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NEAR raises $150M to spur Web3 adoption

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In an official blog post, on 13 January 2022, the U.S.-based decentralized application platform and Ethereum competitor, NEAR protocol has announced that it has raised a $150 million fortune directed by Three Arrows Capital. According to the blog post, the funds would be used at regional centers through which it will bolster people to learn about decentralized podiums.

The funds will be utilized to advocate millions of people to learn and use blockchain technology and to endorse Web3 technologies. This benefit of development on the NEAR decentralized blockchain could make it possible for users to network with new audiences.

The agreement has conclusively proved sections across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the team aim to broaden support in Latin America, India, and Turkey.

Marieke Flament, NEAR Foundation’s CEO, said,

“We are delighted to have such a fantastic list of backers supporting NEAR’s mission. We are looking forward to leveraging the funding to improve access to blockchain technology in an ever growing list of countries across the world.”

What is NEAR protocol?

NEAR protocol is a highly efficient blockchain constructed to be extremely fast. It is considered to be unbelievably safe and also eminently scalable. It was designed to run decentralized applications and works to compete with Ethereum and many other superior smart contract-facilitated blockchains such as EOS and Polkadot. Its prime token is also known as NEAR and is used to pay for commission and cache. These tokens can also be invested by token holders who take part in executing network consensus as transaction proofs.

The company is formated by an explicit group of techies and entrepreneurs to be easy to utilize, general, and environmentally friendly. The company is supported by leading venture capitalists like A16Z, Pantera Capital, Electrical Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com, and Baidu Ventures.

As decentralized applications have grown in fame, the crypto society is faced with an increasing scalability issue. Ethereum has been surfaced with scalability obstacles because of the increasing request for its purpose, and whilst a few endorse scaling issues to be resolved by building it on top of Ethereum (Layer-2-solutions), other businesses like NEAR are determined to build a completely fresh blockchain with distinct framework.

Dubai World Trade Centre progresses into Crypto

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Dubai that was once known for the 3Ts- Tourism, Trade, and Transport is now adding the 4th T- Technology.

Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) marks its expansion in the world of Crypto as an exchange platform and a regulator to virtual assets and cryptocurrencies including digital assets, products, operators, and exchanges. This move broadens the idea of the progression of UAE as the leading global center for business, trade, and technology.

Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) will become a comprehensive zone

As a part of the Government’s efforts to create new economic sectors, DTWC will be designing a comprehensive ecosystem for this progressive sector.

The emirate owned media house, on Monday, 20 December 2021, in a press release announced that DWTC will be collaborating with private sectors and relevant entities within the city to create an attractive environment for the sector, and enforce rigorous standards for investor protection, Anti Money Laundering (AML), Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance and cross border deal flow tracing.

The government of Dubai media office has also announced their development about adopting new trends such as NFTs.

“The announcement that comes within the efforts to further develop Dubai virtual assets and markets, includes creating a framework for innovative financial products, adopting new trends that rely on advanced underlying blockchain technology, such as non-fungible token (NFT) and cryptocurrencies.”

According to the source, this progression advances Dubai’s stance as the leading global center for business, trade, and technology. DWTC will over a top-notch administrative structure of Virtual Asset legislative and enforcement policies that will be critical to facilitating and broadening cross-border operations and ecosystem innovation to enable safe market adoption and growth for this sector in the city. 

Dubai and UAE on the whole are known for their welcoming attitude towards digital assets and blockchain technology this sort of rampant developmental advancement, Dubai is at the forefront of the UAE’s attempts to diversify the economy and reinvent itself as a global hub for tech and innovation.

Bitcoin may not last long: Cornell professor

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Bitcoin, the most beloved coin of the world, has been experiencing very inconsistent prices in the market. Through it all, it remains the most valued asset in the industry, it ranks as the No.1 cryptocurrency. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was priced at $46,541.09 and experienced a drop of 2.55% in the last 24 hours.

An economics professor at Cornell University and author of ‘The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and Finance’ says that Bitcoin’s use of blockchain technology is not very efficient and that the asset itself may not last long.

The real legacy of Bitcoin is not the cryptocurrency itself, but blockchain technology

Eswar Prasad, senior professor of international trade policy at Cornell University, told CNBC in a recent interview that Bitcoin hasn’t used blockchain technology in a very efficient way. He also states that there are many other steady coins, that have used blockchain far more decisively.

According to Prasad, the world’s largest cryptocurrency hasn’t been serving well as a medium of exchange and it is not going to have any elemental value except for what investors feel,

“Cryptos have become purely speculative assets”

Furthermore, he adds that this cryptocurrency has a validation mechanism that ostensibly destroys the environment and it doesn’t calibrate very well. It is true that the said coin’s carbon footprint is extremely massive and that it is bigger than the whole of New Zealand. Cambridge University researchers say that this cryptocurrency consumes more energy than the entire annual energy consumption of the Netherlands.

