Author: Staff

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Business

Emirates Airline to Accept Bitcoin Payments and Launch NFT Collection

Emirates, the UAE’s largest airline, has announced plans to accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments and to issue nonfungible tokens (NFTs) for trade on the company’s websites.

Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer, Adel Ahmed Al-Redha, reportedly stated that the airline would hire new personnel to work on blockchain-related projects such as crypto payments, blockchain monitoring, metaverse, and NFTs.

The airline is exploring using blockchain to maintain track of aircraft records, according to Al-Redha. The airline CEO also suggested that the metaverse may be used to digitally transform procedures including operations, training, website sales, and other airline-related experiences. This will make the processes “more engaging,” according to the airline’s Chief Operational Officer.

Apart from that, Al-Redha remarked that the airline industry is progressively recovering as more travelers arrive. To expand its reach, the company is implementing new technologies such as a Bitcoin payment service and tradeable NFT collectibles.

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has made its official debut into the metaverse, as more and more Dubai-based enterprises adopt blockchain and crypto. The cryptocurrency regulator recently purchased the property in The Sandbox metaverse with the intention of establishing a virtual headquarters, or “MetaHQ,” there.

Other airlines have already begun to take cryptocurrencies as payment. In 2014, Latvian airline airBaltic became the first in the world to accept bitcoin payments for flight tickets. It now accepts ether and dogecoin as well.

Categories
Amber Group Business

Amber Group – April Recap

Corporate News

Approved as a member of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA).

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang named on Makinsey’s annual Top Women Innovators list.

Product Development and Partnerships

Partnered with The Dodge NFT and PleasrDAO to make NFTs more accessible.

In the News

Disruption Banking: Amber Group joins International Swaps and Derivatives Association; among one of the few global crypto players in ISDA.

Yahoo Finance: First fractionalized NFT on tier 1 exchange.

U.Today: Amber Group, PleasrDAO ready to launch DOG fractionalized NFT on Huobi.

CoinGape: The Doge NFT, PleasrDAO and Amber Group partner Up to make NFTs more accessible.

Cointelegraph: Crypto seen as the ‘future of money’ in inflation-mired countries.

Mckinsey Website: The Committed Innovator: Women continuing to change the world.

YouTube: Can cryptos fit in your retirement portfolio? Here’s how – Amber Group’s Sophia Shluger.

Medium: Automated Market Makers (AMMs): Versioning up.

Events and Media Appearances

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined a panel discussion titled “Institutional Adoption of Cryptos – How fast and deep institutions are adopting the new asset class” by the FinTech Association Hong Kong.

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined Citigroup’s 9th Digital Money Symposium in a panel discussion on mainstreaming digital assets and building bridges between TradFi and DeFi.

CSO Dimitrios Kavvathas joined The Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute’s webinar series and delivered two keynote speeches on “A New (Crypto-Enabled) Financial System”. 

Attended IFGS 2022 in London;  Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined two panel discussions: one on digital wealth management and the other one on the infrastructure of responsible innovation.

Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined a panel discussion on “Unicorns In The Cryptosphere – How Blockchain Will Revolutionize The World” at the WILD3 Conference.

Sponsored the Paris Blockchain Week Summit 2022 and Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined two panel discussions on “Financial markets & Web3” and “The Rise of Decentralized Finance”. 

Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined Group Futurista’s Future of Treasury Management Virtual Summit and delivered a keynote speech on “Digital Wealth: The Evolution of Value”.

Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined a panel discussion titled “Investing in Digital Assets in an Institutional Context” hosted by Nordic Blockchain Association and Copenhagen Fintech Lab in Copenhagen.

Sponsored and attended Bitcoin 2022 in Miami by Bitcoin Magazine.

Sponsored the 2022 Future Commerce in Taipei and Taiwan Regional Director John Lee joined a keynote session on digital wealth and a panel discussion session on angel investment.

Taiwan Regional Director John Lee delivered a speech at Hackathon 3.0｜Solana Asia Series – Taiwan by EPOCHS.STUDIO.

Categories
Social Good

Cardano-Ethiopia Partnership is Set for the Implementation Phase of Blockchain Aimed at Improving Education

According to the latest report, Input-Output Global (IOG), the software company behind Cardano (ADA), is nearing the end of the implementation phase of its relationship with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education to use the blockchain-based utility to improve the country’s educational system.- is the implementation phase with the Ministry or in the utility. Reconcile 

Cardano sealed the deal in April last year to help create a blockchain-based digital identity for 5 million students and teachers in Ethiopia.

