South Korean Army to Use Blockchain-powered ID Solution + More News
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.
Cryptocurrency news
- A South Korean blockchain authentication solution developed by a private company will be adopted by the nation’s military, reports Newsis. A RaonSecure-created decentralized ID platform that makes use of blockchain innovations will be made available via a mobile app that is capable of processing biometric information without the need for certificates. The project has been conducted in conjunction with the Military Manpower Administration, a Ministry of Defense agency.
- Bitcoin payment processor BTCPay Server announced its BTCPay Vault – a desktop application which allows communication between user’s hardware wallet and BTCPay using its full Bitcoin node. This cross-platform desktop application makes hardware wallet experience not only smoother and faster, but also extends compatibility to many other devices, the company says.
- Paxos, issuer of the popular stablecoin Paxos Standard Token (PAX), launched a new auto-transfer feature that enables its customers to automatically wire transfer funds from their bank accounts into PAX or Binance USD (BUSD). Per Paxos, when PAX or BUSD is sent to the designated address, they will be wired in USD to the user’s bank account automatically. Once set up, the process will function without requiring the users to login to their Paxos account.
- Telecom giant Vodafone Group Plc left the Libra Association, as yet another company to make that move. Bloomberg reports that the association is now down to 20 following earlier departures from Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., PayPal, and others that had committed to the Facebook’s project but left before the group signed an official charter. Vodafone said it plans to focus on its own digital payments efforts instead, while the Association said that members may change, but that the design of Libra’s governance and technology ensures the Libra payment system remains resilient.
- Major crypto payments processor BitPay launched support for XRP and announced eGifter and CareUSA among the first merchants to accept the coin as a payment method upon launch, said Ripple’s developer initiative Xpring.
- A Venezuelan university will offer citizens across the country free cryptocurrency training at specially organized workshops. Per a state media report, the Universidad Nacional Experimental de Telecomunicaciones e Informática will offer sessions on cryptocurrencies and the Petro ecosystem, as well as a new master’s program in blockchain technology.
Exchanges news
- Huobi Group announced the launch of a digital asset brokerage platform, the company’s first brokerage solution, and the first product launched under the company’s Global Institutional Business (GIB) division. The press release says that Huobi Brokerage will provide digital asset trading products and services to institutional clients and high-net-worth individuals.
- Binance said it invested in Numbers, a blockchain protocol focused on data traceability and monetization. The exchange explains that Numbers app is integrated with Binance Chain through Zion, a hardware-based key management system, and it offers the developer community easy access to the Binance Chain and for hardware wallet protection, digital signature, etc.
- Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck says it has issued its first Lisk staking rewards. The company has recently begun Lisk staking as part of a beta program and says it hopes to allow users to start staking in a range of other tokens in the near future. In an official tweet, the exchange said it had successfully paid some USD 1,600 worth of Lisk tokens to a beta participant in its first payout.
- The operator of the Japanese exchange BITpoint wants to raise some USD 36 million in a share issuance. Remixpoint’s BITpoint platform was hacked to the tune of around USD 32 million in summer last year. Nikkei reports that Remixpoint hopes to use the funds to pay for damages incurred in last year’s hack, expand its crypto-related business and bolster the exchange’s security system.
Legal news
- Blockchain advocacy group the Chamber of Digital Commerce has submitted an amicus curiae brief, asking a U.S. District Court to differentiate between an investment contract and the underlying asset used by Telegram during a 2018 initial coin offering (ICO). This type of brief is filed with the court by someone who is not a party to the case, in this case the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s battle with Telegram. The group argues that, without a clear legal distinction between a transaction determined to be an investment contract and the digital asset that is the subject of the investment contract, various companies, retailers, healthcare providers, etc. may not be able to develop or use blockchain without unintentionally triggering the U.S. federal securities laws every time a digital asset is used as part of their network, the brief says.
