS (EOS-$2.52, -3.6%), Tron (TRX-$0.01255, -3.6%), Cardano (ADA-$0.0344, -4.0%), Binance Coin (BNB-$15.40, -4.9%), Huobi (HT-$3.73, -3.9%), Litecoin (LTC-$40.69, -4.8%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$221.87, -5.5%) and OKB (OKB-$4.50, -5.5%). Major altcoins which have gained ground in the past 24 hours are LEO (LEO-$1.02, 0.6%) and Stellar (XLM-$0.0502, 1.7%),
Government level initiatives
South Korea sees blockchain technology as a golden opportunity for the nation
The South Korean government has opined that blockchain technology offers a “golden opportunity” for the nation as a whole. Furthermore, the government has called for private sector enterprises across South Korea to capitalize on the disruptive technology.
The Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, Koo Yun-Cheol, conducted a meeting on blockchain technology, drawing professionals from the private sector.
Koo underlined optimistic growth forecasts about blockchain technology in overseas markets such as the US and Europe. He further stated: “The size of the blockchain-related industry is expected to grow by more than 80% per year on average, and is competitively supporting foreign countries to preoccupy the market that is attracting attention as a promising technology in the future.”
The vice-minister is hopeful that the blockchain technology gap between the US, China, and Europe could be minimized in the next two to three years.
Private sector initiatives
Rocket LP DAO uses NFTs as collateral
Rocket LP DAO, a loan provider, set up just four months ago, has used non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as collateral and issued a loan of $1,000 last week. Notably, the company uses an Ethereum domain name ‘brantly.eth.’, the only one of its kind. The loan carrying an interest rate of 15% was disbursed for a period of three months.
Rocket has been temporarily awarded ownership of the ENS domain name. NFTs are ERC-721 tokens that are developed to electronically represent a digital or physical asset. The most prominent use case involves the tokenization of tradable assets, with transfers done through a smart contract.
The three-month loan – valued at 6.5 ETH (~$1,000 at the time of loan disbursement) – was awarded to Brantly Millegan, ENS director of operations. Even though he will have control over the domain name, Rocket has the ultimate authority over the domain name. In case Milligan defaults, Rocket will gain ownership of the domain name and can remove Millegan’s access to the webpage altogether.
Even though a domain name can be bought by paying a small amount, Millegan, through a Medium post, explained the importance of the domain name: “Brantly is my first name, and this particular ENS name has great personal value to me, so I have a strong incentive to repay the loan.”
Polish retail banks unveil a blockchain-powered consumer data platform
Retail banks in Poland have unveiled a blockchain-powered consumer data platform created by the Polish Credit Bureau, also referred to as Biuro Informacji Kredytowej (BIK). Being the biggest credit bureau in East and Central Europe, BIK has facilitated banks in Poland to send information regarding changes in fees and other charges via a unique document management platform powered by blockchain.
The BIK blockchain platform – built in partnership with Polish-British financial technology company Billon – has been under development since the venture was initially announced in May 2018.
The primary objective of the BIK blockchain platform venture is to remove the process of updating customers using physical paper and use a blockchain-based platform that offers better security to store digitized data. The platform, according to Billon, totally complies with the EU’s financial documents-related guidelines, including the EU’s MiFID II and GDPR.
By rolling out the platform, the Polish Credit Bureau and Billon aim to offer a safe alternative to conventional record management tools such as email, in-house banking messages, and also paper-based communication. As per BIK, the blockchain technology utilized in the platform guarantees a raised level of security. Documents are disbursed via several network nodes, with each record having its own distinct address.
BIK further said: “These features guarantee high resistance to potential failures, as well as reduce chances of undesirable interference of stored documents.”
SBI Holdings to begin using Corda for Forex trading
SBI Holdings of Japan has stated that it will start using the R3 consortium’s enterprise-level blockchain Corda for Forex trading. It will be the first real-life application of the Corda blockchain in Japan. Tokyo-headquartered systems administration services company CAC will aid the technology adoption.
The Corda blockchain will be limited to company use, with transaction history being shared between traders. Furthermore, the Corda blockchain will be used by SBI Securities and SBI’s Forex platform Liquidity market, or SBILM.
Blockchain technology will permit SBILM to mechanize confirmation procedures in Forex trades, rather than using telephone and email for communications.
“We have reduced the operational risk in the confirmation business and ensured high privacy protection and tamper resistance. Also, the blockchain guarantees the identity of transaction data between the parties and improves the reliability of collation work.”
David Rutter, CEO of R3, referred to SBI as one of “Corda’s biggest champions.”
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.