Using Atala PRISM built on top of the Cardano blockchain, a national attainment recording system will be created by IOG to enable the Ministry of Education to monitor school performance, review grades, and promote nationwide education.

The director of African operations at IOG, John O’Connor, spoke expressively about the progress of the partnership and other related developments.

He said the software company had been working diligently and tirelessly with the Ethiopian Government to integrate the national attainment recording system with national identity systems and national data protection laws.

John O’Connor said the company has been working with the Government since last month to train students, schoolmasters, mistresses, and teachers on how to use the platform.

He pointed out that the training should be completed this month to give room for the rollout of the platform for students over the next two months. The firm aims to fully onboard 1 to 2 million students, which is still within the agreement made in the partnership.

In late April 2021, the public was informed about the signing of the cooperation agreement with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education. As previously stated, the cooperation was formed to establish a blockchain-based national ID and accomplishment tracking system.

The alliance aims to introduce the Cardano blockchain to over 5 million pupils and 750,000 teachers. The purchase was described at the time as the world’s largest blockchain deployment.

Categories
Social Good

Tezos to invest £1m for Permanent NFTs by Africans and Asians

The non-profit arm of Tezos blockchain has announced that it will invest £1 million to create an endless assortment of non-fungible token (NFT) artwork minted on its platform to be known as The Tezos Foundation Permanent Collection.

The Tezos Foundation launched the £1m fund to collect NFTs by African and Asian artists. This collection will be curated and initially managed by British photographer Misan Harriman who is the first black man to shoot a British Vogue cover. 

Misan hopes to use his experience as the chairman of the Southbank Center in London to help showcase digital art by emerging artists from the underrepresented regions of Africa and Asia in the NFT community. Southbank Center is Europe’s largest center for arts and it attracted over 4 million visitors in 2019. 

As the first curator of the collection, Harriman says he wants to show the world exceptional work from different voices within the crypto art community. 

“The Tezos Foundation Permanent Collection will support and celebrate a new generation of artists that have chosen a smart contract-enabled path to be their true selves,” he says. “We will be the custodian for this new community of creatives.”

The Tezos Foundation was established in 2017, one year before the Tezos network went live. The Tezos network serves as an open supply blockchain to power smart contracts but in the last year, Tezos has made a name for itself in the art world.

In December 2021, Tezos hosted an interactive art exhibition at Art Basel Miami where visitors could mint NFTs in collaboration with the German digital artist Mario Klingemann. This year’s Art Basel events in Hong Kong, Miami, and Switzerland will use Tezos as the official blockchain.

NFTs make international art show debut

As crypto markets continue to plummet to levels lower than the flash crash of May 2021, Tezos believes that the launch of the Permanent Collection can help give a boost and break down barriers created by restrictive laws on cryptocurrencies in the emerging markets of Africa and Asia.

Tezos co-founder and early architect, Arthur Breitman commented enthusiastically about the launch saying, 

“We’re thrilled to introduce this collection as a way to celebrate and garner additional awareness for artists of the Web3 world. This project, in collaboration with Misan Harriman’s talent and expertise, allows us to create a bespoke destination with the sole purpose of elevating digital artists who turn to Tezos for a sustainable way of sharing their work with the world.” 

The Permanent Art Collection celebrates the artists pushing boundaries in the NFT category and aims to increase awareness of blockchain technology across the art world by empowering the institutions and artists building on Tezos.

Tezos hopes to develop and empower a community of artists to help each other navigate the new Web3 space to increase adoption and show more use cases that can consequently help positively affect crypto regulation in Africa and Asia. 

Categories
Business

MTI Management Team summoned over $291 million in Bitcoin Fraud.

Co-founders, Johann Steynberg and Clynton Marks along with members of the management and marketing team at Mirror Trading International (MTI) have been dragged to court for running a trading platform in what amounted to a Ponzi Scheme. 

Mirror Trading International was formed in Johannesburg in April 2019 and initially marketed as an online investment platform that integrates advanced digital software and artificial intelligence to trade in the Forex markets. 

