SK Telecom Set to Debut Blokchain-powered Mobile Insurance + More News
This is our daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Blockchain/DLT news
- South Korean telecoms giant SK Telecom is to launch a blockchain-based paperless mobile phone insurance service, reports IT Biz News. The company says it will work with smartphone maker Samsung on the platform, and says it will allow customers to do away with in-person visits to customer services centers in order to hand over paper documents as part of after-sale and servicing plans.
- Chinese courts could soon use blockchain-powered electronic seals for property, houses, buildings, seized or being investigated by police and prosecutors – in place of police line tape. Per JRJ, the seals would also make use of cloud and IoT technology to ensure crime sites are not tampered with – and prosecute offenders.
- Blockchain votes “could be decrypted before official count began” in the recent Russian referendum on constitutional reform, reports Meduza. Blockchain network users were able to generate ciphertexts with the same parameters as those used by sender and recipients on the network, “generating a shared key that could be used for both the encryption and decryption” of votes. Electoral committees say 1.14 million people cast their votes using blockchain technology in the referendum.
- Avery Dennison, a Fortune 500 company and a global materials science company, has joined the Hedera Governing Council, said the public distributed ledger platform Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR). Per the emailed announcement, the Council is designed to decentralize the governance of Hedera’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform, and will comprise up to 39 multinational entities from across the industries and the world, already including Google, Wipro, IBM, UCL, Tata Communications, Boeing, and more.
Crypto adoption news
- Switzerland’s InCore Bank AG now offers banking services to clients of crypto exchange Kraken, as the first financial institution in the country to do so, said the press release. EU-based clients will be able to fund their accounts in euro using Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) deposits, which is the payment integration project by the European Union meant to simplify euro bank transfers. In Q3, InCore Bank and Kraken will enable CHF, GBP, and CAD deposits as well.
- On July 9, the Bank of Lithuania will present what they describe as “the world’s first digital collector coin” – LBCOIN. The country’s central bank will also announce the launch and start of registration of a special e-shop dedicated to this project, said the announcement.
Regulation news
- The Criminal Investigation Division of the United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is asking for tools that could improve tracing transactions using seven named privacy coins, side chains, and Layer 2 protocols Lightning Network, Raiden Network (RDN), and Celer Network (CELR). Per a request for information published by the US Department of the Treasury, the division is asking for submissions for “an interactive prototype” that includes systems for “clustering transactions” from an individual using “privacy coins and obfuscation technologies,” for creating a library of wallet addresses connected with those “suspected or known to be involved in nefarious activities,” and identifying other addresses associated with those wallets.
Exchanges news
- Binance Staking has launched new features and benefits, including more options and returns with the new support for PoS (Proof of Stake) networks operated by Binance Pool, which enables Binance exchange users to stake more high market value tokens, the announcement said. Among these benefits, the exchange highlighted more flexibility in staking periods, larger rewards, and lower barrier to stake.
Wallet news
- Ethereum wallet and decentralized app (dapp) browser MetaMask has launched MetaMask Version 8, what they said is a major upgrade with a host of new features. When a user connects to a website, the update allows them the option to select one or more accounts to associate with that website or create a new account just for that site, and also to switch between accounts. Among other features, dapps can now enable receiving private messages to MetaMask accounts.
Investments news
- Notable South Korean blockchain player Iconloop has received a USD 13 million investment boost, reports newspaper
- Maeil Kyungjae. The firm is working with the government on a range of decentralized ID-related projects, and investors include the likes of smartphone-based e-payments platform operator Danalpay, as well as a number of leading South Korean venture capital firms.
