Fluency valued at £17m with CBDC interoperability solution

Bank

Fluency, a CBDC blockchain enterprise platform, has raised £940,000 in seed funding to give it a £17 million valuation.

The company’s Aureum solution is being created to help build and interconnect national CBDC networks with cash retail banking, supporting the transition from cash to a CBDC.

Its smart contract platform enables issuance, distribution and exchange of multiple CBDCs between central banks, commercial banks, merchants, and consumers.

Having...

16 September 2021 | Banking

Mastercard buys blockchain analytics start-up CipherTrace

Mastercard - blockchain

Mastercard has entered into an agreement to purchase blockchain analytics start-up CipherTrace for an undisclosed amount.

The deal marks the latest sign that major corporates are warming towards cryptocurrencies, following similar trends amongst companies like Amazon and PayPal.

Based in California, CipherTrace develops tools and solutions to help government agencies and businesses detect and stamp out illicit digital currency transactions.

The company sits...

10 September 2021 | Banking

Blockchain Expo 2021: Crypto investors, CBDC, and retail participation

Cryptocurrencies.

The global blockchain technology market is estimated to accumulate $20 billion in revenue by 2024.

According to a study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), this is largely down to the rapidly rising interest among several giant companies in leveraging the disruptive potential of blockchain.

This, in turn, has created an increasingly competitive vendor landscape. Furthermore, the continuous entry of new players capitalising on the use of the process for practical...

9 September 2021 | Banking

Stijn Vander Straeten, CEO, Crypto Finance Infrastructure Services: The rise of tokenisation and the need for crypto carbon indexing

Stijn Vander Straeten, CEO, Crypto Finance Infrastructure Services

The Block caught up with Stijn Vander Straeten, CEO of Crypto Finance Group’s infrastructure services subsidiary, to discuss milestones, tokenisation, and plans for the future ahead of the company’s appearance at Blockchain TechEx Global from 6-7 September.

Crypto Finance Infrastructure Services, based in Zug, Switzerland, distinguishes itself from other businesses in the digital asset space through exclusively serving business-to-business (B2B) clients like banks, brokerage...

5 August 2021 | Banking

Nigeria to launch CBDC pilot in October

Nigerian Flag

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to begin its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot on October 1, according to Nigerian financial news publication Nairametrics.

According to Nairametrics private sources, Rakiya Mohammed, the bank’s director of information technology, called a webinar last Thursday to confirm the pilot’s start date and emphasise that the CBN could not afford to be left behind in global CBDC development.

The pilot scheme, known as...

27 July 2021 | Banking

The benefits of automation for financial services

According to Teleware365 research, carried out by Censuswide in 2020, 86% of IT decision makers want to do more automation and AI in the next 12 months.* 

And, while there are many routes to automation in finance, understanding the benefits that automation technology enables across a finance institution can help you make the most of your technology investment.

Reduced cost of compliance

Finance institutions must meet a number of regulations and...

5 July 2021 | Banking

£8.6 billion investment gap in blockchain and AI is holding back the EU

A pile of 100 Euro notes.

The European Union (EU) needs to invest €10 billion (£8.6 billion) more each year in order to stay in the global artificial intelligence and blockchain race.

This was the stark warning from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Commission in its latest new study on the state of play in AI and blockchain technologies in the EU - ‘Artificial intelligence, blockchain and the future of Europe: How disruptive technologies create opportunities for a green and digital...

4 June 2021 | Banking

HSBC steers clear of Bitcoin due to “volatility”

An HSBC sign.

HSBC has confirmed it has no interest in getting involved with Bitcoin.

The bank has no plans to offer the cryptocurrency to clients due to its volatility and lack of transparency, according to HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn.

He said: “Given the volatility we are not into bitcoin as an asset class. If our clients want to be there then of course they are, but we are not promoting it as an asset class within our wealth management business.

“I view bitcoin as...

26 May 2021 | Banking

Commerzbank completes successful blockchain-based payment test

Carsten Bittner, Divisional Board Member responsible for Technology Foundations at Commerzbank.

Germany-based Commerzbank has successfully completed a supply chain blockchain project along with chemicals firms, Evonik and BASF.

Together the companies tested a shared blockchain platform to efficiently handle bilateral supply chain processes between companies in a live environment. 

During the pilot, payments between Evonik and BASF were checked, paid and booked in a fully automated and digital manner by means of a programmed payment...

24 May 2021 | Banking

Klaytn and ConsenSys to collaborate on Bank of Korea CBDC pilot

Klaytn, the public blockchain project of Korean Internet provider Kakao, has announced a strategic partnership with ConsenSys to improve its digital currency capabilities in preparation for its participation in the Bank of Korea's CBDC pilot platform later this year.

As well as working with national banks, Klaytn also expanded into the NFT market through OpenSea support at the end of March, highlighting the company's diverse array of ventures so far this year.

Klaytn...

29 April 2021 | Banking