The cryptocurrency market has once again turned bearish as Bitcoin (BTC) failed to sustain above $35,000. While writing this article, Bitcoin was trading at $33,792, down 7.8% in the last 24 hours. Ether (ETH) was trading at $2,610.19, reflecting a drop of 6.7% in the same period. XRP has once again dropped below $1 to trade at $0.8658, a loss of 10.2% in the past 24 hours.
Major altcoins which have lost ground in the last 24 hours includes ChainLink (LINK-$24.77, -11.90%), Tron (TRX-$0.0722, -8%), EOS (EOS-$5.17, -13%), Polkadot (DOT-$21.95, -12.9%), Cardano (ADA-$1.58, -8.9%), Tezos (XTZ-3.50, -9.60%), Dash (DASH-$171.84, -10.4%), Bitcoin SV (BSV-$166.40, -7.2%), Binance Coin (BNB-$362.24, -10.7%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$601.54, -10%), Stellar (XLM-$0.3474, -11.1%) and Cosmos (ATOM, $13.41, -12.8%).
Government level initiatives
Chengdu introduces the An Xin Zhu mobile app
The Chinese city of Chengdu has introduced the blockchain technology-based An Xin Zhu mobile app to guarantee safe and cumbersome free payments for migrant employees from rural areas.
Each year, about 25 million people migrate from the province searching for better-paid jobs in big cities, as per a survey report published by the Sichuan government. This year, over 8000 Sichuan-based migrant workers have taken their employers to the court of justice and reclaimed over 140 million yuan (~$22 million).
The presence of a laborer is recorded in an encrypted manner via the app that uses facial recognition, orders, shifts, and work contracts. Additionally, reviews and feedback from recruiters are also stored in the blockchain.
This allows companies and employees to precisely store and validate transactions to guarantee settlement in a precise manner. As data cannot be altered, it enables employers and workers from amending the amount to be paid.
The An Xin Zhu app was created by Chengdu-based Yi Zhi Technology firm, the Lab of Cryptology and Computer Security at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Private sector initiatives
Sveriges Riksbank to trial CBDC in a non-stimulated environment
Sweden has made multiple initiatives to create e-krona, the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Sveriges Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, is now exploring the possibility of trialing the asset in a non-stimulated environment.
Riksbank issued the following statement “The e-krona pilot is therefore moving on from only having simulated participants, to cooperation with external participants in the test environment.” The trial will see the participation of Riksbank and Handelsbanken; a retail customer-focused Swedish bank.
In January, Riksbank detailed that its e-krona PoC (proof-of-concept) uses Corda, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) based platform developed by R3. For more than a year, Sweden has been working on the CBDC. Last month, the central bank revealed that it had completed the initial portion of the CBDC trial.
One of the partners, Handelsbanken, said: “For Handelsbanken, the project means the opportunity to participate in what may be among the first digital central bank-issued money in the world to be available to the public.”
DBS Bank completes issuance of a digital bond on blockchain platform
Singapore’s head-quartered DBS Bank stated that it has completed the issuance of a digital bond via a blockchain platform operated by the DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx). Notably, the foremost bond offering enabled DBS to raise a small amount for DBS. The S$15 million ($11 million) DBS Digital Bond offering has a six-month maturity and carries a coupon rate of 0.6%.
The process involves three phases: a crypto exchange established in December, a security token platform, and a digital asset custodial facility. The services are offered only to accredited investors.
Regarding security token offerings (STOs), the platform targets unlisted stocks, private equity funds, and bonds. Interestingly, Asia-Pacific assets under administration account for 28% of the worldwide private equity market.
Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, Group Head of Capital Markets at DBS, said, “This cements our ability to provide integrated solutions across the digital asset value chain, from deal origination to tokenization, listing, trading, and custody, which in turn opens the door for more STOs on DDEx.”
Through bond digitization, the tokenization process can save considerable costs at the time of issuance and post-trade costs in the secondary market. Hence, the platform enables small value bond issuance. With respect to the aforesaid bond, the lot size was S$10,000, rather than the typical S$250,000 for wholesale bonds.
SC Ventures joins up with BC Technology Group
Standard Chartered bank’s subsidiary SC Ventures has entered into a partnership with Hong Kong-listed BC Technology Group to establish a digital asset brokerage and exchange.
BC also owns the Hong Kong licensed cryptocurrency platform OSL. The operations will be conducted from the UK and will focus on institutional and enterprise-level customers in Europe and the UK. The platform is expected to go live in 4Q 2021, subject to regulatory clearances.
The joint venture intends to merge OSL’s technology with a worldwide network of Standard Chartered bank and brokering capabilities. The institution also intends to provide access to deep liquidity in cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, among others.
Commenting on the venture, Alex Manson of SC Venture, said “We have a strong conviction that digital assets are here to stay and will be adopted by the institutional market as a highly relevant asset class. We are constructing the building blocks for a safe and reliable investment infrastructure.”
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