Global peer-to-peer Bitcoin (BTC) marketplace, Paxful, and Ternio’s crypto fintech platform BlockCard, have announced a new debit card. 

Initially available in the United States, with an international roll out to follow, the new debit card will give users the ability to convert cryptocurrencies to USD, make purchases, get a checking account, and withdraw funds from any ATM worldwide. 

The companies say the new card will help fill a gap in the traditional financial system that has left many without access to essential banking products. According to a 2017 survey by the FDIC, 25% of US households are unbanked or underbanked, while globally that figure reaches a staggering 1.7 billion (according to the World Bank). 

BlockCard offers Paxful both a virtual card and physical card, requires a minimum balance of just $10, and can be used at over 45 million merchants and ATMs worldwide. 

Discussing the new card CEO and co-founder of Paxful, Ray Youssef, said:

“Whether looking to invest in education, start a business, or simply manage the financial demands of everyday life, there should be a viable option for everyone across the globe. Paxful has always been dedicated to providing that option, be it to users who are in the platform as a matter of preference, or necessity.”

While CEO and co-founder of Ternio, Daniel Gouldman, added:

“Paxful is a best in class peer to peer bitcoin marketplace, so we’re pumped up about being able to provide their customers access to the BlockCard platform.

“It’s going to be fun to pair together all of the strengths of Paxful with Blockcard’s global debit card and bank account capabilities. Ternio is committed to providing interoperability between cryptocurrencies and the traditional banking system.”

In addition to issuing the Paxful Card, BlockCard will also provide dedicated technical customer service and all-in-one services on its mobile app. 

AYO.NEWS says:

As we all know, traditional banks can be a b**ch, and their aversion to providing decent services can often lead the poorest, most vulnerable members of society, to fall into viscous debt spirals, so anything that helps bridge the financial gaps is great news. 

Staying with sticking one to the traditional financial system and helping the underbanked and unbanked, last month the Decentralized Lending Network (DLN) announced the launch of a novel concept to executing a no-fee, zero percent interest micro-loans network. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

FirstBlood Technologies has announced a partnership with MakerDAO to bring decentralised stablecoin integration to the FirstBlood Platform.

MakerDAO, the protocol behind the popular DeFi stablecoin Dai, will enhance accessibility for enthusiasts and professional gamers alike, by offering rewards in DAI to competitive gamers playing on FirstBlood. 

According to the company, this “signals an immense victory for gamers,” allowing for permissionless cross-border payments to be made in what is one of the most popular DeFi crypto tokens. 

Discussing the news Co-founder and CEO of FirstBlood, Joe Zhou, said:

“We aim to leverage the massive DAI community and facilitate blockchain adoption into the world of competitive gaming. With players competing from every continent, payments in cryptocurrencies will simplify barriers to entry for users, and provide a stable and secure environment for players to earn rewards for rising to the challenge.”

While CEO of Maker Foundation and co-founder of MakerDAO, Rune Christensen, added:

“The borderless, decentralized nature of Dai makes it the perfect stablecoin to use as in-game rewards for FirstBlood players. The stability, transparency and ease of use of Dai will let players spend more time focused on competing and less time sorting out how to manage their rewards.”

To celebrate the partnership, MakerDAO is offering 10,000 DAI in prizes to sign-up and compete on FirstBlood. 

AYO.NEWS says:

As anyone who’s familiar with this site will guess, we love it when esports and blockchain come together nicely like this! For gamers already using FirstBlood this will make things more convenient, and hopefully it will net the platform a fair few new sign-ups too. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

MESE.io, the Algorand-powered tokenized microequities exchange, has launched MESX, an index ETF token that acts as a centralized exchange token and exhibits DeFi token mechanics. 

MESX is backed by Microsoft, Apple, Tesla, Twitter, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (MATTANG) stocks held in its index fund, and can be traded on MESE.io.

