“Yesterday Japan’s biggest bank, MUFG , announced it is shuttering GO-NET, the IoT payments solution it set up in 2019 as a joint venture with Akamai in which MUFG held an 80% stake. GO-NET targeted high-volume, low-value digital payments such as vending machines or micro-transactions involving IoT devices.  Meanwhile, in an entirely different venture, MUFG Trust’s Progmat blockchain platform will support digital payments through stablecoins issued by multiple banks .”

“A team of quantum computing engineers from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) , Toshiba Corp (6502.T) and Ciena Corp say they have successfully shown that a powerful, newly-developed encryption network can be used to protect communications on the blockchain, according to a paper published Thursday. The group of researchers say it is the first time that a quantum key distribution (QKD) network, a super-secure two-way communication network powered by quantum physics, has been tested as a way to protect the blockchain from quantum computing attacks.”

“Google is creating a group focused on the “blockchain and other next-gen distributed computing and data storage technologies,” Bloomberg reported Thursday. It previously only provided cloud services to companies working with blockchain tech , the news outlet noted, rather than engaging in it directly.”

“Siemens expects the transactions volumes to continue to grow strong growth in the coming months as pay-per-use begins to gain popularity and hence the system needs to be able to handle thousands of transactions per day transparently and reliably. This is the first of its kind system to be deployed by a large company and it could set the tone for more such payments systems to be set up using blockchain in the future. This also opens the gates for mainstream usage of blockchain not only in the payments industry but allied financial services industries as well.”

“Backed by some of the world’s largest banks, blockchain for payments consortium Fnality says it expects to reduce banks’ intraday liquidity requirements by 70% when it goes live next year. Developed in association with technology analytics company FNA, the ‘Fnality Participant Simulator’ has estimated the daily liquidity requirements reduction for banks when consolidating multiple existing payment rails into its blockchain-based payment system.”

“Traditional cross-border payments giant MoneyGram is working with the Stellar blockchain network to create instant money transfers using Circle’s USDC stablecoin, the companies announced Wednesday. The firms will start with a pilot in the fourth quarter of this year. Early 2022 will see a gradual rollout of the ledger-based stablecoin bridge between crypto and local currencies with a view toward connecting MoneyGram’s 150 million or so consumers.”

“Today BNY Mellon announced it is part of the Marco Polo blockchain trade finance network. Ledger Insights first revealed the news almost two years ago . Hence we asked the bank whether it’s now in production. A spokesperson responded, “BNY Mellon is now an active member on the Marco Polo network and we look forward to delivering the efficiencies afforded by the network to trade finance clients over the coming weeks and months.””

“London-based pingNpay, a new blockchain-based payments platform, has moved out of stealth mode by announcing its plan to launch a global micropayment network at some point in 2022. pingNPay seeks to create a new category of high frequency, low-value payments, like less than $20,  as part of a web 3.0 initiative. pingNPay is expected to start in the UK with a digital currency backed by the pound. pingNPay plans to create stablecoins, backed entirely by fiat, for each country where it will provide services. The company says it will publish proof of reserves to meet any regulatory requirements.”

“The document is like a “quick-start” guide for what needs to be considered when assessing existing systems or planning a new blockchain system. It offers digestible, useful and practical information for identifying how blockchain systems differ from the traditional, widely understood tools, and it poses questions to help expose areas of risk that might have gone unnoticed without a clear understanding of these differences. The new report is available for download at no charge.”

“BBVA and Ant Group (Alibaba affiliate) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the integration of financial services in their platform, Trusple. Based on blockchain technology, this network is aimed to accelerate the digital transformation and facilitate the financing of international trade operations, with a special focus on small and mid-sized businesses.”

“While many banks remain cautious about crypto and blockchain, the most appealing use case for these systems may be the most basic: lowering costs. With that in mind, New York-based Roxe has introduced blockchain for cross-border payments settlements. The purpose is to create Decentralized Finance, or DeFi, liquidity pools to provide the best wholesale foreign exchange rates to banks, businesses, payment companies or individuals. In general, DeFi is about creating an open market with an intent to transform traditional banking services into decentralized architectures to expand the use of digital money.”

