Stellar and Bitso partner to facilitate international USDC payments

  • Stellar and Bitso are collaborating to promote international USDC payments to Latin America.
  • Bitso will use Stellar’s Anchor Network to facilitate cross-border payments and remittances to Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.
  • Stellar recently partnered with HoneyComb and Coinme for similar USDC transactions.

Bitso, a Latin American crypto-powered financial services platform and crypto exchange, has announced a partnership with Stellar in an effort that will see the two collaborate in advancing international payments.

The partnership will see Bitso integrate Stellar’s Anchor Network to allow companies from across the world make USDC payments across Latin America, starting with Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.

According to Bitso, supported transactions are from US dollars via Circle’s USDC stablecoin, with this enabled through the crypto exchange’s direct connection with the local banking system.

The alliance means companies worldwide will be able to make international payments to the region without the need of an intermediary. Leveraging blockchain technology in such transactions greatly improves the settlement speed and overall costs of cross-border payments and remittances, Bitso SVP of Institutional Product Santiago Alvarado said.

Stellar’s push in USDC payments

Stellar’s collaboration with Bitso comes on the back of increased adoption of its technology in cross-border remittances.

Earlier this month, the Stellar Foundation Development announced it had partnered with crypto ATM provider Coinme to allow users send and receive USDC on Stellar. The service will be available across all Coinme platforms.

On July 17, Stellar revealed another collaboration for USDC, this time partnering with cross-border remittance app HoneyComb to enable anyone across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, and the UK to withdraw cash with USDC balances. The service will be available at all supported MoneyGram locations in these countries.

XLM, the native Stellar token, was up 13% in the past 24 hours at $0.14 following the news and as Ripple’s XRP pumped by 8% to above $0.80.

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Coinbase adds instant messaging feature to wallet

  • Coinbase Wallet now supports instant messaging across any two Ethereum addresses.
  • The feature will leverage the XMTP protocol and offer encrypted and private wallet-to-wallet communication and crypto payments.
  • Coinbase is rolling out the feature to a small subset of users first before expanding it.

Coinbase has introduced a new feature that allows for instant messaging between two wallet addresses for users of Coinbase Wallet.

A blog post the company published on July 12 stated that the messaging capability will utilise a built-in system powered by Extensible Message Transport Protocol (XMTP). With this feature users can now tap into all-in-one messaging and payments, which includes gas-free USDC transfers on Polygon.

To send any of the crypto assets that Coinbase Wallet supports, users will simply need to start a chat.

Encrypted and private messaging

The wallet-to-wallet messaging will be fully encrypted, private and portable, Sid Coelho-Prabhu, Director of Product Management at Coinbase, wrote.

Users can connect directly through their wallets, and will be able to take conversations and chat histories across other XMTP compatible apps. Coinbase Wallet is rolling out the messaging feature to a small group of users first, including those of Web3 social platform Lens protocol.

One needs access to the Coinbase Wallet mobile app to get started. They also need a .lens account, or should have an invitation sent via QR code. If one has used other XMTP apps, including Orb and Lenster, they will find all their chats in their Coinbase Wallet inbox.

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Zuckerberg’s Threads hits 100 million users- What’s in it for Chancer?

  • Twitter rival Threads has raced to more than 100 million users days after its launch.
  • Chancer is a predictive markets app built on the blockchain and which seeks to disrupt the betting market.
  • The $CHANCER presale is gaining upside momentum amid investor exuberance on project’s potential.

Chancer’s presale is gathering fresh momentum, with over 67 million tokens sold and nearly $680k raised so far. This comes as the investor community gets to learn about the potential impact of this blockchain-based predictive markets platform in the global betting industry.

The project is also attracting interest at a time when what would end up as an epic battle in the social media space takes shape.

What’s Threads?

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO & founder of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), recently announced the launch of Threads, a new social media platform touted as the biggest threat to Twitter. Days after the launch, which saw over 30 million sign ups in hours, Threads has hit more than 100 million users.

The rivalry between this Instagram sister app and the Elon Musk-owned platform might just be at the beginning of what could turn into a titanic battle. Already, Musk has labelled Threads a copycat and his lawyers have threatened legal action over allegations that Meta snapped former Twitter employees to gain insider information that it used to create Threads.

Threads has Twitter-like features such as liking posts, commenting, retweeting (reposting), and sharing. There are no direct messages or hashtags. The app however supports 500 characters per thread (more than Twitter), and videos of up to 5 minutes.

Twitter vs. Threads:  Who’s your money on?

Statistics show Twitter’s users number less than 370 million, which means Threads could possibly overtake it. It is notable that Twitter had to wait five years to reach 100 million users – something Threads did in four days.

Predictions on the possibility of Threads overtaking Twitter or not are part of the social conversation now. Also not surprising is the fact that some people might have placed wagers on one or the other outcome. 

While the Musk vs. Zuckerberg “caged match” type of battle has zero chance of happening, if it ever does, blockchain-based Chancer app could be where most wagers happen due to its completely different approach to betting. 

What is Chancer?

