Shinhan Bank, one of the largest banking institutions in South Korea, has entered into a partnership with Klaytn, a global blockchain platform developed by Kakao's subsidiary Ground X. According to the Monday announcement, Shinhan Bank has joined Klaytn’s blockchain governance council and become a member of the co-governance of the Klaytn blockchain. As part of the new partnership, Shinhan will be also involved in the development of Klaytn-based digital services to support fintech innovation. Launched in June 2019, Klaytn is a blockchain service provider focusing on integrating blockchain solutions into enterprise-grade infrastructures. The Klaytn blockchain is a hybrid blockchain network, …

The Portland Trail Blazers, an American professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA), is moving into the cryptocurrency industry with a new partnership. The NBA announced Thursday that the Trail Blazers has landed the league’s first jersey patch sponsorship program with StormX, a blockchain company allowing users to earn crypto rewards by completing micro-tasks or shopping at global partner stores online. Fresh, groundbreaking, revolutionary. We’re excited to announce we are joining forces with @stormxio, the first cryptocurrency jersey patch partner in the NBA! https://t.co/hAHDdMABDA pic.twitter.com/ZWpmp9k2wr — Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) July 1, 2021 As part of the …

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen are the latest celebrities to reaffirm the growing adoption of the cryptocurrency industry. West Realm Shires Services, FTX Trading Limited and Blockfolio, three companies behind major global cryptocurrency exchange business FTX, announced Tuesday a long-term partnership with Brady and Bündchen. As part of the deal, the legendary football player and model will each take equity stakes in FTX Trading and will receive crypto. Brady will serve as an ambassador for FTX, while Bündchen will take on the role of FTX’s environmental and social initiatives advisor, working on initiatives to …

Major crypto wallet provider Blockchain.com is integrating with Unstoppable Domains to simplify sending crypto funds for its customers. Unstoppable Domains announced Thursday that it had integrated native support for Blockchain.com, enabling that latter's 32 million verified users to send funds with a username instead of a full-length crypto wallet address. The initiative aims to remove the risk of human error when sending funds, simplifying transactions between Blockchain.com users and more than 50 other wallets and exchanges supported by Unstoppable Domains, including Coinbase wallet, MyEtherWallet and others. The integration allows users to send cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) using …

Blockchain infrastructure company Bison Trails has partnered with Volt Capital to allow users of the Celo Network to stake their tokens securely through their mobile devices. The collaboration sees Bison Trails running a Celo validator node for Volt Capital, thereby allowing Volt Capital’s community to stake the CELO cryptocurrency, earn rewards and help grow the network. Bison Trails’ node infrastructure allows delegators to more easily stake cryptocurrencies. Volt Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that has set aside $10 million to invest in various cryptocurrency projects focused on the end-user experience. Through its TD Labs subsidiary, Volt Capital has …

A group of more than 20 firms comprising crypto, finance, technology, energy, and nongovernmental organizations has banded together to focus on the environmental impact of cryptocurrency. In an announcement on Thursday, the Crypto Climate Accord — reportedly inspired by the 195-signatory Paris Climate Agreement — said it aims to address the "large and growing energy consumption of cryptocurrency and blockchain, and the climate impact of their energy use." Launched by nonprofits Energy Web Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, the group’s partners include high-profile firms in the crypto space like blockchain-based payments company Ripple, Canadian …

Indian multinational technology firm Tech Mahindra is developing a new stablecoin service targeting banks and financial institutions. The tech giant announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement with Dutch blockchain application incubator Quantoz to launch a “stablecoin-as-a-service” tool to reduce transaction costs and processing times. The new collaboration targets potential clients from the banking and financial sector as the United States’ Office of the Comptroller of the Currency officially allowed federally chartered U.S. banks to use public blockchains and stablecoins for settlements in January 2021. Rajesh Dhuddu, blockchain and cybersecurity leader at Tech Mahindra, said: “The recent OCC …

Cinedigm, a major American content distribution company, is applying blockchain technology to one of its streaming channels. The company has partnered with decentralized video delivery network Theta Labs to integrate Theta's peer-to-peer streaming technology and cryptocurrency rewards into its CONtv Anime channel airing a wide range of anime series and movies. CONtv Anime will feature micropayments in Theta Fuel (TFUEL), one of the two native tokens on the Theta blockchain. The token will be used as a reward for sharing video content by utilizing excess bandwidth and computing resources as well as watching the channel’s content. According to the announcement, …

Asahi’s Australian lager beer subsidiary Victoria Bitter has taken a step toward sustainability by allowing customers to earn a pint with solar energy via blockchain. According to a Wednesday announcement, Victoria Bitter has partnered with major blockchain energy firm Power Ledger to unlock a new program allowing participants to exchange excess solar energy for slabs of beer. “The only thing better than drinking the Big Cold Beer in the Aussie sun is earning beer while you do it. Plus it’s a real win-win for beer lovers and the environment,” Victoria Bitter’s general manager of marketing Brian Phan said. The new …

Ethernity Chain, a community-oriented nonfungible token platform, is partnering with graphic artist BossLogic to launch an exclusive line of tokenized art pieces for the community. Under the new agreement, BossLogic will create 2,500 NFTs exclusively for the Ethernity Chain network. Each NFT will be priced at 0.299 Ether (ETH). The competition begins Sunday, with winners to be notified via email. To participate in the competition, users must follow Ethernity Chain and BossLogic on Twitter and join the Ethernity Chain Telegram and ANN channels. Users must also retweet the BossLogic announcement, tag two friends and use the following hashtags: "$ERN," "#Bosslogic," …

Global money transfer service MoneyGram says it has changed its relationship with blockchain payments firm Ripple amid the latter's litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to MoneyGram's quarterly outlook, the company is "not planning for any benefit from Ripple market development fees" for the first quarter of 2021. MoneyGram said it had a more than $12 million net expense benefit from Ripple in the same quarter last year. "Due to the uncertainty concerning their ongoing litigation with the SEC, the Company has suspended trading on Ripple's platform," said MoneyGram. The collaboration between the two firms largely began three …

British auction house Christie’s has announced the auction of its first ever “purely digital work of art." Announcing the news Tuesday, Christie’s said that the nonfungible token artwork will be issued in partnership with major NFT marketplace MakersPlace. Dubbed “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” the piece was created by Mike Winkelmann, who goes by the name "Beeple." According to the official page of the NFT auction, the starting price for the work, which interested parties can bid on from Feb. 25 until March 11, is just $100. “Minted exclusively for Christie’s in February 2021, this monumental digital collage marks the …