Payments platform Wirex is launching 26 fiat-backed stablecoins on the Stellar blockchain network, including the U.S. dollar, euro, the British pound, Hong Kong dollar and the Singapore dollar.
A majority vote to increase fees on programmatic lending platform MakerDAO has passed an initial round of polling today. This time, the winning vote is to increase fees by 2%, which, in comparison to past weeks, is a comparatively small increase to the usual 3 or 4%.
Genesis Global Capital wrote $425 million of crypto loans in the first quarter, bringing its total originations since the business launched in March 2018 to $1.53 billion.
"The New York Attorney General's office has alleged that crypto exchange Bitfinex lost $850 million and subsequently used funds from affiliated stablecoin operator Tether to secretly cover the shortfall."
Ripple's XRP is having a disastrous start to 2019. In a year when bitcoin is storming back towards bull territory, XRP has crashed 16 percent. The third-largest cryptocurrency is now the worst-performing digital asset in the top ten.
Bitspark, a blockchain-based bankless money transfer solution, will launch a Philippine Peso pegged cryptocurrency for money transfers dubbed "peg.PHP."
The agency that regulates and manages China's foreign exchange reserves has developed a blockchain system aimed to address inefficiencies in cross-border trade finance.
Societe Generale issued EUR100 million of covered bonds in the form of a security token on the ethereum blockchain. However the bank issued the securities to itself and no outside buyers were involved.
"Flash Boys 2.0: Frontrunning, Transaction Reordering, and Consensus Instability in Decentralized Exchanges" uncovers a number of significant details surrounding the activity of malicious trading bots on decentralized exchanges.
The EU's GDPR requires reporting of data breaches to authorities within 72 hours. The maximum penalty for failing to do so is 4% of a year's revenue. The number of breaches reported across Europe varies widely.
The cross-border payment applications of Ripple, JPM Coin, and World Wire aim mainly at financial and enterprise institutions. None are designed for the other side of the market.
So far, most central banks remain a long way from issuing CBDC of any kind. But given that technology has been progressing fast in the settlement and payment areas, as well as DLT, it is possible central banks may increase their interest in retail and wholesale CBDC proposals based on DLT and consider actual implementation seriously in the near future.
Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by adjusted volume, has launched its decentralized trading platform (DEX). A DEX enables users to trade P2P, using smart contracts to automate deal matching and asset liquidation.
On average, it costs 9.3% to send the equivalent of $200 to the Africa according to a new World Bank report. However, the cost drops by as much as 90% when money is sent through cryptocurrency-based fintech companies like Bitpesa.