By Tim Alper
Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Investment news
- Legend Holdings, the owner of the Lenovo Group, has issued a statement denying it has made any “digital currency” or “blockchain” investments after rumors and reports circulated online. Per Sina, the company said that social media accounts that have called for investors to back its blockchain and digital token operations are “fake” and are totally unaffiliated with Lenovo and Legend Holdings. Lenovo is best known outside China as a PC manufacturer.
- In a seed round in April, Lightning Network-focused startup Zap raised USD 3.5m, its founder Jack Mallers revealed in an interview with Forbes this week. Morgan Creek and CMT Digital are among the investors, the report added.
- Teller, a blockchain project for decentralized lending, announced a USD 1m seed raise led by Framework Ventures, followed by Parafi Capital and Maven11 Capital, to build the first-ever algorithmic credit risk protocol for decentralized finance (DeFi).
Blockchain news
- Shinhan Life Insurance, part of the South Korean Shinhan Group (owner of Shinhan Bank), said it will launch a blockchain-powered medical insurance billing service. Per Money Today, the Shinhan subsidiary has teamed up with blockchain healthcare company MediBloc on the deal – and will allow customers to make real-time claims via a smartphone app.
- The Ping An Group’s smart city initiative will make use of a blockchain-powered payments and ID platform for public transport and other services in Shenzhen, China. Per East Money, the platform will also allow citizens to use paper-free, online ID solutions that make use of blockchain technology.
- Japanese blockchain gaming firm double.jump has penned a deal with a Singapore-based Ethereum (ETH) wallet provider named Torus Wallet. The Japanese firm is best known for developing the hit blockchain game My Crypto Heroes. The wallet maker provides direct links with social media platforms and chat apps such as Line.
- Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com’s blockchain platform “will help SMEs better protect their rights,” per Sina. JD.com said that its platform will help cut down court arbitration time in legal disputes involving small businesses down from a month to just seven days.
Exchanges news
- Japanese crypto exchange GMO Coin said it has launched an “easy” know-your-customer (KYC) interface that will allow would-be account holders to sign up faster. Per Fisco (via Genotosha), the interface will allow the exchange to do away with time-consuming email-based processes.
Mining news
- Binance Pool, a crypto mining platform, partnered with BitRiver, a major hosting provider for crypto mining in the CIS. The latter has added a node of Binance Pool to its crypto mining datacenter in the city of Bratsk, Russia. “Binance Pool’s node will enable BitRiver’s customers to have a more reliable and higher quality connection between their mining devices at BitRiver’s data center and Binance Pool’s platform,” the platform said.
- Riot Blockchain, a Nasdaq-listed public crypto mining company, said that it has received 1,000 S19 Pro miners, the first of three orders cumulatively totaling 3,040, S19, and S19 Pro Antminers from Bitmain at Coinmint’s Massena, New York facility. Deployment of these 1,000 new S19 Pro generation miners was estimated to be completed today.