Over the years, the crypto market has seen the rise of gobs of other altcoins that have been stable in terms of price and consume a subjacent amount of energy in comparison to BTC.

Professor Prasad stated that the promise of Decentralized Finance(DeFi) using blockchain technology is real. He believes that blockchain technology, the primitive automation of cryptocurrencies, will be radically revamped magnificently in the ways of transactions in our daily lives. Blockchain technology is the future, it has already brought about changes in our central financial ways leaving everyone to wonder what it holds in the future.

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.

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.

Etisalat Enters the Blockchain Fray as Company Partners with Smartworld to Launch Shahada

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Blockchain technology has played a pivotal role in several mainstream industries over the past couple of years even as the cryptocurrency market struggles to break into the mainstream realm. The underlying technology upon which currencies like Bitcoin have been built was being considered as a viable source for new developments.

The latest reports have revealed that the telecommunications giant Etisalat has partnered with Smartwolrd to bring Shahada’s digital certificate platform to the education sector. The move is set to utilize the organization’s blockchain technology to help governments entities and universities to digitally attest and certify certificates. 

The partnership is set to pave the way for credible information when it comes to the education sector as well as carrying the information forward to other industries. Shahada was launched this February by a collaboration between Smartworld and Grape Technology. The latter is a UAE-based blockchain startup with an aim to bring educational institutions, government entities, and external stakeholders together on a native blockchain platform.

This is not the first time that blockchain technology has been used to maintain standards in the education sector, as universities in the US have already done the same. Blockchain technology is most effective because of its transparency and its tamper-proof nature. Any changes made to the Ledger would be visible to everyone, an aspect that will be useful in verifying the legitimacy of university certificates.

Smartworld has stated that the platform will save time and resources by letting them focus on multiple aspects of the education sectors. The implementation of the technology will allow universities to securely issue credentials on the blockchain, thereby eliminating any chance of forgery. Shahada plays an important role in integrating education and blockchain technology because it is aligned with both the UAE Blockchain Strategy 2020 and the 50-Year Charter launched by UAE Prime Minister HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. According to reports, the platform will also allow UAE ministries to play a part in verifying documents on the blockchain.

 

German Finance Minister Makes it Clear that Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain are Important for Economic Recovery

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The cryptocurrency market has come a long way since 2010 when Bitcoin first entered the mainstream financial ecosystem. Since then the world of virtual assets has made progress across multiple sectors while also garnering its fair share of critics and detractors.

Germany has taken the next step in cryptocurrency adoption with German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz assuring the country that crypto reforms and regulations will be sped up as soon as possible. The minister’s statements come at a time when the country was laying down plans to revive the dwindling economy. 

The COVID-19 resultant lockdowns have affected several medium and small scale businesses with many on the verge of shutting shop. According to Olaf Scholz, the German government was seriously considering the European Commission’s proposals to regulate cryptocurrencies as well as its foundation-blockchain technology. Mr. Scholz stated:

“These are important proposals to make Europe’s financial sector really strong. My goal is to move the discussions forward quickly. With the package we can promote innovations in the financial sector so that Europe sets standards worldwide. In order to get out of the crisis with full power, small and medium-sized companies in particular need good access to capital market financing.”

Germany will also be considering the EC plans to expand the pertinent bloc’sd capital markets. This is expected to act as a stimulus for the German economy and help millions of citizens stuck in limbo. Germany is currently the presiding member of the European bloc and will lead a discussion about the reform packages during an October 6 finance meetings meeting. The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out financial progress made over the past decades and governments were on the throes of major changes.

Countries in Europe were currently working together with other nations across the globe, who were also in the same boat. Germany was one of the few regions which recognized that uplifting every strata of society were imperative to overall economic growth. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are set to play important roles in helping the economy, with faster and seamless transactions on the cards. Reports have shown that decentralized technologies were the way forward with traditional banks also going the same route.

Lockdowns Due to COVID-19 Seems to Have Lent Traction to Fintech Acceptance Movements; Changes Here to Stay

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The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it multiple changes that have permeated almost all major industries on the planet. One of the sectors where the effects of the pandemic have been felt is the financial world, which is in the midst of a complete transformation.

The latest studies have shown that as the pandemic has progressed, more and more people were delving into the world of financial applications. This was a marked change from the time when people preferred in-person meetings with their brick and mortar establishments.

Market experts have stated the pandemic has revealed the underlying expectations of users who are involved in making big money transfers. Since a majority of the people were stuck at homes because of government-mandated lockdowns, they were delving into mobile applications built by banks as well as non-banks. The non-banking sector has been heavily involved in the fintech area for some time now and their progress has beaten all market expectations.