The company included Bitcoin trading in its portfolio and investors’ money was allegedly pooled into one account with a broker handling it. They further alleged that MTI was trading profitably on all platforms with the Bitcoin investment growing by at least 1.5% per month. 

Investors were led to believe that MTI had an extraordinary artificial intelligence bot coded by Steynberg (or a member of his team) that allowed them to predict market trading activity with exceptional precision. 

The trouble began when Steynberg and Marks communicated to their investors that due to regulatory concerns, MTI was to move the entire Bitcoin trading pool from a leading established forex broker, FX Choice to an unlicensed new platform called Trade 300. 

At the time FX Choice had flagged and frozen approximately 1,282 Bitcoin in the MTI account but the company assured investors that the frozen Bitcoin belonged to Steynberg personally and did not form part of their pooled investment. 

An investigation from the South African financial regulator, Financial Sector Conduct Authority, uncovered that the frozen Bitcoin did indeed belong to MTI as part of the investor pool but this was only one of the locations that investors’ Bitcoin had been transferred to. 

The rest of the investor pool was found to have been deposited away from FX Choice in other wallets on accounts managed and controlled by MTI, Johann Steynberg, Clynton and Cheri Marks as well as members of the management and marketing team of MTI. 

To top it all off, it was also found that “the new trading platform”, Trade 300 was simply an alter ego for Steynberg himself and part of the payout expected to go to Trade 300 had gone to a gambling service, Cloudbets. 

MTI operated on the standard Ponzi scheme business model where later entrants’ deposits were used to payout early investors and by its implosion in December 2020, the company was expected to have about 22,000BTC valued at over $800 million at the time.

Records showed that the company did not make any profits from Bitcoin trades and when investors called for liquidation, their demands amounted to 6,900BTC (over $290 million then) as the difference between the deposits and payouts made. 

On the other hand, the company itself had no records of corporate governance, transparent financial accounting or bookkeeping and no registration for MTI employees’ tax or Value Added Tax.

Investors who realized that the company they had invested in was practically insolvent from its inception are calling for MTI’s liquidation and filed papers stating that MTI was an unlawful business giving financial services without the necessary licence from the FSCA.

The liquidators’ claim included the fact that MTI also conducted a collective investment scheme without being registered as a manager and participated in a fraudulent financial transaction in contravention of the South African Consumer Protection Act.

While a section of the investors are against the claim insisting that the company is still solvent enough for them to recover their investment, the liquidators have appealed to the Pretoria High Court to summon 18 members of the MTI management team for running and involving them in an insolvent platform.

Categories
Technology

Sony and Theta Labs Launch 3D NFTs That You Can Almost Touch

3D NFTs are moving one step closer to becoming a reality. Theta Labs, the company behind the blockchain-based video streaming platform Theta, has teamed up with Sony to release two types of 3D NFTs built specifically for use with the Sony Spatial Reality Display (SRD).

Sony’s SRD, a tablet-like device that displays three-dimensional visuals in semi-physical augmented reality, permits users to view and manipulate 3D objects without the use of glasses or other accessories. The SRD display tracks eye movement, pivoting the image in sync as the viewer tilts or moves their head in any direction, creating the sensation of a solid 3D object. The NFTs launched by Theta and Sony will thus be viewable and manipulable on the SRD in mixed reality 3D, without the assistance of eye accessories.

One of the two SRD-enabled NFTs, a Tiki mask called “The Tiki Guy,” will be limited-edition: only 10 “Tiki Guy” NFTs will be created. However, owners of the NFT with a U.S. shipping address will receive a free Sony SRD. The SRD currently sells for $5,000 per unit. 

The NFTs will be released on ThetaDrop, Theta Labs’ NFT marketplace, which previously released Katy Perry’s first NFT collection,  as well as promotional NFT collections for the World Poker Tour, singing competition “American Idol”, and the game show “The Price is Right.”

The SRD will be integrated into more projects developed for the metaverse, a future, more immersive version of the internet that people will use to work, play, and socialize in augmented and virtual settings, as part of the NFT launch. In a news statement, Nick Colsey, Sony’s VP of business development, said, “Immersive, three-dimensional NFTs are a terrific way to highlight the possibilities of Sony’s Spatial Reality Display for metaverse aficionados and collectors.”

