New York-based enterprise blockchain technology company R3 has just successfully completed its largest finance trial test, according to a recent announcement. The move was a trial of the Marco Polo Platform for Open Account Trade Finance by R3 and was hosted on the company’s Corda blockchain.According to the announcement, the test had participation from more than 70 organizations across over 25 countries and five continents. It also had more than 340 participants and big names from several...
Read More »Will the Payments Sector Unite or Divide over Cryptocurrency Adoption?
Traditional payment companies seem to be taking vastly different approaches to cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, it seemed like PayPal was about to blaze a trail in the space by working with Facebook on Libra, although it later pulled out. Elsewhere, more forward-thinking firms like Revolut and Skrill have embraced crypto, while Monzo has issued a firm “no,” and Stripe has backed away.So, what exactly is going on in this tumultuous relationship between payment firms and cryptocurrencies,...
Read More »Neobank Albo Gets $19M Series A Investment
Nowadays we hear a lot about startups trying to capitalize on the fintech opportunity. One did such a thing now in Mexico by closing on a new sum of funding. What began as a $7.4 million Series A last January now has now grown to $26.4 million in a recent extension of Mexican challenger bank Albo.Led by the U.S.-based Valar Ventures this event can be marked as one of the largest early rounds for a Mexican startup. It seems Albo got its investment from Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel, in the...
Read More »Tencent’s WeBank to Handle Tech Infrastructure for China’s National Blockchain Network
WeBank, China’s first digital bank in the sphere of helping small businesses access funding needed for operations, will now provide the technical infrastructure required for the deployment of China’s national blockchain network.According to a report from state-owned Financial News media platform, WeBank will be in charge of the creation and delivery of FISCO BCOS (Be Credible, Open & Secure) open-source consortium chain, for the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN). The BSN Development...
Read More »Dark Money Laundering Clouds Force Japan’s Banks to Eye JPMorgan Blockchain Network
For some time now, Japan’s banking sector has faced many challenges arising from money laundering. This problem has been in the limelight since the Financial Action Task Force found “numerous and serious deficiencies” back in 2014. Japan has long been blamed for weak measures that it has set up against money laundering and terrorism financing.In that context, the U.S. banking multinational, JPMorgan Chase & Co, is looking to launch an Interbank Information Network (IIN) in the East Asian...
Read More »BitPay Sets Up Worldwide Stablecoin Payments despite the Rage of Regulators
Stablecoins are almost completely banned in developed countries and zones like China or the EU. But BitPay claims that they’re launching a worldwide stablecoin payment solution. BP is one of the world’s largest providers of the BTC and BCH merchant API’s. Ever tried to pay for a DDoS service, a cloud server, or a private VPN? They do accept credit card payments, yes. But if they don’t, they will surely take your precious crypto using BitPay.Now BitPay is allowing the merchants and consumers...
Read More »Binance’s Payment Gateway Partner Simplex Adds Support for Japanese Yen & Canadian Dollar
Top electronic payments gateway provider Simplex has added the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the Canadian Dollar (CAD) to its platform for fiat conversions. Sources indicate that the top payment gateway for many of the top cryptocurrency exchanges indicated this today. Simplex is a fiat payments partner for many of the top cryptocurrency exchanges which include Binance, Huobi, Poloniex, OKCoin, KuCoin, Xapo, Ledger and Abra.“We’re not handling crypto directly ourselves but rather enable our...
Read More »Nubank Wins Big in Latin America’s Fintech Community
While it may not be in the normal scheme of things for fintech companies to make it big within just a few years of operations, fintech startup Nubank has done that. Sources indicate that the Brazilian startup has gone from strength to strength and has become one of the leading forces in the global fintech space due to a few gutsy moves by its CEO David Vélez. It all started when David was reading about how mobile apps were now being used to manage money in a new and different way in China...
Read More »People’s Bank of China Is to Try Out Its New Digital Currency in Two Cities
Sequel to earlier reports that its digital currency was in the works, the Chinese are reportedly set to test its new digital currency electronic payment (DC/EP) in two cities of Shenzen and Suzhou. Sources further indicate that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) will become the first Central Bank in the world to introduce its digital currency. It has also further emerged that the PBoC is set to work with seven state-owned corporate entities to run this test: three telecoms companies and four...
Read More »Facebook in 2020: E-Commerce, Ads, $250 Stock and Libra?
We all know how it is to forget someone’s birthday, holiday or, god forbid, anniversary. Before we used our little calendars with post-its all around saying: “your first kiss anniversary, he wore a brown jumper, buy beer”, etc. However, since we have Facebook, it was hard to forget, well, almost anything. With its ‘calendar’ and ‘memories’ it reminds us of all the things we’ve done in the past – yes, that includes your drunk uncle puking after New year’s brunch. Its “Year in Review” videos,...
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