Date: 07/05/2021
“Public procurement is one of the main avenues of corruption and wastage in government. Blockchain is a possible solution to problems surrounding inefficiencies in registration titling systems.” — Van Niekerk, co-founder and CEO of SettleMint
Weekly News Report:
1. The number of coins held by whale entities — clusters of addresses controlled by a single network participant holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC — rose by over 80,000 to 4.216 million BTC on Friday, hits a two-month high in bullish sign. Blockchain data shows wealthy investors are coming back to the bitcoin market.
2. Wyoming has legalized a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) with effect from July 1, marking another in a series of steps that have made the state the most crypto-friendly jurisdiction in the US. Wyoming is the first state to have legalized a DAO.
3. The tiny principality of San Marino has turned to blockchain technology to pioneer digitized Covid-19 vaccine passports. Each passport takes the form of an NFT. This digital asset then incorporates the use of two QR codes to verify the asset owner’s vaccination record in VeChain’s blockchain ledger; allowing an immutable, secure, and seamless proof of vaccination status.
4. Vietnam PM asks the central bank to study crypto, pursue pilot implementation. Cashless payments are increasing in Vietnam and the recognition of digital currencies by the central bank would help accelerate this process.
5. Shinhan Bank, one of the largest banking institutions in South Korea, has joined Klaytn’s blockchain governance council and become a member of the co-governance of the Klaytn blockchain. Shinhan will be also involved in the development of Klaytn-based digital services to support fintech innovation.
6. As the Ukrainian government progresses with cryptocurrency-related legislation, Monobank, a Ukrainian e-bank, is preparing to launch a debit card featuring Bitcoin trading.
7. Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager, announced the addition of Cardano to its Digital Large Cap Fund. It is now the third-largest component of the fund after bitcoin and ether.
8. Coinbase is looking to hire “hundreds” of recruits for its new hub in India and is offering an incentive of $1,000 in crypto. The aim is for recruits to “leverage this offering to learn about crypto,” Pankaj Gupta, VP of engineering and site lead in India.
9. Digital-asset investment funds attracted net capital inflows in the week to Friday after four consecutive weeks of redemptions, as BTC consolidated its quick recovery from sub-$30,000 levels. Data tracked by the U.S.- based CoinShares show crypto funds registered a net inflow of $63 million last week, of which nearly 62%, or $39 million, went into bitcoin-dedicated funds.
10. Greenidge Generation plans to expand its bitcoin mining with the South Carolina plant. Two-thirds of the electricity at the site is sourced from zero-carbon sources such as nuclear power.
11. Bank of France carries out fifth CBDC experiment with BNP Paribas, Euroclear. “This experiment made it possible to test the integration of issuance and settlement activities, including exchanges on the secondary market,” said the Bank of France.
12. Hideki Murai of the Liberal Democratic Party, heading a panel on digital currencies, said Japan will have a better idea of what to expect from a digital yen by the end of 2022. More details on the CBDC’s design may kick up a debate on how its issuance could impact financial institutions.
13. According to data presented by BlockArabia.com, the meme-inspired crypto coin also ranked as the fifth most traded cryptocurrency, with over $253B in monthly trading volume. Dogecoin’s value soared by 2400% YTD, despite the crypto price crash. Dogecoin ranked as the third most popular cryptocurrency to own in the United States and the United Kingdom, with a 24% and 15.5% ownership rate, respectively.
14. Lebanese have increasingly turned to cryptocurrency as a way to gain financial freedom during the ongoing banking and financial crises that erupted in late 2018.