It will launch with a 10,000 USD index ETF pool value of MATTANG stocks, which is equivalent to 10,000,000 MESX tokens. Initially, each MESX token will represent 1/10,000,000 shares of the MESX pool of equity for a value of 0.001 USD per MESX token.  

Drawing on the recent innovations in the DeFi space, MESX has been modeled to be a sustainable DeFi product on a CeFi platform. Similar to liquidity incentive programs in decentralized finance, the MESX tokens held on MESE.io receive continual staking rewards based on 50% of all net transactional revenue on MESE.io. 

This 50% net revenue share directly contributes to the MESX index ETF pool which mints an additional supply of MESX for a sustainable DeFi staking pool resulting in a positive feedback loop.

Discussing the launch Managing Director at IBMR.io, Sinjin David Jung, explained:

“We are massive fans of the Uniswap model and we wanted to see if we could apply those innovations to a CeFi platform.

“The beautiful thing about DeFi is that growth and value come from the process of participation in revenue sharing, this is at the heart of the decentralized network model. But, sharing in revenue without actually creating revenue is problematic as many DeFi projects were solely dependent on secondary market speculative appreciation for a basis of value. 

“The key to sharing revenue through the process of participation is in the mechanism of staking. In the case of a DEX AMM, the staking rewards are provided on the basis of providing liquidity to ensure trades can happen, but for our model, we have based staking rewards on our overall net transactional revenue on the exchange. 

“Unlike the current exchange token model, we are not burning exchange tokens with profit, but are investing those net revenues into the underlying index ETF pool so that we can mint more supply resulting in more staking. We hope that this will be a sustainable DeFi model of value where MESX can also act as a long term microasset for emerging market participants.” 

With the global fintech market expected to grow at an annual rate of 24.8%, surpassing its $120 billion market value, MESE.io anticipates the introduction of innovative DeFi and crypto exchange models into microfinance will act as the catalyst for contributing to financial inclusion and growth in emerging markets. 

Please note that all US jurisdictions and those territories sanctioned by the US Treasury are restricted from access and participation on MESE.io.

AYO.NEWS says:

This is an interesting approach to tackling some of the issues that are plaguing DeFi right now, like assets becoming overly speculative, and making participation in the global tech equity market more accessible, so we’ll be watching to see what happens. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

The Utopia Genesis Foundation has launched with the aim of establishing new open standards for music finance. 

According to the organisation, it intends to work to provide every stakeholder in the music industry with the technologies and resources required to improve how revenue streams are tracked, traced, and processed. 

Thanks to an exclusive partnership with big data and processing platform Utopia Music AG, members of the Foundation will be able to access a multi-layered, self-serviced portal to develop applications using blockchain technology, and collaborate with artists, songwriters, producers, record labels, performance and artist rights organisations (PRO), and fans, on commercial projects. 

Discussing plans President of The Utopia Genesis Foundation, Thomas Contin, said:

“Our first priority is to break free from the archaic infrastructure that still relies on large amounts of manual labor and guesswork so that more exciting advancements can be made.

“The foundation will focus on increasing tokenization in the music industry so that the community is able to crowdfund their projects, as well as better track and manage their music rights.”

While CEO of Utopia Music AG, Mattias Hjelmstedt, added:

“Many companies have sought out to ‘fix’ the issues in the music industry but fail to understand that it’s not something that can be done overnight, or that it needs upgrading and not disruption.

“It begins with data, which Utopia Music AG has collected, and now, it’s time to figure out how to make the best use of it. it’s a great motivator to do something about it. Before the Utopia Genesis Foundation, this open access would not be possible. We look forward to continuing to support the Foundation as they work alongside key players in the industry to solve its biggest problem.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Over the past couple of years we’ve seen a few platforms attempt to utilise blockchain technology to bring the music industry into the 21st century. In May, eMusic became the first major music service to launch a digital token (eMU), to help build a sustainable music ecosystem for artists, fans, and music services. And, in January, Ditto Music announced the launch of Blubox – a blockchain-based recording solution promising greater transparency and higher royalty collection rates. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Blockchain-based fan voting and rewards app Socios.com is planning to build a sports and entertainment neighborhood in The Sandbox metaverse. 

