Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

SBI takes stake in digital asset bank Sygnum

Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum has scored an eight-figure dollar investment from a unit of Japanese financial behemoth SBI Holdings.

18 February 2021

Company update/markets

Spotex to provide clients with credit management tools via Cobalt integration

Cobalt, a multi-award-winning provider of FX and Digital Asset risk and settlement infrastructure, has partnered with Spotex, the developer of FX technology solutions, to provide clients with dynamic credit management tools.

18 February 2021

News/wholesale

SEB trials secure data sharing tech for Letters of Credit

Nordic bank SEB has teamed up with Finnish industrial group Wärtsilä on a secure data sharing experiment involving the exchange of digital Letters of Credit.

18 February 2021

News/crypto

Blockchain.com raises $120m

Cryptocurrency wallet provider Blockchain.com has raised $120 million in funding from a host of macro investors, including Google Ventures.

18 February 2021

News/crypto

Riksbank extends e-krona testing

Sweden's central bank has extended its e-krona pilot project by another year but says it has still not decided whether it will eventually issue the digital currency.

17 February 2021

News/retail

Worldline to lead EU blockchain project

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.

16 February 2021

News/payments

JCB and Keychain develop blockchain-based micropayment infrastructure for IoT

Japanese credit card scheme JCB is collaborating with Singapore's Keychain to develop a a secure infrastructure for processing credit-based micropayments between IoT devices.

12 February 2021

Company update/crypto

Crypto mining outfit Compute North raises $25m

Compute North, an industry leader in economical, large-scale computing infrastructure and cryptocurrency mining, announced this week that it has closed its next growth capital round of $25 million in debt financing and equity to expand capacity and enable further growth.

11 February 2021

News/people

Ex-HSBC innovation exec Diana Biggs joins digital assets startup Valour

Swiss digital asset startup Valour has appointed the former global head of innovation at HSBC Private Banking, Diana Biggs, as its CEO.

11 February 2021

News/crypto

BNY Mellon sets up digital assets unit

The world's biggest custodian, BNY Mellon, has formed a new enterprise-wide digital asset division to help clients invest in crypto markets.

11 February 2021

Company update/crypto

Exberry and Digital Asset team up with Baymarkets to add clearing to digital asset exchange

Exberry (the exchange technology pioneer), Digital Asset (the creators of the open source Daml shared ledger development framework) and Baymarkets (the developer of the Clara clearing system) today announced the availability of cutting edge exchange infrastructure with central counterparty clearing functionality.

11 February 2021

Company update/security

R3 releases confidential computing platform ‘Conclave’

Global enterprise software firm R3 has launched Conclave, a confidential computing platform that secures sensitive business data while it’s being used.

11 February 2021

Company update/markets

Allfunds and ConsenSys deepen collaboration

Allfunds Blockchain, the revolutionary blockchain technology arm of Allfunds, and ConsenSys, the leading Ethereum software company, have signed a partnership agreement to further support the streamlining of the fund distribution value chain, and other regulated industries.

11 February 2021

News/crypto

Facebook Diem competitor Celo raises $20m; targets remittances

Celo, the open-source blockchain payments outfit taking on the Facebook-led Diem, has received $20 million in backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Greenfield One, and Electric Capital.

10 February 2021

News/payments

Oz lenders ready to put bank guarantees on a blockchain

ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, IBM and Scentre Group are to formally launch a blockchain-based platform that reduces the time to issue a bank guarantee from one month to one day.

10 February 2021

News/crypto

Siam Commercial Bank launches $50m blockchain, DeFi and digital assets VC fund

SCB 10X, the venture arm of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank, has launched a new US$50m VC fund dedicated to investing in global early and growth stage blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), and digital asset startups.

09 February 2021

News/crypto

Swiss bank Seba issues Series B equity as security tokens

Swiss digital asset bank Seba is set to issue its Series B equity to shareholders as security tokens on a blockchain.

05 February 2021

Company update/markets

Poland records Treasury Bonds on a blockchain

A joint partnership of institutions has launched a blockchain-based reporting system for Poland’s treasury saving bonds transactions in a European first.

04 February 2021

Company update/crypto

USDC goes live on Stellar network

Circle and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced today that USDC is live on the Stellar network.

02 February 2021

News/markets

Rabobank executes real-time commercial paper transaction using blockchain technology

Rabobank has completed the first real-time commercial paper transactions using blockchain technology, following a successful two-year pilot in partnership with Commerzbank and Euroclear.

01 February 2021