Three major global banks based in the U.S., Canada and Australia recently announced that they are expanding their blockchain-based interbank payments project to include 75 more banks from around the globe. The project, named the Interbank Information Network (IIN), leverages the Quorum blockchain and seeks to compete with other emerging blockchain payment networks. In Japan this week, a major money transmitter announced a partnership with BitPesa to launch a remittance service that will allow customers to send money to Africa using the Bitcoin blockchain. The service intends to bypass banks that would typically convert yen into dollars or euros before finally converting to African currencies. Also this week, a joint venture between a Japanese firm and a U.S.-based blockchain firm announced that it received a key government registration that will allow it to continue its plans to implement a blockchain-based money transfer application.

U.S. firm Circle has announced that it is releasing "USD Coin" (USDC), a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by U.S. dollar reserves. According to reports, dollar reserves backing the so-called "stablecoin" will be verified by a major U.S. audit firm. According to another announcement this week, the recently launched stablecoin, the Paxos Standard Token (PAX), will soon be listed on Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume.

In Switzerland, startup SEBA Crypto AG reportedly has raised 100 million Swiss francs to build a bank that will offer traditional bank accounts for cryptocurrency and blockchain firms, while also offering certain cryptocurrency services to businesses and investors. The Zug-based startup is currently seeking a license from FINMA, the Swiss financial regulator. And the China-based company Bitmain, the world's largest operator and supplier of bitcoin mining equipment, recently announced that it intends to pursue an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

According to reports published this week, the Bitcoin Core developers recently fixed a bug in the Bitcoin code protocol that, if exploited, could have allowed an attacker to create new bitcoin above the 21 million cap programmed into the code. According to reports, once the bug was identified, the core developer team kept it a secret until it was fixed.

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