The cryptocurrency market has been showing signs of recovery in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin has gained about 2.5% to trade at $3,450. However, it is still struggling to cross above $3,500. All major altcoins such as Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Stellar (XLM), and Tron have gained between 2% and 5% in the past 24 hours.
However, EOS (EOS), Tezos, and Waves were performing exceptionally with gains of over 15%. Still, cryptocurrency investors and blockchain enthusiasts are hopeful of an end to the prolonged crypto winter. Mike Novogratz of Galaxy Digital is one such fund manager who is optimistic of a big turnaround. He still believes that it is going to be digital gold.
Government level initiatives
Calgary dollar
In order to boost the local economy, Calgary, a city in the Canadian district of Alberta, has launched the Calgary dollar. The native cryptocurrency will enable holders to pay for goods and services at retail outlets.
This is the first city in Canada that has launched a native cryptocurrency, reflecting the positive approach of Alberta’s government towards blockchain technology. The Calgary dollar is anticipated to support small companies and nonprofit organizations by ensuring that the funds circulate within the city.
The crypto can be transacted through a custom-built smartphone app that lists restaurants and shops that participate in the initiative. Using the smartphone app, citizens can make a donation to non-profit organizations operating in Calgary, pay for lunch or purchase domestic transport tickets.
IBM and TRAI
IBM and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have completed the trial of the blockchain-powered platform that improves mobile data records.
Several major telecom providers joined hands with India’s telecom regulator and tech giant IBM to perform tests that studied the advantages of blockchain technology in enhancing mobile network systems such as the Do Not Call Registry (DNC) and mobile number portability (MNP).
Sriram Raghavan, vice president of IBM Research, revealed that IBM has carried out proofs-of-concept (PoC) and trials with “all the major telecom providers,” as well as the TRAI. However, the VP did not reveal the names of telecom companies that participated in the trial.
Raghavan detailed that the latest telecom blockchain application will permit firms to store MNP and DNC data on a secure, private distributed ledger with “customer consent.” The solution will allow TRAI to have better systems for monitoring the network and discover issues, if any, quickly.
Cross-border cryptocurrency
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) central bank is partnering with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) to launch a cryptocurrency that will be accepted in cross-border dealings between the two nations.
Commenting on the launch, Mubarak Rashed Al Mansouri, the governor of the UAE’s central bank, said: “This is probably the first time ever that witnesses the cooperation of monetary authorities from different countries on this topic and we hope that this achievement will foster similar collaboration in our region.”
Still, Al Mansouri also underlined the fact that this initiative “is just a study” and that they “have not gone deeper into it.” The cryptocurrency under development will be used only between banks. It won’t be available for public use.
Furthermore, Al Mansouri said the recent innovations in the fintech sector had brought both challenges and opportunities.
Private sector initiatives
SolarisBank and Stuttgart Exchange
SolarisBank and Stuttgart Exchange Group are jointly working to create the infrastructure for a cryptocurrency exchange. Established in 1860, the Stuttgart Exchange is the ninth-largest in Europe and the second-largest stock exchange in Germany. On the contrary, SolarisBank, which was established in 2015, is a new generation German fintech company. As the name says, SolarisBank holds a banking license and offers a “Banking as a Platform” service. The news is a fall out of the plans revealed by the exchange in May to introduce a cryptocurrency trading application that does not charge any fee.
HTC Exodus 1
Smartphone manufacturer HTC has announced that the recently launched cryptocurrency phone, Exodus 1, will have a decentralized browser Brave pre-installed in it. HTC is a Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer established in 1997. The company initially announced the HTC Exodus 1 project in May 2018.
Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) is the native cryptocurrency of the Brave browser. The browser sends a payment from advertisers to Brave and its users and can then be used for premium content.
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