Blockchain news headlines
April, May & June 2021
The Q2 2021 blockchain news round-up below provides links to individual blockchain and distributed ledger news items, reports or downloads, each free to read online. Blockchain news headlines listed were gathered across April, May and June of 2021 and provide an overview of blockchain news items arising from or concerning the broad Asia-Pacific region, and also cover ‘wider world’ blockchain developments to provide readers with extra points of reference.
The Startup News Asia Q2 2021 blockchain news summary pulls headlines from across 17 locations across South & Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and delivers an at-a-glance overview of developments in blockchain-related technologies.
News items featured in the Q2 blockchain news round-up provide a ‘wide angle’ view, covering implementations and initiatives rather than zeroing in on developments in a single industry.
Hit any of the blockchain news headlines listed below and you’ll go directly to the free-to-read online article behind them – no middleman service, no interstitial ads, no time wasted.
June 2021 | May 2021 | April 2021
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Blockchain in the news: June 2021
- ICYMI: Snickerdoodle Labs raises $2.3M with data privacy-focused NFTs, aiming for NFTs to be ‘the cookies of the Web 3.0 ecosystem’
- ICYMI: ‘Vault by CNN’ set for launch, to sell memorable moments from CNN’s 41-year history as non-fungible tokens
- ICYMI: Non-fungible tokens, decentralized organisations and perfume
- China: Red Date Technology, technical firm behind state-backed Blockchain-based Service Network, raises $30M Series A, with BSN Int’l to run as Singapore foundation
- NFT trading volume expected to hit $175M by October, given 645% rise between January and March 2021, with market expected to grow from 2020’s $338M to $470M by year-end
- RTHK to erase archival content over one year old, meaning programs covering 2019 HK protests would be wiped from RTHK web and social media. Hong Kong’s response? Blockchain.
- Hong Kong: Apple Daily pro-democracy tabloid forced to shut down by mainland government – now backed up on a censorship-resistant blockchain
- RTHK to erase archival content over one year old, meaning programs covering 2019 HK protests would be wiped from RTHK web and social media. Hong Kong’s response? Blockchain.
- Hong Kong: Amber Group cryptocurrency trading firm raises $100M Series B, ten times the company’s 2019 Series A, offering algorithmic trading and more
- ICYMI: NEAR India Accelerator program launched by NEAR, open-source platform aiming to boost development of decentralized applications in the country
- India: Unbound Finance blockchain startup raises $5.8M, in part enabling interest-free crypto loans in Unbound’s $UND stablecoin and other ‘synthetic assets’
- India Blockchain Alliance and India Accelerator partner to deliver IA Campus Entrepreneurship Program, aiming to accelerate 100+ startups yearly
- India: An intro to BlockSurvey, a decentralised blockchain-powered data collection platform focusing on anonymity and security of user information
- India/Singapore startup StaTwig awarded in UK’s The Trinity Challenge with VaccineLedger, blockchain-based solution tracking each vial of vaccine from manufacturer to beneficiary
- ICYMI: ‘Vault by CNN’ set for launch, to sell memorable moments from CNN’s 41-year history as non-fungible tokens
- Philippines: Yield Guild Games raises $4M Series A with focus on play-to-earn games using NFTs
- Singapore: New Gorilla Mobile telco launches, including blockchain-based Switchback feature allowing users to convert unused data into tokens to offset bills
- Thailand: An intro to Synqa, digital payments and blockchain firm
- Singapore’s BondEvalue bond exchange gains $6M led by Citi bank with blockchain-based bond market ‘electronification’
- China: Xiong’an government launches digital yuan pilot using Blockchain Fund Payment Platform to pay some builders’ wages
- Australia: Lloyds Auctions Australia begins accepting cryptocurrency for all purchases on its marketplace
- ICYMI: Non-fungible tokens, decentralized organisations and perfume
