Institutional fund manager Grayscale has partnered with acclaimed New York-based Time Magazine to produce an educational video series on the subject of crypto assets. The partnership was announced in April by Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein, with Sonnenshein revealing that Time will receive payment in Bitcoin (BTC). Further, Time does not intend to convert the Bitcoin it receives through the deal into fiat and will hold the crypto asset on its balance sheet. No further details of the partnership have been revealed so far. Thrilled @Grayscale is partnering w/ @TIME on a new video series coming this summer explaining the #crypto …

Community-oriented non-fungible token platform Ethernity Chain is partnering with Hong Kong-based crypto investment firm Kenetic Capital to expand its ecosystem. According to an announcement today, Kenetic will support the Etherenity Chain network by expanding the development and adoption of blockchain platforms through technology, investments, and advisory services. Etherenity Chain’s non-fungible token, or NFT, platforms provide a number of exclusive tokenized artwork from prominent sports figures including skateboarder Tony Hawk and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal. “Ethernity is leading the way for next-generation NFT platforms by providing fans access to some of the most legendary figures and brands in history while solving …

FTX has reached an agreement with Miami-Dade County on a 19-year partnership worth $135 million, to name Miami Heat’s home stadium the FTX Arena. The cryptocurrency derivatives exchange backed by Alameda Research, is set to become the first member of the crypto industry to secure NBA naming rights, pending approval from the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners on March 26. The deal marks a significant mainstream partnership for a crypto-based platform, which will see FTX tied to the Miami Heat until 2040. As part of the Miami-Dade County’s press release on March 23, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried noted: “This …

Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading mixed martial arts, or MMA, organization, has announced an exclusive partnership with Stake.com — a leading crypto-powered online casinos and sportsbook. The partnership announced on March 7, will see Stake become UFC’s “First Official Betting Partner” in Asia and Latin America. However, the deal will exclude UFC’s key market in Brazil. The two firms began working together on March 3 — with Stake's customers receiving access to unique digital content surrounding the promotional “fight week” for UFC’s March 6 pay-per-view. An announcement states the company's will also developer exclusive promotions, VIP experiences, and social …

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings is reportedly planning to set up a joint cryptocurrency venture with foreign financial companies. SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said that the Japanese company is in talks with other financial firms to launch a crypto venture, Reuters reported Monda. The executive said that SBI currently has two potential deals. As part of the initiative, SBI is considering large-scale mergers and acquisitions. Kitao stated that such a deal would be necessary for SBI to maintain its position as a leading financial services company: “To become number one in the world, our choice is buying a leading company …

Visa has teamed up with a neobank to pilot a crypto program that will allow underbanked individuals to purchase, custody, and trade digital assets. In an announcement today, customers at First Boulevard, a neobank “built for Black America,” will soon be able use Visa’s application programming interfaces, or APIs, to access the benefits of trading and custodying crypto. Visa said the partnership was part of its efforts to give people using financial institutions without the infrastructure for digital assets the means to tap into crypto and blockchain. “With this pilot program, we want to extend the value of Visa to …

Today, a freshly-announced partnership between the music-focused blockchain protocol Utopia Genesis Foundation and digital securities issuance platform STOKR makes it clear that the two companies are looking to heat up competition in the increasingly crowded blockchain-backed music space. In a press release from Utopia Genesis, the company laid out a series of ways that the collaboration would help artists tokenize and securitize their work, as well as allow listeners access to unique investment vehicles. The release says that Utopia Genesis’ partnership with STOKR “will allow artists and owners of the music to tokenize assets and create equity or debt instruments …

Standard Chartered, one of the biggest banks in the United Kingdom, has officially announced plans to provide institutional custody for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). According to a Dec. 9 announcement, Standard Chartered’s innovation arm SC Ventures has partnered with United States-based investment management firm Northern Trust to launch cryptocurrency custodian for institutional investors. Called “Zodia,” Standard Chartered’s crypto custody platform is subject to registration with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, and is expected to begin operations in London in 2021. The platform is now in the process of registering with the FCA under U.K. money laundering regulations and will …

Belarusbank, the largest financial institution in Belarus, is reportedly launching a cryptocurrency exchange service. According to a Nov. 12 report by local news agency Prime Press, Belarusbank is rolling out a service allowing users to exchange cryptocurrency using a Visa payment card. As reported, the new service enables trading crypto against fiat currencies like the Belarusian ruble as well as the United States dollar and the euro. Belarusbank executives reportedly said that the launch of the new crypto service comes in line with the company’s digital transformation program that was announced a few years ago. The new service is reportedly …

Crypto exchange KuCoin has unveiled dealings with another exchange, Poloniex, in an effort to move the crypto industry forward. "KuCoin and Poloniex will join hands in trading technology research and development, liquidity sharing, product iterations, PoS [proof-of-stake] and PoW [proof-of-work] mining pools, and other industrial exploration," said a statement provided to Cointelegraph. Together, Poloniex and KuCoin aim to help the crypto industry progress as a whole, instead of competing against each other within the sector, the statement detailed. Joint initiatives for the pair include forming a research entity, as well as other unspecified endeavors. KuCoin's decision to team up with …

Crypto.com is adding Chainlink’s price feeds to its decentralized finance wallet as it begins expansion into the booming space. The company's chief operating officer, Eric Anziani, told Cointelegraph: “I would say with the partnership with Chainlink is kind of our first integration with a DeFi protocol, it brings value to our customers in terms of providing transparency in the prices that we're giving them in our DeFi wallet and also making sure our ecosystem token CRO can be integrated into the external protocol by building a price feed for CRO specifically thanks to the Chainlink architecture.” Chainlink integration. Source: Crypto.com. …

Chainlink (LINK), in partnership with a video game called War Riders, has introduced human readable Ethereum (ETH) names. These names will use a different approach than the Ethereum Name Service, or ENS. Removing friction for newcomers War Riders employs blockchain elements like non-fungible tokens which represent in-game items. It also has its own native cryptocurrency (BZN) that the gamers mine while playing. However, as with all such games, there is a certain amount of friction that gamers must overcome. For example, Ethereum wallets have long alpha-numeric addresses and hashes instead of simple names. This may present an unfriendly challenge to …