Major cryptocurrency company Ripple has not given up on its plans to go public despite its ongoing legal battle with United States regulators, according to SBI Group’s CEO. Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of Japanese financial giant SBI Group, claimed that Ripple plans to become a public company after the firm settles a legal action brought against it by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Speaking on a Wednesday earnings presentation call, Kitao said that both Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen are planning to take Ripple public: “After the current lawsuit, Ripple will go public. The current …

Red Date Technology, one of the builders of China’s Blockchain-based Service Network, has obtained licensing rights from R3 to resell both the free and enterprise Corda implementations in China. According to a press release by R3, the news marks the first occasion of the BSN developer being able to resell enterprise blockchain technology from an overseas company. Since the R3 deal is with BSN China, developers will create a permissioned version of Corda to comply with Chinese blockchain regulations. Also, with banks reportedly being one of the likely users of the network, the country’s UnionPay cloud infrastructure will play host …

Alfa-Bank, one of the largest private commercial banks in Russia, has joined a blockchain trade finance network backed by HSBC. According to an official announcement on Nov. 3, Alfa-Bank is the first Russian bank to become a member of Contour — a blockchain platform connecting the world’s major financial institutions like HSBC, ING and Citi. The network allows bank customers to track the processing and modification of trade finance transactions and cut operational costs. Evgenia Fomina, head of the Alfa-Bank lending directorate, said that Contour-based pilots in the Russian market intend to improve the quality of cross-border transactions, stating: “The …

The Bangladesh branch of global banking firm HSBC has conducted the country’s first blockchain-based letter of credit transaction on the Contour DLT platform. The transaction was used to settle the importation of 20,000 tonnes of fuel oil from United Group’s Singapore subsidiary United Mymensingh Power. HSBC Bangaladesh’s chief executive, Md Mahbub ur Rahman, described the transaction as showcasing the bank’s commitment “to supporting cross-border trade by Bangladeshi businesses using cutting-edge technology platforms.” “I believe this will usher in a new era of routing international trade transactions as businesses and governments recognize transparency, security and swiftness in performing tasks using blockchain …

Standard Chartered PLC, a British multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, England, has successfully leveraged blockchain technology to conduct Bangladesh’s first blockchain trade transaction, according to Newage on August 16. The Standard Chartered bank issued a Letter of Credit (LC) for the trade between garment exporter Viyellatex Ltd and Viyellatex Spinning on the Contour blockchain network. LC is a letter from a bank guaranteeing that a buyer's payment to a seller will be received on time and for the correct amount. The entire transaction was reportedly paperless and completed digitally through Contour’s network. Contour’s blockchain network builds …

DAML, a major smart contact language designed for building business-level blockchain applications, has been integrated with R3’s blockchain. Developed by United States’ blockchain startup Digital Asset, DAML, or Digital Asset Modeling Language, is now available on R3 commercial blockchain platform, Corda Enterprise. A cross-platform alternative to Corda’s native programming language In order to bring the cross-platform language to the Corda platform, Digital Asset partnered with international tech firm IntellectEU, the firm announced on July 27. Focused on emerging technologies like blockchain, IntellectEU provided commercial integration, enabling a new smart contract language on Corda. To date, Corda developers have only been …

The Singapore Fintech Association and R3 have entered a partnership to provide startups in the SFA network with access to R3’s Corda blockchain. In an announcement on July 14, the SFA said that startups would receive support from R3’s Venture Development program, which provides a gateway into R3’s ecosystem for all pre-series A companies that are building on Corda. Corda is an open-source enterprise blockchain platform that is used by an expanding network of over 350 participants who build distributed applications (CorDapp) on the platform for a range of industries, such as financial services, insurance and healthcare. Access to the …

Data privacy issues have been escalating in 2020 as personal data is increasingly being used to fight COVID-19. The Linux Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium, has today announced a new data privacy project featuring dozens of cross-industry giants like Mastercard and IBM. Called the ToIP Foundation, the new data trust coalition aims to provide a trusted exchange of data over the internet and establish a global standard to ensure digital trust. Blockchain consortium R3 outlines Corda’s potential for private transactions According to a May 5 announcement, the ToIP Foundation’s participants include a wide list of companies, governments and nonprofits across …

No central bank is currently working on a Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, that can be used by consumers, according to enterprise blockchain firm, R3. A recent report by R3 claims that no central bank is currently pursuing the development of a retail CBDC. As the authors of the document explain, CBDC’s are divided into wholesale and retail: the first is limited to commercial banks while the latter can involve corporations, small businesses, and even individuals. The report explains that a wholesale CBDC is just a new modernization step for central banks, while a retail CBDC “is an opportunity …

The world’s second-largest stock exchange and capital markets technology company, Nasdaq, has entered a partnership with enterprise blockchain solutions platform, R3. R3 announced the partnership on April 29, 2020, stating that Nasdaq will use its blockchain software, Corda, among other services. Their intention is to help financial institutions easily build and deploy institutional-grade digital assets. This is a long-term, non-exclusive partnership between the two firms, which means Nasdaq can still collaborate with other blockchain solution providers to work on new projects. R3’s compatibility with highly regulated environments inspired the partnership Johan Toll, the head of digital assets at Nasdaq, said …

Tech Mahindra, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group, has become the first Indian business to use R3’s blockchain-based Marco Polo Network for conducting cross-border transactions. It said the platform had resulted in faster reconciliation and ambiguity resolution, as well as the significant reduction of paperwork and time required for the entire transaction cycle. Tech Mahindra partnered with Singapore’s DBS Bank, which facilitated the transactions and acted as the company’s leading trade bank. The parties used the Marco Polo Receivables Discounting product which is designed to help companies optimise their working capital, improve liquidity and mitigate credit risk. Marco …

Although some people in life do an extremely convincing job of indicating otherwise, all humans have an identity. This identity comes in many forms, and as modern life has progressed, the ways in which people can identify have multiplied. Technology has now made it easier for people to explore and share their identities. But, at some point in the not-so-distant past, the internet overtook people’s ability to manage their identities online. Companies, notably the big data giants, have become the new gatekeepers. As the world enters a more data-conscious era, innovators in the tech industry believe that blockchain technology could …