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Australian government grants millions in grants to rising blockchain companies

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There is no denying that blockchain projects have taken off in the last couple of months with even mainstream institutions adopting the technology. On June 12, the Australian government also jumped on the blockchain bandwagon as it granted more than $5.6 million to industry-based grants programs.

Australian Ministry for Industry, Science and Technology Christian Porter said the projects would help to accelerate the country’s adoption of blockchain technology and “assist businesses to solve real-world problems”. The first two recipients of the Blockchain Pilot Grants were Everledger and Convergence. tech. While the former received $3 million, the former landed a grant of $2.6 million.

The funds for the blockchain grants were first included in the Federal Budget for the 2020-2021 session. Last year in February, the Australian Government released the National Blockchain Roadmap which set the course for the current developments. Christian Porter said:

“The Blockchain Pilot Grants will demonstrate the potential for blockchain to help businesses to save money and cut red tape by improving processes such as tracking products throughout the supply chain and transferring customer information.”

He continued:

“These two successful projects will also highlight opportunities to improve the technical and regulatory environment for blockchain in Australia, bolster blockchain literacy and support collaboration between Australian governments, the private sector, and blockchain companies.”

Other sources within the government agreed with Porter in the fact that Australia had to keep up with the changing financial climate. Using the funds, Everledger plans to investigate the use of blockchain in digital certification. On the other hand, Converge will use its grants capital to help automate ‘commodity-based tax’ processes.

Australia has been blockchain positive for quite some time now and the latest move by the government only solidified cryptocurrency’s hold in the continent down under.

JPMorgan analysts predict a solid future in staking as “Energy-Efficient” blockchains come to the forefront

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Mainstream financial institutions have raised concerns about the cryptocurrency market since its inception but the tide seems to be turning in 2021. Although JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon have bashed digital assets before, it looks like some of the bank’s officials had other thoughts.

In a report this week, JPMorgan analysts claimed the creation of energy-efficient blockchains would pave the way for staking. They added that current blockchains suffer from the fact that they consume mammoth amounts of electricity and become contributors to global warming. JPMorgan’s latest report was contradictory to Dimon’s searing comments about the crypto market and its alleged lack of mainstream financial effectiveness.

One of the main discussions in the report revolved around staking and how it is a better alternative for customers to earn rewards for the investments. Right now, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum use a Proof-of-Work-based foundation that requires gigawatts of power. Applying a Proof-of-Stake system not only reduces the energy consumed but also benefits users and their long-term gains. The report read:

“Not only does staking lower the opportunity cost of holding cryptocurrencies versus other asset classes, but in many cases, cryptocurrencies pay a significant nominal and real yield. The yield earned through staking can mitigate the opportunity cost of owning cryptocurrencies versus other investments in other asset classes such as US dollars, US Treasuries, or money market funds in which investments generate some positive nominal yield.”

With blockchains like Ethereum 2.0 on the horizon, the authors of the report stated that they would become a major source of income for cryptocurrency organizations. For example, Coinbase alone is expected to rake in $200 million in revenue from staking in 2022. To put this in perspective, the Brian Armstrong company only generated $10.2 million in 2020.

Users should know that staking is dependent on market volatility and does not create ROI the same way as traditional investments. Experts believe that staking will become a reliable source of income as the cryptocurrency market matures and its volatility decreases.

IDBI Bank’s technology arm set to launch digital services in India with global partnerships

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India’s relationship with the cryptocurrency market has been a rollercoaster with bans being lifted and banks acting aloof when it comes to cryptocurrency transaction complaints. Despite the pushback, the digital asset industry has grown to such an extent in the country that even mainstream financial bigwigs were entering the field. IDBI Intech Limited was the latest entrant into the fintech space with plans to expand into Europe, Japan, and other major South Asian markets.

IDBI Intech is owned by IDBI Bank which provides banking services to millions of citizens across the country. The Bank also has plans to divest 49 percent of its total stake in the Infotech firms to take it to new developmental heights. At present, the bank’s Capital arm is tasked with the responsibility of finding a strategic investor.

The bank has also roped in UK-based Lemon Advisors to expands its products and services to international customers. IDBI offers products in the Financial Crime and Payments sector, an area that requires the highest standards of security checks. Surajit Roy, the MD, and CEO of IDBI Intech stated:

“This association will help IDBI Intech access global markets by leveraging the significant reach that Lemon Advisors brings on board, across the geographies in Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, the UK and the EU.IDBI Intech posted an income of Rs 115.08 crore with net profit of Rs 12.07 crore in 202021, up from Rs 99.09 crore with net profit Rs 9.07 crore in 2019-20. It plans to total reach revenues of Rs 180-190 crore in two-three years.”