Chancer is a new predictive markets platform that looks to tap into the power of blockchain technology to revolutionise the betting industry. While a few crypto projects offer prediction markets products, Chancer is taking a new approach to the industry – one that is tailored towards removing control from traditional bookmakers.

It seeks to replace the centralised approach of legacy betting companies with a decentralised peer-to-peer (P2P) model. The goal, according to the Chancer whitepaper, is to put users in control of the markets (odds, rules, payouts).

Bettors placing wager on any market can play by their own rules and leverage the utility of the native $CHANCER token to benefit from passive income opportunities. Token holders also have a chance to earn passively by staking tokens to bolster network security.

Chancer presale gains fresh momentum

$CHANCER is a Binance Smart Chain token currently in presale. There’s fresh momentum for the token sale as investors poured over $200k in two days to push overall fundraising proceeds to over $676k. 

As CoinJournal highlighted in June, Chancer’s unique approach could be very attractive to investors. 

Investors who participate in the presale are helping Chancer raise funds to achieve its mission of democratising the betting industry. And it’s likely that investing now while prices of the native token are still low could come with significant future returns.

The platform targets $15 million across 12 presale stages.

A look at the Chancer roadmap

As well as the whitepaper that outlines the technology behind the project and how it works, many people eyeing investments in its token also look at the roadmap. In most cases, a clear roadmap with strategic milestones is critical to a project’s overall success.

Chancer’s roadmap includes the token launch on exchanges in the third quarter of 2023 before further development of the P2P platform in the next quarter. Testnets for the product will then pave the way for the mainnet launch expected in Q1, 2024.

The platform will also integrate Filecoin for file storage and launch its quadratic governance system as it works on achieving true decentralisation.

If you are looking for more details about Chancer before you invest, a good place to start would be here.

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Cronos partners with Filecoin’s Protocol Labs to boost Web 3 adoption

  • Cronos Labs has announced a partnership with Protocol Labs.

  • Protocol Labs is the creator of Filecoin and IPFS.

Cronos Labs announced a major partnership with Protocol Labs, the creator of Filecoin, the popular decentralized storage platform. The deal will see the two companies provide finances and other tools to companies building in their ecosystem.

Creators in the Cronos Accelerator Program will receive mentorship and technical support from the two companies. Cronos is now implementing the third cohort of the accelerator program. In the first one, winners received $30,000 upfront and access to another $300k in funding. In a statement, Ruben Amenyogbo of Protocol Labs said:

“This partnership has tremendous potential to provide robust support and empowerment to the current and future cohorts of blockchain startups, fostering the growth of decentralized finance, GameFi, SocialFi, and web3 infrastructure projects. By pushing boundaries and spearheading computing breakthroughs, we aim to shape the future of the web and create a transformative impact.”

Cronos and Protocol Labs are both major players in the industry. Filecoin has built a leading decentralized storage platform that is used by many developers. It recently launched the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM), which is slowly gaining traction.

At the same time, the developers recently launched Filecoin Web Services, which provides tools like Kubernetes and containers to developers. 

Cronos Labs, on the other hand, is the 11th biggest DeFi chains in the world with over $416 million in total value locked (TVL). Some of the top dApps in the ecosystem are Tectonic, VVS Finance.and MM Finance among others. Cronos Labs is backed by Crypto.com, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world.

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Hut 8 secures $50 million credit facility from Coinbase

  • Hut 8 will have the option to draw $20 million and $15 million after the first tranche.
  • The $50 million loan facility will mature one year after the first borrowing, and bear interest.
  • CEO Jaime Leverton noted in a statement that the funds will give Hut 8 financial flexibility ahead of Bitcoin’s halving.

Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 Mining has announced a $50 million loan facility secured from crypto exchange Coinbase’s subsidiary Coinbase Credit.

Hut 8 will use the funds to support its operations, including closing the deal for the merger with US-based miner Bitcoin Corp (USBTC).

Financial flexibility

According to details in a press release published on Monday, Hut 8 can access the loan facility in three tranches. The first, expected to be secured shortly is a term loan worth $15 million, and there are options for further drawings of $20 million and $15 million – the second of which will be a delayed draw term facility available one to two months later.

The mining platform will be able to tap into the third tranche of $15 million 15 business days after it closes its merger with USBTC.

This credit facility gives us additional financial flexibility,” Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton commented. He noted that the loan will help the company maintain its dynamic Bitcoin treasury as the market edges closer to the next Bitcoin halving.

All amounts borrowed under the Credit Facility will bear interest at a rate equal to (a) the greater of (i) the federal funds rate on the date of the applicable borrowing, and (ii) 3.25%, plus (b) 5.0%. The Credit Facility matures 364 days after the date of the first borrowing,” the company wrote in the press release.

The credit facility will mature 364 days after Hut 8’s first borrowing and loan obligations are secured by the miner’s Bitcoin held by Coinbase Custody. 

Hut 8 stock was down 9% at the time of writing, although it remained more than 200% up in 2023 after rallying alongside cryptocurrencies. COIN shares were on the other hand trading at 2.3% higher on the day and 87% YTD.

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