“Theta’s NFTs are just the latest way we can show our rapid adoption of metaverse-friendly technology,” he said. This marks a public-facing shift in Sony’s marketing of the SRD since its launch in late 2020, the device has primarily been touted as an industry development tool for designers, artists, and engineers. 

One of the most significant challenges facing the metaverse, according to technology experts, is the development of technologies that allow people to completely immerse themselves in digital worlds without relying on unduly complicated or expensive hardware. In augmented reality, some NFT businesses have attempted to use smartphone technology to tackle this problem (AR). Devices like Sony’s SRD could help by bridging the physical and digital worlds yet as the Theta/Sony NFT drop’s hardware giveaway suggests, the device’s $5,000 price tag may be prohibitively pricey for casual users.

Another point of debate in the metaverse’s potential is interoperability: the capacity of digital objects like NFTs to freely move between the many platforms and formats that will make up the metaverse. Theta and Sony NFTs, for example, can only be used with a Sony SRD. Future owners of these NFTs will have to repurchase 2D versions of the same NFTs from Theta for an extra cost if they want to display them in 2D on their Twitter account or PC.

Categories
Business

The Shanghai High Court has finally recognized Bitcoin as a valid virtual property

The entire world has seen China’s love-hate relationship with Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto-verse. The Chinese Government has previously demonstrated its stance on the industry by prohibiting crypto trading outright and expelling BTC miners from the region. However, the Shanghai High Court has recently made headlines when it classified the world’s largest cryptocurrency as a virtual property protected by Chinese law.

This announcement came as a welcome relief to those who have been mourning the crypto market’s recent collapse. According to reports, the Shanghai High People’s Court issued a statement on its official WeChat channel confirming that Bitcoin is now considered virtual property. Furthermore, many people were surprised by this because the Chinese Government is yet to lift the prohibition on cryptocurrency trading.

The court’s notice read,

“In the actual trial practice, the People’s Court has formed a unified opinion on the legal position of Bitcoin, and identified it as a virtual property.”

Cheng Mou is said to have filed a case against Shi Moumou in Shanghai’s Baoshan District People’s Court. Shi Moumou was expected to return one Bitcoin to Cheng Mou in the year 2020. Because neither of them could reach an agreement, the High Court was called to intervene. This case is what compelled the Court to issue a statement about Bitcoin.

Governments all across the world have struggled for a long time to classify Bitcoin under existing rules. While some classify cryptocurrencies as gambling, others consider them to be legitimate. China, on the other hand, appears to regard it as a piece of property.

The Shanghai High People’s Court has further noted that Bitcoin entailed a certain economic value. Elaborating on the same the Court said,

“Bitcoin has a certain economic value and conforms to the property’s attributes, the legal rules of property rights are applied for protection.”

Categories
Business

Flutterwave suspends crypto transactions in Uganda

Following the Bank of Uganda directive that was passed two weeks ago prohibiting financial institutions from engaging in crypto transactions, Flutterwave has halted crypto transactions in Uganda. People that were using the exchange platform have received emails notifying them about the enterprise’s move to discontinue crypto engagements. 

The Flutterwave customer support team has commented;
“Any transaction that includes crypto transactions has been stopped. Customers that had funds on the platform will receive their funds back.”

The suspension is only intended for the crypto clients, other normal transactions will not be compromised.

Some of the crypto enthusiasts have emphasized that the recent crypto regulation is a wake-up call for exchange platforms to find more practical ways of educating nations about crypto.

“Along the way, we have to face such challenges to become better. Crypto exchange platforms can now educate governments about crypto and its advantages so that they get to understand the benefits.” Brindon Bamwiine, Crypto enthusiast. 

The Nigerian and South African payments enterprise penetrated the Ugandan market in 2018, to enable businesses and individuals to receive and send payments and more so make payments easier in the African continent.

Categories
Technology

New SA Driving Permits to be secured on blockchain

The South African government and regulatory bodies say they are making steady progress in the plans to introduce a new driving licence card in South Africa that would be secured on blockchain.

In its latest annual performance plan, the trading entity responsible for the production of driving licence cards in South Africa known as the Driving License Card Account (DLCA) said the new card will include a new design and security features.

The new driving permits are expected to launch in South Africa by October 2023 and according to the DLCA, the new permit process will give an opportunity to re-engineer and improve the efficiency of the card delivery service with the incorporation of blockchain technology.

