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

Blockchain Technology Partners raises £2 million for distributed ledgers tech

A collection of Sterling notes.

Enterprise blockchain firm Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP) has closed a seed round of £2 million.

BTP was founded in 2018 with the mission to bring the benefits of distributed ledger technology to business. BTP enables organisations to build multiparty applications by taking care of the underlying technology infrastructure. The company’s flagship offering, Sextant, radically simplifies the deployment and management of enterprise blockchain infrastructure.

Drastic...

22 July 2021 | Enterprise

Bitcoin Association touts cost-effectiveness of Bitcoin SV in yearly roundup

The annual report (pdf, direct download) from Bitcoin Association, a Switzerland-based organisation working to advance business on the Bitcoin SV blockchain, has argued that Bitcoin SV had higher daily transaction volumes and higher block sizes than other Bitcoin networks whilst still remaining the most cost-effective.

The organisation’s report highlights the achievements and the technical progress of the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (SV) network, a forked version of the Bitcoin Cash...

5 May 2021 | Bitcoin

Argo blockchain co-founders launch London IPO of new DeFi investment company

Dispersion Holdings, an investment company specialising in decentralised finance (DeFi) established by the co-founders of bitcoin mining company Argo, has launched its IPO on the London-based Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market (AQSE).

Intending to place 200 million shares at 5p each, Dispersion aims to raise approximately £10 million before expenses in a float that will value the company at around £25 million with first dealings in the shares expected to commence later this...

28 April 2021 | Cryptocurrency

Weekly NFT roundup April 21-27: IBM, white label platforms, and real estate NFTs

The NFT industry saw a major partnership announced between IBM and IPwe this week. Meanwhile, the development of white-label NFT platforms looks to reduce start-up costs into the industry and foster increased NFT adoption.

IBM and IPwe partner on using NFTs for next generation of corporate patents

IPwe will be using the IBM blockchain as infrastructure for its new NFT patent system. The tokenisation of patents will help them to be more easily traded and commercialised...

27 April 2021 | Blockchain

Weekly NFT roundup April 7-13: Christie’s, Triller, and more

NFTs made headlines again this week as the market continues to grow rapidly. Beyond this week, future developments may include Playboy which will soon begin auctioning NFTs on Nifty, luxury fashion brands that are exploring ways to implement 3D clothing in their offerings, and even Tom Brady who is set to launch his very own NFT marketplace.

CryptoPunk NFT artwork expected to sell for millions at upcoming Christie’s auction

A selection of NFTs from the iconic...

13 April 2021 | Applications

MorganFranklin announces partnership with blockchain cybersecurity firm 1Kosmos

Global financial advisory firm MorganFranklin is looking to expand its cybersecurity services through an alliance with 1Kosmos a provider of security technology which leverages blockchain and biometrics authentication.

1Kosmos’ BlockID platform provides digital identity proofing with advanced biometrics and passwordless authentication through a secured private blockchain. The authentication process involves a liveness test and the use of verifiable credentials in digital format....

8 April 2021 | Applications

Russia opens up blockchain database with launch of English language version

The Department of Information Technologies of Moscow has made an English language version of Russia’s blockchain knowledge base available on the ICT.Moscow portal.

Aimed at analysts, smart city experts, and developers of blockchain projects, the database currently presents 52 use cases of blockchain in various industries with the fintech and public sector categories featuring the largest number of applications – 16 and 13 respectively.

New use cases will be added...

7 April 2021 | Applications

China’s 14th five-year plan: Blockchain and digital currency part of ‘new infrastructure’ investments

China has referenced blockchain and digital currency technologies in its latest five-year plan.

The 14th iteration of the five-year plan, which is a guiding document for the country’s future social development and economic growth from 2021 to 2025, places significant emphasis on ‘new infrastructure.’

In a chapter called ‘accelerating digitalisation development and building a digital China,’ the government pledged to ‘strengthen the innovative applications of...

1 April 2021 | Banking

William Lovell, Bank of England: Why blockchain is maturing – but healthy scepticism remains

As blockchain technologies and the thinking around them have matured, the role of each of its stakeholders tends to mature with it. For the central bank, the inherent understanding of risk with blockchain has always been there. But this does not mean innovation and progress cannot march forwards.

William Lovell is head of future technology at the Bank of England. Naturally, this remit means blockchain is not the only game in town, but its intrinsic link to finance makes it a...

1 April 2021 | Banking