XRP Might Get Neighbours on XPR Ledger + 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.
Blockchain news
Ripple, an American blockchain company focusing on payments technologies, is working on new features that will expand the XRP Ledger’s functionality and allow third-party users to add new cryptoassets into the XRP ecosystem. CTO David Schwartz said in a video that these features could be used to launch stablecoins on the ledger, but also all assets pegged to some external value.
- Moody’s Investors Service has welcomed the news that a consortium of six banks and licensing authorities in the UAE will share verified know-your-customer customer data on a blockchain technology-powered platform. Moody’s said the consortium would “support the asset quality of UAE banks primarily by reducing operational risk.” The banks have partnered with blockchain provider Norbloc, and will be regulated by the UAE Central Bank when the platform rolls out “in the first quarter of this year,” reports The National.
- South Korea’s Coinplug claims its blockchain platform has been verified as performing at speeds of 4,258.2 transactions per second by an independent body. Per E Daily, Coinplug says its speeds have been checked by the South Korean Telecommunication Technology Association. Coinplug is the largest holder of blockchain patents in the country and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is a member of its advisory board.
- The Catalonian government says its blockchain sector will be worth some USD 66 million in five years’ time. Per La Vanguardia, the Spanish region’s digital innovations spokesperson says some 90 blockchain companies with revenues of around USD 10 million are based in Catalonia.
- South Korean blockchain company FLETA is set to work with Colmena of Argentina on a blockchain-powered waste management platform. The Argentinian company began working on a pilot project with the government in November last year, in the Misiones province. The company is hoping to roll out nationwide in Argentina after testing is complete, and the new FLETA deal, per a blog post, will eventually result in a South Korean rollout.
- unchain.io, a Dutch software services provider, has delivered a strategic finance application for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in partnership with enterprise software firm R3. According to the announcement, aiming to simplify the accounting process in a secure and efficient manner via blockchain, unchain.io worked with the KLM team, to provide the design and implementation of the settlement capability using R3’s Corda technology.
Security tokens news
- The Dusk Network, a Dutch security token platform, claims that it will tokenize shares for thousands of small- and medium-sized enterprises in its home country, as well as the rest of the Low Countries. Per an official tweet, the company stated that it had struck a deal with the shareholder registry Firm24, and would look to use blockchain technology to help trade shares that are not yet publicly listed.
Crypto pay news
- Payment platform Crypto.com says it has struck a deal with Travala, a hotel booking platform that lets customers pay in cryptocurrencies. The new agreement will allow Travala customers to use the Crypto.com Pay app to spend money on holidays using the Crypto.com Coin, as well as bitcoin and a number of major altcoins. Per a press release, Crypto.com stated, “Over 1 million users of the Crypto.com app can now gain up to 40% off over 2 million hotels and accommodations in 230 countries.”
Crypto tax news
- Payments network Flexa has joined forces with cryptocurrency tax software BearTax in order to simplify crypto taxation reporting for their customers, as BearTax’s smart-matching algorithm will automatically prepare their gains and losses. Per the press release, customers just need to upload the CSV report of their cryptocurrency transaction history, regardless of the amount or purpose of each transaction, and BearTax – which also connects with other exchanges and wallets – will detect such events and calculate capital gains or losses appropriately.