According to the bank’s chief executive, the organization plans to amass a profitable global portfolio by the end of 2023. This projections comes at a time when analysts have called for sunnier financial forecasts. It is estimated that by 2024, the total global spends by institutions on regulatory compliances will hit the $6 billion mark.

Goldman Sachs leads repo trade via JPMorgan’s blockchain network

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Goldman Sachs, the multinational investment bank and financial services company, has reportedly joined JP Morgan’s Repo blockchain network. As part of this, the company carried out its first repo trade using JPMorgan’s private blockchain network.

Goldman Sachs had led the initial trade on the 17th of June that involved exchanging a US Treasury bond for JPMCoin which took three hours and five minutes to complete. The entire transaction was quantifiable in nature since it could pinpoint the accurate amount of time required for completion. Hence, this was in contrast to the traditional repo market.

Following the development, Mathew McDermott, global head of digital assets for Goldman’s global markets division was quoted saying,

“We see this as a pivotal moment for the digitization of transactional activity.”

According to the exec, identifying the precise time is a big step up from the current market, as is the way the collateral and cash are interchanged simultaneously and immediately, the report said. McDermott also went on to add,

“We pay interest per the minute,” he said. “We firmly think this will change the nature of the intraday marketplace.”

The Repo blockchain was first unveiled in December sits within JP Morgan’s Onyx branch, which hosts multiple blockchain offerings. Goldman Sachs became the first to reveal that it was using the enterprise blockchain network, with BNY Mellon offering custody.

For the uninitiated, repurchase agreements, or better known as “repos,” are essentially a kind of loan where collateralized securities sold by financial establishments in a contract are bought back at a slightly higher cost some other time, usually on an overnight basis.

Goldman Sachs’ Tryst With crypto

Goldman Sachs was previously one of the many pessimists that doubted Bitcoin’s capabilities. However, since the foray of massive institutional capital into space, Goldman took a whole 180-degree turn on its previous stance.

The company had recently started trading Bitcoin futures after it partnered with Mike Novogratz-founded cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital. A week back, Goldman Sachs had also revealed its plans to offer options and futures trading in Ether [ETH].

Rick and Morty co-creator joins hands with Fox to roll out the first ever blockchain-based animated series

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Rick and Morty rose to impeccable fame throughout the last few years. While the fervor around this show hasn’t subsided, its co-creator is all set to roll out an all-new animated series, however, this one is reportedly going to be a blockchain-based one.

This isn’t all as the Fox Broadcasting Company would be spearheading this show with Dan Harmon, the co-creator of Rick and Morty. It was reported that the blockchain-based comedy series, Krapopolis would be the first of its kind. Similar to Rick and Morty, Harmon’s latest series will be based on a family, however, this would be in an ancient Greece setting. Elaborating on the show, The Hollywood Reporter wrote,

“[..] centered on a flawed family of humans, gods, and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other.”

Rick and Morty creator and Fox jump onto the crypto-bandwagon

This aside, Fox announced this partnership with another one. Fox is all set to dive into the NFT business with Blockchain Creative Labs. With this platform and its imminent show, Fox intends to elevate the role of advertisers in the blockchain-powered tokens or NFT platforms.

The CEO of Fox Entertainment, Charlie Collier spoke to the advertisers about the same and said,

“Not to go too far into it today, but as an advertiser-focused, artist-first and animation-obsessed company, [..] And Dan’s series, currently entitled Krapopolis, will be the first-ever curated entirely on the blockchain. And just as we’re doing this for our own animation, we will also help your brands connect directly with fans and enthusiasts through NFTs. With and for you, Fox will help art meet brands meet technology.”

Additionally, NFTs have been garnering a lot of traction across the globe. This new crypto trend has caught the eye of many as several celebrities have been getting on board with this. Fox’s latest move could further spruce up the trend.

IOHK To Formulate A New Mobile Network In Tanzania

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Blockchain technology is growing at an unstoppable pace. Ethiopia and Tanzania seemed to be making use of this technology with the help of IOHK.

The underlying technology that cryptocurrencies have been employing over the years has proved to be widely beneficial. Blockchain technology has found a place in several industries across the globe. Now, Input Output Hong Kong [IOHK] seemed to be taking this technology to an African country in order to renew its education system.

IOHK Partners With World Mobile

In the recent Cardano Africa 2021 event, it was revealed that IOHK would be taking 5G to Tanzania with the prominent platform World Mobile, which works on blockchain tech. This partnership would reportedly give rise to a mobile network that would offer stable internet to those living in the African region.

