Swiss Exchange has launched a blockchain platform for stock trading, while Facebook has acquired its first project on blockchain. These and other news are described in our digest of the week.
SIX Swiss Exchange to launch blockchain platform for stock trading
One of the largest Swiss exchanges, SIX Swiss Exchange, will test the capacity of blockchain on the SDX platform under development.
Jos Dijsselhof, CEO at the exchange, believes that blockchain will improve the efficiency and safety of securities transactions.
“The fact is, it takes two days for the buyer of a stock to become the owner. The trade itself only takes a fraction of a second, but after that payments have to be settled and titles transferred. If we put it all on our digital exchange, then the whole process takes only a few seconds. This makes the market more efficient, but at the same time also takes risks out of the system,” Mr. Dijsselhof explains.
SDX will be launched in late summer 2019.
India bitcoin exchange, Zebpay, to open five offices in Europe
Zebpay cryptocurrency exchange will establish offices in Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Liechtenstein, and Lithuania. Now, the trading platform will be available for users in 43 countries.
As a sign of welcome, the exchange will conduct a competition of traders among citizens of these countries. All participants will receive €1000 on their trading accounts for a term of 30 days. Following the results of the contest, top ten traders will save funds on their accounts. The rest participants who manage to avoid losses will obtain €100 each.
Coinbase Wallet supports bitcoins
Launched six months ago, Coinbase Wallet now supports bitcoins. The upgraded version for Android and iOS will be available the next week.
“Coinbase Wallet already supports Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, and over 100,000 different tokens built on Ethereum. Adding support for Bitcoin is an important step for us,” company representatives inform.
Facebook acquires its first blockchain startup
In February, Facebook has purchased a blockchain startup called Chainspace for the first time. Reportedly, the company is going to use the startup for internal needs rather than for provided services or products.
According to the Chainspace website, the startup founded by researchers from University College London was working on blockchain scalability issues.
Besides, at the end of 2018, Facebook published five new blockchain-related jobs on its page: two software engineer positions, a data scientist post, and data engineer roles at the company’s headquarter in California.
Axel Springer partners with SatoshiPay
The largest European digital publisher, Axel Springer SE, now cooperates with Blockchain SatoshiPay, a startup providing direct payments using blockchain.
The new solution will allow to conduct payments without third parties. This collaborative development will be integrated into Axel Springer’s products.
Opera’s new mobile version offers browser crypto wallet
Opera’s new Android version allows to buy cryptocurrencies. The novelty does not require any additional mobile extensions.
Software cooperates with a Swiss exchanger Safello where one will be able to exchange cash for cryptocurrency. The service carries out payments using credit and debit cards, as well as using verified payment networks such as Swish in Sweden.
As of today, the browser crypto wallet is available in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. By the way, it supports only ETH.
Discover more about cryptocurrencies at Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague on March 22!
