Crypto Facilities Launch Perpetual ETH, XRP, LTC Futures
UK-based trading platform Crypto Facilities has launched perpetual futures contracts for the following pairs: XBT/USD, ETH/USD, BCH/USD, XRP/USD, LTC/USD и XRP/XBT. Soon after the launch the company stated that the new bitcoin-usd futures contract is now accounting for the majority of trade on the platform, surpassing that of the traditional derivatives.
IBM, Alibaba, Mastercard File Most Blockchain Patents
Tech giant Alibaba just overtook it’s ruval IBM to get the top spot for number of blockchain related patents filed as of end of August 2018. iPR Daily says it compiled data from across the world and consulted with International Patent System from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Alibaba filed 90 patents against IBM’s 89 and Mastercard came third by filing 80 applications with Bank of America being left in fourth with 53 patents.
Indian Regulators to Study Crypto Abroad
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced it sent officials to Japan, UK and Switzerland to study up on the ways to regulate initial coin offerings (ICO) and cryptocurrencies. Amid an ongoing blanket ban on crypto in India, the watchdog hopes to learn from international regulators on how to deal with crypto mechanisms and systems in order to develop own processes. A court hearing over the ban on cryptocurrencies is set to be held on September 11.
Ethereum “Difficulty Bomb” Postponed
The core developers of ethereum, during another YouTube meeting, decided to postpone the “Difficulty Bomb” to a later update of the Constantinople hard fork. The devs of ethereum are anxious to implement a new Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm. The solution that was decided upon was named the “Difficulty Bomb,” that is aimed at creating different difficulty levels of mining. The new hard fork is planned to ease the change from the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm to PoS.
University Of Malta Establishes Blockchain Scholarship Fund
The University of Malta and the Malta Information Technology Agency is offering students who wish to pursue studies in blockchain and distributed ledger technology, specifically, specializations in ICT, law, finance, and engineering, will be given scholarships from a $350,000 fund. The scholarship fund, a result of an agreement between the University and the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), and will be split over three years.