- “Zero-knowledge proofs will redefine the privacy guarantees that web services offer…blockchains will enable users to control their financial assets and personal data, without requiring third parties…”
- China: iBox launches following incubation with Huobi X Center, focusing on premium market for NFTs in Asia with low-cost on-chain dApps, smart contacts and digital assets
- Fantasy Hollywood’: A deep dive into the combination of cryptocurrency, NFTs, decentralized autonomous organisations and community-owned characters
- ICYMI: Future Today Institute’s 2021 Tech Trends Report, covering AI, healthtech, blockchain, 5G, government, policy and more
- ICYMI: Tim Berners-Lee to sell source code that made the first web browser work as an NFT in a Sotheby’s auction later in June
- Video: Play-To-Earn, NFT Gaming in the Philippines – how a community earns real-world money by playing token-rewards games like Axie Infinity
Blockchain headlines: May 2021
- ICYMI: German stock exchange and Commerzbank partner 360X to develop blockchain-based platforms for ‘real assets’ like art and real estate
- Blockchain and related tech: 40 recent blockchain news headlines, reports and downloads – at a glance and linked to the online articles behind the headlines
- Blockchain & DLT: A video snapshot collection of recent blockchain tech news headlines, at-a-glance and QR coded to allow you to read the online articles behind them
- ICYMI: Disney patents blockchain-based movie distribution system in attempt to stop piracy, focusing on supply of movies to cinemas
- Blockchain & DLT: Quarterly headline round-up, gathering blockchain news items, articles, reports and downloads reported in January, February and March of 2021
- ICYMI: Fox media giant to launch new NFT company, Blockchain Creative Labs, alongside launching ‘first-ever animated series curated entirely on the Blockchain’
- Download: A one-page snapshot of recent blockchain tech news headlines, linked and QR coded from screen, and print, to the online articles behind the headlines
- Super Crypto Conference 2021, inaugural virtual event from Super Crypto News, set for June 17th, covering all things blockchain and cryptocurrency-related
- ICYMI: European Investment Bank, lending arm of the European Union, issued $121M in 2-year digital notes using Ethereum tech, a digital bond on a public blockchain
- “For an asset, particularly one with little…financial market infrastructure…there is a big incentive to tokenize on a public blockchain. It gets immediate access to a global financial infrastructure.”
- India: Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Digital University of Kerala, Kerala Blockchain Academy partner to launch startup-focused blockchain program
- Indian Institute of Tech in Madras researchers now field-testing BlockTrack, app-delivered and blockchain-based secure medical data and info exchange system
- India: Polygon blockchain startup gains backing in part from Mark Cuban with framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks
- Download: FinTech Market in Japan – Blockchain, via FinCity Tokyo (pdf)
- South Korea: Samsung expands support for blockchain-based trading of virtual assets on Galaxy handsets, adding connectivity for select cold hardware wallets
- South Korea’s Bloom Technology to partner IDCM Asia cryptocurrency trading platform to establish blockchain-based bank in Dubai
- ICYMI: An intro to recently-launched Instars social media platform, decentralized and privacy-focused, paying users for participation with crypto-backed smart contracts
- Taiwan: A brief overview of OwlTing blockchain firm’s many services, spanning hotel managment, food-tech, travel and tourism and more
- An interview intro to OMO, gateway for SE Asia’s first-time retail crypto investors, and OMO Finance, for more experienced crypto investors, built on Taiwan’s Dapp Pocket tech
- Thailand: atato raises $1M seed funding to help companies create, store and manage blockchain-backed digital assets, and building on presence in Thailand and Singapore
- Vietnam: Sky Mavis raises $7.5M with blockchain-based gaming, rewarding players with NFTs on flagship game, Axie Infinity
- “NFTs are a very real opportunity for brands and retailers…from authenticating tangible goods to reducing friction in e-commerce to generating new revenue through virtual sales.”
