Zcash Upgrade, Stellar on Samsung, Gemini on Brave + More News
Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Privacy news
- Privacy-focused Zcash (ZEC) upgraded today, improving interoperability through FlyClient support and giving miners the option to immediately shield mining rewards in coinbase transactions. “Shielded coinbase is an important milestone for Zcash network privacy and the overall size of the anonymity set,” according to an introduction to the upgrade, named “Heartwood”. At pixel time (15:11 UTC), ZEC, ranked 27th by market capitalization, trades at USD 59 and is down by 4.5% in a day, trimming its weekly gains to 4%.
Crypto adoption news
- The Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of the Stellar (XLM) network, announced the integration of Stellar into the Samsung Blockchain Keystore. This allows XLM users to store private keys on select Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
- SEBA Bank, a FINMA licensed Swiss Bank providing a bridge between digital and traditional assets, announced a partnership with Digital Asset Shared Ledger, a liquidity network for digital assets. This allows the bank to offer institutional clients the ability to issue and invest in digital securities representing financial instruments on the public Corda Network.
Exchanges news
- Gemini said it integrated with the Brave browser for trading and wallet support. The Gemini Trading Widget is now available in Brave’s Nightly version, and will go live in Brave’s general release in the coming weeks.
- Upbit’s operator Dunamu is looking to hire new blockchain developers, reported Maeil Kyungjae. The move, some believe, shows that the exchange, one of the largest in South Korea, is set to expand its blockchain operations. Experts think the company is also set to bolster its core crypto trading operations.
Security news
- A crypto-stealing banking trojan is raiding accounts in Chile, Brazil and Colombia, reported security firm WeLiveSecurity. The trojan is named Mekotio and has been in circulation since 2018. However, of late the trojan has been enjoying success in a number of Spanish-speaking nations. Its operators deploy it via bogus emails that appear to be sent by government agencies or telephone operators, containing links to alleged unpaid invoices. The security expert said the program is capable of harvesting cryptocurrencies wallet login data and banking information – and that the hackers who deploy it can effectively mimic the interfaces of over 50 bona fide financial institutions.
Investment news
- Aave, the company behind the major crypto lending platform in decentralized finance (DeFi), said that Framework Ventures and Three Arrows Capital have invested USD 3m in this startup. Both firms will be active market participants in the Aave ecosystem via staking and governance, the company added.
- In their seed round, blockchain gaming developer Sorare raised USD 4m. The round was led by e.ventures and followed by Partech, Fabric Ventures, Semantic Ventures, Cygni Capital, World-Cup champion André Schürrle and existing investors, the startup said.
Blockchain news
- A major South Korean energy provider has signed a deal with blockchain firm Coinplug. Per the Global Economic media outlet, the deal will see the Korea Southern Power Company Korea introduce blockchain technology to enhance its operational efficiency, boosting security for wind power generation initiatives. The firms also plan to create a platform that will help them predict wind power generation patterns.
- Waves Enterprise and Microsoft’s Russian office said they have agreed on strategic cooperation in the areas of corporate blockchain solutions and cloud technologies. Waves Enterprise will be able to use and integrate with Microsoft Azure cloud technologies for joint initiatives aimed at the adoption of corporate blockchain solutions.
Coronavirus news
- GG56, a blockchain-powered tourism company established by former South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, said it has donated 10,000 face masks to low-income families and key workers to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, reported Newsway.
