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This week: Nokia launch blockchain data marketplace, WallStreetBets use blockchain to combat market manipulation, PayPal contemplate stablecoin launch, NFTs are here to stay? as 40% predicted to pay in crypto in the next year

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Nokia Launches Blockchain-Powered Data Marketplace

Telecommunications giant Nokia has launched a blockchain-powered Data Marketplace for secure data trading and AI models. The marketplace is intended to help enterprises and communications service providers (CSPs) use data to inform decision-making, by providing users with real-time access to trusted datasets. The service also allows enterprises and CSPs to become data marketplace providers in their own right, by monetizing data exchanges between customers or business ecosystem participants. (Yahoo Finance) Read More

UFC Set to Launch Fan Token on Chiliz Blockchain

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will launch its own blockchain-based fan token on the Socios platform next month. The token, which will have a maximum supply of 20 million, will entitle holders to access unique fan engagement opportunities, vote on UFC cards, and participate in competitions. “Tokens are a unique way to connect with fans through a compelling, authentic product that brings them closer to UFC and gives them influence, while also rewarding their passion for the sport,” said the company’s senior vice president of global consumer products, Tracey Bleczinski. (Coin Telegraph) 

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WallStreetBets: use blockchain to combat market manipulation

Wallstreetbets, the grassroots Reddit movement with 10 million followers that has recently gained notoriety for its Gamestop and Dogecoin moves, is now looking to stamp out corruption after accusations of pump and dumps and market manipulation. The group is looking to launch a product powered by a decentralized autonomous organisation, or DAO. Jaime Rogozinski, the founder of the r/Wallstreetbets subreddit has described the merger between blockchain and financial markets as the “next logical step for finance,” adding that “It will result in stronger, more democratised markets and will empower individuals around the world."’ (Cointelegraph) Read More

Auction House Sotheby’s Will Accept Crypto for Banksy Art

Historic auction house Sotheby’s has confirmed that it will accept payment in cryptocurrency when it auctions Banksy’s artwork 'Love is in the Air' in New York next week. Sotheby’s, which previously launched an NFT collection, is not opening the floodgates to all digital assets, though: it will only accept payment in bitcoin or ether. This marks the first time that a major auction house has accepted cryptocurrency as payment for a physical artwork. (Markets Insider) Read More

PayPal Contemplating Stablecoin Launch 

PayPal is reportedly considering launching its own stablecoin, according to news outlet The Block. According to several well-placed sources, Ava Labs – the team behind the Avalanche blockchain – has held talks with the company over stablecoin development. PayPal has been expanding its crypto services since announcing that it would enable crypto purchases and sales on its platform last fall. (The Block Crypto) Read More

US Must Take Lead on CBDCs Says Ex-CFTC Chair 

Christopher Giancarlo, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has said the United States must step up its research into a central bank-issued digital currency. Giancarlo is currently working with consulting firm Accenture on pilot programs that will assess different use cases for a digital dollar in the country. (Yahoo Finance) Read More

Galaxy Digital Acquires BitGo in $1.2 billion Deal

Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. has purchased crypto custodian BitGo in a deal worth $1.2 billion of cash and stock. It is the first $1 billion deal concluded in the cryptocurrency industry. The purchase will make New York-based Galaxy Digital a crypto-focused financial services firm with over $40 billion in assets under custody. (WSJ) Read More

New York Giants Ink NFL’s First Corporate Crypto Partnership

The New York Giants have signed a landmark deal with Grayscale investments, with the world’s largest crypto asset manager becoming the Official Digital Currency Asset Management Partner of the NFL team. Under terms of the agreement, Grayscale will provide educational seminars on cryptocurrencies for Giants personnel each year. Both entities will also collaborate on philanthropic initiatives. (CoinDesk) Read More

NYDIG Says Bitcoin is Coming to Hundreds of Banks in 2021

Crypto custody firm NYDIG has teamed up with fintech firm Fidelity National Information Services to enable US banks to offer bitcoin in coming months. According to Patrick Sells, NYDIG’s head of bank solutions, hundreds of banks have already enrolled in the program. "What we're doing is making it simple for everyday Americans and corporations to be able to buy bitcoin through their existing bank relationships," Sells said. (CNBC) Read More

40% of People Plan to Pay with Crypto in Next Year

According to a new survey by payment giant Mastercard, 40% of people plan to use digital assets as payment in the next 12 months. The survey, entitled ‘Consumer Appetite for Digital Payments Takes Off’, involved over 15,500 people from 18 countries. Among the respondents, 67% of millennials said they were more open to using cryptocurrency than they were a year ago, while 77% said they were keen to learn more about them. (Cointelegraph) Read More

New UX Index Crypto Available On Wall Street Trading Floors

A major US index has launched crypto indices tracking the performance of top digital assets Bitcoin and Ethereum. The S&P Dow Jones index intends to eventually cover at least 550 of the best-performing digital currencies, though only three will be available initially: the S&P Bitcoin Index, S&P Ethereum Index, and the S&P Cryptocurrency MegaCap Index. (Markets Insider) Read More

Crypto Exchange Bitso Achieves $2.2 Billion Valuation

Bitso, a Mexico-based cryptocurrency exchange, has raised $250 million in its latest funding round, giving the company a valuation of $2.2 billion. Bitso, which processed $1.2 billion in international payments last year, is now believed to be the most valuable crypto platform in Latin America. Bitso currently has over two million users and its transaction volume during Q1 of this year exceeded the total volume of 2020. (Tech Crunch) 

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Blockchain .com Acquires AI Exchange (AiX) for OTC Trading

Blockchain .com has paid an undisclosed sum to acquire London-based Artificial Intelligence Exchange (AiX), an AI-powered trading broker. Institutional OTC traders can use AiX’s negotiation and matching engine to finesse their strategies, with blockchain .com's CEO Peter Smith paying homage to the AiX team’s “deep engineering, trading, and operational expertise.” (CoinDesk) Read More

Digital Artist Beeple Says NFTs Are Here to Stay

Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist also known as Beeple, says the NFT industry is going to be around for many, many decades. Beeple, who sold his NFT photo collage Everyday: The First 5,000 Days for over $69 million in March, said the technology undergirding NFTs “can be applied to so many different things that I think long term it has such a massive opportunity and massive possibility of really being looked at as a true alternate asset class.” (CNBC) Read More

eBay Exploring NFT Collectibles

Online marketplace eBay could expand its business to offer digital collectibles, according to recent comments by CEO Jamie Iannone. During an interview with CNBC, the CEO confirmed eBay was “exploring opportunities for how we can enable it [NFTs] in an easy way. If you think about collectibles, everything that’s collectible has been on eBay for decades and will continue to be for the next few decades.” (Ledger Insights) Read More

The first bike NFT - bikemaker Colnago's first virtual bike

The inevitable first bike NFT has happened with bike-maker Colnago releasing it’s first virtual bike as a 'special edition ‘C64 NFT... based on the brand’s C64 carbon fibre bike, and is made by combining “67 years of historic Colnago moments.' The NFT will be sold on the peer to peer marketplace for NFTs and digital assets OpenSea. Bikes were the next inevitable use case of NFTs and it will be interesting to see how big bike NFTs get and how widely they will be used. (Cycling Magazine) Read More

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