Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG and mechanical engineering firm Dürr AG have conducted a pilot transaction on blockchain software firm R3’s Marco Polo trade finance network. According to a press release published on Sept. 25, the transaction between Daimler and Dürr included the order and delivery agreement from Dürr’s subsidiary Schenck, wherein the payment was secured by a conditional payment commitment by the buyer’s bank. Marco Polo founding member LBBW provided the financing and payment commitment. Once the equipment was delivered, the system automatically uploaded the order fulfillment information and adjusted it with previously agreed transaction data. Fast and efficient …

Blockchain platform Tron’s founder, Justin Sun, has announced a new plan for TRON's (TRX) proof-of-stake mechanism. In a series of tweets on Sept. 21, Sun highlighted four key developments in the new plan for TRON’s proof-of-stake mechanism. Specifically, the developments will focus on the means of distributing staking revenues and greater engagement of the community. Community engagement Sun revealed that the company will consider “a fair, decentralized distribution of staking revenues” to increase user participation and engagement with staking from industry players such as exchanges, wallets and partners. To encourage the community to be more active and ensure a more …

Open source blockchain platform Waves is transitioning to a self-regulating monetary system, allowing the community to determine the block generation reward size and coin supply. Waves announced the development in a news release shared with Cointelegraph on Sept. 19. The company detailed an update to protocol version Node 1.1, which considers a mechanism of block generation rewards in addition to the existing transaction fees: “Every generated block will add another 6 WAVES to the overall circulating supply, which was previously limited to 100,000,000 WAVES. The reward for block generation is to be agreed by network participants via a voting process …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a blog in which it outlines the potential benefits and downsides associated with the adoption of new digital payment methods, including stablecoins. In its recently published blog entitled “The Rise of Digital Money,” the IMF said stablecoins — digital currencies pegged to a physical asset or fiat currency and designed to minimize price volatility — could bring significant benefits to customers and society but are not without risks. The benefits, risks and regulatory issues The IMF said banks could lose their role as intermediaries, as the public would switch to stablecoin providers. However, …

Israeli cybersecurity startup GK8 has reportedly developed the world’s first offline system for transacting cryptocurrencies. The new system uses GK8’s proprietary cryptographic techniques that enable instant blockchain transactions of digital assets without any need for an internet connection, Israeli business news publication Globes reported on Sept. 18. The company raised $4 million in a funding round led by Discount Capital, a venture arm of one of Israel’s three largest banks, Discount Bank, and Marius Nacht, a co-founder of cybersecurity giant Checkpoint. Other investors reportedly included EdenBlock, iAngels, IDEAL-HLS, StratX and the Israel Innovation Authority. As reported by Globes, GK8’s new …

Hedera Hashgraph, a decentralized public network targeting enterprises and claims to be capable of processing 10,000 cryptocurrency transactions per second (TPS), has publicly launched its beta mainnet this Monday. Despite the project’s governing council attracting membership from major multinational corporations — including IBM and reportedly Boeing — some analysts are expressing skepticism regarding Hedera’s representation of Hashgraph’s purported performance. Hedera introduces the Hashgraph algorithm Hedera first launched on March 13, 2018, with the project then comprising just a white paper and the Hashgraph consensus algorithm. Describing itself as a third-generation distributed ledger technology, the Hashgraph algorithm is described as a …

American financial services company Wells Fargo & Company is planning to launch a pilot of a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based internal settlement service in 2020. In a Sept. 17 press release, Wells Fargo described a DLT-based platform designed to perform internal book transfers of international payments within its global network using digitized cash. The company claimed that it has already successfully tested the concept of money transfers between the United States and Canada. Achievement of nearly real-time money transactions The impetus for the idea was the realization of nearly real-time money transactions with no impact on the underlying account, transaction …

Major cryptocurrency payment services provider BitPay has added support for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ether (ETH). Per a press release published on Sept. 16, companies that use BitPay for payment processing are now able to accept Ether for purchases without having to set up any enhancements. BitPay has also made it possible for users to store and use Ether in a BitPay wallet, and for BitPay Prepaid Visa Card holders to top up their debit cards. Ether joins Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash Launched in 2011, BitPay processes payments with Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and now Ether. The …

The percentage of Segregated Witness (SegWit)-spending Bitcoin (BTC) transactions has reached 50.5%, or an all-time high, according to transactionfee.info statistics. SegWit solution to Bitcoin transactions SegWit is a proposed update to the Bitcoin Core, which is designed to reduce processing and wait times. Originally, the update was aimed at solving transaction malleability, a well-known weak spot in Bitcoin software. However, SegWit offers a range of other advantages and now the focus of attention has shifted from fixing transaction malleability to solving the problem of Bitcoin scaling. Explaining its metrics, transactionfee.info points out that a Bitcoin transaction can have multiple outputs …

Zero Hash, a calculation and settlement agent and subsidiary of cryptocurrency platform Seed CX, has added support for derivatives. According to a press release published on Sept. 11, Zero Hash now allows the settlement of bilateral derivatives transactions and supports settlement functions for forwards. The newly released service provides collateral management for derivatives, including options such as “the calculation of variation margin, initial margin and final settlement values [...] the sending of margin-call notifications.” Expansion to new options After procuring a virtual currency license from the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in July, Zero Hash — which also received …

Following investment from Coinbase Ventures, Offchain Labs has opened up the Alpha version of its Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution, dubbed Arbitrum. Enterprise-focused blockchain startup Offchain Labs said that their solution will enable processing speed of more than 500 transactions per second for Ethereum applications, industry-focused news outlet Crypto Briefing reported on Sept. 5. Arbitrum has reportedly secured new investment from Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of major American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Faster than Ethereum Deploying Arbitrum, developers can build smart contracts on Ethereum’s Solidity code. However, unlike regular Ethereum decentralized apps, such smart contracts are compiled by the new solution’s …

Fintech startup Ripple transferred 500 million XRP tokens from its escrow wallet on Sept. 3, according to data from Whale Alert, a live tracker for cryptocurrency transactions. The San Francisco-based company moved funds worth about $130.1 million. This token transfer is one among many other enormous transactions to and from Ripple, which have generated resentment within the community as some of its members accuse it of dumping XRP and crashing the token's price. Indignation within the community In late August, Twitter user @CryptoBitlord started a Change.org petition entitled “Stop Ripple dumping,” which has since secured 3,063 signatures out of a …