Binance Acquires CoinMarketCap, Bank of France Starts Experimenting with Central Bank Digital Currency, Nigeria Welcomes Bitcoin ATMs

Last week (30 March - 4 April) in Blockchain & Crypto was yet another interesting one - The Bank of France is now officially launching a program of experiments to test the integration of a CBDC for interbank settlements, Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has reached an agreement to acquire CoinMarketCap, one of the most-referenced crypto data websites, in an undisclosed deal, Nigeria, Africa’s largest country, has welcomed its first Bitcoin ATM, and more!

About this and more, in the newest issue of Weekly Blockchain & Crypto Digest. Enjoy!

Bank of France Launches Experiment Program on Central Bank Digital Currency

As a number of global jurisdictions like the Bahamas and Sweden are already testing their central bank digital currencies (CBDC), French Central Bank is getting more straightforward regarding its own CBDC plans.

The Bank of France is now officially launching a program of experiments to test the integration of a CBDC for interbank settlements, inviting potential participants to submit their applications.

According to a March 30 document, France’s central bank is calling for applications to experiment with the use of a digital euro, aiming to explore the potential CBDC opportunities for clearing and settlement of tokenized financial assets. Although the Bank of France previously called for blockchain-based settlement systems in Europe, the bank said that it doesn’t impose any specific technology within its newly announced CBDC experiment program.

As such, French central bank will select a maximum of 10 CBDC-related applications by groups or individuals, establishing “innovative nature” as a major selection criterion. According to a detailed document calling for applications, applications must be submitted by European Union-based applicants or in a state party to the European Economic Area agreement. Applicants can submit until May 15, 2020, while selection of applications will take place on July 10, the bank announced.

The bank’s CBDC experiment has three objectives such as modeling as CBDC-based interbank settlement and identifying benefits and analyzing the potential risks. Among three potential CBDC use cases, the Bank of France outlines payment against financial instruments, payment against other central banks’ digital currency and payment against digital assets.

The bank emphasized that it will not engage in money creation within its CBDC experiment. Additionally, the central bank noted that it will be destroying the token reflecting the amount in euros in digital form at the end of the accounting day on which payment was made.

The Bank of France also highlighted that it doesn’t plan to apply any project on a wider scale, stating:

These experiments will act as a contribution by the Banque de France to a broader discussion within the Eurosystem, which will make any decision on whether to set up a CBDC. The tests are not intended to be continued on a long-term basis or applied on a wide scale by the Banque de France itself.

Brazilian Crypto Exchange XDEX Announces Full Closure

Brazilian crypto exchange XDEX, which is owned by the largest stock broker in Latin America, announced the end of its activities. The company announced its closure on March 31:

Today, we announce that XDEX is starting the process of closing its activities. Market projection, competition and few regulatory advances reduced the opportunities found at the beginning of the project and were the basis for this difficult decision.

The company offered non-custodial exposure to cryptocurrencies, so customers have up to 30 days from the day of the announcement to close their positions and fully withdraw their balance in reais on the platform. "When making the withdrawal request, the funds will be sent to the bank account registered at XDEX within 1 business day, according to bank records," the announcement said, adding:

After the 30-day period, if the customer has not sold the assets, we will do it on their behalf and the amount obtained from the sale will be deposited in the bank account registered with XDEX within 3 business days.

Launched in 2018, XDEX attempted to capitalize on the possible entry of Brazilian institutional investors into crypto, since the platform was owned by the partners of XP Investimentos. One of the largest brokers in Latin America, XP Investimentos manages billions in investments.

This is the fourth company focused on Bitcoin trading that closes its activities in Brazil. Before it, Brazilian companies, OmniTrade, Latoex and Acesso Bitcoin also announced the end of their activities. At the end of last year another Brazilian Bitcoin company called Bitjá revealed its closure.

Nigeria Becomes Eighth African Nation to Welcome Bitcoin ATMs

Africa’s largest country has welcomed its first Bitcoin ATM. Blockstale BTM, the company that installed the ATM in the Dazey Lounge and Bar in Lagos state, plans to launch more than 30 more terminals across Nigeria.

“Despite all the legal uncertainties about cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, Nigerians happen to be the highest crypto traders in Africa,” Blockstale’s chief executive and founder, Daniel Adekunle, told local media on April 1. 

Adekunle developed his Bitcoin ATMs in partnership with a tech firm based in Shenzhen, China. Despite being home to the largest trade volume in Africa, Nigeria is the eighth country in the continent to host a Bitcoin ATM — with Blockstale’s comprising the 15th in Africa.

According to CoinATMRadar, South Africa is home to seven crypto ATMs, Ghana hosts two, and Botswana, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe each have a single terminal. With Nigeria comprising Africa’s largest economy and population, the country’s first Bitcoin ATM may be a signpost for broader adoption across the continent. Coinstale’s terminal is only the second Bitcoin ATM in West Africa.

