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SWIFT TIE-UP: SWIFT, the global banking payments network, is to begin testing its GPI payments standard through R3’s Corda platform.
Speaking on stage at the Paris Fintech Forum this morning, SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt broke the news, simply saying: “Later today we are announcing an integration with R3.”
In a follow-up announcement, the firm explained that the “integration” will be a trial that connects SWIFT’s GPI Link gateway with R3’s Corda platform to monitor payment flows and support application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as SWIFT and ISO standards.
“SWIFT GPI will integrate directly to Corda Settler, the application that allows participants on the Corda blockchain to initiate and settle payment obligations via both traditional and blockchain-based rails,” explained R3 co-founder Todd McDonald. “This will enable obligations created or represented on Corda to be settled via the large and growing SWIFT GPI network.”
In the trial, corporates using the R3 platform will be able to authorize payments from their banks via GPI Link; GPI payments will be settled by the corporates’ banks, and the resulting credit confirmations will be reported back to the trade platforms via GPI Link on completion.
While the trial initially addresses R3’s trade environment, it will be extended to support other distributed ledger technology (DLT), non-DLT and e-commerce trade platforms. Full Story
DUBIOUS CLAIMS: A health startup tied to a public cryptocurrency is using overstated language about some of its industry relationships and its affiliation with crypto exchange Coinbase as it seeks to sell tokens to investors, a CoinDesk investigation has found.
Mexico City-based Doc.com, which offers an app that provides healthcare and psychology consulting to underprivileged communities, also features a built-in wallet for the startup’s cryptocurrency, MTC. The venture-backed startup raised over $1.8 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018, then integrated MTC into its app in July of that year as part of a rewards program meant to incentivize users to sell their health data for tokens.
Yet, Doc.com has continued to sell its tokens – $49 million worth in total – even after its ICO at events like the Wall Street Conference at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, held on Jan. 15.
At Mar-a-Lago, Charles Nader, CEO of Doc.com, pitched token investment opportunities to hedge fund representatives and family offices, showing a pitch deck that included at least two claims that have been substantially debunked by further CoinDesk inquiries.
Most notable is the inclusion of Mozilla CEO John Lilly and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman on a page of advisors and mentors. Lilly told CoinDesk he doesn’t have any relationship with Doc.com, while Hoffman’s venture capital firm Greylock Partners told CoinDesk Hoffman has no formal advisory relationship with Doc.com, though Nader was a student on a Stanford course taught by him.
The Doc.com project has attracted interest from organizations like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as well as private investors. But the way the platform functions has raised questions about its token rewards and the security of its users’ health data.
Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation, told CoinDesk: “This project deserves a lot of scrutiny and has a lot of red flags.” Full Story
LOCKED OUT: Hackers apparently still have control over New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia.
Blockchain data analytics firm Elementus said in a blog post Tuesday that Cryptopia’s hacker, after going quiet for some days, has stolen an additional 1,675 ether from 17,000 wallets – an amount worth about $181,000 at the time of writing.
While initially it looked like Cryptopia might be moving cryptocurrency to secure the remaining user funds, the ether were being sent to an ethereum address used by the hacker previously, said the firm, adding:
“The hacker has the private keys and can withdraw funds from any Cryptopia wallet at will.”
Elementus also said that some wallets are still being topped up, suggesting that not all users know of the breach. Full Story |
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 CoinDesk’s Crypto-Economics Explorer aggregates data points across the industry to measure the size and opportunity of crypto markets. In addition to price and market cap, CoinDesk’s explorer provides users with a comprehensive way to view the crypto-economic forces that shape an asset’s market maturity, growth and potential. Network interest is important in determining the activity occurring within a blockchain’s internal ecosystem. We observed ADA over the course of three weeks and found some growth in network activity. The network interest climbed from 1.33 percent, to 1.78 percent, and finally 4.27 percent. This was largely due to ADA’s on-chain transaction volume rising to about $144 million. Other metrics didn’t fluctuate much. For example, exchange volume remained in a range of about 0.15 percent. For more research insights, check out the CoinDesk Crypto-Economic Explorer here to see this table and more. |
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| BRIEF BOUNCE? Bitcoin's corrective bounce from six-week lows could be extended further to above $3,500, as the long tails of the previous three daily candles indicate a lack of conviction on the part of the bears. That said, the outlook will remain bearish while BTC is held below $3,658. Full Story |
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BEST OF THE BEST YAHOO FINANCE: Palestinian militant group Hamas is appealing to supporters to make donations in bitcoin, according to Yahoo Finance, citing AFP. A spokesperson for the group’s military wing said, “Support the resistance financially through the bitcoin currency,” adding that a mechanism for making crypto donations would be announced soon. While labelled a terrorist group by nations such as Israel, the U.S. and the EU, Hamas is the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip. It’s rogus status has meant that it has trouble accessing the banking system and its appeal for crypto funding accused Israel of further aiming to limit its access to finance. As a result, Hamas seems to be hoping that the anonymity and ease of remittance offered by bitcoin can help make up its funding shortfall. THE REST INVESTMENT WEEK: Allianz Global CEO Andreas Utermann thinks bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies make for terrible investment products and currencies, reports Investment Week. Citing a LinkedIn post, Utermann says cryptocurrencies cannot be thought of as “a proper asset class” or even “as a currency.” He bases these conclusions on certain key features he feels cryptos lack, citing in particular the fact that they cannot be used to raise taxes, trade productivity and are not centrally-backed. He also cites the environmental cost of proof-of-work mining, an energy-intensive process, as a reason why “we cannot afford for them to increase in popularity.” FINANCE MAGNATES: The Chinese government seemed to be on the forefront of launching a central bank-backed digital currency (CBDC) at some point, but this effort seems to have fallen by the wayside, reports Finance Magnates. The news site notes that near the end of 2017, China was taking a number of steps around the crypto space, from cracking down on miners to announcing it was working on its CBDC. However, there have been virtually no public statements about the latter effort over the past year. Some private companies may be looking to launch fiat-pegged stablecoins, including OKCoin and Grand Shores Technology Group. That being said, these are private efforts and are not related to any work being undertaken by the Chinese central bank. Some experts think that a national cryptocurrency may not happen soon; should it launch, it may still be heavily restricted, only allowing residents to purchase or trade it. |
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WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER  |
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