The potential interest rate cut by the United States central bank is apparently one of the reasons for the recent surge of bitcoin (BTC), Deutsche Bank exec Jim Reid said in an interview with CNBC on June 26. Reid, the head of global fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank, stated: “if central banks are gonna be this aggressive, then alternative currencies do start to become a bit more attractive." Reid referenced a recent speech by Fed’s chairman Jerome Powell, who said yesterday that the central bank is considering a cut of interest rates amidst the current economic uncertainty and inflation …

In Germany, the CDU and CSU Union wants to integrate blockchain technology into public services, Cointelegraph Deutschland reported on June 25. The CDU and CSU Union represents the centre-right Christian democratic political alliance of two parties in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). In the original announcement published earlier today, the Union revealed that it wants to use blockchain for public service tasks such as administrative services, electronic health records, document protection, and registration. Specifically, the CDU and CSU Union proposed the creation of a new form of company, which should …

Napster creator Shawn Fanning’s new company Helium has released its internet of things (IoT) wireless hotspot devices with a blockchain-based incentives program, according to an official blog post by Helium on June 12. According to the post, a Helium Hotspot provides wireless connectivity to the Internet; one node on its own will cover about 1/50 to 1/150 of a city, according to the company’s research. The nodes are intended to support a network of internet coverage, one which is decentralized and powered by individual contributors. Contributors are rewarded by an incentives program on the Helium blockchain, which is powered by …

European investment manager Peakside Capital Advisors has launched a real estate fund for the German market using blockchain technology, the company confirmed in a press release on June 12. The fund, which focuses on assets between €15 and €75 million ($17-$85 million), is a product of a partnership with German funds-as-a-service technology platform Brickblock. Bricklock operates ScalingFunds, an investment management platform that runs on blockchain. The startup tokenized its first property in March this year, as reported by Cointelegraph Deutsche. In today’s press release, Stefan Aumann, founding partner of Peakside, commented that they are “looking to utilise the advances in …

А leading pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim has teamed up with blockchain-based healthcare platform Solve.Care, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on June 6. Germany-based Boehringer, one of the world’s 20 largest pharma companies, and Solve.Care are planning to build a blockchain and digital asset-powered network for trusted sharing of data about patients with diabetes. Based on Solve.Care’s blockchain platform, the new healthcare system is known as the Diabetes Care Administration Network. The network intends to provide assistance in coordinating care for patients, as well as to share information about the risks associated with diabetes, prevention and symptoms, among …

United States-based blockchain incubator and investment firm Blockchains, LLC, has acquired the German Ethereum dev team slock.it, according to a press release on June 3. Slock.it’s team is reportedly around three dozen large, and is known for its creation of the now-defunct decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) project “The DAO.” Co-founders and brothers Christoph and Simon Jentzsch will reportedly join Blockchains as VP of technology and director of blockchain development, respectively. During the first few months of the acquisition, the newly-linked organizations will reportedly ship a line of open-source tools for Ethereum developers. As per the organizations’ acquisition agreement, teams will …

Coming every week, the Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Kik Launches $5 Million Crypto Funding Campaign for Lawsuit Against U.S. SEC Kik, a Canadian tokenized social media startup, has launched a $5 million crypto initiative in order to fund a lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Kik CEO Ted Livingstone, also the founder of Kik’s crypto project the Kin …

The president of Germany’s central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank (BBk), has warned central banks about the potential risks of introducing digital currencies, Reuters reports on May 29. Jens Weidmann, BBk president and chairman of the board of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), reportedly claimed that the adoption of digital money could potentially destabilize the financial system during periods of crisis. The German economist explained that easy access to digital currencies could accelerate a collapse of lenders, while it would “fundamentally change the business model of banks” even in a good economic environment . Weidmann also argued that easy access …

Disclaimer: in keeping with the announcement on which this article is based, as well as the wishes of US exchange, CoinBene, of which the organization described in this article seems to be a clone, the appearances of “CoinBene” referring to operations in Germany have been changed to “Coinbene LTD Deutschland” as of 06/27/2019. The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Germany's financial regulator, has issued a public warning about cryptocurrency exchange Coinbene LTD Deutschland on May 28. The watchdog says that Coinbene LTD Deutschland has been recruiting freelance crypto traders who get paid on commission. BaFin states that since crypto assets …

Germany’s financial regulator has no knowledge of “cyber incidents” or market manipulation occurring on crypto trading platforms in the country, according to a press release on May 28. Referencing info from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) — the financial watchdog that oversees banks, financial services institutions and insurance services — the government responded to a question from the Free Democratic Party (FDP), a centrist political party in the country, concerning information on cyber attacks, fraud, money laundering and market manipulation involving crypto assets. A translation of the written response reveals that it does not categorize financial crimes any differently …

A unit of German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom will work with Binance-listed project Fetch.AI (FET) to develop decentralized IoT network innovations, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on May 22. Fetch.AI, a Cambridge-based tech startup, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs to build and implement autonomous agents (AEAs) on the Fetch.AI test network in order to integrate them into Internet of Things (IoT) device communications. The new partnership intends to find out how AEAs can be incorporated into IoT devices in order to provide them with the authority and autonomy to operate with …

The South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT is going to run a follow-up study on blockchain regulations, according to a Yonhap News report on May 21. The study is called the “Blockchain Regulation Improvement Study Group” and is part of an initiative run by the government’s science and tech arm to figure out how regulations could be improved so that blockchain tech could achieve widespread institutional adoption. The Blockchain Regulation Improvement Study Group was launched in June of last year, and initially focused on improving legal regulations pertaining to blockchain tech such as personal privacy, smart contracts, electronic documents …