Recent weeks have seen roughly 220 Bitcoins, or $1.38 million worth, of peer-to-peer (P2P) trade between BTC and Nigerian Naira on LocalBitcoins. However, Nigerian LocalBitcoins has dropped by roughly 50% since the P2P platform strengthened its KYC requirements during September 2019.

Nigeria also consistently tops Google searches for ‘Bitcoin’ — driving nearly twice the traffic as the second-ranked country, Austria, according to Google Trends. We must note that three of the top five ranked nations for ‘Bitcoin’ searches are African — with South Africa and Ghana ranking third and fifth respectively.

Binance Acquires CoinMarketCap

While global markets are experiencing tough times amid the coronavirus pandemic, the crypto industry is getting stronger as its core players have tapped one of the biggest crypto mergers in history.

Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has reached an agreement to acquire CoinMarketCap, one of the most-referenced crypto data websites, in an undisclosed deal. The companies officially announced the acquisition on April 2.

Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, said that Binance and CMC are very similar, as they are both providers of “access-to-crypto” and share a vision of making crypto assets more accessible and useful for people around the world. Zhao said:

The acquisition will enable us to build on each other's strengths, and further grow and instill transparency in the industry.

Zhao said that the company has been in talks with CMC for a few months before closing the deal in April. While the acquisition is rumored to have cost Binance $400 million, Zhao said that the company cannot disclose the amount of the deal, as it is protected by a non-disclosure agreement.

While the companies are going to work closely together, CMC will still continue to operate as an independent business entity, both Binance and CMC emphasized. Zhao stressed that the acquisition will not change CMC's independence from external stakeholders:

Binance has no bearing on CoinMarketCap rankings. CoinMarketCap stays committed to providing the most accurate, timely and quality cryptocurrency data in the industry while benefiting from Binance’s expertise, resources and scale.

However, CMC will immediately undergo some internal restructuring as part of the deal. Brandon Chez, CMC’s founder, will be stepping down as CEO and will be replaced by CoinMarketCap’s current chief strategy officer, Carylyne Chan, as interim CEO. 

Apart from the reshuffle, CoinMarketCap will not see any changes in its team in the near future, or at least the next couple of months. Chan said:

Other than that, there won't be any other major team changes at CoinMarketCap. Everyone is going to stay on and everyone is really excited about what's happening. [...] I think that no other major changes that we see, definitely not in the next couple of months.

General Motors Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Navigation Map

Major car manufacturer, General Motors, or GM, has filed a patent application for a continuously updating navigation map system. The system would use blockchain to integrate data from vehicle sensors and build a reliable map for autonomous vehicles.

According to the filing, which was submitted on Oct. 1, 2018 and published on April 2, 2020, existing maps are “difficult to keep dynamic without incurring large costs.”One potential reason for this is that most maps are maintained through specialized vehicles, whose reach will necessarily be limited to just a few specific sections of the world.

General Motors’ solution is to distribute the process to many vehicles, which would collect data about their surroundings through sensors as they simply drive around.The real-time data would be compared with a discrepancy detector, which analyzes the existing maps. 

Any difference is transmitted to a blockchain network that holds all the map data. The “candidate transaction” is then validated if other vehicles report a similar change. The patent suggests that the network would be maintained by vehicles and mining nodes located in data centers.

The system was likely developed for GM’s “Super Cruise” feature, which provides a semi-automated driving experience on some luxury models. Unlike competitors from Tesla, the system relies very heavily on navigation maps, which is why it can only be used on “supported” roads.

Distributing the map generation process would likely speed up the manufacturer’s efforts to cover the majority of the roads in the U.S.

The patent reveals that one of the benefits of the system is distributing the map generation process and allowing multiple vendors to contribute to a single map. This is likely the reason why it implements blockchain. 

🔔Subscribe🔔 to my weekly newsletters (followed by nearly 🔥65,000🔥 people) about FinTech and Blockchain & Crypto:

👉 Weekly FinTech Digest

👉 Weekly Blockchain & Crypto Digest

Also, don't forget to 🔔subscribe🔔 to my monthly series and always stay up-to-date:

👉 Month in FinTech

👉 Month in Blockchain & Crypto

P.S. You might enjoy my earlier pieces as well:

👉 Top Crypto Scams of 2019, or How Hackers Nearly Got Away with $200M

👉 Year in FinTech: Biggest Deals, Mergers and Hottest Stories from 2019

👉 These are the Best Performing Stocks of the Last Decade

👉 Welcome to the Google Bank - Your Everyday Banking from Google, NOT a Bank.

***

About: I am a business developer, sales professional, FinTech strategist, as well as Cryptocurrency and Blockchain enthusiast. I'm highly passionate about Financial Technology and Digital Innovation, and strongly believe that it will change the world for the better. Apart from my daily job at a global payments startup where I'm leading company's expansion into Europe , I'm an active member of FinTech community and a TechFin evangelist.

If you've enjoyed this piece, don't hesitate to press like, comment what you think and share the article with others. Let's spread the knowledge together!

For more, hit the subscribe button, follow me on LinkedIn & Instagram. I'm building the best community the social world has ever seen!🔥🚀