Crypto exchange KuCoin has unveiled dealings with another exchange, Poloniex, in an effort to move the crypto industry forward. "KuCoin and Poloniex will join hands in trading technology research and development, liquidity sharing, product iterations, PoS [proof-of-stake] and PoW [proof-of-work] mining pools, and other industrial exploration," said a statement provided to Cointelegraph. Together, Poloniex and KuCoin aim to help the crypto industry progress as a whole, instead of competing against each other within the sector, the statement detailed. Joint initiatives for the pair include forming a research entity, as well as other unspecified endeavors. KuCoin's decision to team up with …

BNP Paribas’ securities arm has partnered with Digital Asset to develop a number of real-time trade and settlement applications using DAML-based smart contracts, the firm announced on Sept. 15. The new DAML-driven apps will connect BNP Paribas Securities Services with major global stock exchanges like the Australian Securities Exchange, or ASX, and the Hong Kong Exchange, or HKEX. The apps will provide market participants in the Asia Pacific with real-time access to ASX’s and HKEX’s upcoming blockchain-based trading and settlement platforms. BNP Paribas will specifically connect to the ASX’s blockchain-powered equity transaction platform known as the Clearing House Electronic Subregister …

Singapore Exchange (SGX), a major investment holding company in Singapore, has issued its first digital bond powered by blockchain technology. As officially announced on Sept. 1, SGX deployed its digital asset issuance platform to conduct a 400 million Singapore dollar ($294 million) 5.5-year public bond issuance for major local food and agri-business company, Olam International. Focused on Asia bond markets, the new digital bond was enabled by cooperation with SGX’s established blockchain partners like HSBC Singapore and investment firm Temasek. As part of the joint initiative, HSBC provided its on-chain payments solution allowing instant settlement in multiple currencies to handle …

Persol Group, one of the largest human resource companies in Japan, has partnered with major Japanese IT and electronics company, NEC Corporation, to build a new blockchain-powered recruiting platform. Persol Group is one of the largest staffing companies in the country, with 32,000 employees and a market cap of $5.7 billion as of 2017. According to the announcement, the two companies have begun working on a Proof-of-Concept to test a direct recruiting service that utilizes blockchain technology to securely manage personal data, prevent falsification of information, and ensure authenticity. This new platform is expected to target the shortage of IT …

The Human Rights Foundation, or HRF, a major global organization promoting democracy and freedom, continues to explore the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as a way to protect human rights around the world. The HRF recently partnered with crypto custody startup Casa to help global activists effectively protect crypto funds used to fight human rights abuses and challenge authoritarianism. Casa to share Bitcoin expertise to support human rights As part of the new collaboration, Casa will be working with the HRF to educate non-profit organizations, or NGOs, and activists about Bitcoin. Announcing the news on July 15, Casa said …

OKEx, a major global cryptocurrency exchange, is embracing the Latin American crypto market by launching a fiat gateway for three local currencies. According to a July 3 announcement, OKEx users can now buy Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in exchange for the Argentine peso (ARS), the Brazilian real (BRL), and the Mexican peso (MXN) via a direct bank transfer. OKEx implements Settle Network’s Latamex tool OKEx’s partnership with a company called Settle Network allowed them to enable these features. Settle Network is claimed to be the largest digital settlement network in Latin America. The new service is provided through Latamex, …

SBI Financial Services, a subsidiary of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, has bought a $30 million minority stake in British crypto liquidity startup, B2C2. The investment marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between the firms as B2C2 is set to become SBI’s main liquidity provider. As announced on July 1, the collaboration is aimed to expand SBI’s crypto offering to millions of customers. B2C2 is intended to benefit from SBI’s distribution network as the London-based startup launches an electronic prime brokerage. A spokesperson at B2C2 told Cointelegraph that the investment is “one of the largest in the digital asset …

London-based financial technology startup Plutus is offering rewards through its debit card when users shop Nike’s online store. Doing so unlocks up to 3% in crypto and 9% cash rewards for those purchases. Rewards are available for British pounds and euros only In order to receive the rewards, customers must use the Plutus Visa Card while shopping online. As Plutus currently operates within the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, the service is now available for purchase in euros and the British pound, a spokesperson from the firm told Cointelegraph. The rewards are generated in Plutus’s native token, Pluton …

Celsius Network is expanding its partnership with fiat-to-crypto payments provider, Simplex, by enabling its users to buy more crypto with credit and debit cards. Celsius, a major crypto lending startup, now allows its users to purchase gold-backed stablecoin Tether Gold (XAUT) using debit and credit cards. Announcing the news on May 28, Celsius said that the minimum purchase amount for XAUT is $50, while the annual interest rate accounts for 4%. Tether Gold was rolled out for depositing on Celsius app earlier in May Alongside Tether Gold, the new integration with Simplex also unlocks credit and debit card purchases for …

While global jurisdictions are progressing with central bank digital currencies, private institutions also work on digitizing national currencies. Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), a major Austrian bank, is working on a new form of national currency tokenization using blockchain technology. RBI is extending its collaboration with Polish-British fintech firm, Billon, following a successful test of end-to-end digitized national currency transfers. RBI Coin is designed to speed up cross-border transactions As announced on May 18, RBI and Billon are working on initial stages of an RBI tokenization platform, currently dubbed RBI Coin. The pilot is planned to be conducted until late 2020 …

The Stellar Development Foundation, or SDF, a non-profit tasked with fostering Stellar's network growth, unveiled new ties with crypto risk-management operation, Elliptic, on April 30. The partnership sees the SDF calling on Elliptic's crypto risk expertise for businesses and financial institutions based on Stellar blockchain, SFD director of communications Lauren Thorbjornsen told Cointelegraph in an April 30 email. "These services are live and available for businesses on the network today as Elliptic launched the world’s first Stellar network transaction monitoring system," she said. What does it all mean? Essentially, Elliptic now brings Stellar-based businesses the ability to track suspicious and …

As China is moving forward with blockchain projects amid the COVID-19 crisis, the government has tapped another tech partnership to continue the development of China’s digital yuan. Domestic artificial intelligence (AI) startup SenseTime has partnered with the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) Digital Currency Research Institute to provide its AI expertise amid the reported trials of the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). SenseTime to accelerate AI advancement in a joint body with PBoC SenseTime, purportedly the world’s highest-valued AI startup with an over $7.5 billion valuation, will work with the PBoC to improve risk control and operational capabilities across financial …