As the demand for cryptocurrency investment options increases, financial institutions and trading companies create their own tokens and platforms to meet the needs of customers. Nubank and N26 are among the companies to do this.
Financial Institutions Worldwide to Provide more Crypto Trading Options and New Coins
Brazil’s largest digital bank by market value, Nubank, announced that they would release their own token called Nucoin in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Nucoin will be built on Polygon and available to all of Nubank’s 70 million users in the fourth quarter of 2023. However, before the launch, Nubank plans to choose 2,000 users to test the token feature and provide feedback to decentralize the product creation process. Once approved, Nucoin will be distributed freely and used to offer discounts and perks.
Fernando Czapski, general manager for Nucoin at Nubank, said in a statement, “We are opening the door to the future. Nucoin is a new way to recognize customer loyalty and encourage engagement with Nubank products.”
Nubank isn’t the only institution getting in on the crypto action. German fintech company, N26, has launched crypto trading on its mobile app. Beginning in Austria but launching in other countries shortly, N26 Crypto will allow its clients to buy and sell 200 cryptocurrencies. N26 says the move addresses “strong local demand” since 40% of N26 users actively trade or express interest in investing in cryptocurrencies. The company intends to roll out its crypto trading service to other key markets within six months. The platform is maintained in partnership with Bitpanda GmbH based in Vienna, which oversees the execution of trades and custody of coins.
Lastly, Fidelity Digital Assets is planning to facilitate the trading of Ether - the native token of Ethereum, for their institutional clients beginning on Oct. 28th. The offering will only be available for Fidelity’s existing institutional clients who already trade or custody Bitcoin, which the firm provided services for beginning in 2018.
A Home in South Carolina Sold as an NFT for $175,000
A major milestone for the real estate market, 149 Cottage Lake Way, Columbia, in South Carolina, was sold as an NFT for $175,000. The sale was arranged by Roofstock onChain, the web3 part of the real estate company Roofstock. Adam Slipakoff, real estate investor and the buyer of this particular NFT/property, explained that he was able to buy a fully title-insured, rent-ready property in just one click! Each rental property sold on its platform via NFT is owned by an individual single-purpose Limited Liability Company (LLC) registered in Wyoming and the NFT sold is associated with the sole ownership of the LLC.
Decentralized Social Networks Could Be Here At Scale Sooner Than We Think
In 2019, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, said that his company had created a small, independent group of developers who aimed to create the Bluesky Initiative: a decentralized social media protocol that will act as a new standard for online connectivity free from both corporate and government influence. Three years later, the team believes it has achieved this goal. This week, Bluesky rolled out a website for its decentralized social media protocol, The AT Protocol. The AT protocol is a decentralized network that functions independently of the will of any single company. The point is to enable users of social networks built with the protocol to protect their private data and avoid corporate algorithms that usually promote controversy. The company also opened a waitlist for the Bluesky app, which the group calls the ideal “browser” for accessing the AT Protocol network. The waitlist filled up so quickly that it required third-party intervention.
South Africa Begins The Long-awaited Process Of Regulating Crypto Assets
In a historic moment for South Africa, the country’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) published a notice on Oct. 19th stating that the country’s 2002 Financial Advisory and Financial Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) now includes a definition of crypto assets, regulating them in South Africa for the first time. The FSCA notice, published in the Green Gazette (the government gazette of record), declares that crypto assets are financial products. They wrote that a crypto asset is “a digital representation of value that can be electronically traded, transferred and stored but is not issued by a central bank." Moreover, it “applies cryptographic techniques” and uses distributed ledger technology. Regulation will help South Africa comply with Anti-Money Laundering/Know Your Customer (AML/KYC) laws and protect investors.
Our team at Marfire aggregates crypto news each week to show the many diverse ways that crypto is manifesting in our daily lives. We provide top-tier, high-touch service for fund or crypto projects. We welcome you to reach out at any time for a chat. We’re also happy to connect on LinkedIn.
NFA DYOR (Not financial advice. Do your own research.)
