Crypto Briefs is your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Crypto adoption news
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Crypto market researcher Glassnode has announced that Hodler Net Position Change is now hitting yearly highs. Per their tweet, it’s been growing since the end of March, with the long term investors increasing their positions and accumulating more bitcoin (BTC) each day.
- Bundle, an Africa-focused social payments app for cash and cryptoassets, backed by Binance, said that it has launched in Nigeria today. The Bundle Android app is currently available, and the iOS app will be available in the coming weeks. Bundle does not currently support a desktop version. The app plans to support over 30 African countries by the end of the year.
Trading news
- Coinbase announced Coinbase Oracle — a signed price feed that anyone can publish on-chain: “Anyone can use the Coinbase Oracle API to get signed price data for BTC-USD and ETH-USD markets.”
- Securitize, a security token platform, said that they launched Instant Access, a new feature on their site that allows their investors to compliantly sell their digital securities directly to other investors with “no counter-party risk and without paying any fees for the transaction.”
- CoinList, a token listing platform backed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has announced that since February it’s been enabling institutions to get wBTC, an ERC20 token pegged 1:1 to BTC held in cold storage by BitGo, a cryptocurrency custody provider. According to their blog post, CoinList has now opened this service to all their users, allowing them to convert BTC for wBTC, and vise versa, directly via their wallet.
Blockchain news
- The South Korean province of South Gyeongsang has announced that it will hasten the rollout of planned blockchain services in a bid to reduce face-to-face contact and reduce the spread of the coronavirus within the region. Per Yonhap, officials in the province say that they want to reduce the amount of visits members of the public need to make to local government offices, and will use the new services to ensure many services can be provided online.
- A South Korean blockchain company has teamed up with a leading legal firm to create a platform that its operators say can recover stolen crypto funds. Per Paxnet, Uppsala – which specializes in security-related blockchain operations – has developed the solution in conjunction with a legal firm named Bareun. The solution, say the parties, will allow the police to freeze wallets at major exchanges and seize the funds therein.
- A Chinese bank says it has been making use of a blockchain-powered platform to help Chinese exporters resume business after lengthy coronavirus-related closures. Per the Sichuan News Network, the Sichuan branch of the Export-Import Bank of China has developed six applications for its platform, which it claims can cut down the time it takes for companies to complete cross-border transactions, reducing the time it takes to conduct five to six-day processes to one-two days.
- The Chinese government has created a special committee that will oversee the use of blockchain technology in the food and medical industries. Per Sina, the new committee will look to “promote blockchain technology use” to the food, catering and medical industry, as well as the cosmetics industry – and has been approved by state bodies including food regulators, medical authorities and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture.
Investment news
- Applied Blockchain, a London-based enterprise blockchain solutions firm, has completed a GBP 2 million (c. USD 2.5 million) funding round lead by Hong Kong-based venture capital firm QBN Capital. According to the press release, the funds will be used to develop a platform with privacy-enhancing technologies to help companies handle information better. It would enable them to collaborate without having to share any of their data. Applied Blockchain is backed by oil giant Shell and venture capital firm Calibrate.
- tZERO, Overstock’s blockchain subsidiary, has announced that GoldenSand Capital, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, has completed its USD 5 million equity investment in tZERO. Per the press release, GoldenSand capital will continue to collaborate with tZERO on strategic opportunities, wanting to join their many industry connections across Asia with tZERO’s tokenization protocol technology, said the firm’s Chairman Sonny Wu.