A cross-chain aggregation protocol allows crypto enthusiasts to access liquidity sources from multiple networks on one platform — making it easier than ever to find the best prices. O3 Swap says its goal is to help users discover the most efficient routes for their trades, and complete transactions without limitations and hidden fees. Just some of the liquidity sources it supports include Uniswap, SushiSwap and Curve on the Ethereum blockchain; PancakeSwap, DODO and BakerySwap on Binance Smart Chain; as well as Flamingo, Nash and Switcheo on Neo. All of this ensures that multi-chain assets can be freely exchanged, and different …

A crypto payments platform has undergone a rebrand — and has launched a new suite of easy-to-understand applications that are designed to deliver innovation in decentralized finance. Mimo is a new protocol that serves as a successor for TenX, which captured the imagination of early adopters by allowing them to complete crypto transactions anywhere using a card. Much of the foundational technology used to build TenX is now being implemented in Mimo, which aims to bring exciting new features to the DeFi space. At the center of its offering is Parallel (PAR), which has been billed as the first decentralized …

A new ecosystem with a goal of bridging the centralized and decentralized worlds of digital finance is going to be home to a brand-new DeFi platform that allows consumers to become their own bank. Fusion says its vision is to deliver key infrastructure for value transfer — integrating the cryptocurrencies that exist today, as well as those that will emerge in the future. This blockchain is now being used by Chainge Finance, a project with the ambition of ensuring anyone can gain 100% control over their daily activities — empowering consumers with the ability to provide and get financial services …

The more than 5,000 residents of an island that forms a part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines can use crypto as a means of payment. According to a report from Euronews, both residents and visitors to the island of Bequia can use Bitcoin (BTC) to pay for goods and services ranging from property to food at one of the local eateries. The One Bequia project, backed by entrepreneur Storm Gonsalves, is building luxury villas on the island for sale in BTC. Gonsalves said the move to accept crypto was aimed at solving the issue of traditional financial systems abandoning …

A blockchain network delivers unlimited scalability and a record-breaking 100,000 transactions per second — features that could transform the way this technology is used. ParallelChain, developed by Hong Kong-based blockchain startup Digital Transaction Limited, says it is the only blockchain platform in the market that has successfully solved the three major pain points of first-generation blockchains with no compromise: Scalability, speed, and security. Its speed is probably the most significant of the three. At 100,000 TPS, ParallelChain is four times faster than Visa’s capability of 24,000 TPS. It is also much faster than other blockchains such as Polkadot, Cardano and …

Payments app Square made headlines — and dollars — when it integrated Bitcoin trading into its mobile platform back during the crypto bull market of winter 2017. Now, rival payments firm Venmo, owned by PayPal, is following suit by launching cryptocurrency trading for four major coins: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Beginning on Tuesday and set to be widely available within the new few weeks, Venmo’s 70 million+ customers will be able to buy, hold and sell crypto directly within the Venmo app. The launch is offering users access to in-app guides to help them …

Bitcoin (BTC) transaction fees measured in United States dollars are near 2017 levels amid a massive hash rate drop on the Bitcoin network. According to data from several Bitcoin monitoring resources, the average BTC transaction fee in U.S. dollars is near the all-time high recorded back in 2017. According to data from blockchain explorer Blockchair, the average cost of a Bitcoin transaction surged Tuesday to $58, approaching its all-time high of above $62 recorded in December 2017. Popular Bitcoin monitoring source BitInfoCharts suggests that current BTC fees have already broken the record of $54 in 2017 at $58 on Tuesday. …

If 2021 has taught us anything about digital currencies, it’s that big banks and major payments providers are now feeling more comfortable with Bitcoin (BTC). While the CEO of PayPal and other large corporations are expressing excitement for crypto payments and salaries paid in Bitcoin, executives from Visa, JPMorgan and ING all agree that Bitcoin is still an investment vehicle rather than a currency. This notion was revealed during a panel discussion entitled “Buying with Bitcoin,” which took place during Forbes’ “2021 Blockchain 50 Symposium: Crypto Goes Corporate” online event. Michael del Castillo, associate editor at Forbes, led the discussion …

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has addressed the platform’s transaction fees as the company's shares list on Nasdaq today. In a CNBC Squawk Box interview on Wednesday, Armstrong discussed public concerns associated with Coinbase’s massive returns coming from transaction fees. As previously reported, nearly 96% of Coinbase’s entire revenue in 2020 was generated from transaction fees charged to users. When asked about the potential impact of greater competition on transaction fees on Coinbase, Armstrong said that the platform might see some fee reduction in the long term: “We haven't seen any margin compression yet, and I actually wouldn’t expect to see …

Banking giant Citigroup has successfully completed a proof-of-concept for blockchain-based cross-border payments in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank, or IADB. According to a Thursday announcement, Citigroup’s Citi Innovation Labs and the IADB enabled several disbursements from the United States to a recipient in the Dominican Republic, using the LACChain blockchain network — a proprietary effort by IADB’s regional program LACChain. As part of the project, the IADB deposited tokenized funds denominated in U.S. dollars in a Citi account and transferred the funds using digital wallets, IADB’s blockchain specialist and LACChain technical leader Marcos Allende explained. “After tokenized, these funds …

After completing the first phase of its digital currency pilot project, Sveriges Riksbank has found some critical issues that must be addressed before Stockholmers can buy coffee and kanelbullar with e-krona. In a recent study, Sweden’s central bank presented the first results of its central bank digital currency pilot on a network based on R3’s Corda blockchain. The Riksbank simulated core aspects of a potential CBDC system, including liquidity supply via the Riksbank’s settlement system, RIX, and network members serving as e-kronor distributors. The central bank also simulated participants, end-users and payment instruments like mobile apps. The Riksbank said that …

A decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocol says it has become the largest trading platform for nonfungible tokens on Binance Smart Chain — with users benefiting from lower gas fees than on Ethereum. BakerySwap claims the expensiveness of making purchases on Ethereum has meant that transaction costs can often outweigh the value of an artwork, shutting out small artists who are hoping to experiment and establish a reputation by sharing their creations with the world. This platform gives them the freedom to sell their works for just $4, something that is almost impossible to do on rival blockchains. According to the …