IOHK Intends To Transform Ethiopia’s Education System

It was recently revealed that IOHK would be using blockchain tech to formulate a system that would entail a national teacher as well as student ID. With this system, teachers would reportedly be able to verify grades as well as keep an eye on the performance of the students digitally. This system will reportedly be put in place to bolster the education and employment rate across the country.

IOHK’s African Operations unit is currently being spearheaded by its director, John O’Connor. He revealed that the platform has spent about five years on research and development. This further allowed them to notice that Cardano was “mature enough” to employ a blockchain solution that had the ability to render to an entire nation. He added,

“Ethiopia’s blockchain-based education transformation is a key milestone on IOHK’s mission to provide economic identities and employment, social and financial services for the digitally excluded.”

With IOHK’s Atala PRISM ID, officials would be able to roll out the academic performance of over five million students from 3,500 schools in the country. This system would reportedly be a “tamper-proof” one.

Additionally, the country’s Education Minister Getahun Mekuria pointed out that his expectations with regard to the IOHK’s blockchain tech were high as it would end “digital exclusion”. He added,

“Ethiopia’s Sheba Valley is already recognized as the leading AI hub in Africa, 70 percent of our university graduates are in STEM subjects and we are now leading the way in using blockchain to digitalize education. This forms a key plank of our National Digital Transformation Strategy and will underpin a uniquely transparent, data-driven education system based on a dynamic curriculum.”

Ethiopian Education System to Use Cardano Blockchain in Partnership with IOHK

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Cardano has seen tremendous adoption in recent months. In the latest development, IOHK, the blockchain research, and development arm of the Cardano blockchain announced a partnership with the government of Ethiopia.

This unique tie-up involves the implementation of a blockchain-based national student and faculty ID, as well as an educational background recording system. This essentially enables users to digitally and remotely verify their grades, monitor school performance, and further, the growth of education and employment across the country said the official press release.

Cardano Boosting Education Sector Of Ethiopia

In short, Cardano will essentially enable the students and the teachers to seamlessly track grades, behavior, attendance, and educational background, from kindergarten to primary and secondary education quite accurately.

From managing schedules and transfers, to report behaviors and dropouts, the latest project will subsequently continue to college. For instance, the bachelor’s degrees will be digitally certified on the Cardano blockchain. Employers of an educational institution, on the other hand, will be able to verify the authenticity of the applicant’s educational background information.

The project is one of the biggest blockchain deployments in Ethiopia. In line with this, IOHK African Operations Director, John O’Connor, stated that the blockchain-powered education transformation is an important milestone on the software company’s mission to offer economic identities and employment, social and financial services for the digitally deprived section.

Moving forward with its digital transformation strategy, Ethiopia also aims to use IOHK’s recently built Atala PRISM ID in the future As part of the wider adoption, this will allow authorities to develop a tamper-proof record of educational performance for five million students, 3,500 schools, and 750,000 teachers to track the locations among other things while simultaneously targeting educational resources constructively.

Following the development country’s education minister Getahun Mekuria, was quoted saying,

“We believe blockchain offers a key opportunity to end digital exclusion and widen access to higher education and employment.”

Tata Steel-HSBC Seal First Blockchain-Based Trade Finance Deal

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Blockchain has made many remarkable strides across various fields. In a first of its kind, Indian multinational steel-making company, Tata Steel, along with HSBC, conducted a blockchain-enabled paperless trade transaction.

First “integrated paperless letter of credit and eDocs transaction for a steel export” using Blockchain

The Indian metal giant executed the fist-ever blockchain-powered trade finance deal with a UAE-based business called Universal Tubes and Plastic Industries Ltd. The company reportedly imported its order of flat carbon steel to the UAE from Tata Steel’s base in India.

The complete paperless transaction was carried out over the Contour platform. Notably, HSBC is a founding shareholder of the blockchain platform. The multinational investment bank led the latest transaction between the two companies and went on to validate the operational feasibility of blockchain technology as an alternative to the traditional mode of exchanges that entail paper-based documentation.

While asserting that the Indian exporter using its in-house potential and external ecosystems via careful curation of collaborations to advance innovation, Peeyush Gupta, the vice-president [steel marketing and sales], Tata Steel, was quoted saying,

“Adoption of this platform is in line with our objective of agility and enabling a faceless yet trustworthy all-time interface to better customer experience. This unique initiative, exec­uted in collaboration with HSBC, demonstrates our continued efforts to lead technology-led disruptions by challenging the status quo.”

