Both projects hope to solve the issue of projects competing over liquidity across all exchanges. It says that crypto assets today are distributed over 200+ exchanges and all projects are competing for a finite amount of liquidity. They plan to solve this by developing a decentralized platform where all liquidity from the entire crypto market will be aggregated into one platform. They would aggregate the order book, depth and price price discovery from all centralized and decentralized digital asset markets.

The product is called Orion Terminal, a decentralized gateway to the entire digital asset market.

Bonded Finance plans on developing an algorithm that will help aggregate, derisk and unlock 50 million in dormant value distributed amongst untapped digital assets. They would also allow altcoin projects that are qualified to borrow against their assets, or pool them and start earning.

The collaboration allows for locked and staked ORN tokens to be made available for yield generation via the Bonded Finance Smart Contracts.  Holders of ORN will have access to Ionic, Bondeds lending / borrowing product. This access will allow them to loan and borrow ORN, Access capital resources, earn as they hold and to also earn from the liquidity incentives.

Alexey Koloskov, CEO + Co-Founder of Orion Protocol states “With a shared mission of bringing greater liquidity, accessibility, and value to open finance, we’re proud to be partnering with Bonded Finance. This will enable ORN holders to further monetize their assets by unlocking even deeper yield generation opportunities, earn liquidity incentives, and loan and borrow ORN – all while furthering ORN’s utility within Bonded’s growing ecosystem.”

Orion protocol would help Bonded Finance by providing them with their protocol’s liquidity API which would allow for streamlined Liquidation of assets available on the Bonded platform thereby allowing it to perform a wide market sweep across all exchanges in the market to efficiently handle potential liquidations. The provision of the API by Orion protocol would allow Bonded finance to transact large quantities of assets strategically without risks associated with it.

Paul Mak, CEO of Bonded Finance, states, “To have a single-source liquidity provider amidst this fragmentation is a small miracle. As we move forward, Orion’s solution will allow us to list more assets and provide smaller projects with needed support. It’s a win for the space.”

Orion Protocol

It is built on the most advanced liquidity aggregator ever developed, Orion Protocol aggregates the liquidity of every single crypto exchange into one platform: providing a decentralized gateway to the entire digital asset market. In doing so, Orion is building a protocol on which to bridge the worlds of crypto, traditional finance, and real world assets.

Bonded Finance

The Bonded platform was created to incubate and deploy experimental, high-yield, smart-contract driven, financial instruments that push the bounds of open finance. Bonding is an algorithmic model that aims to unlock, aggregate and de-risk ~50 billion in dormant value distributed amongst untapped digital assets by allowing supporters of qualifying altcoin projects the opportunity to borrow against these assets or pool them and start earning.

The collaboration would allow individuals in the African regions to directly access the lending platform through the mobile money system. Such partnerships would allow users to deposit local currencies from their accounts straight into the lending DeFi protocol such as Compound, Dydx,Curve, YFI and other non-lending protocols existing on the DeFi platform. Partnerships that would allow this to happen would include MTN Nigeria and other top 10 MTN mobile money providers in Africa, they also partnered with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System PLC.

ADD.xyz is built with the aim of creating bridges between centralized and decentralized finance, to do this they aim at partnering with centralized platforms with users who are very well interested in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. They partnered with major banking providers in Kenya back in August ,2020 thereby exposing their product to over 5 million population in Kenya. The partnership with MTN Nigeria and Nigeria’s Inter-Bank Settlement System PLC also helps them expose their DeFi protocol to over 201 million Nigerians. The lending platform will be able to accept the Nigerian Naira and Kenyan shilling for the first phase of the launch.

“Financial inclusion in East Africa has been significantly impacted by the wide adoption of mobile money services — led by Kenya — but the uptake has been slow in Africa’s two largest economies, Nigeria and South Africa. While South Africa’s more advanced economy often treats mobile money as a “nice to have”, the situation in Nigeria is quite different. There, just 40% of people have bank accounts, so the economy would likely get a boost from the expansion of mobile money services.”

How To Do It

Users will be able to deposit local currencies into ADD.XYZ local MTN approved accounts through the main platform. They then get assigned to the protocol and the amount of currency they wish to deposit into the DeFi lending protocol. Interest will also be paid back to the users mobile money account in a fully decentralized and instant solution.

Today, a partnership between Crypto banking platform cashaa and the United Multi-state Credit Co-operative Society has made it possible for 22 banks branches in India who are interested in Crypto banking services. The citizens of India who are interested in Cryptocurrency will soon be able to go to their local bank branches to get Cryptocurrency and to also learn about investing in them.

Cashaa stated that “initially account holders will be able to buy and sell bitcoin (BTC), Cashaa(CAS), Ethereum (ETH) , Binance coin(BNB), Bitcoin Cash(BCH), EOS, Litecoin(LTC) and Ripple (XRP) with cash or the amount balance in rupees”. The 22 branches will be ready to start operations by December, Cashaa’s spokesperson reportedly said.

