A DeFi service and tech provider says its “Cloud SaaS” and white-label crypto trading platform solution has served more than 130 partners around the world — onboarding more than 5 million retail traders and taking custody of assets worth $6 billion as a result. Bluehelix says it provides crypto-to-crypto trading, wealth management, over-the-counter services, as well as options contracts. Currently, it has also launched perpetual contracts to licensed brokers and exchanges with both Tether (USDT) Margin Swap and Coin Margin Swap — either on a Software-as-a-Service basis or via a white-label solution. Bluehelix states its SaaS cloud solution enables partners …

The Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB) has onboarded six virtual banks as corporate members, according to a Jan. 2 press release. The HKIB is a non-profit institution that provides training and certification to the banking organizations in Hong Kong. The last banks joining the HKIB are Airstar Bank Limited, Fusion Bank Limited, Livi VB Limited, Ping An OneConnect Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, SC Digital Solutions Limited and WeLab Bank Limited. New era in Hong Kong’s banking sector Commenting on the news, Carrie Leung, CEO of the HKIB, said that the launching of virtual banks marked a new era in …

Australia’s former Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has become chairman of the advisory board for an insurance-focused blockchain firm. Stephen Conroy — an Australian Labor Party Senate member from 1996–2016 — has joined the Melbourne-based blockchain firm Day By Day, according to a Dec. 18 report from ZDNet. Day By Day is focused on the creation of a blockchain-based asset registry management platform intended to innovate insurance inventories and expedite claims in the industry. Commenting on his new role, Conroy said that “problems of under-insurance and fraudulent claims” remain significant issues for both clients and insurers. He …

Amsterdam-based bank ING is reportedly developing cryptocurrency custody technology, Reuters reported on Dec. 12. The digital assets custody service being developed by ING is purportedly part of one of the bank’s several blockchain-related initiatives and is still at an early stage of development. ING reportedly said that it “sees increasing opportunities with regard to digital assets on both asset backed and native security tokens.” When reached for comment, ING did not provide specific details about the project, but said that it is, “particularly active to further develop the technology behind digital assets to empower its clients with a compliant access …

China’s securities regulator is reportedly setting up a tech division that will be headed by the former chief of the central bank’s digital currency initiative. Yao Qian, a former director of the Digital Currency Research Institute at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), will serve as director at the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s (CSRC) first technology supervision department, Beijing-based media outlet Caijing reports Dec. 11. Yao was the first director of the PBoC’s Digital Currency Research Institute As reported, Yao is now working as general manager at China Securities Depository and Clearing (CSDC), a branch of the CSRC. According to …

To support our international expansion and global reach, Cointelegraph is delighted to announce the launch of the Chinese-language version of the publication. Today, Dec. 4, we celebrated the opening of the office of Cointelegraph China (Cointelegraph 中文). The news — which marks another milestone moment in Cointelegraph’s growth — was announced at the Nova Global Blockchain Investment Institutions Summit hosted by the investment ecosystem alliance, Nova Club. Nova Club was formed by top blockchain organizations and aims to facilitate blockchain project development by consolidating resources and expertise. The new expansion will be led from the heart of Guangzhou, with other …

Portag3 Ventures, a Canadian venture capital (VC) firm, has closed a second fund with around $320 million to invest in fintech startup companies globally. On Dec. 3, TechCrunch reported that the VC company received final commitments from institutional and strategic investors totaling $320 million. The funds will allow the company to make early-stage investments in promising fintech startups around the world, with a particular focus on regions like Canada, the United States, Europe and certain markets in the Asia-Pacific region. “Build global champions” Portag3 Ventures CEO Adam Felesky reportedly said that the company is on a mission “to build global …

San Francisco-based fintech firm Figure Technologies has secured $58 million in a recent funding round which aims to raise a total of $103 million. According to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Figure — which is the creator of Provenance, a blockchain platform to track supply chains — has raised over $58.8 million in a total equity offering of $103 million. In February, Figure raised $65 million in Series B equity funding, which brought the company’s total equity funding to over $120 million. At the time, the round was led by early-stage capital firm RPM Ventures …

A former executive of investment bank UBS has established a United States-based digital securities platform. According to a press release on Nov. 27, Claude Waelchli — who served over 12 years at UBS in various executive positions — launched the Tokenyz platform for issuing digital securities. Waelchli states that the financial industry can benefit from digital securities as they can automate manual processes, streamline settlements, create liquidity, and lower minimum trade size. Eventually, Waelchli intends to connect “tech companies with immense tokenization capability but little financial acumen, and financial services companies locked into their traditional business models.” Waelchli said, “It …

89% of China’s blockchain firms have allegedly tried to create their own cryptocurrency, according to a senior exec at a local blockchain association. According to the state-run CCTV on Nov. 21, Yedong Zhu, the president of the Beijing Blockchain Technology Application Association (BBAA), revealed that the vast majority of blockchain industry in China is focused on tokens, not blockchain. In addition to Zhu’s remarks, the report by CCTV covered a new study led by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). Co-authored by five local financial and technology authorities, the “Bluebook on Blockchain” report reveals that there are 28,000 blockchain enterprises …

The first deputy governor of the French central bank has called for distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based settlements and payment systems in Europe. Speaking at the AFME Annual Capital Markets Technology and Innovation Conference on Nov. 21, Denis Beau, the first deputy governor of Banque de France, delved into the issue of policy frameworks that could potentially help to bring innovation and growth into Europe’s capital markets. An important impact on the financial industry Beau suggested that the implementation of blockchain-based solutions could have an impact on the financial industry, stating: “The tokenisation of financial assets combined with the recourse to …

Oman Oil and Orpic Group and HSBC Bank Oman SAOG have conducted the first trade finance transaction on the blockchain in the country using R3’s Corda platform. As news publication the Oman Observer reported on Nov. 23, Oman Oil and Orpic Group — one of the largest oil and gas businesses in Oman — and HSBC Bank executed the country’s first blockchain-based trade finance transaction: a sale of polypropylene to Abu Dhabi National Carpet Factory. The transaction was carried out using R3’s Corda, an open-source blockchain platform. Fully digitized letter of credit In the transaction, HSBC Oman advised a fully …