Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and Fintech News Headlines Update on December 10, 2020

DeFi protocol Aave recently releases V2, the second version of the lending platform with unwinding positions is much easier, collateral can be swapped on the fly, and adding further potential to the sector. Read more at:

• The Aave Protocol V2
• AAVE Protocol Whitepaper V2.0

IOHK reveal several ideas tied to Project Catalyst. The first Project Catalyst candidate to be announced is Liqwid as a potential candidate to receive up to $250,000 in ADA funding, allows participants to earn interest on deposits and borrow assets directly on the Cardano blockchain. Read more at Project Catalyst and Voltaire bring power to the people

Nearly six-hour of network outage reported from Solana after consensus failure. Over 200 Solana network validators which representing over 80% of the stake weight of the network initiated network restart instructions and began producing blocks again. Read more at Solana Network Update — Live Updates

The use of blockchain in Singapore’s financial sector is driven by finance and tech companies that emerged as one of the top three technology trends in Singapore for 2021, according to the Singapore Blockchain Ecosystem Report 2020 published on 7 December at SFF x SWITCH. Other key initiatives highlighted include Contour, Trade Finance Registry (TFR), CALISTA TranSwap Pay, Project Ubin, Blockchain Challenge, XSGD, and the first digital bond issuance.

Hauck & Aufhäuser partnered with Kapilendo to launch a crypto fund called HAIC Digital Asset Fund I which invest in Bitcoin, Ether and Stellar, in January 2021. The minimum investment in the fund is €200,000 (US$243,000). Read more at Hauck & Aufhäuser und Kapilendo starten ersten Kryptofonds

S&P Dow Jones Indices will launch cryptocurrency indices in 2021. S&P clients will be able to work with Lukka to create customized indices and other cryptocurrency benchmarking tools. Read more at Reuters > S&P Dow Jones Indices to launch cryptocurrency indexes in 2021

Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin published an updated ETH project roadmap following the launch of Eth2’s Phase 0, completely eliminates terms such as phase 1 (data sharding) and phase 2 (sharding transactions to increase network bandwidth), these steps are largely independent and can be performed in parallel, called for the adoption of the EIP-1559 Ethereum improvement proposal.

The Libra Association announced the adoption of a new name for the association and its digital currency, known as the ‘Diem Association’ and the digital currency as ‘Diem’. The association planned to launch a scaled-down version of digital currency in January, launch date subject to FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority) approval. Read more at Announcing the name Diem. Executive leadership in place in preparation for launch.

Bursa Malaysia announced the successful completion of a blockchain bond proof-of-concept (POC) with Hashstacs (aka STACS) in the offshore market. The POC demonstrated that digital bonds could be issued and managed on a blockchain and its attributes of a single source of truth, smart contracts and automation allow for new service expansion offerings. Bursa Malaysia, the SC (Securities Commission), Labuan Financial Services Authority, CIMB Investment Bank, Maybank Investment Bank and China Construction Bank’s Labuan Branch used Trident Blockchain-based platform developed by STACS to test and manage the end-to-end trade lifecycle management of tokenised bonds. Read more at BURSA MALAYSIA COMPLETES BLOCKCHAIN POC TO FACILITATE GROWTH OF THE LABUAN BOND MARKETPLACE