July 11, 2022

South African 'Crypto Water' raises $150mm🌍, Digitizing property rights with Ripple in Colombia💻, Crypto surveillance in Russia, surprised?📷

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Africa

Image Credit: Taichi Nakamura via Unsplash

The South-African headquartered water infrastructure company, H2O Securities, has raised $150 million from Gem Digital Limited, a Bahamian digital asset investment firm. Utilizing DeFi to address scalability and asset deployment, H2O Securities developed the H2O Water Network and H2ON Token, dubbed 'the world's first water token', to finance water infrastructures projects and increase water production globally. 

Kenyan HealthTech startup, Afyarekod, has launched their blockchain-based universal patient portal that gives people access to a digital mobile health passport. The health super app allows individuals to securely store their health and medical information and access telehealth services globally. Providers will have access to hospital and patient management tools and AI-driven reporting. Founded in 2019, Afyarekod seeks to bridge the gap of accessing accurate medical data for patients, medical professionals, providers, and organizations globally.Want more Africa news?•Celo Announces Web3 Fund for African Startups Looking to Transition From Web2•Binance CEO Meets Presidents of Senegal and Ivory Coast in West African Tour•Why is this UN Body Pushing for Developing Nations in Africa to Regulate Cryptocurrencies?

Asia

Image Credit: Shubham Dhage via Unsplash

Vietnam-based DeFi gateway, Coin98, has partnered with the web browser, Opera, and will be integrating its gateway into Opera's web3 Crypto Browser. Opera and Coin98's partnership is driven to increase web3 accessibility in Southeast Asia, where there is the world’s largest volume of online users at around 2.8 billion people. 

Nomura Holdings and SBI Holdings are both planning to launch funds to invest in digital assets, blockchain, and web3 companies. Nomura, Japan's largest investment bank, will create an offshore subsidiary and invest its own funds in digital assets and blockchain companies. SBI plans to establish a fund to invest is web3 companies through tokens. The decision by Nomura and SBI to create funds dedicated to crypto, blockchain, and web3 demonstrates how blockchain and digital assets are changing the business model of investment banking.Want more Asia News?•Iranian Power Utility Tavanir Vows Severe Measures Against Unlicensed Crypto Miners•Indian crypto trading volumes slump following hefty taxes•CoinMENA Joins Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program

Eastern Europe

Image Credit: Tingey Injury Law Firm via Unsplash

Russia's Federal Service for Financial Monitoring, Rosfinmonitoring, said it's going to track crypto transactions in Russia to identify hidden transactions and blockchains. The head of the finance committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament, Anatoly Aksakov, compares crypto to gambling and wants to tightly regulate the crypto sector like the gambling sector. Draft legislation on regulating cryptocurrencies in Russian will be reviewed by the lower house in the fall. 

Japanese crypto exchanges and miners are beginning to feel pressure from the US to halt crypto mining operations they have in Russia. US diplomats have asked Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) to enforce the request to further financially isolate Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine. Japanese and other international miners favor the Russian region of Irkutsk in Siberia, where the availability of inexpensive hydroelectricity is plentiful and temperatures are low.Want more Eastern Europe news?•The Moscow Exchange is a good base for crypto trading, Russian lawmaker says•Russia’s Finance Ministry Supports Circulation of Stablecoins in Country•Russians banned from accessing Bitmex within European Union

Latin America and The Caribbean

Image Credit: Omri D. Cohen via Unsplash

Ripple and Peersyst are partnering with the Colombian National Land Agency (CLNA) to digitize land titles on Ripple's XRP blockchain. The CLNA will use the XRP Stamp protocol, a data notarization system built on the XRP blockchain and developed by Peersyst, a Spanish blockchain engineering company. The project's objectives are to increase trust in Colombia's land registry system and security to the titling process. By using XRP Stamp, titles are registered assets and stored on the XRP blockchain. Titleholders will store their keys on the Xumm XRP wallet and will be able to use a QR code to verify its authenticity. 

Rounding off this week's newsletter, during an interview with Coindesk, Ripio Founder & CEO Sebastian Serrano discussed how stablecoins are becoming a more widely used tool by retail customers in Argentina. With inflation exceeding 60% in the last 12 months, the country's economic minster abruptly resigning last week, and consumer access to dollar restricted to $200 per month, Argentine consumers are demanding cryptocurrencies. Serrano described the typical Argentine user as someone who is seeking both safety and store of value and turning to US dollar denominated stablecoins and bitcoin as inflation expectations continue to climb.Want more Latin America and The Caribbean News?•Interruption of withdrawals in reais, via Capitual, caused Binance to lose 31% of the market in Brazil, according to a report•ABCripto complains about the new version of the bill that will regulate crypto exchanges•Brazil Creates Crypto-Dedicated Investigation Unit

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