Sberbank’s Blockchain Platform To Be Ethereum Compatible, Internet Computer Mainnet Integrates With Bitcoin, Exclusive Automotive Group Accepts Crypto

Get your daily, bite-sized summary of cryptoassets and blockchain-related news – examine the stories that fly under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Banking news

• Russia’s largest bank Ask announced that its proprietary blockchain platform will be compatible with Ethereum (ETH). Developers will be able to freely transfer smart contracts and entire projects between the bank’s blockchain network and Ethereum.

Blockchain News

• The DFINITY Foundationnon-profit that contributes to the development of Internet computer (IC) blockchain, announced the Internet computer’s mainnet integration with Bitcoin (BTC), bringing advanced smart contract functionality to the world’s largest crypto, the announcement said. The internet computer can now act as a layer 2 for Bitcoin where smart contracts on the internet computer can contain, send and receive BTC natively, without the need for blockchain bridges or other third parties.
• Principals from Partisia Blockchain Foundationthe organization behind a blockchain infrastructure for internet privacy, will be featured The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) tomorrow in Paris for its first Hackathon, PartiHack, to present the prototype of a blockchain-based system “which aims to demonstrate that this technology can be used in conflict zones where a very high degree of privacy and data protection is required. ” The press release stated that the stablecoin the two organizations are developing will “pilot a new way to provide support to victims of armed conflict and violence by combining the benefits of public blockchains with the privacy protections” of Partisia Blockchain’s multiparty computing technology.
• The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) will cut up to 200 contractors who worked on incorporating blockchain technology into the CHESS clearing and settlement system after canceling the overhaul, Reuters reported. ASX had a total of about 300 people working on the now-cancelled project, of which one-third were permanent employees and two-thirds were contractors and consultants, it said, citing a spokesperson.

Payment news

• Exclusive Automotive Group (EAG), a factory authorized dealer for Aston Martin, Bentley Motors, Koenigsegg and Karma Automotive, announced that it accepts cryptocurrency for payment for goods and services from BitPay, a crypto payment service provider. “Exclusive Automotive Group’s ability to accept cryptocurrency allows the dealership to tap into the massive crypto market and attract new customers,” it said.
• The Solana-based automated market maker Killer whales has integrated with the payment company Stripe for fiat onramps. According to an announcement, a fiat-to-crypto onramp has been built inside Orca UI through integration with Link, built by Stripe. New podmates can now convert fiat currency to crypto, without having to buy crypto on other exchanges first, it says.
• The provider of blockchain technology Friendly said it is one of 16 companies piloting Stripe’s new fiat-to-crypto onramp. According to an announcement, this integration will allow purchases with Venly wallet via Stripe’s onramp, and it will also lower the access barriers for users.

Regulatory news

• The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted a license to MetaComp to offer digital payment token services as a major payment institution. According to the press release, effective December 2022, MetaComp has been licensed under the Payment Services Act, enabling it to offer an end-to-end suite of digital asset services to businesses as well as traditional and crypto-native institutional investors.

Investment news

• Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital has won an auction to buy a self-deposit platform GK8 from the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius network, the firm said. The terms of the agreement were not made public.
• Web3 developer platform Fleek said it raised $25 million in Series A funding, led by Polychain Capitalwith the participation of Protocol Labs, Arweave, Coinbase Ventures, Digital currency group, North Island Ventures, Distributed globally, LAOand Argonautic ventures. According to an announcement, the funds will be allocated to development and launch Fleek Networka decentralized content and application delivery network, planned to launch in 2023.

Wallet news

• THORWallet announced the collaboration with The Maya Protocola decentralized liquidity network based on Cosmos SDK powered by its native coin CACAO, which is also a friendly fork of the decentralized liquidity network THORChain. According to the announcement, the project will initially offer non-custodial, permissionless cross-chain exchanges between native assets across Bitcoin, Ethereum and THORChain.

Web3 news

• The grapha decentralized protocol used to index Web3 data adds support for Polygon (MATIC) on The Graph Network. Polygon users will soon be able to rely on fully decentralized APIs to power their decentralized applications (dapps), the announcement said.

NFT news

• Some of the biggest names in American fashion teamed up with Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), The sandbox, Polygon Studiosand Completely new vision (BNV) to celebrate 60 years of the fashion institution and “light the way forward to the future of fashion in the web3 & the metaverse,” an announcement said. Seven designer brands – Coach, Michael Kors, Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera, Diane von Furstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, Vivienne Tam and Willy Chavarria – will each create a non-fungible token (NFT) with associated tools, available from December 12, one week before the exhibition opens.