Sunil Veetil, who happens to be the Regional Head of Global Trade and Receivables Finance [GTRF] at HSBC acknowledged being confident that this example of blockchain technology use will set the for widespread adoption by other clients, counterparties, and industries.

Blockchain’s Impact On Trade Finance

The trade finance sector relies significantly on paper-based processes that are an easy target to security vulnerabilities. These archaic ways of legacy transactions are not efficient and can take as long as 90-120 days in order to process letters of credit, substantiate documents, and institute trust among stakeholders.

Blockchain technology, on the other hand, can digitize end-to-end trade finance affairs with much more security as well as efficiency. It allows more transparency in terms of governance, reduces processing times, reduces capital requirements as well as greatly minimizes and averts risks of fraud, human error, and overall counterparty risk.

China’s Digital Yuan Ranks Third in World; Second In Asia In CBDC Race: Report

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China has made significant progress in the development of central bank digital currency [CBDC], becoming the world’s first major economy to pilot a digital currency. Even so, as per a new report, the digital yuan is not the topmost CBDC in the world or in Asia.

According to the latest report by PricewaterhouseCoopers [PwC], China is third when it comes to project maturity, behind the Bahamas with the Sand Dollar and Cambodia, with project Bakong.

The report also mentioned that the digital version of the Bahamian Dollar as well as Cambodia’s DLT-based interbank payment system is either accessible to all the residents via the mobile application, physical payment card, or already is tied up with domestic commercial banks and payment processors. But China is still at the advanced level of trial.

China’s Digital Yuan Might Not Be Able to Tip Dollar’s Supremacy Just Yet

Despite popular notions about Digital Yuan, there are other CBDCs at the global level that require attention. Many market commentators have previously speculated China’s digital yuan to be a huge threat to the dollar. The digitization of China’s yuan has been a thing of global fascination especially in the backdrop of a flourishing cryptocurrency market. With regards to political implications and as well as the new economic levers that digital yuan might generate for the government domestically as well internationally, were also given adequate food for thought.

However, a senior Bank of Japan official recently downplayed the potential for China’s digital yuan to threaten the dollar’s position as the world’s main reserve currency. Kazushige Kamiyama, who happens to be head of the BOJ’s payment systems department and the individual who is tasked with looking into a virtual Japanese currency stated,

“The dollar’s status as the key global currency won’t change so easily. In fact, the dollar’s advantage may strengthen further if the U.S. goes with digitalization.”

Martin Chorzempa, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, also noted that despite China’s massively-hyped digital currency advances, the digitized yuan is yet to prove to be cheaper, more efficient, more private, or more convenient than the existing domestic and international payment systems. While addressing the “threat” to the USD, Chorzempa added,

“[It is] unlikely to represent any more a threat to the dollar’s international dominance than the current forms of RMB, at least over the short and medium-term”

Crypto M&A Forecast For 2021 Strong Despite Dull Price Action

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The crypto market dropped to a $1.12 trillion market cap, at the time of writing. Despite this, 2021 has been a watershed moment year for the whole industry even as the staggering bull rally has come to a halt.

Many anticipated a bullish turn of events for Bitcoin and the altcoins during the weekend. However, the prices continued to remain in a consolidation mode and were far below the record-breaking numbers.

As the crypto industry shrugged off the craziness of the bull run, several companies have flourished this season. According to reports, M&A activity figures soared like never before as pandemic grappled the space in 2020.

M&A Activity in Crypto Industry To Soar Higher In 2021

Bloomberg revealed that the total value of mergers and acquisitions in the digital asset world more than doubled last year to $1.1 billion from 2019. The average deal size surged to $52.7 million from $19.2 million. With respect to demographics, it was Europe and Asia that saw a greater percentage of activity taking place.

Fundraising in the industry, on the other hand, saw a massive rise of 33% in overall value from 2019. It also said that while merger and acquisition activity in the industry was at its peak last year, the figure is headed to continue again this year and is likely to climb higher.

On a similar note, Henri Arslanian, PwC global cryptocurrency leader, was reportedly quoted saying,

“[2021].. is already on track to significantly surpass it from every single metric”

The impetus for a surge in activity is greater awareness of the asset class as well as blockchain technology. This can be attributed to the fact that the cryptocurrency market has expanded considerably in the first quarter of 2021 alone when compared to last year. Bitcoin surged ninefold in the last year all thanks to the mainstream embrace and interest from large investors and endorsements. All this and more has catapulted the asset class’s growth.