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…
Tag: Digital
Digital cold war? United States and China vie for blockchain supremacy
Two nations, two visions of the financial future: “The tech cold war is here — and the US isn’t winning,” wrote Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen in an opinion piece for The Hill recently. According to him, China has “a once-in-a-century opportunity to wrest away American stewardship of the global financial system, including its ultimate goal of replacing the dollar with a digital yuan.” Western values of openness and freedom could be lost in this new financial order. Others have sounded similar concerns. “There is a new space race. It is…
Blockchain technology, financial and self-sovereign digital identities
Imagine if it were possible for your identity to be available at any time, where third parties could only access it with your consent. The discourse that everyone has the right to own their digital identity has been gaining momentum around the world. And the path to this is the development of “decentralized digital identity” solutions. What is a self-sovereign identity? Here, it is important to clarify that according to the concept of self-sovereign digital identity, owners (holders) of the digital identity are responsible for the control and management of…
Swiss crypto bank Sygnum scores approval for digital asset trading
Sygnum, a major cryptocurrency bank in Switzerland, is preparing to finally introduce digital asset trading after receiving regulatory approval. On Sept. 1, Sygnum announced that it received regulatory approval from the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), allowing the company to expand its services to a digital asset trading facility. The new approval enables Sygnum to “cover the complete life-cycle of a security,” starting from services like primary issuance, settlement, and custody to secondary trading. As part of Sygnum’s new capabilities, users now have access to instant settlement via the Sygnum-issued…
Switzerland’s top online retailer completes transaction with digital franc
Galaxus, the largest online retailer in Switzerland, could start accepting payments in a stablecoin issued by local cryptocurrency bank Sygnum. According to an Aug. 27 tweet by Sygnum, the companies have just completed an electronic commerce payment using Sygnum Bank’s stablecoin known as Digital Swiss Franc (DCHF). As officially announced, the e-commerce transaction was enabled by Denmark-based crypto payment processor Coinify. Launched in March 2020, Sygnum’s DCHF stablecoin is pegged one-to-one to with the Swiss franc, and intends to eliminate the need for card systems, reduce settlement costs and fraud,…
BlockConf DIGITAL Announces Epic 48-hours Online Blockchain Conference
BlockConf DIGITAL is going live online for 48-hours non-stop with some 200+ speakers, 100+ investors, industry experts and researchers who will attend the event to exchange ideas and share their thoughts on the industry trends and future. The event kicks off May 14th at 9:00 GMT+8 and welcomes all the attendees for 48 hours continuously. “We are very excited to see the transformation and how fast the conference market is adapting to the new scenario. BlockConf DIGITAL is our 2 cents to join that trend and also going further with…
Digital Retail Giant Overstock Set to Use Bitcoin for Tax Payments in 2019 Already
The new year has begun just a couple of years ago but has already brought some surprising news for crypto enthusiasts. On Thursday, the US online retailer Overstock announced it would pay part of its business taxes in the state of Ohio with Bitcoin (BTC). The move is a way to promote cryptocurrency use. Overstock CEO and founder Patrick Byrne said: “We have long thought that thoughtful governmental adoption of emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies (when accompanied by non-restrictive legislation over these technologies) is the best way to ensure the U.S. does not lose our place…
Bank of Finland Releases Scathing Crypto Report, Calls Digital Currency a “Fallacy”
The Bank of Finland released a paper on June 21 titled “The Great Illusion of Cryptocurrencies,” explaining why they think the concept of a digital currency is a “fallacy.” The paper, written by Aleksi Grym, Adviser on Digitalization and Head of the Digital Central Bank process in the Financial Stability and Statistics Department. It aims to explain how cryptocurrencies’ fundamental nature “shows how poorly understood the concept of money itself still is today” and how the Internet and social media have “muddled our sense of fact and fiction.” In Grym’s…