London-based financial technology startup Plutus is offering rewards through its debit card when users shop Nike’s online store. Doing so unlocks up to 3% in crypto and 9% cash rewards for those purchases. Rewards are available for British pounds and euros only In order to receive the rewards, customers must use the Plutus Visa Card while shopping online. As Plutus currently operates within the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, the service is now available for purchase in euros and the British pound, a spokesperson from the firm told Cointelegraph. The rewards are generated in Plutus’s native token, Pluton …

In a seminal blog post by Blockchain Capital, Bitcoin (BTC) was described as a “demographic mega-trend.” And while new technology tends to follow a path of diffusion from younger to older generations, there is another thing driving crypto adoption among Millennials: The fiat-based economy has failed them. The demographic megatrend An online Harris poll conducted in April 2019 found that people aged 18–34 were three times as likely to be familiar with Bitcoin as those over 65, and twice as likely as those aged 50–64. They outgunned all age groups in terms of familiarity. Even more striking, 59% of millennials …

Regulations are not going anywhere. On the contrary, financial service providers face more regulatory challenges and higher costs than ever before. During the early days of cryptocurrencies, a “Wild West” culture emerged when regulators, uncertain on how to tackle this thing called blockchain, paid little attention to the thefts, scams and hacks plaguing the virtual-asset market. Today, this is no longer the case. No matter their roots, every virtual asset project from Telegram to Shapeshift to Libra is ramping up compliance while regulators continue to issue guidance, enforce regulations and pay closer attention to digital securities platforms, crypto exchanges and …

Over the last decade, we have witnessed the massive development of crypto. Formerly a geeky trend, crypto was once a questionable and not easily understandable invention that was used for pizza payments. Since those early days, cryptocurrencies have been transformed into a store and measure of value for many people. Those who were at the forefront of the industry profited greatly, and a new wave of millionaires was born, along with new social groups. Crypto anarchists and Bitcoin (BTC) advocates formed an army, and despite the sharp fall during the crypto winter of 2019, we’ve certainly since gained ground. After …

The blockchain-based payment network Ripple recently added a job opening on its official website for a “Director of Product Management, Loans.” The description indicates that Ripple is working on a new loan product to help its customers with working capital loans. Working capital loans are loans companies take to financially support their everyday operations in the short term. A blockchain-based loan product could potentially shorten the time for companies to avail capital loans, reduce paperwork, and improve transparency and accountability between the involved parties. Considering Ripple’s wide reach across major financial institutions, this could be a huge benefit for companies …

Major cryptocurrency event, Consensus 2020, has officially kicked off in virtual mode. Consensus: Distributed, Coindesk’s first ever fully virtual conference, featured European Central Bank (ECB) key legal official, Yves Mersch, as the first speaker. On May 11, ECB board member Mersch delivered an exclusive keynote devoted to central bank digital currencies (CBDC), a central bank digital currency that can be used by consumers. Speaking at 6:45 a.m. ET, the ECB official outlined that the bank is mainly focused on a retail implementation of CBDC. The ECB voices its focus on retail CBDC implementation Opposing retail CBDCs to wholesale central bank …

Digital lender, Capital on Tap, released figures that reveal Blockchain-related jobs offer the highest-paying salaries among all disruptive technology businesses in the UK. According to the UK-based firm, Blockchain has an average annual salary of GBP 75,000 (around $93041 USD). They also showed that the industry provides 544 permanent jobs throughout the country. The study highlights that disruptive technology is becoming an emerging force that is adhering to all industries, from virtual reality to 3D printing. United States still leads across the world The report highlights that the United States takes the crown with the highest number of businesses across …

As the decentralized finance, or DeFi, industry continues to grow, the need for liquidity in cryptocurrencies is steadily increasing. DeFi startup Equilibrium has today expanded the supply of its decentralized EOS stablecoin, EOSDT, as a result of integrating Bitcoin (BTC)-powered liquidity. Equilibrium, a major multi-chain DeFi framework, has raised the EOSDT circulation cap from $70 million to $170 million, the firm announced on May 1. EOSDT integration with pBTC drives the liquidity flow This push became possible through EOSDT’s integration with cross-chain DeFi liquidity network pTokens, which enabled Bitcoin collateralization through pTokens’s BTC-pegged token, pBTC. Bitcoin is the biggest cryptocurrency …

As China is moving forward with blockchain projects amid the COVID-19 crisis, the government has tapped another tech partnership to continue the development of China’s digital yuan. Domestic artificial intelligence (AI) startup SenseTime has partnered with the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) Digital Currency Research Institute to provide its AI expertise amid the reported trials of the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). SenseTime to accelerate AI advancement in a joint body with PBoC SenseTime, purportedly the world’s highest-valued AI startup with an over $7.5 billion valuation, will work with the PBoC to improve risk control and operational capabilities across financial …

Bank of China launched its first fintech innovation regulatory pilot project in Beijing last year. The bank announced plans to expand its regulatory pilot projects in six more cities and districts on April 27. The bank plans to conduct pilot projects in Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Hebei Xiong'an New District, Hangzhou and Suzhou. Ultimately, it aims to improve the financial services in general for the real economy. The bank believes fintech innovation projects under regulation will continue to protect consumer’s rights. At the same time, it will also help small and micro private enterprises to go through financing difficulties during the …

China-based digital bank, WeBank, rose to third place for number of Blockchain patents filed globally in 2019. Alibaba and Tencent took the first and second places respectively. According to the report published on April 24, the digital bank has climbed from fifth place to third after filing nearly 632 patents in 2019. 80% of them were related to technologies like blockchain, AI, cloud computing, and big data. Blockchain patent categories WeBank’s patents have focused on open source consortium chain infrastructure (48%), middleware (40%), and other solutions (12%) related to algorithms, privacy protection, and cross-chain tech. The patents filed by WeBank …

Major crypto exchange, Bitfinex, continues to drive decentralized finance, or DeFI, adoption by announcing support for a new cross-chain DeFi solution. Bitfinex exchange plans to list pTokens (pBTC) — a new token that aims to unlock cross-chain DeFi liquidity by connecting Bitcoin (BTC) to any blockchain. The token is pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin and is compatible with the Ethereum (ETH) and EOS DeFi ecosystems to date. Bitfinex to streamline liquidity flows between centralized and decentralized exchanges Bitfinex CTO, Paolo Ardoino, told Cointelegraph that the platform expects to add support for pBTC deposits and withdrawals by the end of May 2020. …