One of the fintech firms that has benefitted massively from this pandemic was the San Fransisco based Plaid. The firm, which was recently acquired by Visa for a whopping $5.3 billion has been on a roll with many services using its digital architecture to carry out transactions on a large scale. Plaid’s chief executive Zach Perret went on an interview with CNN, where he stated:

“I think the pandemic has made it incredibly clear that digital financial services are here to stay. People are trying digital finance for the first time. It’s going from an attitude where people think, ‘I do my banking in person,’ or, ‘I do financial services in person,’ to an attitude of thinking, ‘I could use these digital services. Breaking that zero-to-one gap, that’s the biggest gap.”

Analysts have also agreed with Perrett’s sentiment, with many predicting a future where big banks will make use of fintech architecture to keep up with customer demands. New technologies like blockchain and smart contracts have opened up an entirely new avenue for speed and efficiency. Although the cryptocurrency market still has a major share of critics, more and more people were warming up to the idea of its foundation, blockchain technology. As major banks try to create their own version of the existing blockchain system, only time will tell if it becomes a complete mainstay.

Brazil’s Largest Mining Firm Carries Out First Sale Via Blockchain Tech

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The world seems to have finally realized the fruits of blockchain technology. After prominent companies and establishments steered towards the adoption of blockchain tech, countries followed suit. Several countries have been exploring ways to utilize the blockchain technology in various industries. Brazil’s largest mining company, Vale is the latest platform to hop on to the bandwagon.

Blockchain Tech Not Just For Crypto

While several platforms are still contemplating the incorporation of blockchain technology, Brazilian metals, and mining company, Vale has taken a huge leap by making a sale employing blockchain technology. The made the sale via blockchain to Nanjing Iron & Steel Group Internation Trade, a company based in China.

Touting this move as a milestone for the mining company, it revealed that the Letter of Credit was issued via the Contour blockchain platform. It further read,

“The Letter of Credit (LC) was issued through the Contour blockchain platform whilst the shipping documents and the electronic Bill of Lading have handled via essDOCS’ CargoDocs solution – with all actions carried out through a single, interfaced platform consolidated in Contour.”

Vale, one of the largest producers of iron ore in the world reportedly sold a cargo of 176000 tons of Brazilian blend fines [BRBF] to China from Malaysia‘s Teluk Rubiah Maritime Terminal. This transaction was overlooked by Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad as well as DBS Bank.

The platform added,

“It is an important milestone towards the digitalization of the sales and trade process, bringing innovation to the traditional paper-intensive trade transactions and offering a better service to the clients, as well as predictability in the steel value chain.”

Furthermore, the Brazilian mining firm revealed that hassles with paperwork and e-mails were radically minimized during the process.

Brazilian CBDC

While China is already approaching the release of its Central Bank Digital Currency [CBDC], Brazil has revealed that its CBDC is underway. Recently, the President of Brazil’s central bank, Banco Central affirmed that the bank would issue a CBDC by 2022. The bank pointed out that it was steering towards reviving the financial system of the country.

Speaking about the need for CBDC, the President of the Brazilian central bank, Roberto Campos Neto said,

“To have a digital currency, you need an instant payment system that is efficient and interoperable; an open system, where you can create competition; and a currency that has credibility, is convertible and international.”

Deputy Prime Minister of Japan Tips Blockchain Technology As A Possible Solution In Combating Rampant Covid-19 Pandemic

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Deputy Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso has come forward and tipped Blockchain technology as a vital tool in global efforts to counter the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Aso, who also serves as the finance minister of the country, talked about this during the Blockchain Global Governance Conference held in Tokyo, the nation’s capital, on 24 Aug. 2020.

Aso, believes that Blockchain technology can precisely be effective during the process of contact tracing.In addition, he adds that the technology could ensure that the privacy of the user is maintained for anyone found to be COVID -19 positive after contact tracing.

Blockchain technology can provide containment measures directives

The outspoken politician also insists that Blockchain technology can help the relevant authorities to have access to the necessary measures that need to be taken to stem the outbreak of COVID-19 in the future. Nevertheless, Aso asserts that any rising differences that may occur between technology users and regulators need to be resolved first to ensure that this venture is effective.

He added that it is worth noting that certain users of Blockchain technology are very unfriendly to regulators. Many of them assume that regulators lack a clear understanding of the technology, and any innovations that may arise may be impeded. Aso also acknowledges the fact that the rate of Covid-19 infections will not subside soon, so a need for a realistic blockchain-based contact tracing solution might be considered as immediate emergency.

The technology adoption is fast gaining popularity across the globe

Many countries around the world are now working towards the integration of Blockchain technology. Nations such as Colombia, through the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, are integrating their 10 sectors into technology. The Ministry believes that the country can benefit greatly from this action when fully integrated. Also in May 2020, the Colombian government joined various nations in signing favorable bills to the law in support of the adoption of Blockchain. They recently signed the ‘Blockchain bill of rights’which will set favorable conditions for the passage of the tech.
Finally, nations such as Estonia, the U.A.E, the U.S. and Canada have all made significant progress following the adoption of Blockchain technology.