It has been almost a year since the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) unveiled the development of its national digital currency dubbed Sovereign (SOV). The cryptocurrency is set to tackle some issues the RMI struggles with, including high costs of remittances. A crypto legal tender could purportedly create a situation where the solution to costly remittance is “baked into” the monetary system itself. Examining SOV’s white paper, Cointelegraph noticed that it hints at a Delegate Proof of Stake (DPoS) system that is probably derived from EOS, specifically when it comes to block production. Cointelegraph reached out to Jim Wagner, …

Space-as-a-service-focused blockchain startup SpaceChain has sent its hardware wallet technology to the International Space Station (ISS). As part of the CRS-19 commercial resupply service mission, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is delivering SpaceChain’s hardware wallet technology to the ISS, according to a Dec. 6 press release. The move purportedly marks the first tech demonstration of blockchain hardware on the ISS and the third blockchain payload by SpaceChain over the past two years. Acceleration of space-as-a-service adoption The technology will then be installed on the commercial platform on Station provided by commercial utilization of space firm Nanoracks. The initiative is set …

Whale Alert, the ever-vigilant live tracker for cryptocurrency transactions, noted that Ripple transferred a total of 1 billion XRP tokens from its escrow wallet on Dec. 2. The blockchain-based payments firm moved the massive amount of tokens in two separate transactions, worth around $219 million in total as of press time. Interestingly, the company transferred the exact same amount of tokens back into escrow only seven minutes later, this time in three separate transactions. Is Ripple crashing the token’s price? This isn’t the first time that Ripple has executed such enormous transactions. The practice has raised concerns among the XRP …

Crypto exchanges often face immense costs when offering their services — with regulatory compliance, marketing, staffing, security, legal issues and processing fees all contributing to their overheads. That’s even before they’ve made a single satoshi in profit. This resultantly means that purchasing cryptocurrency can be expensive for consumers — notably for those who might be seeking to convert their fiat by making a deposit using their credit card or bank account. Although the fees may seem relatively small, they do add up over time, especially for crypto enthusiasts who complete transactions on a regular basis. That said, there is some …

Oman Oil and Orpic Group and HSBC Bank Oman SAOG have conducted the first trade finance transaction on the blockchain in the country using R3’s Corda platform. As news publication the Oman Observer reported on Nov. 23, Oman Oil and Orpic Group — one of the largest oil and gas businesses in Oman — and HSBC Bank executed the country’s first blockchain-based trade finance transaction: a sale of polypropylene to Abu Dhabi National Carpet Factory. The transaction was carried out using R3’s Corda, an open-source blockchain platform. Fully digitized letter of credit In the transaction, HSBC Oman advised a fully …

Some Vermont-based households can now sell their excess renewable energy to businesses through blockchain-based energy startup LO3’s platform. Vermont power utility Green Mountain Power and LO3 jointly launched a pilot project that enables homeowners with solar panels to sell surplus power to businesses served by the utility, industry-focused publication Microgrid Knowledge reported on Nov. 19. 500 MWh in trades per year The project is called Vermont Green and is set to begin in December, with the initial objective to cover 50 businesses and 150 households. The partners expect the program to result in around 500 MWh in trades per year. …

The Libra Association, the entity behind Facebook’s forthcoming eponymous stablecoin, has logged over 30 projects and 51,000 transactions on the Libra network during the past two months. Despite global regulators’ controversial stance towards Libra and the loss of a one-fourth of its founding partners, the Libra Association continues to develop the stablecoin’s network and has plans to introduce a range of new features in the upcoming months, which it set forth in a press release published on Nov. 15. Ten wallets, 11 blockchain explorers, one integrated development environment, one application programming interface and 11 clients have taken part in the …

German securities marketplace Deutsche Boerse and Swiss state-run telecom Swisscom have settled securities transactions using different blockchain protocols. In a joint proof-of-concept (PoC) involving a number of banks, the participants exchanged money in the form of cash tokens against tokenized shares, Deutsche Börse officially announced on Nov. 19. Based on blockchain technology, the joint PoC intends to show the potential of new technologies in the financial services sector and maintain Germany and Switzerland’s expertise in the digital asset ecosystem. Three major Swiss banks participated in the PoC The PoC involved major Swiss banks, including the fourth-largest Swiss bank Zuercher Kantonalbank, …

Walmart Canada — the retail giant’s Canadian branch — has rolled out an automated blockchain-based network for freight tracking and payments management, according to a Nov. 14 press release. The new system, which was developed in collaboration with blockchain company DLT Labs, is designed to improve freight and payment processing, enabling users to automatically trace deliveries, verify transactions and handle payments and reconciliation. Integration with each company’s legacy systems The release further states that the network can be integrated with a business’s legacy system and “manages, integrates and synchronizes all the supply chain and logistics data in real time, aggregating …

The like-kind exchange tax exemption is not applicable to cryptocurrency transactions, according to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). An official at the IRS Office said that U.S. taxpayers have never been authorized to postpone paying tax as part of the like-kind exchange principle even before the 2017 tax overhaul, Bloomberg Tax reports Nov. 13. Suzanne Sinno, an attorney in the IRS Office of the Associate Chief Counsel, delivered her remarks on U.S. crypto taxation at the American Institute of CPAs conference this Wednesday in Washington. According to the report, Sinno worked on recent IRS cryptocurrency guidance that was …

Samsung SDS, the IT arm of tech giant Samsung, has integrated QEDIT’s zero-knowledge proof solution (ZKP) to its Nexledger blockchain. By applying ZKP, Samsung SDS intends to provide a higher level of privacy for users of its enterprise blockchain platform Nexledger, QEDIT said in a press release on Nov. 14. To apply the technology, Samsung SDS has signed a memorandum of understanding with Israeli privacy-enhancing technology provider QEDIT in Seoul. According to the announcement, the agreement was signed by Jeanie Hong, senior VP at Samsung SDS’ blockchain division, and Jonathan Rouach, CEO and co-founder of QEDIT. Based on ZCP cryptography, …

Canadian blockchain research firm Blockchain Venture Capital Inc. (BVCI) has officially launched a United States dollar-pegged stablecoin, the CUSD, according to a press release published on Nov. 11. The new USD-anchored stablecoin comes four months after the firm launched CADT, a stablecoin initiative pegged to Canada’s national fiat currency. CUSD is pegged 1:1 to USD As reported, BVCI debuted CADT stablecoin in conjunction with last Canada Day on July 1. With one CUSD equivalent to one USD, the new stablecoin is expected to be used by people and businesses, and specifically targets cross border transactions between the U.S. and Canada, …