Climate Insurance on Blockchain
Insurance tech firm Lemonade launched the Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition in partnership with Avalanche, Hannover Re, Chainlink, DAOstack, Etherisc, Pula, and Tomorrow.io. It will use Avalanche blockchain to offer climate insurance to farmers who can make and receive payments in the form of stablecoins and local currencies directly on their mobile phones.
Deutsche Börse Invests in AirCarbon
AirCarbon Exchange (ACX), a carbon credits exchange built on the Polygon blockchain, announced its partnership with Deutsche Börse AG, the parent company of European Energy Exchange AG (EEX). At the same time, ACX also revealed that it had received a substantial investment from Deutsche Börse.
Emissions Tracking on Hedera
HBAR Foundation, which recently launched a $100 million fund to bolster projects in the ESG space, has awarded a grant to the data privacy and digital identity solutions provider, Meeco. Meeco is building “Trustury, ” a ZKP, DID, token visualization tool to measure, report, and verify the data generated by ecological projects. HBAR Foundation has also reportedly supported several similar sustainability projects since the launch of the impact fund.
SAP and Unilever to Trace Palm Oil on Blockchain
Tech giant SAP is collaborating with Unilever for a pilot of its GreenToken blockchain solution for Unilever to trace the provenance of its raw materials, such as palm oil. Furthermore, it has partnered with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and plans to combine its CO2 AI capability with SAP’s product footprint management solution that helps track companies track their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
ExxonMobil’s Natural Gas Based Crypto Mining
The oil and gas giant ExxonMobil is running a trial to power the mining of bitcoin and ether using excess natural gas from oil wells. It is collaborating with Crusoe Energy Systems Inc., a natural gas flaring solutions provider, to get the gas from an oil well in North Dakota.
SailGP’s Sports DAO
Sailing league SailGP, founded by Oracle founder and CTO Larry Ellison, has teamed up with Near Protocol to create a DAO. The objectives include enabling fans to own their favorite sports teams, participate in athlete selection, and determine team strategy.
Avast Buys SecureKey
Cybersecurity company Avast announced that it is acquiring the Canadian blockchain based digital identity firm SecureKey Technology. The deal is expected to close in April 2022.
Stablecoin Pegged to AUD
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has created stablecoin pegged to the Australian dollar in collaboration with crypto custodian Fireblocks. ANZ has issued the stablecoin to Victor Smorgon Group, Australia’s most established and successful family office. It plans to trade the digital coins on the Melbourne based exchange Zerocap.
Israeli Bank To Offer Crypto Trading
Israeli bank, Bank Leumi, has built a digital platform called Pepper Invest, using which it will start offering crypto trading services to its clients. Bank Leumi has partnered with New York based crypto firm Paxos.
Mortgages With Crypto Collaterals
The lending startup Figure Technologies has launched two products, Crypto Mortgage and Crypto Mortgage PLUS, which allow users to borrow money for buying homes with bitcoin or ether as collateral for the mortgage. The co-founder of the firm, Mike Cagney, revealed that borrowers could get 100% loan-to-value (LTV) and loans up to $20 million for a 30 year mortgage.
FTX Expands to Australia
The crypto exchange FTX expanded its global presence with the establishment of a new division, FTX Australia, this week. FTX Australia plans to offer exchange and OTC products and services, including derivatives.
Osaka Joins FTX
Tennis star Naomi Osaka has joined FTX as its global ambassador and will collaborate with the crypto firm to bring more women into Web3. FTX will also donate to Play Academy, a charity formed by Osaka along with Nike, and will also advise her on her crypto investments.
Ukraine’s NFT Museum
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has launched the digital “Meta History Museum of War” featuring the “Warline” collection of NFTs. Each NFT costs 0.15 ether, and the proceeds of the sale will go to the ministry.
India’s Hefty Crypto Tax Bill Passes
Indian Parliament has passed a controversial crypto tax bill this week that has sparked uproar among the country’s crypto community. At the heart of discontent is the capital gains tax of 30% levied on all crypto transactions starting April 1. Alongside, Indians buying and selling crypto would have to pay 1% TDS, taxes on crypto gifts, with no reprieve for losses.
El Salvador Postpones Bitcoin Bonds
Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya announced that El Salvador is postponing issuing the Bitcoin backed bond scheduled for last week. Zelaya stated current market volatility and the Russia and Ukraine war had caused the delay, possibly until September.
Thailand Bans Crypto
Thailand’s Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a ban on crypto as a payment method effective from April 1. As per the SEC, crypto may have adverse effects on the country’s financial system, posing risks to the economy.
An ApeCoin Phishing Scam
This week, a phishing scam unfolded on Twitter when several verified accounts, some carrying Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), were hacked to promote a phony ApeCoin airdrop. This scam has cost the crypto savvy victims over $1 million.
Cashio Crashes After Hack
Solana based stablecoin project Cashio suffered a close to $28 million hack when an “infinite mint glitch” enabled malicious actors to mint Cashio’s CASH tokens without any collateral. The price of CASH plummeted from $1 to $0.000005 following the exploit.
Nestree’s NFT Aggregator
The blockchain based community messenger Nestree has released an NFT Aggregator beta service. The platform will enable NFT enthusiasts to examine information about all their NFTs in one place, independent of the marketplaces where they are traded.
Draper Uni Partners With VeChain To Train Web3 Founders
Draper University, a training center for entrepreneurs, is working with blockchain platform VeChain to launch a four week VeChain Fellowship certificate program for those interested in starting and scaling Web 3 businesses. Draper University will then select a dozen of these participants and grant $100,000 in funding for a 5% equity stake in their startups.
Crypto.com to Sponsor FIFA WC
Crypto.com announced that it had been selected as the exclusive crypto exchange sponsor for the upcoming FIFA world cup. The soccer world cup will be held from November to December 2022 in Qatar.
Tommy Hilfiger in Metaverse
Fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger will be joining the Decentraland Metaverse Fashion Week that started this week. It plans to showcase its Spring 2022 collections and offer the customers Tommy Hilfiger themed NFTs.
Grayscale’s Altcoin Fund
Grayscale Investments is creating the Grayscale Smart Contract Platform ex Ethereum fund (GSCPxE) for its clients to invest in altcoins. The fund focuses on seven blockchains – Cardano, Solana, Avalanche, Polkadot, Polygon, Algorand, and Stellar.
And Finally, Meta Files for Crypto Patents
Meta (formerly Facebook) has filed for eight trademark applications covering a wide range of digital paraphernalia. They include crypto tokens, blockchain software, digital wallets and exchanges, and crypto and virtual currencies.
Web3, 2, 1...Tech 