The cryptocurrency market remains mixed with Bitcoin (BTC) continuing to trade between 11,200 and 12,000. At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin was trading at $11,627, reflecting a loss of 0.5% in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) has gained 2.3% to trade at $436.33. XRP has lost 0.8% to trade at $0.2816.
Other major altcoins which have recorded gains in the past 24 hours include Tron (TRX-$0.0299, 11.6%), OKB (OKB-$5.87, 6.7%), Cardano (ADA-$0.1224, 4.1%), Polkadot (DOT-$6.18, 3.3%), Huobi (HT-$5.02, 2.9%), and LEO (LEO-$1.27, 0.2%). Major altcoins, which have lost value in the past 24 hours include Dash (DASH-$86.44, -2.1%), ChainLink (LINK-$15.33, -6.5%), Cosmos (ATOM, $7.19, -6.1%), Binance Coin (BNB-$23.14, -2.3%), Monero (XMR-$92.66, -3.4%), Litecoin (LTC-$61.08, -2.6%), Bitcoin SV (BSV-$189.84, -4.2%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$271.08, -2.9%), Stellar (XLM-$0.0965, -1.9%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.3598, -2.1%), Tezos (XTZ-3.28 -4.8%) and EOS (EOS-$3.20, -2.5%).
Government level initiatives
Gyeonggi Film School conducting an online film festival together with MovieBloc
South Korea’s Gyeonggi Film School is running an online film festival in partnership with MovieBloc, a blockchain-powered media distribution platform. The festival’s audience will be able to assess each movie on a real-time basis and receive tokens as awards. Participants will also be able to assist in numerous ways, such as providing subtitles in various languages in exchange for extra rewards in the form of tokens.
The concept of the film festival was created to meet the challenges put forth by the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to set the trend for future festivals in the post-pandemic period. Kang Yeon-Kyung, CEO of MovieBloc, stated that he trusts this latest model “can coexist with domestic and international film festivals and the film industry.”
Private sector initiatives
Galaxus now accepting stable coin payments
Switzerland’s largest online retailer Galaxus is preparing to accept payments in the form of stablecoins issued by local crypto-focused bank Sygnum. In this regard, Sygnum has revealed that it has successfully completed an e-commerce payment utilizing its in-house stable coin, referred to as Digital Swiss Franc (DCHF). The e-commerce transaction was facilitated by Denmark’s headquartered payment processor Coinify.
Sygnum’s DCHF stablecoin, rolled out in March 2020, is pegged to the Swiss franc in a 1:1 ratio. It aims to remove the necessity of card systems, slash settlement expenses and fraud while paving the way for real-time transactions. Sygnum Bank asserts to be the foremost licensed bank in Switzerland to come up with a stable coin. The bank has been awarded a digital asset bank license by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
By incorporating Sygnum’s DCHG stablecoin on its e-commerce platform, Galaxus aims to capitalize on the $3.50 trillion global e-commerce sector. The latest payment method is anticipated to pave the way for straightforward dealings between shoppers and online retailers, removing third parties and related fraud. Notably, Galaxus began accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as payment at the beginning of 2019.
Galaxus CFO Thomas Fugmann stated that the incorporation of the latest DCHF stablecoin is a key step forward in realizing an improved online retail platform. Fugmann said, “Enabling our customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein to make payments on our online store with stable digital currencies like the DCHF further enhances their convenience.”
SBI Holdings to introduce a crypto-based CFD trading facility
Japan’s financial institution SBI Holdings, is carrying out the necessary formalities to introduce a crypto-based CFD (contract for difference) trading facility. CFD contracts based on Bitcoin (BTC), XRP and Ether (ETH) will be offered initially.
SBI Holdings is a prominent Japanese financial institution, which is actively engaged in the blockchain and crypto sector for the past few years. Ripple, which offers a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) based on blockchain, is one of the leading partners of SBI Holdings.
The latest service will be provided via SBI’s Forex-centered division, SBI FX Trade. The platform has started accepting new account registrations. The newest product offering will enable SBI customers to buy and sell crypto CFD contracts that are paired with the yen and the greenback. Overall six new pairs are listed for trading.
SBI FX Trade will turn out to be the first Forex firm in Japan to facilitate crypto-based CFD trading.
Miscellaneous
Binance and Oasis Labs join hands
Binance, arguably the number one cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of volume, has joined hands with Oasis Labs, a privacy-focused blockchain-based cloud computing technology developer, to battle scams in the crypto industry. Notably, on August 27th, Oasis became the first member and main framework provider for the Binance headed CryptoSafe Alliance.
The decentralized CryptoSafe Platform, structured to distribute risk-related intelligence data, will be developed using “confidential smart contracts” of Oasis Labs. The CryptoSafe Platform will be based on the Oasis Network blockchain.
The firms stress the necessity for the platform to move forward with partnership-based fraud identification while guaranteeing that the information related to participating exchanges is retained in a private and confidential manner. The platform will initially pave the way for sharing of data in a private manner, before beginning to provide “real-time fraud analysis to fight cryptocurrency hacks, theft, and laundering.”
Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has suggested representatives of the crypto sector become a member of the CryptoSafe alliance: “A collective effort and forging closer ties amongst members will better ensure the security of the global cryptocurrency community and the broader ecosystem’s integrity to achieve this common mission.”
The platform, at the time of rollout, will allow exchanges to distribute data related to transactions involving Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tron (TRX), and Eos (EOS) blockchains, with the intention to add further networks by the end of 2020.
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