Gemini, a major cryptocurrency exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is responding to Bitcoin’s (BTC) environmental issue by purchasing carbon credits. On Thursday, the company announced its long-term initiative to incorporate climate-conscious measures into its business, launching a collaboration with Climate Vault, a nonprofit founded at the University of Chicago. Through the initiative, Gemini plans to purchase carbon credits for nearly 350,000 metric tons of carbon to offset non-renewable energy consumed by Bitcoin miners and help decarbonize Bitcoin on the Bitcoin network. According to the announcement, the partnership will have Gemini purchase carbon permits directly from government-related cap-and-trade markets …

Gold wholesalers are starting to find new ways to expand their businesses to retail, thanks to blockchain-based tokenization. International bullion trading company AgaBullion and United Kingdom-based fintech Aurus Technologies have signed a partnership to offer gold-backed tokens in the Turkish market. The partnership will see investors own grams of LBMA-accredited gold via AurusGOLD. As a gold-backed ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, AurusGOLD (AWG) is minted and distributed by precious metals dealers using Aurus’ blockchain-based solution. “Gold is the oldest decentralized finance system in the world,” AgaBullion chairman Gökhan Yılmaz said, “It has become a globally recognized and established ecosystem.” …

Spanish-based seafood firm, Nueva Pescanova Group, has announced its working with IBM to utilize its Food Trust platform — a distributed ledger technology platform designed for supply chain traceability. According to a June 8 announcement from IBM, the partnership is already underway, with Nueva Pescanova utilizing blockchain technology to track shrimp fishing in Argentina and prawn cultivation in Ecuador. In the announcement, Ignacio González, the CEO of the Nueva Pescanova Group, stated the tracability platform will help the firm in meeting the United Nation’s Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (DGST) standards, stating: “We want to offer our consumers all over …

The English Premier League’s Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club will launch fan tokens under a new partnership with Turkish blockchain platform Bitci Technology. The Premier League is the most followed soccer league in the world, Bitci’s announcement states. Turkish blockchain experts will develop a Wolves fan token on Bitcichain. Bitci’s own crypto exchange will list the Wolves fan token first, followed by other exchanges worldwide. The multiyear agreement will see the Bitci logo appear on the Wolves team’s jerseys and screens in the Wolves' historic stadium, Molineux, starting during the 2021–2022 season. As one of the founders of the Football League …

Blockchain infrastructure company Bison Trails has partnered with Volt Capital to allow users of the Celo Network to stake their tokens securely through their mobile devices. The collaboration sees Bison Trails running a Celo validator node for Volt Capital, thereby allowing Volt Capital’s community to stake the CELO cryptocurrency, earn rewards and help grow the network. Bison Trails’ node infrastructure allows delegators to more easily stake cryptocurrencies. Volt Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that has set aside $10 million to invest in various cryptocurrency projects focused on the end-user experience. Through its TD Labs subsidiary, Volt Capital has …

Oracle solutions provider Chainlink Labs has joined the governance council overseeing the Hedera network. In an announcement from Chainlink today, the project said it had become the 21st member of the Hedera Governing Council to help organizations utilize decentralized applications. Chainlink will now be the preferred oracle partner for the Hedera network and provide integration for tokenization on Hedera. “As enterprise adoption of distributed ledger technology continues to advance, decentralized oracle solutions become critical for every vertical — from DeFi and insurance, to gaming and NFTs, and more,” said David Post, managing director of business development and strategy at Chainlink. …

Facebook-backed digital currency project the Diem Association has partnered with cryptocurrency-friendly bank Silvergate to launch a stablecoin pegged to the United States dollar. Diem announced Wednesday a new model of its upcoming stablecoin, relocating its main operations from Switzerland to the United States and withdrawing its application for a payment system license from the Swiss Financial Markets Authority. The association, which comprises 26 financial firms including Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, is now planning to move forward with its USD stablecoin plans through Silvergate Bank, which is set to be the issuer of the Diem USD and will manage the Diem …

The Spanish national soccer team will launch the world’s first national soccer team fan token thanks to a partnership between the Royal Spanish Football Federation and the Turkish blockchain platform Bitci Technology. The token will launch on Bitcichain, and all tech infrastructure will be provided by Bitci Technology. According to a recent announcement, Bitci Technology will be the exclusive blockchain partner of the team during the initial three-year partnership, followed by an optional two-year period. The partnership also makes Bitci a jersey logo sponsor of the Spanish national team. World-famous football players such as Sergio Ramos, David de Gea, and …

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, the largest mixed martial arts association in the world, is launching its own blockchain-based fan token. The UFC officially announced on Tuesday that it will debut a UFC Fan Token on fan engagement and rewards app Socios.com. Minted on the Chiliz blockchain, the token is scheduled for launch in June and will have a maximum supply of 20 million tokens. Similar to other fan tokens from Chiliz and Socios, the UFC fan token is designed to enable new fan engagement opportunities such as access to exclusive content, fan voting, VIP rewards, promotions, competitions and others. “UFC …

Decentralized exchange Balancer and decentralized finance platform Gnosis have announced today a planned integration dubbed the Balancer-Gnosis-Protocol, a collaboration that will combine Balancer’s v2 pool mechanisms with Gnosis’s DEX aggregation and batch auctions designed to mitigate miner extractable value, or MEV. Balancer’s v2, which is currently live for developer testing, was announced in February and boasts a host of new features: All liquidity will be pooled into a single vault for gas efficiency, unused liquidity will be put to work on lending platform Aave for additional yield, and users will be able to build their own automated market makers with …

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, aims to fight intellectual property infringement in the space industry with blockchain technology. Roscosmos started testing an IP protection solution based on the Waves Enterprise blockchain platform, a hybrid blockchain platform developed by the eponymous local blockchain firm. Dubbed IP Guard, the blockchain-based tool detects violations of IP belonging to Roscosmos and other industry organizations. Using the tool, Roscosmos can reportedly maintain and verify a database of IP data objects as well as coordinate IP experts, such as lawyers, patent specialists and auditors. Waves Enterprise chief commercial officer Igor Kuzmichev said: “The most notable properties of …

Decentralized finance protocols Badger DAO and RenVM have announced today the launch of “Badger Bridge,” a Bitcoin-to-Ethereum bridge that will allow Bitcoin (BTC) holders to bring their BTC to Ethereum and deposit it into yield-bearing vaults, purportedly with a single click. “The Badger Bridge is the first of its kind to enable users to earn yield on their tokenized Bitcoin immediately, all while transacting within the same app. What used to be an arduous process to obtain yield on your Bitcoin is now just a few short clicks,” reads a blog post from the Badger team. “With the launch of …