Malta-based Socios.com has purchased 576 LANDS in a 24×24 Estate, and says it will use its location in the digital ecosystem to feature all the partner clubs of the platform, and engage fans with social experiences within The Sandbox virtual worlds. 

The Sandbox is a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetise their gaming experiences on the Ethereum blockchain using NFTs and $SAND – the platform’s native utility token. LANDS are non-fungible tokens (ERC-721) that represent unique digital locations. 

Discussing plans for The Sandbox, CEO and Founder of Chiliz and Socios.com, Alexandre Dreyfus, said:

“The Sandbox will allow us to recreate the Socios.com ecosystem in the metaverse. We’re going to build a vibrant digital home for all the fans of our partner clubs, where they can check out digital stadia and enjoy a wide variety of digital collection and engagement experiences. We’re also going to be on the same map as other major blockchain and commercial entities, opening the door for further creative collaborations.”

While COO & Co-Founder of The Sandbox, Sebastien Borget, added:

“We’re pleased to welcome Socios into The Sandbox metaverse, bringing millions of football and sport fans the opportunity to discover and engage with new interactive entertainment experiences that will allow them to socialize in a 3D virtual world. 

“Progressively, we are turning our vision of building a mainstream; family-friendly gaming virtual world into reality through the addition of major sporting organisations in a multi-sports fan zone hosted by Socios.com. Together, we’ll expand the meaning of a Fan Zone with the use of tokens and NFTs in a mainstream context.”

More than 60 game companies, including Square Enix and Atari, popular decentralised games like Crypto Kitties, and iconic brands like Care Bears, are already involved with The Sandbox, and more brands are establishing a presence every day. 

Staying with Socios.com, last week the platform announced a major partnership with Professional Fighters League.

AYO.NEWS says:

The Sandbox is rapidly becoming a fully functioning digital tokenised economy in its own right, so it seems natural that Socios should establish itself there, and the possibilities for additional ways to engage fans are endless. We can’t wait to see what the Socios.com neighborhood looks like a year from now. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Looking to trade something sweeter? Now, thanks to blockchain, you can trade sugar, 24/7, without brokers. 

UAE-based Al Khaleej Sugar, the world’s largest sugar refinery, has launched a blockchain-based sugar trading platform called DigitalSugar.io. 

The new platform enables users to trade the spot price of sugar via tokens pegged to up to 100K tonnes of raw sugar. Electronic warrants of ownership will be issued with the tokens by Universa blockchain, with each token representing between 1kg and 1M tonne of sugar. 

DigitalSugar.io has been launched in partnership with the Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on Commodities Trade (DMCC), and Universa Blockchain, and is the first exchange offering traders and investors immediate spot trades on raw sugar, as opposed to options or futures, which are offered for commodities. 

Introducing the platform, Executive Director, Commodities and Financial Services, DMCC, Sanjeev Dutta, said:

“Driving increased trade through Dubai is at the heart of all that we do at DMCC, and partnerships like this exemplify this commitment.

“DigitalSugar is set to democratise access to the trading of raw sugar, allowing retail and institutional traders to invest or speculate on the price changes of sugar on their own terms and at their own convenience. This is an exciting moment as we continue to utilise cutting-edge blockchain technology to broaden the range of commodities traded through Dubai.”

The sugar trading platform is in line with the UAE’s Blockchain Strategy 2021, which was launched in 2018, with the goal of migrating at least 50% of government transactions on to distributed ledger technology (DLT) before the end of 2020, and encouraging the adoption of blockchain in business. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Once again we see blockchain tech cut the middleman from commodity trading, making it more accessible to investors across the board, improving efficiency and transparency, and opening up yet another avenue in the digital economy. Sweet. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.