The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has granted New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) Execution LLC the 14th BitLicense in the state. A BitLicense permits businesses to perform custodial services and transmit cryptocurrencies. In the press release announcing the BitLicense approval, CEO Robert Gutmann of NYDIG, thanked DFS "for providing a clear and comprehensive regulatory framework for investors, providers, and users alike." In more U.S. news, as of last Friday Coinbase customers – except those in New York – will be able to buy Basic Attention Token (BAT) on Coinbase. BAT is an Ethereum-based token that is intended to be used as a utility token on the Brave browser, which is seeking to change the relationship between advertisers, publishers and users in the digital advertising world.

Stablecoins – cryptocurrencies that are designed to remain at the same price – continued to make news this week. Binance, the second-largest crypto exchange in the world by 24-hour trade volume, recently announced that it was listing Circle's USD-pegged stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), starting on Nov. 15, 2018. Carbon announced last Friday that its USD-pegged stablecoin, which has been on Ethereum for two months, is the first to operate on the EOS platform. In South Korea, the popular messaging app KakaoTalk has partnered with Terra, a stablecoin project funded by four major crypto exchanges, to create a blockchain-based payment system using Kakao's blockchain platform Klaytn.

In Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Australia's equivalent of the U.S.'s Supplemental Security Income for people with disabilities, is testing a blockchain-based programmable money that "knows what it can be spent on, who it can be spent by, and when it can be spent." NDIS intends to use this "smart money" to manage insurance payouts, among other activities. In Japan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFJ) announced that it will partner with Brazil's Banco Bradesco to create a new cross-border payment system between Brazil and Japan using Ripple (XRP). And Malaysian banking group CIMB announced that it has joined RippleNet, Ripple's blockchain-based payment network, to make faster, less costly cross-border payments within the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN).

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