Crypto News Summary: DBS Adopts DeFi Protocols for FX & Government Securities Transactions, Union Bank of Philippines to Launch BTC & ETH Custody & Trading

Banking Bitcoin Coinbase Dapp DeFi Ethereum

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Sead Fadilpašić

Journalist

Sead Fadilpašić

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Sead specializes in writing factual and informative articles to help the public navigate the ever-changing world of crypto. He has extensive experience in the blockchain industry, where he has served...

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Last updated: 

January 9, 2024 06:11 EST

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Banking news

• Financial services group DBS announced that it is “one of the first banks globally” to test the trading of foreign exchange (FX) and government securities using permissioned decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity pools on a public blockchain through Project Guardian, a collaborative initiative with the financial industry that seeks to explore the economic potential and value-adding use cases of asset tokenization. According to the press release, the trade comprised the outright purchase and sale of tokenized Singapore Government Securities (SGS), Singapore Dollar (SGD), Japanese Government Bonds, and Japanese Yen (JPY).
• Digital asset management technology METACO announced that Union Bank of the Philippines is live on METACO’s flagship platform, Harmonize, to launch a pilot program for bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) custody and trading services for select retail customers, said a press release. UnionBank is one of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, and it was granted a crypto license under the supervision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), it added.

DeFi news

• DeFi infrastructure company CANVAS announced the testnet launch of CANVAS Connect, the Layer 2 scaling solution built in collaboration with StarkWare, a company focused on ZK-rollup technology and scaling the Ethereum blockchain. Per the press release, the service will allow users to complete DeFi transactions without paying the high and unpredictable gas costs while benefiting from Ethereum security. Transaction types include investing, trading, and transfers (payments).
• Flux, a suite of decentralized computing services and blockchain-as-a-service solutions, announced the launch of Jetpack 2.0, a system update that enables easier and cheaper deployment of decentralized applications (dapps) onto the Flux decentralized cloud, said a press release. Jetpack 2.0 brings a variety of new features, including an improved dapp registration and management process, as well as direct fiat payment and settlement services, it added.

Stablecoin news

• StraitsX, a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), announced that it would be piloting a series of stablecoin applications at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) 2022. A press release said that, through collaborations with partners such as IDEMIA, The HBAR Foundation, Mastercard, and Carbonseed.Earth, StraitsX focused on increasing payment efficiency, on-chain and offline programmability providing interoperability, spurring financial inclusion, and enabling sustainable and energy-efficient transactions. 

Regulation news

• US-based blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos has secured a license as a Major Payments Institution from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It is aiming to hire 130 people but could hire as many as 180, according to Bloomberg, citing Paxos co-founder and Paxos Asia CEO Rich Teo.

Exchange news

• Crypto trading platform MEXC announced that it had reached a cooperation with Coinbase to jointly fulfill the privacy and security obligations of cryptocurrency under the framework of Coinbase’s TRUST Network (TRUST), an alliance of crypto exchanges, said the press release.

Gaming news

• Oasys, an environmentally-friendly and gaming-optimized blockchain, announced that it formed a strategic partnership with YGG Japan, a blockchain games guild, to promote blockchain gaming ecosystem development and growth in Japan, said an announcement. The partners will provide global game developers access to networking opportunities and marketing resources in the local market, targeted at Japanese gamers, it added.

Web3 news

• Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US partnered to launch the third annual T Challenge for innovators and disruptors to compete for an award on the best Public Blockchain Protocol solutions for Web3, said a press release. This year, the two companies are also partnering with four Web3-focused companies: Celo, Fireblocks, theGraph, and Chainlink. The submission period is now open, and six winners will split 600,000 euros, or roughly the same in US dollars, and an all-expenses paid trip to Bonn, Germany.
• The Web3 Domain Alliance was formed today as a new coalition that aims to promote the technological advancement and interoperability of Web3 domain registries and improve the experience of Web3 users, said the press release. The alliance will seek to prevent malicious phishing attacks, bad actors impersonating Web3 “top-level domains” (W3TLDs), cybersquatting, and Web3 domain collisions. The group includes Unstoppable Domains, Bonfida, Tezos Domains, Polkadot Name System, Hedera, Syscoin, and klaytn.domains.
• Open Metaverse Alliance (OMA3), an association based in Zug, Switzerland, announced open membership to its first working groups at Web Summit. The participants include Animoca Brands, Alien Worlds, Dapper Labs, MetaMetaverse, SPACE Metaverse, SuperWorld, The Sandbox, Upland, Voxels, Unstoppable Domains, and Wivity.