Late last week, a major U.S. financial services firm made headlines with several blockchain-related developments. The first relates to a credit card that will be offered by cryptocurrency lending startup Nexo that would provide a revolving line of credit backed by the card holder's cryptocurrency assets. In addition, the same financial services firm announced a partnership with an iconic clothing retailer to showcase its blockchain-based provenance solution at the retailer's flagship store in California. The solution seeks to tackle the multibillion-dollar online counter-fitting problem by allowing customers to scan a QR code and view the product journey of limited-edition fashion items.
A major U.K.-based financial services firm announced two blockchain developments this week: one for supply chain finance and another for cross-border letters of credit for the oil industry. The firm and its strategic partner Linklogis provided the supply chain solution to digital government services provider Digital Guangdong, a joint venture among several Chinese firms. The letter of credit was executed as a pilot transaction for an oil shipment from Thailand to Singapore using the Voltron blockchain platform.
Two notable blockchain patents targeted at financial services and capital markets were announced this week. A multinational retail corporation and one of the world's largest companies filed for a patent related to a fiat-backed stablecoin. Also, a different retail giant's subsidiary, tZERO, was awarded a patent for the Time Ordered Merkle Epoch methodology. According to a press release, the solution can link the settlement of tokenized blockchain-based securities on a public blockchain to legacy trading systems.
According to earnings reports published this week, the Cash App of a major U.S. financial services and mobile payments company brought in $125 million in bitcoin sales in the second quarter of 2019 – almost doubling its record-breaking first quarter. Another report published this week found that 318 addresses hold approximately 80% of the stablecoin Tether. The report explained that this concentration of ownership increases risk for all cryptocurrency users because many exchanges are dependent on Tether for liquidity.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Nexo Launches MasterCard-branded Crypto Credit Card
- Press Releases: Mastercard Enables Luxury Shoppers To Purchase With Confidence
- Mastercard to Tackle Fashion Fakes with Blockchain Tracking Solution
- Standard Chartered: We've completed our first joint transaction on blockchain platform with Linklogis
- We've completed our first cross-border Letter of Credit blockchain transaction in the oil industry with PTT Group
- Walmart Seeks to Patent a Way for Using Digital Cryptocurrency
- tZERO Awarded Patent For Technology Enabling Traditional Trading Systems To Be Anchored Into Public Blockchains
- Square's Q2 Bitcoin Revenue Nearly Doubles From Previous Record
- Just 318 Crypto Addresses Control 80% of Tether
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