“The stage is almost set for full-scale testing of Ethereum 2.0. The final public testnet is to launch on August 4.
Developers have previously said that the testnets should run for at least three months—which means the launch of the Ethereum 2.0. mainnet could be as early as November 4.
[Danny Ryan] added that “Launchpad”—the test educational deposit interface aimed at hobbyists—would be included in the testnet, and that further details would be made public in a couple of days.”
“Global banks including Credit Suisse, HSBC, Julius Baer, and UBS are now screening their clients in Hong Kong on potential ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement.
The records include comments made by clients and their associates in public and media, as well as recent social media posts, the report notes. The banks are reportedly looking to apply major service limitations to accounts associated with so-called “politically exposed persons.”
The designation, called politically exposed persons, can make it more difficult or altogether prevent people from accessing banking services.
The latest report clearly demonstrates the apparent flaws in the traditional banking system when it comes to protecting freedom and democracy.”
“A blockchain infrastructure backed by the Chinese government will open its services to decentralized applications (dapp) developers on a global scale on August 10.
The move is part of China’s plan to be the one and only infrastructure provider for blockchain firms across the world.
The global version of Blockchain-Based Services Network (BSN) has integrated its data centers with six major decentralized blockchains: Tezos, NEO, Nervos, Cosmos’ IRISnet, Ethereum and EOS.
The public chains could benefit from BSN’s cheap services, interoperability with other Chinese enterprise blockchains and access to financial data from China UnionPay.
The move is a milestone as BSN is the first state-backed blockchain infrastructure that is reaching developer communities outside China by integrating with major public chains.”
See Also: Kazakhstan Needs National Crypto to Fight Corruption, Says Local Official
“China’s consortium was founded to promote the advance of blockchain technology in the country. Now it is splitting into two independent entities: BSN-Chain and BSN-International. The latter will be headed by one of the original members of BSN that happens to be a private company — Red Date.
This rift was caused by the ‘pushback from its core, state-owned members on the public chain integrations‘. The consortium is led by State Information Center, the China Mobile Communication Corporation and China Union Pay — all state-controlled entities.
This development indicates that despite chairman Xi’s enthusiasm towards blockchain technology, local elites remain uneasy about public blockchain networks that cannot be easily censored or controlled.”
“New data from Messari shows that Ethereum has just surpassed Bitcoin as the network that settles the most value per day. This means that the dollar value on the transactions of both Ether (ETH) and its tokens is now higher than that of Bitcoin.
While the DeFi sector has been gaining popularity, stablecoin transactions have been responsible for most of this volume, having settled over $508 billion in transactions over the course of 2020. This figure is nearly double the $253 billion settled in 2019.”
See Also: July’s Decentralized Exchange Volumes Have Already Topped June’s Record, Reaching $1.6B
“Axie Infinity, an Ethereum-based, Pokémon-inspired game that lets players collect and battle cute creatures, has now added something potentially even more compelling than adorable beasts to collect in the game: real gold.
The Ethereum-based game’s developers have partnered with Digix to introduce special Axie-DGX tokens to the game, which can be collected and redeemed for Digix’s native, gold-backed DGX token (one DGX is equivalent to one gram of gold).
This initiative elevates the play-to-earn narrative to new heights.”
“On July 19, the Philippine Bureau of the Treasury along with the UnionBank and Philippine Digital Asset Exchange launched a blockchain-enabled mobile application for distributing government-issued treasury bonds.
The mobile application dubbed Bonds.PH is particularly aimed at providing easy investment options to the unbanked population of the country. The application will allow national citizens to easily invest in retail treasury bonds for as little as 5,000 Philippine pesos (~$100).”
See Also: China Considers Implementing Blockchain Tech in Equity Trading Centers
“The Polkadot blockchain is now fully decentralized and permissionless after a decision passed by community governance removed the admin rights enjoyed by the Web3 Foundation.
Polkadot was live since late May, but it began its life as a permissioned “proof-of-authority” network.”
“CipherTrace, a blockchain analytics software firm, has deployed a predictive risk-scoring system that the company says provides real-time alerts on suspect crypto transactions for its exchange, investor and investigator clients. The score could warn exchanges of incoming plunder.
The tool will assign risk based on the on-chain histories of transacted funds. Inbound cryptos with unseemly ties (from sanctioned countries or a fraud campaign, for example) would get a “high risk” score under the system.”
See Also: Crypto Exchange Group Eyes ‘Bulletin Board’ System for FATF Compliance
See Also: CoolBitX and Elliptic Team Up to Offer Crypto Firms Compliance Tools
“The Ethereum-powered platform allows users to monetize and build a virtual world using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or crypto collectibles.
The platform’s native tokens, LAND and MANA, are now supported by the Samsung Blockchain Wallet App. LAND tokens represent parcels of virtual real estate.”
The Disrupt 