Crypto BLINC, Huawei’s Blockchain Patent, XRP’s Payburner + 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.

Exchanges news

• Digital asset financial services group BCB Group launched a real-time payments network allowing members to pay each other instantly across multiple currencies, stablecoins, cryptocurrencies. BCB Liquidity Interchange Network Consortium (BLINC) launched with GBP, EUR, and CHF support. Bitstamp is set to become the first exchange to enable transactions on BLINC.
• Gate.io has released an upgraded version of its IEO (initial exchange offering) platform, Startup 2.0, adding that KardiaChain and Meter, the two projects that launched their IEOs on Gate.io Startup in 2020, have already raised over USD 46 million in funds. The emailed press release said that the new version will have more flexibility for the projects to get listed.
• Coinbase said it has over 35 million active users in over 100 countries worldwide. Per an H1 review, the firm stated that it had experienced a 5 million-user increase on H1 of 2019.
• bitFlyer has joined the fast-growing Japanese Securities Offering Token Association (JSOTR), per
• Excite. Thus far, most of the organization’s members have been securities and financial organizations. But in recent months, a number of crypto-related firms – including wallet makers and trading platforms – have also joined.
• Bitfinex said it will be launching the Lending Pro tool in the first week of August, to automate lending and make the capital allocation on the exchange more efficient. According to the press release, Lending Pro will use customers’ preferred settings and market conditions to automatically offer and extend lending in the peer-to-peer marketplace, on the customer’s behalf, which may potentially allow users to increase their earnings.

Blockchain news

• Chinese tech giant Huawei has applied for a patent for a “blockchain ledger storage system and device, reported Jiemian. The smartphone maker has registered a number of blockchain-related patents of late, including a blockchain data archiving system and related hardware patent registered last month.
• Yunnan Province, China, has launched its pu’er tea blockchain platform, reported China Email. The move is part of a three-year digital economy action plan that provincial authorities said will eventually see the majority of its agricultural producers, suppliers and distributors move their operations onto blockchain-powered platforms.

Crypto adoption news

• Ripple’s director of product Craig DeWitt said that he has created a plugin for a non-custodial XRP wallet named Payburner that allows XRP holders to make purchases on a range of websites. DeWitt took to Twitter to announce the release. The wallet plugin, he said, is compatible with both Google Chrome and the Brave browser.
• Tether Gold (XAU₮) has seen increasing demand as the price of gold surpasses USD 1,900 per troy ounce, Tether said without providing any numbers. Per the announcement, gold is going through its longest winning streak since 2011 amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent unprecedented monetary stimulus from central banks, and a diplomatic row between the US and China.

 

Crime news

• The Ohio Attorney’s office said that a grand jury has served a five-count crypto fraud indictment to three Quebecois Canadians. The office stated that the three individuals duped investors out of USD 8m by issuing what it calls a “phony cryptocurrency” named PlexCoin. The group has been charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to engage in money laundering-related activities.