Singapore Exchange (SGX), a major investment holding company in Singapore, has issued its first digital bond powered by blockchain technology. As officially announced on Sept. 1, SGX deployed its digital asset issuance platform to conduct a 400 million Singapore dollar ($294 million) 5.5-year public bond issuance for major local food and agri-business company, Olam International. Focused on Asia bond markets, the new digital bond was enabled by cooperation with SGX’s established blockchain partners like HSBC Singapore and investment firm Temasek. As part of the joint initiative, HSBC provided its on-chain…
Day: September 4, 2020
Blockchain can combat Australia’s $1.7B food and wine fraud problem
A supply chain forum featuring local experts and government officials has advocated using blockchain technology to fight the $1.7 billion worth of food fraud annually harming Australia’s primary sector. Blockchain Australia deputy chair Rob Allen moderated the online panel discussion on Sept. 4 discussing use-cases for blockchain within the supply chain sector to an audience of more than 150 attendees. Allen set the scene by stating that verifying the authenticity of produce claiming to be Australian-made in local and overseas markets is one of the largest challenges facing the country’s…
MetaMask finally escapes the desktop with new mobile wallet
Popular Ethereum (ETH) browser wallet MetaMask has launched a mobile application for both iOS and Android. MetaMask users can now manage their cryptocurrency wallets, store non-fungible tokens (NFTs), sign messages, and play blockchain-powered games from their mobile devices. Users of the wallet’s desktop browser extension can import their entire transaction history into MetaMask Mobile by scanning a QR code. MetaMask, which was developed and released by ConsenSys, has exclusively been a Chrome and Firefox extension since launching in 2016. It has been downloaded more than four million times. ConsenSys describes…
Stablecoin market cap increases by $100M every single day
The rise of DeFi protocols and the demand for tokens in liquidity pools may be contributing to a huge surge in the supply of stablecoins. According to an Sept. 3 tweet from Coin Metrics co-founder Nic Carter, the current supply of stablecoins Binance USD (BUSD), Dai (DAI), HUSD, Paxos Standard Token (PAX), USD Coin (USDC), USDK, Tether (USDT), USDT_ETH, and USDT_TRX has been increasing by roughly $100 million daily for almost two months. “Everyone got so excited about DeFi no one pointed out that stablecoins have been adding $100m/day since…
Brazil could have CBDC in two years, says central bank president
The president of Banco Central — Brazil’s central bank — has announced Brazilians could expect to see a central bank digital currency before 2023. According to a Sept. 2 report from news outlet Correio Braziliense, Brazil could be ready for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2022. Roberto Campos Neto, the president of Banco Central, stated that the country’s central bank had already undertaken measures to modernize the Brazilian financial system which has made a CBDC the natural outcome. The president cited the country’s PIX instant payment system and…
All fintech companies will use blockchain within 10 years: Aussie government report
The Australian government’s Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology has released a draft report citing blockchain technology more than 50 times. The report is in response to Australia’s first recession in 30 years as a result of COVID-19, which was confirmed in the June quarter’s negative growth announced on September 2. The document makes numerous recommendations about how the nation can “embrace technology and become globally competitive” said committee head Senator Andrew Bragg. He added: It is my hope this interim report can be seen as a…
Yield farming satire MEME turns into multi-million dollar crypto project
Degenerator, or MEME, an obscure project that began life as an airdrop to Telegram users, has managed to garner a $3 million market cap and is seeking to carve a niche for itself as a non-fungible token (NFT) farming protocol. MEME emerged from a joke posted by ConsenSys’ DeFi product lead Jordan Lyall, who created a joke advertisement ‘The Degenerator’ — a fictitious tool for creating ponzinomics-inspired yield farming tokens. The joke quickly struck a chord with the crypto community, receiving significant engagement on Twitter. However, within hours of Lyall…
Celo price spikes 32% after Coinbase listing
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, will now offer support for Celo — an announcement that led to a 32% price surge in less than two hours. According to a Sept. 3 blog post from Coinbase, the exchange now supports the utility and governance token for the Celo platform. Coinbase this week also announced that UMA would be available for trading on Coinbase Pro starting on Sept. 8. The exchange appears to be prioritizing support for tokens for projects in which it is invested. Coinbase currently holds…