New York PSC approves new electricity rates for cryptocurrency miners

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved new rules that will allow high-density load customers, such as cryptocurrency companies, to qualify for service under an individual service agreement. Aimed at protecting existing customers, the PSC has approved new electricity rates for Massena Electric Department.

A number of blockchain applications under review at BoT: Governor Santiprabhob

The Bank of Thailand is currently reviewing blockchain applications for cross-border payments, supply chain financing, and document authentication, Governor Dr. Veerathai Santiprabhob said recently. Speaking at the Bloomberg ASEAN Business Summit, Santiprabhob underscored the central bank’s support for financial innovation in the wake of recent technological advancements.

South Korean lawmakers to propose bills on cryptocurrency, ICO and blockchain regulation: Report

South Korean lawmakers are reportedly going to submit drafts of bills on cryptocurrency, initial coin offerings (ICO) and blockchain regulation during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, The Korea Times reported. The extraordinary session will be held from July 13 to 26.

Riyadh Municipality picks IBM to implement blockchain in government services

Riyadh Municipality is collaborating with IBM to integrate blockchain technology and move closer to the realization of transformational objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030, ITP.net reported. Under the partnership, IBM and Elm Company, the municipality's technology partner, will work closely to develop an implementation strategy in order to bring blockchain technology to government services and transactions.

Bancor suffers major security breach, loses $13.5M in crypto

Decentralized cryptocurrency platform Bancor on Monday announced that it suffered a major security breach in which it lost nearly $13.5 million. “A wallet used to upgrade some smart contracts was compromised. This compromised wallet was then used to withdraw ETH from the BNT smart contract in the amount of 29,984 ETH (~$12.5M),” it said.

Litecoin Foundation partners with TokenPay, acquires 9.9 pct stake in Germany’s WEG Bank

TokenPay Swiss AG, a blockchain development company, partnered with WEG Bank in Germany in May and acquired 9.9 percent of the latter with options to purchase approximately 90% overall of the bank upon regulatory approval. This 9.9 percent stake TokenPay has now transacted to the Litecoin Foundation in exchange for a broad and comprehensive marketing and technology services.

Research Studies:

Denial of access to traditional banking gateways potentially anticompetitive to cryptocurrency market: EU Parliament report

Cybercriminals stole over $10M in 2017 using cryptocurrency social engineering schemes: Kaspersky Lab

Boston College study finds survival rate for startups after ICOs at 44 pct

New research highlights six challenges cryptocurrencies should address to become mainstream payment solution

Investments/Acquisitions/ Fund-raising:

Cohen Private Ventures invests in crypto hedge fund Autonomous Partners

Blockchain startup DIRT Protocol attracts $3M to tokenize information curation

Europe’s first crypto unicorn? Ledger plans second phase to January’s $75M Series B round: Report

Brave New Coin acquires Cryptocurrency Newsfeed, to launch expanded news platform in August

Crypto exchange Binance announces $1M West Japan Disaster Relief Donation

Blockchain startup Oasis Labs secures $45M from a16zcrypto, Binance and others

Partnerships/Consortiums:

R3 launches commercial version of Corda blockchain platform

ConsenSys, Open Mineral announce ‘Minerac’ – blockchain consortium for minerals trading

Accenture to trial blockchain in insurance, joins The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance

Abra enables Visa and MasterCard options for bitcoin purchases via Simplex partnership

Crypto-backed credit comes to Uphold users via Libra Credit partnership

DuPont Safety & Construction partners with blockchain logistics firm Smart Containers Group’s SkyCell division

Harvard Undergraduate Blockchain Group to focus on mathematics and science of blockchain via Reflective Ventures partnership

Blockchain startup Ubitquity partners with consortium database ‘Postchain’ creators ChromaWay

Bitfinex seeks to improve institutional access to cryptocurrencies via Market Synergy partnership

Digital Currency and Blockchain Initiatives

Kik’s Kin Foundation announces $3M developer program

Opera rolls out first browser with built-in crypto wallet in private beta

HBUS launches cryptocurrency trading for U.S. residents with 22 trading pairs

Sirin Labs to launch FINNEY blockchain smartphone in November, unveils final design and specs

HTC targets year-end launch for blockchain smartphone Exodus, expects to make price announcement in Q3

Chinese tech firm Xunlei launches blockchain file system

ULedger, Fetch.ai partner to combine blockchain and AI for autonomous IoT future