Another Banking Giant Picks Ethereum + 8 More Crypto Briefs

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 2 min read

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.

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Blockchain adoption news

  • Spanish multinational banking giant Santander Group said it has issued the first end-to-end blockchain bond – it is “a first step towards a potential secondary market for mainstream security tokens in the future.” The company used the Ethereum blockchain. It’s not the first banking giant that picks Ethereum for major financial transactions – in April, French giant Societe Generale Group sold EUR 100 million of covered bonds (debt backed by mortgages) to itself by using Ethereum.
  • Another South Korean telecoms provider – Union Mobile – says that it will launch blockchain-powered mobile services. The three market leaders, SK, KT and the LG Group’s LG U+ subsidiary have all previously launched their own mainnets, but, per a press release, Union Mobile says it wants to differentiate by using blockchain rather than telecoms technology – helping it sidestep telecoms regulations.
  • Chat app Nestree will join South Korean operator Dunamu’s Luniverse blockchain. Per a ZDNet Korea report, Nestree says it will offer token rewards via the platform. The company also plans to operate a “bridge” service for multiple wallets via the chat app.

Cryptocurrency adoption news

  • The Marshall Islands is proceeding with the creation of a blockchain-based national currency, the Marshallese sovereign or SOV, Bloomberg reported. The country doesn’t have a starting date set yet, as officials still need to resolve compliance and regulatory issues, and work with entities like the U.S. Treasury and the International Monetary Fund.
  • Panda Group has installed 30 Bitcoin Teller Machines (BTMs) in Venezuelan towns close to the Columbian border. Per a Criptonoticias report, the machines will allow investors to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dash tokens. The company has already installed a number of BTMs in Columbia and talked of “invading Venezuela from Colombia with BTMs.”
  • A branch of Bitcoin Rock Café is to open in the Spanish city of Vigo, reports La Voz De Galicia. The restaurant and bar says it will accept payment in 1,000 different cryptocurrencies – including one of its own. Its owners also plan to open branches in Madrid and Barcelona.
  • London artist Lincoln Townley says he has sold 19 paintings to a Singaporean investor for BTC 490 (USD 5 million), Evening Standard reported. All the works were bought via an agent based in the Swiss ski resort of Gstaad a month before they were due to go on display at a Saatchi gallery, according to the report.

Cryptocurrency exchange news

  • Chat app giant Line’s forthcoming Japanese cryptocurrency exchange is set to initially offer trading in the BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH and LTC cryptocurrencies, per a press release. The company was recently granted an operating permit from the regulatory Financial Services Agency.
  • Singapore has the largest amount of bitcoin transactions so far in 2019, despite the USA and UK having more registered exchanges, Crystal, a blockchain analytics platform developed by the Bitfury Group’s software team, said in a recent research. In 2018, the total volume of bitcoin directly transferred between exchanges was almost USD 92.6 billion. A total of USD 65.1 billion was transferred by exchanges from G20 countries, Hong Kong, and Singapore.