Lounges For Crypto Customers At The Bank

Cashaa plans on making available Crypto Lounges in all 22 branches where customers can walk into and get educated about cryptocurrencies along with other banking services.

“The United’s existing branches will be transformed and modernized as Crypto Lounges,” Cashaa described, noting that “Members can walk into any of these branches and get educated about cryptocurrencies along with other banking services.”

Cashaa plans on educating members who visit the lounges about investment opportunities, utilities of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency , how to use and to store crypto etc.

The immediate plan is to open these Crypto Lounges in Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan covering a population of 150 million Indians living in these states.

Account holders with the bank will also be able to use their Cryptocurrencies as collateral to take loans in the bank Just like any other traditional loan given by banks.

Farum is a blockchain network risk management tool which allows potential investors or organizations, fee volatility and unusual network events risks. Atlas will allow users access to raw on-chain data via a blockchain explorer API.

KPMG also plans to utilize the KPMG chain fusion, a patent-pending suite of capabilities.

“The integration of Coin Metrics’ Atlas and Farum products and KPMG Chain Fusion provides a trusted foundation for adoption of digital assets,” said Sal Ternullo, co-lead of KPMG Cryptoasset Services.

KPMG LLP is a U.S member firm of the KPMG global organization that operates in 147 countries and territories. It is one of the big four accounting firms along with PWC, Deloitte and EY. KPMG International is the third-largest accounting firm in the world. Headquartered in the Netherlands, KPMG provides accounting, consulting, tax and legal, financial advisory, and assurance services from more than 820 locations. KPMG’s member firms are located in more than 159 countries across the globe.

Through this strategic alliance, KPMG and Coin Metrics will offer a suite of complementary products and services designed to enable the increasing institutional adoption of crypto assets and public blockchains.

“Ripple already has a significant client base in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region and the opportunity to co-locate with our customers made DIFC a natural choice,” said Navin Gupta, a managing director at Ripple. “Our regional office will serve as a springboard to introduce our blockchain based solutions and deepen our ties with even more financial institutions in the region.”

The DIFC special economic zone houses more than 2,500 companies across Middle East,  Africa, and South Asia is an “independent regulator” with a proven judicial system.

Company’s executives plan on moving the company’s headquarters in San Francisco to a country with greater regulatory clarity than that of the United States. Ripples plans on moving the headquarters to possibly Japan and Singapore as new potential locations for it’s  new HQ.

The DIFC offers blockchain firms like Ripple no taxes on corporate income and profits for at least 50 year. The DIFC is based in Dubai, a multi commodities centre -the largest free zone in UAE.

Volatility increases for XRP

The whole crypto world has seen lots of volatility in the market, some crypto assets that were thought would not do well or increase. XRP on it’s own has seen great volatility and a market report dated back to November 5, XRPs volatility was high, even as high as surprising BTC and ETH. This represents an increase in volatility from Q1 and Q3.

XRP is a digital asset built for payments. It is the native digital asset on the XRP Ledger—an open-source, permissionless and decentralized blockchain technology that can settle transactions in 3-5 seconds.

XRP can be sent directly without needing a central intermediary, making it a convenient instrument in bridging two different currencies quickly and efficiently.

The announcement stated that the new blockchain protocol will meet technical demands that are required in electronic voting, some of which includes the prevention of double voting, voter confidentiality, management of operation records and accurate storage of voting content. The system will also allow voters to check their own voting results, providing the cryptographic ability to verify that the recording and aggregation process for the votes on the blockchain network was performed correctly.

The company plans on collaborating with Tsukuba city, Ibaraki Prefecture Smart Council in transforming the city into a “Smart city” and advance into the digital age.

The newly built blockchain protocol would allow Layer X to also help shift focus from the normal traditional voting system with lots of flaws and manipulations towards electronic voting in local governments. It also plans on providing solutions that will strengthen the effort aimed at solving technical problems linked to the digital transformation (DX) of various administrative services.

The electronic voting system could help curb out a lot of flaws in the traditional voting system we have now which involves each citizen to go to the voting ground and cast a vote. In cases where there is an outbreak of a virus or disease like the coronavirus, individuals are not able to exercise voting rights or will have to go out with the risk of getting infected.

Russia has reportedly already experimented with a blockchain based voting system and has even posted a source code for the platform on Github. The world is changing and evolving all around the digital era, so systems have to upgrade and work to see that they follow the trend so they don’t get left behind.

“Our team is continuously looking for more ways to put more bitcoin in your wallet, and today we are furthering that goal by launching our newest partner, Kroger. Kroger serves over 11 million customers daily. These shoppers now have access to earning free bitcoin back on their everyday shopping when using Lolli.”

Partnership with Samsung

Samsung has renewed its partnership with Lolli which was announced back in February 2019, in order to allow users earn up to 1.5% back on purchasing Samsung products. The announcements from Lolli also stated the category of Samsung products users get to earn a cash back from. Users can get the bonus if they are looking at purchasing a new TV, a mobile device or a laundry machine for the house.

