The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)-operated golf startup, LinksDAO, may soon put in an offer to purchase the newly marketed Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland worth about $900,000. LinksDAO — self-described as a “global group of golf enthusiasts” that is on a mission to build the “world’s greatest golf community” — officially opened the proposal vote on Feb. 20, which came after a few weeks of informal deliberation. It would be the DAO’s first ever golf course purchase. few things in life are more fun than doing what you said you were going to do, regardless of adversity i will …

The bear market won’t scuttle Bitcoin’s (BTC) adoption plans in the United Kingdom. From Oct. 21–22 this year, internationally recognized Bitcoin experts, authors and content creators will take part in the United Kingdom’s largest Bitcoin conference to date. Organized by the Bitcoin Collective, a newly formed Bitcoin company, and in partnership with Bitcoin and crypto exchange OKX, the event takes place at the Assembly Rooms on Edinburgh’s George Street. Jordan Walker, CEO of the Bitcoin Collective, told Cointelegraph, “the conference is solely Bitcoin related, as this is our focus as we aim to inform and educate the collective.” In the …

The Crocodile Minter Australia Zoo, the famous animal sanctuary owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin or the crocodile hunter, has launched a nonfungible token (NFT) project called “Wildlife Warriors.” Wildlife Warriors is also the name of a nonprofit organization founded by the Irwins in 2002 which focuses on the protection of injured, threatened or endangered wildlife. All profits from the NFT sales will be donated to the Australia Zoo and Wild Warriors conservation efforts. The NFT collection is a part of the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Australia Zoo, and users can now sign up for the allow …

A Scottish music school will begin accepting cryptocurrency for tuition payments following demand from students, it was announced this week. The Morningside School of Music in Edinburgh said it was responding to suggestions from adult pupils in the school, many of whom now work in the city’s burgeoning fintech sector. Morningside’s director, Linda Boyd, said the school had previously used cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) to make business purchases and could see the utility in accepting it as a form of payment. She said, “We sometimes use things like Bitcoin to pay for goods for the school, so we know how …

Upon the announcement of the United Kingdom budget for 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak commissioned Ron Kalifa to conduct an independent review of the U.K. fintech sector. On Friday, eight months later, the FCA published the 108-page report, and it contains multiple clear guidelines aimed at cementing the U.K.’s position as a fintech powerhouse. Over $95 billion was spent by U.K. fintech firms in 2019, and with 10% of the global market share, the U.K. is already ahead of the curve when it comes to fintech adoption and business. Investments in U.K. fintech firms totaled $4.1 billion in 2020, notes the …

The University of Glasgow’s Scottish Universities Environment Research Centre, or SUERC, is joining forces with supply chain company Everledger to tackle counterfeiting within the whisky industry, according to a Dec. 18 post. The market for collectable single malt Scotch whiskies reached over £57 million ($77 million) in 2018. However, SUERC researchers estimate that up to 40% of bottles currently in circulation could be fake. Using radiocarbon dating, and unprecedented access to rare whisky samples, SUERC has developed a method to determine the age of all types of vintage whiskies, accurate to within a couple of years. Through this method SUERC …

While Bitcoin (BTC) might not be ready for the moon yet, its underlying technology of blockchain is being increasingly adopted in space. The European Space Agency (ESA), a major intergovernmental organization dedicated to space exploration, is funding a new blockchain project aiming to boost the world’s mining industry. A known contributor to blockchain technology applications, the ESA has now co-funded a joint project with Scottish startup Hypervine to improve data transparency for the mining industry by combining satellite data and blockchain. The news was reported by oil and gas-oriented publication Oil & Gas Middle East. Preventing potentially fatal accidents in …

Big Four audit and consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is conducting a trial of its new blockchain-powered platform for ensuring the integrity of employee credentials. The trial, launched in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), was announced in a PwC press release published on Feb. 28. PwC’s “Smart Credentials” platform, earlier unveiled on Feb. 13, implements blockchain to issue, store and securely share digital certificates for employees’ professional qualifications. For the trial with ICAS, PwC employees, who have qualified as chartered accountants at the Institute within the past two years, are being issued with a blockchain-based certificate …

Industry experts say that financial institutions will have to replace their existing internal IT infrastructure for greater adoption of blockchain and digital currencies, Scotland’s national news outlet the Scotsman reported Nov. 9. Delivering a speech at the ScotChain18 conference in Edinburgh devoted to blockchain technology impact on commerce, Jeremy Drain of cryptocurrency-focused software company Libra reportedly stated that “there’s an assumption by some companies that their current infrastructure will accept crypto and blockchain.” Drain further explained that those firms’ data is too different, so their systems are unable to work with blockchain and crypto. Other participants like Deloitte’s Risk Advisory …

A Scottish hospital is treating people who are addicted to trading cryptocurrencies in the UK’s first ever ‘crypto clinic,’ the Evening Standard reported today, May 28. Castle Craig Hospital in Peeblesshire, the Scottish Borders, has created a course of residential treatment for those it deems to be crypto addicts. Experts told the Evening Standard that crypto trading can become a form of behavioural addiction, with traders obsessively glued to “minute-by-minute” market fluctuations. The devised treatment program is therefore closer to existing methods for treating gambling addictions, rather than to substance abuse programs. Chris Burn, a gambling therapist at Castle Craig …