- ICYMI: Ebay enables sale of non-fungible tokens for digital collectibles like trading cards, images or video clips, becoming the first e-commerce company to tap into NFTs
- ICYMI: Mastercard investing in smart contract tech to pair with central bank digital currencies, aiming to help governments evaluate the utility of CBDCs beyond payments
Blockchain tech in April 2021
- Download: Blockchain Now And Tomorrow – Assessing Multidimensional Impacts Of Distributed Ledger Technologies, from the European Union
- Download: Blockchain Development Trends 2021, examining key trends in core blockchain, DeFi and NFT projects over the past 12 months, from Outlier Ventures
- Download: Research Report – The Adoption of Blockchain Technology in Supply Chains, An Investigation in Logistics (pdf)
- Blockchain: A video snapshot of 16 recent blockchain and related tech news headlines, QR coded to give access to the online articles behind each headline
- Digital Securities & Tokenization Summit set for May 19-20, a virtual conference focusing on the implementation of blockchain in traditional finance
- A look at the luxury fashion industry’s growing interest in NFTs
- Download: Time for trust – The trillion-dollar reasons to rethink blockchain, an October 2020 overview from pwc (pdf)
- Aura Blockchain Consortium unveiled by Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Prada fashion giants, aiming to combat counterfeit goods using cryptographic proof-of-provenance
- ICYMI: Opera web browser becomes the first to add native support for Unstoppable Domains blockchain-based decentralized domain name provider
- Australia: An interview intro to Power Ledger, peer-to-peer energy trading platform based on blockchain technology
- ICYMI: Gucci and other fashion brands reportedly working on NFT projects
- NFTs: Is the spotlight-stealing blockchain tech a cash grab or the next big thing? via CB Insights
- Singapore: Enjin raises $18.9M in private token sale to build Polkadot blockchain for NFTs, moving away from Ethereum
- Singapore: Tribe government-backed blockchain network gains backing to boost Academy and Accelerator, with participating startups separately raising over $70M
- Singapore: STACS raises US$3.6M pre-Series A using distributed ledger tech to aid financial institutions meet environmental, social, and governance requirements
- Singapore: Play Ventures game investment fund to establish blockchain game fund, acquiring a stake in Golden Gate Ventures spin-off, LuneX Ventures
- Sri Lanka: Lanka Angel Network Angel Fund invests over $100K in Niftron, blockchain-as-a-service platform focused on easy implementation of blockchain technology
- Taiwan: An intro to TuringChain’s TuringCerts service, blockchain-backed solution focused on verification and authentication of education certificates
- Taiwan: Vision Program Online Demo Day set for April 28th, showcasing 5 startups working in blockchain, green energy, medtech and more
- Vietnam: Coin98 Finance gains $4M investment from US’ crypto trading firm Alameda Research, working on decentralized finance protocols and applications
- Malaysia: An interview intro to the country’s digitalisation strategy, looking at use of cloud platforms, artificial intelligence and blockchain
- Singapore-based ImToken blockchain startup and crypto wallet developer raises $30M to build out decentralized finance services and expand blockchain research
- Hong Kong: TOKEN2049 crypto conference set for November 23-24, looking at global developments in cryptocurrency, blockchain and more
- Non-Fungible Tokens: What exactly are they?
- Hong Kong: RioDeFi decentralised finance startup launches incubator hub to bring greater blockchain interoperability to Asia, following 3 successful pilot projects
- Malaysia: 40% stake in Tranglo cross-border payments firm acquired by Ripple blockchain payments giant
- XELS blockchain-based carbon offset platform gains Bittrex listing for XELS token, providing tokenised voluntary carbon offset credits for individuals and companies
- Singapore: Mintable non-fungible token marketplace platform gains seed funding, with over 150K NFTs created and listed for sale in the last month alone
- South Korea: Klaytn blockchain firm partners with ConsenSys to work towards a Korean central bank digital currency, a digital won
- Non-fungible tokens: How do you regulate a non-conventional marketplace?
- Vision Program Online Demo Day from e27 is taking place online tomorrow, April 27th, showcasing 5 startups and 3 alumni from the program
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