“Solana prioritizes scalability, but a relatively less decentralized and secure blockchain has trade-offs, illustrated by several network performance issues since inception,” Shah said. “Ethereum prioritizes decentralization and security, but at the expense of scalability, which has led to periods of network congestion and transaction fees that are occasionally larger than the value of the transaction being sent.” Source
TCS Group, the owner of the major private Russian bank Tinkoff, is gaining exposure to digital assets. The firm has invested in Swiss digital asset service provider Aximetria, which is set to become the company’s first major crypto-related outfit, local news agency The Bell reported Wednesday. Citing data from Aximetria, the report suggests that TCS purchased 4,449 Aximetria shares worth 100 Swiss francs ($108) per share. Given that Aximetria’s total share capital was about 535,000 francs ($578,000), the publication reported TCS’ stake to be around 83.2%. A spokesperson for Tinkoff…
Seba Bank, a Swiss-based digital assets banking platform regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, announced on Wednesday that it had completed a successful Series C funding round of 110 million Swiss franc, or $119 million U.S. dollars. Notable investors in the round included cryptocurrency exchange FTX, quantitative digital currency trading firm Alameda Research, decentralized finance asset management firm DeFi Technologies, and venture capital entities such as Altive, Ordway Selections and Summer Capital. The bank said it plans to use the funds to fuel international growth and drive demand from…
“We plan to expand into a number of new priority markets globally with this funding including the Middle East. This funding will also be used to grow our headcount across these new priority markets,” SEBA Bank CEO Guido Buehler told CoinDesk in an email. “In addition, funding will be used to drive institutional business growth through further investment in our product offering and technology.” Source
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is putting more effort into increasing compliance in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russia and Ukraine. Binance is planning to extend its operations in the region and boost local cryptocurrency compliance and education, Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s head of operations for Russia and the CIS, told Cointelegraph on Tuesday. The company additionally expects to focus on the local Binance Smart Chain (BSC) development and community, he noted. As part of the effort, Binance announced several local hires, including Olga Goncharova, Binance’s new director of…
Indian financial services giant Axis Bank issued a financial contract between two domestic businesses by using a government-backed blockchain platform called Secured Logistics Document Exchange (SLDE). SLDE was developed and released on Jul. 28, 2021, by India’s Ministry of Commerce & Industry to serve as a digital document exchange platform that uses blockchain-based security protocols for data security and authentication. According to the official announcement, Axis issued a letter of credit, a financial contract that guarantees payment upon conditions, between Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India and Lalit Pipes & Pipes…
Bahrain is the latest nation to explore blockchain technology by American investment bank JPMorgan, with the country’s central bank trialing JPMorgan’s proprietary digital currency. The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has successfully completed a digital payment test in collaboration with JPMorgan’s blockchain and cryptocurrency unit Onyx, according to an official announcement published on Jan. 6. The trial involved two other major institutions, Manama-based international bank, Bank ABC, and Bahrain’s national aluminum smelter Aluminium Bahrain, also known as Alba. The test enabled Bank ABC to settle real-time payments to Alba’s counterparts…
“The idea for now is just for our clients to buy, sell and hold some of the most prominent DeFi tokens,” said Braud in an interview. “But we do believe traditional financial institutions will be replaced in the near future by these protocols and we want to be part of this change. So, naturally in the future, we want to go deeper into these kinds of decentralized services.” Source
Sun Hung Kai, one of the largest property developers in Hong Kong, continues betting on the cryptocurrency industry by investing in Swiss crypto outfit Sygnum. Sygnum officially announced Thursday that it had closed a $90-million Series B round led by Sun Hung Kai, a real estate giant and alternative investment firm in Hong Kong. According to Sun Hung Kai executive chairman Lee Seng Huang, the company has a strategic vision to expand its fund management offerings into digital assets. “Amidst growing institutional demand and regulatory oversight of this sector, Sygnum,…
The total quantity of gold held in reserves by central banks topped 36,000 tons for the first time since 1990, data from World Gold Council has shown. This increase follows growth in the banks’ reported holdings of the asset by 4,500 tons over the past decade. Dollar’s Decline a Boon for Gold The amount of gold held in reserves by central banks as of September 2021 grew to a new high of 36,000 tons for the first time since 1990. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), this increase in…