In March, South African Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, in response to questions from the South African Parliament said that the design for the new driving licence card has now been completed and is undergoing a cabinet approval process. 

Mbalula took to a media briefing in February to say the country’s new driving card will gain international recognition as a form of identification thanks to a number of security enhancement features. 

Blockchain provides key features to make these plans possible and smoother. Having a user’s data captured on an immutable blockchain entry makes it faster and easier to acquire a license while also making it harder to fake these licences. 

Basically, a blockchain-linked licence would provide a reliable method of verifying a driver’s identity. This would simplify policing of falsely obtained licenses and help to curb security threats that are steadily rising with ride-hailing and sharing apps like Bolt and Uber on top of dealing with issues of inexperienced drivers on the road.

The South African Government is considering an all-in-one smart card enrollment system combining a user’s identity document and driver’s licence to ease data collection from all other government channels and expand online license renewals in the years to come. 

South Africa also plans to introduce an electronic driver’s license shortly after the new physical cards begin their rollout. The e-licenses will be accessible through motorists’ mobile phones.

This level of automation and synchronization could make it easier to pay toll fees once car registrations are also added to the blockchain. The South African transport minister emphasizes and promises the new system will help the country out of its ongoing card renewal crisis. 

South Africa has been plagued with corruption and administrative delays at license testing centers, a two-month breakdown of the country’s only card printing machine, and glitches in the online booking system on top of the Covid-19 pandemic all of which hampered motorists’ ability to renew their cards in 2020 and 2021.

Just days before the final deadline of 5 May 2022 came around, the DLCA had said that around 1.2 million motorists still had not renewed their licenses by the start of May even though several grace periods had been given.

Categories
Coins

What is the Bored Ape Ethereum Token and Who Gets It?

The ApeCoin (APE) is an Ethereum-based coin that was released in March of this year for the developing Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem. Since its debut, NFT holders have claimed around 93 million tokens. It’s valued at roughly $810 million.

In March, there were 1 billion of them in total, with CoinMarketCap reporting that about 28% are currently in circulation. Currently, the ApeCoin is 17.97% down with a live market cap of $2,624,656,648. However, the ApeCoin team continues to assure holders that many of the total supply of tokens will vest gradually over the next few years.

While ApeCoin is ostensibly the official token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and acts as a reward for holders of Bored Ape NFT collectibles, the official line is that it wasn’t created by Yuga Labs, the team behind the Bored Apes.

Instead, it’s officially the creation of ApeCoin DAO, a new decentralized autonomous organization created to govern the token and its roadmap forward. Based on tweets from Yuga folks and board members, there was clearly a lot of attention put on precise and uniform messaging, likely for regulatory reasons.

ApeCoin DAO has recruited some prominent folks from around the crypto community to serve on its initial board, including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and FTX’s Amy Wu, and they’ll serve for six months before APE holders vote for the next members on an annual basis.

Who gets it?

If you hold a Bored Ape Yacht Club or Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT in your wallet, then you can claim a certain amount of free tokens from the official ApeCoin website. Each NFT draws its own allocation of tokens, so if you own a bunch, your token rewards will stack.

While current Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFT holders benefited the most at first because they were all given a free cache of valuable tokens to sell, anyone may now buy APE from prominent exchanges.

Why would you want to, though? According to the APE team, there are after-sale services available, such as special games supplied to Apecoin holders as a mark of appreciation.

ApeCoin is designed for utility and governance. This means that it’s a decentralized token that can be used for payments and transactions within Web3 apps of all sorts, even those not created or controlled by Yuga Labs or related to the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

And because ApeCoin is governed by a DAO, holders will have the ability to vote on community-led proposals that determine the future of the token. For example, there are already governance proposals regarding things like ecosystem fund allocation and staking rewards. That might sound dry and dull to some, but it may impact future benefits for APE holders.

The ApeCoin is also being used in Play-To-Earn games. For example, nWay recently announced that it will use APE in an upcoming play-to-earn game based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club. 

APE has the potential to be utilized by a wide range of businesses and initiatives as a decentralized token. And that is ApeCoin DAO’s goal: the more beneficial it is, the more valuable it may become. With the Web3 sector still in its infancy, APE holders can only hope that it grows in popularity as a metaverse payment option.