Social aggregation platform Discussions.app has confirmed its expansion to the Telos network, and announced a project to counter social media bans.

The Reddit-inspired platform is planning to create a decentralised identity system, allowing users to record their accounts and contacts from social networks, including Twitter and YouTube, to the blockchain. 

The idea is to give users a measure of protection should they become subject to a block or ban – allowing them to migrate across platforms without losing the identities and connections they’ve often spent many years creating. 

Discussing the project Telos chief architect, Douglas Horn, said:

“It seems that every few days I see another unique voice de-platformed and the connections they invested years building pulled out from under them like a cheap rug — especially in the crypto community. Discussions.app empowers individuals to secure their own social networks immune to the whims of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.”

By joining the Telos network, which represents its first cross-chain expansion, Discussions.app will also gain access to options for advanced governance and Ethereum Virtual Machines. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The big social networks do have a very real problem with seemingly arbitrary bans, which is rapidly eroding users’ trust and willingness to invest time and energy into them. While the Discussions.app collaboration with Telos might not solve this, it will at least make users feel a little more secure, so it’s a step in the right direction. 

‘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

Singapore Exchange (SGX), has issued its first blockchain-powered digital bond. 

The 400 million Singapore dollar (approx. €248m) 5.5 year public bond issuance, conducted on SGX’s digital asset issuance, depository, and serving platform, was for Olam International – a local agribusiness, and was focused on Asian bond markets. 

It was the result of a joint initiative with blockchain partners including HSBC Singapore and investment firm Temasek. Handling the proceeds between issuer, arranger and custodian, HSBC provided its on-chain payments solution, which enables instant settlement in multiple currencies. 

Digital Asset’s DAML smart contract language was used by SGX to issue the bond, enabling its digital platform to capture the rights and obligations of parties involved in issuance and asset servicing, such as arrangers, depository agents, legal counsel, and custodians. 

Discussing the milestone, Senior Managing Director, Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC), SGX, Lee Beng Hong, said:

“We are very excited that this collaboration with HSBC and Temasek has led to the successful completion of the first digital syndicated public corporate bond in Asia. Debt capital markets globally are characterised by deeply engrained legacy systems and processes which can be made faster, more accurate and efficient with this new technology. 

“DLT and smart contracts are rapidly evolving technologies, and our vision is to fully digitalise the end-to-end corporate bond issuance and asset servicing process. We look forward to playing a part in strengthening the fixed income market infrastructure of Singapore, Asia’s fixed income hub for bond issuers.”

While Managing Director and Group CFO of Olam International, N Muthukumar, added:

“Olam is delighted to pilot Asia’s first digital bond in close partnership with SGX, Temasek and HSBC. Going digital will make the entire process more efficient and transparent for all parties – issuers like us receive our funds more speedily, investors get their bonds more quickly while the arrangers, custodian and banks benefit from the reduced probability of error and speed. 

“This is in line with Olam’s focused push into digitalisation as part of our refreshed strategy, to grow sustainably and live our purpose of re-imagining global agriculture and food systems.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Although the bond market has embraced electronic trading, it is still heavily mired in archaic, legacy systems and highly reliant on manual processes, so it’s clearly one of the most compelling use cases for blockchain technology right now. 

However, despite the obvious advantages, there’s a whole hidden ecosystem of professionals making their living off these inefficient and wasteful processes, so we can expect some resistance to adoption. 

‘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

No one likes paying tax, but if you’re a resident of the Swiss canton of Zug, at least you can now pay using crypto.

Zug, or ‘Crypto Valley’ as it is widely known, has been on the leading edge of cryptocurrency adoption for some time, and according to Bloomberg, its private residents and companies can now settle their taxes, up to 100,000 Swiss francs (approx. €92,760), using Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH). 

To enable tax payments in cryptocurrencies, the canton’s authorities have partnered with crypto broker Bitcoin Suisse AG – which is also based in Zug. It’s not the first such partnership in Switzerland either, with Bitcoin Suisse already working with authorities in Zermatt to enable them to accept BTC tax payments. 

Bitcoin Suisse AG is Switzerland’s oldest and largest crypto financial services provider. In August the company added DOT – the native token of the Polkadot network – to its wide range of crypto assets available for trading and staking.

