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Binance Labs, the investment wing of the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has announced that it has invested in Libra Credit – “a decentralized digital asset financial services platform.” The partnership will allow holders of Binance’s native token, Binance Coin (BNB), to use their BNB as collateral for loans in crypto of fiat currency.
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Binance Labs has invested in cryptocurrency loans company Libra Credit who will offer fiat and cryptocurrency loans to BNB holders using their coins as collateral.
The latest venture by the investment arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, will take advantage of a growing demand for the liquidity of crypto-assets. Binance Labs is a social impact fund which incubates and invests in cryptocurrency and blockchain projects.
Libra Credit is branded as a decentralized digital asset financial services platform, and it has a primary focus on lending. Its initial coin offering (ICO) with the coin (LBA) ended May 5, 2018, having raised $ 26 million. Libra is planning to launch both a desktop lending platform and a mobile application for borrowers.
Points (PTS), a blockchain data collaboration protocol for better credit scoring and inclusive finance, has announced $ 8 million in funding from traditional and blockchain venture capital including DHVC, Cherubic Ventures, Ce Yuan, Ontology Foundation, Nest.Bio Ventures, and Zhong Cheng Xin Credit Technology.
In an effort to make credit accessible to the world’s unbanked population of 1.7 billion people, Points uses blockchain technology and AI to develop a secure and configurable protocol that encourages trustless entities, including banks, institutions, tech companies and consumers to participate in sharing their proprietary data.
Bitcoin payment startup Abra has announced the addition of Visa and Mastercard payment options for buying bitcoin on its platform. The new payment option is in partnership with fintech company Simplex, per the company’s blog post.
Up until today, users who wanted to purchase cryptocurrencies were limited to a few options that included bank deposits and wire transfers. In addition to these, the company also offers a means of buying altcoins using either bitcoin or litecoin for countries where bank wires and deposit options are unavailable.
This past April, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Bitcoin futures markets offered by the two derivatives giants Cboe and CME Group and how contract volumes were steadily rising. This month, while BTC-spot prices slide to significant lows, both futures products from these two companies are still seeing increased demand for contracts.
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Wells Fargo & Company, a San Francisco-based financial services giant, announced recently that it will no longer allow cryptocurrency purchases using its bank-issued credit cards.
U.S. financial services company Wells Fargo and Company has announced that it will no longer allow customers to use bank-issued credit cards for cryptocurrency purchases.
With this move, Wells Fargo joins the ranks of other major U.S. banks who have already prohibited the purchase of cryptocurrency with their credit cards — namely, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup.
The main concern, as expressed by a Wells Fargo spokesperson, lies within the high volatility of the cryptocurrency market:
The final quarter of 2017 saw cryptocurrency break into the mainstream. News media discussed it, investors flocked to it, and widespread use seemed close to a reality. Credit and debit cards that allowed users to spend cryptocurrency directly at the point of purchase became prolific.
Companies like the upcoming blockchain project, Decoin, are poised to disrupt the crypto-credit card industry with innovative new solutions. Unknown to many of these users, there was a bottleneck in the market. Most of these cards were issued through the payment processor WaveCrest. When Visa suddenly suspended WaveCrest from their platform, these cards were rendered instantly unusable.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts take security and storage seriously, and there are a bunch of different hardware solutions out there. One startup has released a different kind of digital asset hardware wallet that is the same size and shape as a credit card. Due to the design of the new ‘Coolwallet S,’ the wallet can be hidden very easily alongside the option of being carried effortlessly in your back pocket.
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The Lightning Network (LN) is approaching 2000 functional nodes as users begin to highlight the conspicuous cost savings using the technology.
Data captured from an overview of LN’s Bitcoin mainnet integration showed 1997 reachable nodes (with the actual number presumably much higher) at press time, with 6614 open channels and a total network capacity in excess of $ 150,000.
Despite remaining a challenging tool in terms of user interface, the technology has markedly improved in the approximately five months it has been active.
The Polish Credit Office BIK, the largest credit office in Central and Eastern Europe, in partnership with Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) provider Billon, will implement a blockchain technology solution for storage and secure access to highly sensitive customer information.
“Our cooperation with Billon is long-term,” said Mariusz Cholewa, president of BIK. “We believe that blockchain technology will transform how the financial sector communicates sensitive data with clients. Our solution will soon be expanded to include electronic delivery with active confirmation and remote signing of online agreements. It is also important that the solution meets the legal requirements of a durable medium of information, as well as the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR], which comes into force this month.”
