Day: November 13, 2018

Major South Korean Hospital to Use Blockchain Tech for Medical Information Services

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One of the South Korea’s largest hospitals has partnered with a local tech company to develop a medical services platform based on blockchain technology, according to the hospital’s official press release Nov. 12. Myongji Hospital, located in the city of Goyang, South Korea, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean IT company BICube, which markets itself as a machine learning platform. The two parties plan to use blockchain technology to create a healthcare information exchange system. According to the hospital’s release, the aim of the project is to…

OKEx Adds Support for the Vietnamese Dong on Its Fiat-to-Crypto Platform

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Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has added the Vietnamese Dong (VND) on its Customer-to-Customer (C2C) trading system, enabling Vietnamese customers to exchange their fiat currency for tokens on the platform. The C2C platform was created by OKEx in 2017 as a peer-to-peer platform where users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies using fiat currencies. OKEx’s Head of Operations Andy Cheung noted that the addition of the VND on the company’s fiat-to-token platform would drive the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Vietnam. “Vietnam is one of the most important blockchain hubs in Southeast Asia.…

Canadian Holding Firm to Acquire EXMO Crypto Exchange Per Letter of Intent

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Canadian holding firm GoverMedia Plus Canada will acquire U.K.-based crypto exchange EXMO per a recently signed a Letter of Intent (LOI), according to a joint announcement published Nov. 13. The LOI reportedly enables GoverMedia to exclusively negotiate the transaction within the next 180 days. Upon the completion of the transaction, the joined entity will continue to conduct business on the EXMO platform and will be listed on a stock exchange. According to the announcement, the acquisition deal will “comply with all necessary legal and regulatory requirements” after observing due diligence…

Amex Files Patent for Blockchain System to Match Images of Receipts With Stored Records

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Financial services giant American Express (Amex) has filed a patent for a blockchain-based system to capture and transmit the image of a receipt, according to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent filing published Nov. 13. The patent applicant is listed as American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc., the company’s travel subsidiary. The new filing, titled “Linking digital images with related records,” includes a new method for receiving, recording and transmitting the image of a receipt. The filing describes how the system lets a user with a mobile…

Chinese City in Hunan Province Launches Blockchain Platform for Real Estate Data

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The Chinese city of Loudi has launched a blockchain platform to store real estate data, the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, reports Nov. 13. The platform is backed by land, tax and real estate departments in the city, which is located in central Hunan province. Starting Nov. 15, the new system will let citizens avoid lines and other bureaucratic processes when submitting documents to the above-listed departments, the newspaper states. Also today, the first real estate electronic voucher was issued in the city via the new blockchain-based system.…

Iran turns to crypto as SWIFT disconnects the Iranian central bank

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SWIFT, a platform which facilitates cross-border payments globally, has once again disconnected the Iranian central bank as Iran turns to crypto to bridge the gap. Iran was reconnected back to SWITF’s network in 2016 after four years of being in the dark of international money transfer and after the U.S. lifted the economic sanctions hovering over the country. But on March this year, President Donald Trump led the United States in withdrawing from the agreements signed in 2016. This threw Iran back to an economic sanction which took effect in…

Amazon Wins Patents for Cryptography and Distributed Data Storage Solutions

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E-commerce giant Amazon has won two patents related to methods for protecting the integrity of digital signatures and improving distributed data storage. The two patents were published by by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today, Nov. 13. The first patent document, first filed in April of this year, outlines a “signature delegation” method for “protecting the integrity of digital signatures and encrypted communications,” by allowing for the generation, distribution, validation, and revocation of one-time-use cryptographic keys. In the proposed system, these keys are arranged in what is known…

Raiffeisen Bank, Gazprom Partner to Issue Bank Guarantee on Blockchain

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The Russian subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International has partnered with local state-owned oil giant Gazprom Neft to issue a bank guarantee on blockchain, Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported Nov. 12. According to Kommersant, the bank guarantee was issued to conduct a trade finance transaction involving four parties, Raiffeisen, Gazprom Neft, Belarusian firm Mozyr Oil Refinery, Priorbank of Belarus. Raiffeisen acted as an advising bank for the Russian oil company, while Priorbank of Belarus, which is part of  Raiffeisen bank group, issued a bank guarantee for the deal via blockchain. The…

Marc Andreessen: Bitcoin Is A “Very Important Idea”

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Marc Andreessen, one of the internet’s foremost entrepreneurs and investors, has recently doubled-down on his pro-Bitcoin sentiment, divulging that cryptocurrency is a “fundamentally new and very important concept.” This notable nod of acceptance from such a luminary indicates that this budding industry continues to pick up steam, even whilst the crypto market continues its tightrope walk. Tech And Venture Capital Legend: Bitcoin, Crypto Continues To Work In early-2014, when Ethereum was a fledgling concept and Bitcoin (BTC) was far under quadruple digits, Marc Andreessen, the mastermind behind a number of the…

Huobi’s US-Based Strategic Partner HBUS Hires Former Exec of VC Firm Draper Athena

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HBUS, the strategic partner of top crypto exchange Huobi, has hired a former executive of venture capital (VC) firm Draper Athena, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Nov. 13. The HBUS trading platform, which currently employs around 40 people in their headquarters in San Francisco, has officially announced the appointment of Jay Ryu, formerly of Draper Athena, as Vice President of Corporate Development. As the press release states, Ryu previously worked with prominent figures in the VC industry, such as Draper Athena chairman Tim Draper, well-known for his…