“E-Livestock Global today launched a first-of-its kind solution powered by Mastercard’s blockchain-based Provenance solution, empowering Zimbabwean farmers to prove the origin and health records of their cattle, while reducing risks to buyers. A first in the Middle East and Africa, the solution brings new hope to the country’s agricultural sector after an outbreak of tick-borne disease in 2018 led to the death of 50,000 cattle. The lack of a traceability system has seen Zimbabwe unable to export beef to lucrative markets in Europe and the Middle East in recent years, reducing export earnings from beef, which are important to the country’s economy.”

“Bank of America Corp. joined the network created by Paxos Trust Co. to settle stock trades in minutes rather than days by using blockchain, the latest sign of Wall Street’s growing adoption of the technology. The second-biggest U.S. bank joins Credit Suisse Group AG and Nomura Holdings Inc. ’s Instinet on the Paxos Settlement Service. In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed Paxos to begin a pilot program for settling equity trades.”

“Samsung Electronics announced that blockchain users can now manage and trade virtual assets from third-party wallets on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The update makes it easier for blockchain users to access and process transactions by importing virtual assets stored on select cold hardware wallets to the Samsung Blockchain Wallet available on most Galaxy smartphones. Support for hardware wallets provides Galaxy blockchain with a consistent user experience of managing crypto assets from one convenient location.”

“Acknowledging that the future of global payments is on the cusp of a fundamental shift, DBS, J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Temasek today announced plans to develop an open industry platform to reimagine and accelerate value movements for payments, trade and foreign exchange settlement in a new digital era, through a newly-established technology company. The company, Partior, aims to disrupt the traditional cross-border payments ‘hub and spoke’ model, that has resulted in common pain points, including multiple validations on payment details by banks, which translate to costly and onerous post transaction exception handling and reconciliation activities.”

“Today the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced it had executed a cross-border payment using blockchain as part of a proof of concept involving Citi Innovation Labs . The solution used the LACChain blockchain network, a public permissioned consortium blockchain for Latin America and the Caribbean backed by IDB. Separately, LACChain also announced a partnership with Quant, the creator of Overledger. In terms of the Citi payment trial, IDB deposited money in its U.S. Citi bank account. Using Citi’s WorldLink payment APIs, the blockchain accessed the money, tokenized it and made transfers with a digital wallet.”

“Today, Velo Labs and Interstellar announced that the Interstellar team, based in San Francisco, CA, is integrating with Southeast Asia-based Velo Labs, under the leadership of Mike Kennedy and with the ongoing support of its partner organizations, Stellar Development Foundation and Lightnet Group.  The strategic partnership between Interstellar and Velo Labs, which began in January 2020, set out to revolutionize international payments. This latest move pushes the relationship closer, bringing the combined strengths and ecosystems of the two organizations — Interstellar team’s knowledge and expertise of the Stellar blockchain and Velo’s established partnerships across the Southeast Asia region — to help build a global settlement network that enables faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments.”

“JPMorgan Chase & Co has recently tested blockchain payments between satellites orbiting the earth, executives at the bank told Reuters, showing that digital devices could use the technology behind virtual currencies for transactions. The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), where devices connect to one another, is most associated with consumer electronics, including smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home, and banks want to be ready to process payments when these smart devices start doing transactions autonomously. Umar Farooq, the CEO of JPMorgan’s blockchain business Onyx, thought space was a cool place to try it out.”

“The European Commission has appointed Worldline to lead the ‘TruBlo’ project, aimed at using blockchain technology to ensure the exchange of reliable content on social networks and in the media. Introduced as part of the European Commission’s Next Generation Internet initiative, TruBlo is set to last three years and each of the projects that it will support will run for a maximum of 15 months.”