Global trade and financing suffer from inefficiencies because of traditional infrastructures. However, according to Martha Reyes, the head of research at Bequant, crypto can fix this issue. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Reyes shared her thoughts on the state of global trade and financing and how crypto makes this more efficient. According to Reyes, despite the growth and magnitude of global trade, areas like remittance payments still suffer from the number of intermediaries that transactions have to go through. This leads to lengthy transaction times. Reyes notes that legacy systems for cross-border payments make global trade a “prime candidate” for …

Spanish stock exchange Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, or BME is set to test its blockchain infrastructure for small- and medium-sized enterprise financing following a successful pilot run back in 2020. According to Finextra on Friday, this next set of trials by BME will involve businesses that are part of the country’s SME financing ecosystem under the aegis of a regulatory sandbox created by Spain’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, this sandbox is seen as an important step in promoting greater fintech development in Spain, with a focus on improving greater competition while reducing …

Nordic private banking institution Nordea is expanding its offering of the blockchain-based trading platform we.trade to its small and middle-sized business customers (SMEs), according to a press release on May 9. The platform will purportedly help address trust deficits extant in current cross-border trades made by SMEs. Patrik Zekkar, Global Head of Trade Finance and Working Capital Management at Nordea, explained: “Almost 60 percent of the SME’s said that they have to make advance payments so there is obviously a sense of insecurity surrounding cross-border trade. This is unfortunate, not only from a liquidity standpoint, it may also lead to …

The European Union announced the launch of the International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA) on its official website on April 3. According to a Cointelegraph representative who attended today’s ceremony at the European Commission in Brussels, the more than 100 members who have signed the charter include IBM, Accenture and Deutsche Telekom. Among the blockchain-related members number Iota, Ripple, ConsenSys, and the Sovrin Foundation. Per the announcement, INATBA aims to bring together industry startups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), regulators and standard setting bodies to bring blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) into the mainstream. During the Brussels ceremony, …