Weekly Blockchain News, December 13, 2021

Welcome back in the weekly summary of leading developments in the crypto/blockchain space, presented from Billon's point of view. Check what happened in the last days when it comes to CBDC and other enterprise uses of blockchain. Enjoy the read!

Kickstarter to Start Blockchain-Based Crowdfunding Project on Celo. In order to serve its mission of allowing as many people as possible to pursue their creative projects, Kickstarter said it is developing an open source protocol to create a decentralized version of its platform’s core functionality. The protocol will live on the carbon negative blockchain platform Celo and be available for collaborators, contributors and even crowdfunding competitors to build on and use. New York-based Kickstarter said it chose Celo because of its efforts around minimizing environmental impact and focus on global accessibility through mobile access to the blockchain.

Gibraltar to Integrate Blockchain Into Government Systems. The government of Gibraltar announced a project to integrate blockchain technology into its legacy systems in order to improve the delivery of its public services, according to a press release on Tuesday. The government wants to build on the existing functionality of its “eGov” system, which is used as a digital platform for accessing public services, according to the announcement. The project may help demonstrate the advantages of using the blockchain technology to improve the speed and efficiency of government processes and public interactions. The pilot is being undertaken with the support of Latin American crypto exchange Bitso and RSK blockchain developer IOVlabs.

‘An enormous opportunity’: Australia to consult on a central bank digital currency. The Australian government is making moves to take bitcoin "out from the shadows" by imposing new regulations on cryptocurrencies, while busy planning to launch its own digital currency. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed the Commonwealth and Reserve Bank were now working on the feasibility of a central cryptocurrency in Australia. Throughout 2022, the federal government will consult on potential reforms including a central bank digital currency, a licencing framework for digital currency exchanges, and fixing the problem of fintech de-banking

‘Unvaxxed Sperm’ Is Trying to Become the Anti-Vax Bitcoin. The anti-vaccine movement reached crypto space. Unvaxxed Sperm - the coin based on the false anti-vax belief that COVID vaccines affect fertility and that the sperm of unvaccinated people will be worth a fortune one day - launched just over a week ago and saw explosive growth last Thursday and Friday. However, over the weekend, the price once again plummeted, leaving many in the group’s Telegram channel to question the future of the coin—which trades as “nuBTC”—and whether the whole thing was simply a scam.

The World’s Biggest Startups: Top Unicorns of 2021. The world’s most prominent unicorns constantly see their valuations change as they enter different rounds of funding or maturity. In December 2021, there were 35 startups with a valuation above $10 billion, spread out across different countries and industries. Take a look at who's on the top!
 

The Bank of England should beware the lure of digital currency. CBDC looks like a solution in search of a problem. The hazards are too great to pursue a purely digital pound - claims Oonagh McDonald, author of "Cryptocurrencies: Money, Trust and Regulation". The bank could restrict the future use of money for activities seen to be “socially harmful” in some way. But who will judge what is socially harmful? This has the potential to become as severe a restriction on personal freedom as China’s “social credit” system - she believes.

Digital euro, Swiss franc trials were successful, central banks say. Europe's first cross-border trial of central bank digital currency (CBDC) payments has been described as a success by the central banks of Switzerland and France, though they said it would not immediately lead to issuance of CBDCs. Project Jura, named after the mountains between the two countries, is the latest in a series of CBDC trials conducted by central banks keen to rebut the threat from crypto assets.

Eastern Caribbean CBDC expands to another two territories. Two more Eastern Caribbean nations have begun using the DCash system, which allows payments and transfers of the digital EC dollar CBDC. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) rolled out its digital payment system to the Commonwealth of Dominica and the British overseas territory of Montserrat on Tuesday, leaving Anguilla as the last of the eight countries planning to implement it.

Ubisoft’s NFT announcement gets more than 95% dislikes on YouTube. Ubisoft‘s plans to add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to its games has been met with overwhelming backlash. The announce trailer for the Ubisoft Quartz platform was posted on the official Ubisoft North America YouTube channel, and of the 16,270 engagements viewers have made, 804 were likes while 15,466 were dislikes. This means the percentage of engagements that are positive currently stands at just under 5%.

And that's it for now. See you next week!