In June it established a partnership with high-performance enterprise blockchain Ontology, which saw the ONTO wallet add support for the CryptoFranc (XCHF) stablecoin, and the ONT token made available through the Bitcoin Suisse online platform. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Anything to make paying taxes slightly less depressing is always to be welcomed, so kudos to Zug and Bitcoin Suisse! Hopefully it will also inspire other governments and regional authorities to follow suit. 

‘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

DeFi project Hotdog appears to have crashed and burned within hours of launching, dropping from $4K to $1 in 5 minutes. 

Hotdog, which was the latest clone of popular token swap and liquidity platform Uniswap, had been promising ridiculously high returns of up to 1,000,000% APY to entice liquidity providers. 

Predictably, on launching yesterday the token surged to over $5K and then crashed epicly. At the time of writing, the token was worth a dismal $0.0176. 

$4000 to $1 in 5 minutes.

ok can you guys stop trading pic.twitter.com/cZRTBfyJj3

— lowstrife (@lowstrife) September 2, 2020

Hotdog, like Sushi and Kimchi, is capitalising on the cloned yield farming model, allowing liquidity providers to deposit Uniswap liquidity pool tokens, to earn HOTDOG tokens. These food-themed tokens would then entitle users to earn part of the protocol’s fee. 

DeFi traders known as degenerate farmers, or ‘degens’, jump on these tokens, inflating prices to insane levels and hence driving yields, before quickly cashing out. Needless to say, while a few very quick traders net a huge profit, the vast majority lose big time.

AYO.NEWS says:

While still relatively fringe, cloned yield farming projects like Hotdog, Sushi, and Kimchi, have the potential to do a lot of damage to the DeFi community as a whole – not just by burning naive investors, but by projecting a very negative image to the wider world and distracting mainstream media from the many genuine tokens with real use cases and real value. 

‘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

If you’re an 80’s kid prepare for some great news: the Care Bears are coming to The Sandbox Metaverse.

Yes, the 1980’s premier ambassadors of caring and understanding will be making the jump into a virtual version of the Care-a-Lot kingdom, thanks to a partnership between The Sandbox and Care Bears owner Cloudco Entertainment. 

In addition to getting a whole bunch of fuzzy wuzzy feelings from exploring the virtual kingdom of Care-a-Lot, players will be able to get their paws on special Care Bears-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Since launching in 1982, the Care Bears brand has generated more than $5 billion in global retail sales, and proving there’s still plenty of fans out there, a recent toy relaunch sold out in Walmart and online. 

A true virtual world and economy, The Sandbox allows players to buy virtual land (LAND), build and create gaming experiences for others to enjoy, and trade virtual assets. True ownership of assets is ensured by the use of NFTs. 

The Sandbox already has over 50 partners, including major brands like Atari, and CryptoKitties, and has attracted investment from several well-known VC funds, including Square Enix, B Cryptos, Mindfulness Capital, and True Global Ventures. 

AYO.NEWS says:

So far my older sister has displayed absolutely zero interest in blockchain technology, but I’ve got a feeling that’s about to change! 

Even if the Care Bears aren’t your thing, the fact that the brand is coming to The Sandbox and embracing NFTs, really does reflect the rapidly growing appeal of blockchain-based gaming, collectibles, and trading. 

‘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

Police in South Korea have reportedly raided the offices of Bithumb, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. 

According to local news publication Seoul Shinmun, a specialist intelligence crime unit from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, swooped on the company’s office in the Gangnam District of the city on 2 September, conducting a search and seizure operation. 

The police raid is thought to be connected to the ongoing investigation of Lee Jung Hoon, chairman of the board at Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings, for his part in the BXA token fraud. Newsis is also reporting that police are investigating whether Bithumb has violated South Korea’s Foreign Exchange Transaction Act and Capital Market Act.

BXA was issued by the Blockchain Exchange Alliance (BXA) and Singapore-based BXA Consortium, and promoted as ‘Bithumb’s native token’, but it is now being alleged it was actually a sophisticated scam that saw investors lose around 30 billion won (approx. $25m USD). 

Bithumb is currently the world’s ninth biggest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of average trading volume, and is thought to be planning an initial public offering (IPO). 

Coinbit, South Korea’s third largest crypto exchange was also recently raided by police investigating market manipulation.

AYO.NEWS says:

Needless to say this could end up being very damaging for Bithumb and its IPO ambitions. Given the exchange’s global profile, it’s also got the potential to heap a lot of negative publicity on the crypto industry as a whole. Obviously, it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on the details of the case, but we’ll be watching…

‘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