“We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain. The main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics,” Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said in an interview with TASS. Source
Strike, a Bitcoin-focused payments application, has announced the launch of its services in seven African countries, signaling its expansion into the continent. The countries included in this initial rollout are Gabon, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia. The company, founded by CEO Jack Mallers, aims to extend its reach to more African markets in the future. All of our services are rolling out to Africa, not just our app. Strike for Businesses, the Strike API, and Strike Private are all now available in the supported African markets.…
Sending bitcoin onchain remains a poor payment experience despite the hype surrounding the leading crypto asset, according to Taproot Wizards founder Udi Wertheimer. In a recent post-mortem of a high-volume sale using bitcoin, Wertheimer detailed several pain points with onchain payments including long confirmation times, lack of payment amount enforcement, high fees, and insufficient Lightning […] Original
According to data from Coingecko, Dogecoin (DOGE) has soared by 10.5% in the last 24 hours, drawing much attention from market analysts and investors alike. Prior to this gain, the memecoin had shown little price movement, hovering around the $0.08 price region for most of the past week. Dogecoin ranks as one of the top players in the crypto ecosystem, with a staggering market cap of $12.38 billion. The meme coin is particularly popular for its endorsements by famous figures such as Gene Simmons, Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban and the…
With X now obtaining payment licenses across a dozen states in the United States, Musk said the app is ready to start its payment services come 2024 at an undisclosed date. Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, recently disclosed that his social media platform, X, will launch its in-app payment services by mid-next year. Musk shared the news during a space conversation with Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, on December 21. The discussion covered various topics, including artificial intelligence (AI) and Bitcoin (BTC). Looking forward…
All Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) nonfungible tokens (NFTs) stolen from the peer-to-peer trading platform NFT Trader have been returned after a bounty payment. NFTs worth nearly $3 million were stolen in the hack on Dec. 16. As per public messages, the attacker attributed the original exploit to another user. “I came here to pick up residual garbage,” they wrote, requesting ransom payments to return the NFTs. “If you want these NFT’s back then you need to pay me 120 ETH […] and then…
Web3 gaming firm Immutable is set to integrate Transak as the sole payment service provider for its Immutable zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM). The service is set to directly power fiat and Web3-based payments in gaming environments. Transak’s service will be integrated into Immutable Checkout and Immutable Passport. The former acts as Immutable’s all-in-one transaction infrastructure for games and provides a configurable interface for game developers to integrate various payment options. Transak’s on-ramp, off-ramp and nonfungible token (NFT) payment service allows fiat payments through credit and debit cards, as well…
Currently valued at $8.6 billion after its £590 million ($624 million) investment round last year, SumUp stands strong in private markets with no immediate plans for an initial public offering. London-based financial services company SumUp has secured £285 million worth approximately $307 million in its latest funding round to expand its business offerings to other parts of the world outside the United Kingdom. The company has already established its presence in other financial markets outside Europe, including the United States and Australia. Global Expansion Plans According to an official announcement…
While Amazon did not provide the actual reason for not supporting Venmo as a payment option, the notable rise of web3 payment platforms could be a major factor. In October last year, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced that it would begin to offer Venmo, a product of PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL), as a new payment option to boost its orders on the mobile app and Amazon.com site during the festival season. Initially, Amazon announced only its US-based customers would shop with the Venmo payment option. A year later, Amazon…
An archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic is seeking startups and tech talents to boost its economic growth. Web3 entrepreneurs are flocking to this region. Portugal’s Madeira archipelago has been praised for its natural beauty, but an aging population and pressing need for a more diversified economy prompted its local government to explore emerging technologies, such as blockchain. According to Rogerio Gouveia, finance secretary of the regional government of Madeira, emerging-technology companies make up nearly 30% of businesses in Madeira’s free trade zone, a special economic area that offers…