Ripple has released its annual ‘Blockchain in Payments report’ for the third consecutive year, offering a comprehensive look into the fintech industry and blockchain’s growing role in payments. The report has revealed that not only is growth possible for blockchain and digital assets initiatives, but that familiarity with them has increased as well. Across five global regions (North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific) familiarity with blockchain and cryptocurrency ranges from 82% to 94% The report has also found the blockchain adoption and positive sentiment is growing, with 67% of respondents claiming that cryptocurrency is net reliable, and…

Relatively recent experience in containing outbreaks of Ebola in Africa has allowed its nations to effectively contain the spread of coronavirus. Many African countries have quickly deployed effective track, trace, and quarantine measures of the kind that have been remarkably absent in the US and Europe. However, the economic impact of the virus is hitting parts of Africa in other more indirect ways. The World Bank projects that the value of remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa will decline by around 9% in 2020 due to the global recession caused by the pandemic. In a region where many families depend on remittances from members…

lockchain has made major strides as of late, making headway into more traditional financial and payment circles. That came in the form of PayPal, the world’s largest payments processor, announcing it would allow its customers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency. It manifested itself in aspiring digital assets exchange INX Limited launching history’s first SEC-registered IPO to accept crypto, opening the floodgates to American retail investors. And it glares perhaps most obviously in the sheer fact that one third of all large institutions have invested in crypto. But there’s another, less-mentioned sector that is currently testing the waters with blockchain. That’s the $160-billion…

Nigeria is targeting to realize up to $10 billion from the Blockchain technology by 2030, the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has said. Abdullahi, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the Stakeholder Engagement for the Review of the National Blockchain Adoption Strategy, said that the government wants to harness the potential in Blockchain, and has seen the need to position the country to capture value from the value chain. He said: “Looking at our youthful population, which is mainly digitally native and our strategic position in Africa, we are looking at how we can…

A few years ago, with digital currencies hitting record highs, blockchain was at the heart of the financial debate, but everyone was wary. Now, several large banks are testing the technology, tempted by the prospect of improving certain processes in the sector, reports the CNBC channel. The blockchain was originally created for Bitcoin transactions. It is a different database format that is maintained on many computers. Banks have so far chosen to follow some of the principles of the blockchain, adapting the technology to different uses of digital currencies. In Italy, much of the country’s banking sector uses Spunta, a…

German soccer club FC Bayern Munich, which plays in the country’s Bundesliga, is entering the world of blockchain-based fantasy soccer. The Ethereum blockchain-based fantasy soccer game Sorare, which Bayern joined this week, already counts over 100 participant clubs, including high-profile names such as Paris Saint-German, Juventus, PSG, and Atletico Madrid. FC Bayern Munich is itself no stranger to collaborations with blockchain projects, having partnered last fall with Stryking Entertainment to produce digital collectibles of its players. These cards are both collectible and playable as part of a fantasy-league style challenge. In announcing its Sorare deal to fans, FC Bayern Munich noted that the top 20 leagues in…