Sygnum’s offering of Tezos staking services serves as validation of the network’s security and longevity, and is yet another step on the path towards major institutional and enterprise adoption. We look forward to partnering with Sygnum on more Tezos-based offerings in the future.” Tezos Foundation Head of Enterprise Adoption EMEA David Fuchs said.

Sygnum is the first regulated bank to launch staking for Tezos (XTZ), secure custody, trading, credit and staking service for the coin is now available on the bank platform. Staking can be withdrawn or discontinued at any point in time decided by the user.

The launch of this service has enabled Sygnum to further strengthen it’s multi-custody platform which includes Taurus protect and a strategic partnership with Custodigit , which leverage Metaco. The Sygnum API allows the bank to offer an ever-expanding range of services to banks and other financial institutions. The bank also has dealings with Swiss HSM provider Securosys to custodise it’s DCHF, as well as asset tokens.

“We are strong supporters of Tezos and its unique Liquid Proof-of-Stake governance mechanism, which aligns with our Sygnum values,” says Martin Burgherr, Sygnum Bank’s Chief Clients Officer. “With XTZ staking, our clients can access a unique asset which offers staking rewards and enables them to structure their digital asset portfolios in more creative ways. Tezos is the first Proof-of-Stake (PoS) token on Sygnum Bank’s platform, where we are continually expanding our offering to provide more choice for our clients,” he adds.

About Sygnum

Sygnum is the world’s first digital asset bank, and a digital asset specialist with global reach. With Sygnum Bank AG’s Swiss banking licence, as well as Sygnum Pte Ltd’s capital markets services (CMS) licence in Singapore, Sygnum empowers institutional and private qualified investors, corporates, banks and other financial institutions to invest in the digital asset economy with complete trust. Sygnum operates an independently controlled, scalable and future-proof regulated banking platform. Our interdisciplinary team of banking, investment and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) experts is shaping the development of a trusted digital asset ecosystem. The company is founded on Swiss and Singapore heritage, and operates globally. To onboard digitally with Sygnum, please visit www.sygnum.com.

This was as a result of an Audit conducted by internationally recognized audit services firm SGS. They certified the crypto exchange for ISO27001, ISO27701, PCI:DSS (Level 1), first crypto company to gain this certifications and these are the highest maturity levels for the NIST Frameworks.

This exchange was audited in areas such as the core functions of identity, protect, Detect, Respond and Recover for the NIST cybersecurity framework and identify, Govern, Control, communicate and protect for the NIST pricing Framework.

“The NIST Cybersecurity and Privacy Framework audits add to our existing ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and PCI:DSS certifications and demonstrate our commitment to our company-wide cybersecurity and privacy strategy. With the NIST ‘Adaptive’ achievement – which examines our maturity and ability to adapt to the ever-changing cybersecurity and privacy landscape – and ISO’s assessment of our policies, procedures and controls in place, we are once again the first crypto company to achieve some of the industry’s highest security standards. Jason Lau, Chief Information Security Officer of Crypto.com said.

The NIST cyber security framework used to evaluate crypto.com was originally released in 2014, and provides a framework on how private sector organizations can develop, access and improve their ability to identify, protect, defect, respond and recover from cyber attacks. The privacy framework was released in January of this Year 2020, it is used to strengthen privacy protection through enterprise risk management. The exchange proofed proposed hence, the certification.

Crypto.com has been building its user base for some time now and they even recently announced a milestone hit for them, this was when they hit 5 million users on the exchange platform. It has also released a Spanish and Portuguese language for both web and applications of the exchange. They recently hired a former visa executive in a bid to enter into the Latin American Market (LATAM).

Websites are built in a way that they take your data and digital footprints even without consents, some present privacy agreement to be signed or agreed on by you before using their platform. All those info/data stored about an individual can be easily seen if any possible kind of data bridge occurs.

The collaboration between these two like-minded projects will not only help keep privacy intact, it will become more confidential. Phala plans on providing confidential computation and data protection service for both individuals and enterprises. They plan on achieving this through one of their products : Web 3 Analytics (W3A). The W3A collects user data from their devices and returns it back to them for storage, the owner of the data then decides to share, lend, monetize, or revoke access to their data from any outside party. The protocol works in parallel to Google Analytics which stores users data on their own remotely located servers, W3A stores the data in the users personal data warehouse.

Bluzelle is powered by Cosmos and it’s BFT technology Tendermint but designed to work with the other blockchains. They will provide their decentralized data network which enables blockchain and Decentralized Applications (DApps) to manage data in a secure, tamper-proof and highly scalable manner.

“As a protocol providing solutions to privacy-preserving issues of blockchains and Internet databases, we hope to revolutionize the traditional pattern of storage and replace it with a decentralized way. Cooperating with Bluzelle, a famous and mature decentralized storage protocol, we believe Polkadot ecosystem will be empowered with improved ability on decentralized computing and storage.” — Marvin, CEO of Phala Network

It is amazing to find blockchain projects partnered together so that they can keep users’ privacy intact and confidential. It returns power to the users instead of a centralized body and in this case less data bridge except released by the owner of the information themselves.