A recent report suggests that the lack of traditional financial infrastructure makes Africa a place where cryptocurrency adoption is likely. The report — shared with Cointelegraph by a Luno representative on May 27 — sheds light on Africa’s financial infrastructure and the role that cryptocurrencies play in it. The author of the research, which was jointly conducted by market analysis firm Arcane Research and crypto exchange, Luno, wrote that the financial landscape seen on the continent plays a role in forming appetite for crypto in Africa: “Although it is a diverse region, African nations share some key similarities and trends. …

A recent report highlights that India’s growing demand for cryptocurrencies is driven by the need for lower remittance fees and a more stable currency to store value. The cryptocurrency spot and derivative exchange OKEx in collaboration with Coinpaprika studied the Indian cryptocurrency markets and estimated that the global share of cryptocurrency transactions in India will increase significantly in the next two years. Moving to a less expensive payment system There are over 17 million Indians working beyond the borders who sent more than $80 billion back home in 2018. They paid as much as $5.67 billion as transaction fees to …

Once my company, Jerome Baker Designs, had become one of the premier producers of custom pipes and bongs in the 1990s, I no longer enjoyed doing it. However, when the Drug Enforcement Administration busted through the doors of my warehouse, and the Feds closed my business and seized all my assets, I had a change of heart. While I still won’t blow a custom glass for cash, I will do it for Bitcoin (BTC). Why? Because I truly believe in Bitcoin. When I was indicted in 2003 for trafficking illegal drug paraphernalia, alongside 50 other individuals like my pal Tommy …

Travala.com’s proprietary token (AVA) joined the list of crypto assets accepted by cryptocurrency payment processor, CoinGate. According to an exclusive announcement sent to Cointelegraph on May 21, CoinGate has integrated Travala.com’s native AVA token into its payment system — reportedly used by over 5,000 merchants. CoinGate users will now also be able to buy AVA by bank transfer, phone credit, and soon with debit cards. Improving the token’s usefulness The addition of the AVA token to CoinGate’s service adds payment functionality to the asset that so far could be earned from referrals, loyalty rewards, and used to access travel discounts …

Paying with crypto has long been at the center of the discussions of why cryptocurrencies exist and why they are useful. But despite promising growth and excitement during crypto’s bullish phases, payments with crypto still remain a fringe niche at best. Cointelegraph interviewed both merchants and industry leaders to find out why. Who uses crypto today? As a general rule, crypto payments are used where they make sense. This remains the case for darknet markets, which according to a January 2020 Chainalysis report continue posting new volume highs. Source: chainalysis.com Despite their tiny share of the overall crypto activity, marketplaces …

A partnership with crypto payment processor CoinPayments means bolstered digital asset payment compatibility for Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify. "Shopify is a natural fit for us," CoinPayments CEO Jason Butcher told Cointelegraph via email, adding: As they look to bring new features to their merchant base and CoinPayments works to drive cryptocurrency adoption globally, it makes sense to create an integration that enables easy, secure, and cost-effective transactions." Shopify sellers can accepts thousands of assets Shopify sellers can now harness CoinPayments' digital asset payment processing platform, paving the way for sellers to accept 1,800 different cryptocurrencies as payment, a May 20 …

Per a May 20 announcement from Banque de France, France has become the first country to successfully trial a digital euro, operational on a blockchain, following a call for new technology to back such a development at the end of March The bank says it tested a sale of securities for central bank digital currency (CBDC) on May 14, signalling the beginning of more robust testing. Wholesale rather than retail CBDC Though the bank’s announcement did not go into great detail, it did indicate that the current pilot program is focusing on wholesale rather than retail uses for a digital …

Hotel booking service Travala.com and flight booking website TravelByBit — both of which accept cryptocurrencies as payment — announced a merger of their platforms. According to an announcement on May 20, Travala.com and TravelByBit will merge to become a platform allowing users to book from over 2 million hotels and 600 airlines. An initiative backed by Binance Both the companies are backed by the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. The exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao praised the firms as he believes they are able to provide a state-of-the-art travel booking service for the crypto community. Travala.com currently supports payments in fiat and …

Blockchain firm Aeternity launched its social monetization tool "Superhero" on May 20, describing the platform as “the first decentralized peer-to-peer instant payment tool for digital goods or social content.” The extension is supported by the crypto-friendly internet browsers Brave and Opera, in addition to Firefox and Chrome. The decentralized app — or DApp — is also available on mobile for iOS and Android. Superhero solely supports tipping in the form of Aeternity’s native coin, AE. Superhero features a widget for integration onto blogs and websites. Aeternity launches social monetization dapp Users can purchase vouchers loaded with 5, 10, or 15 …

Digital payment platform Uphold has announced a partnership that allows Coil creators to be able to select the platform as their wallet provider to receive payments in over 50 currencies. Coil is a service that provides alternative methods for content producers to monetize their work online. “The ability to pay for [their] app subscriptions, news articles, or premium experiences with zero-clicks and in real time feels like the future,” said Robin O'Connell, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Uphold. The partnership with Coil will utilize the Interledger Protocol and allow creators to accept payments in more than 50 fiat and digital …

While global jurisdictions are progressing with central bank digital currencies, private institutions also work on digitizing national currencies. Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), a major Austrian bank, is working on a new form of national currency tokenization using blockchain technology. RBI is extending its collaboration with Polish-British fintech firm, Billon, following a successful test of end-to-end digitized national currency transfers. RBI Coin is designed to speed up cross-border transactions As announced on May 18, RBI and Billon are working on initial stages of an RBI tokenization platform, currently dubbed RBI Coin. The pilot is planned to be conducted until late 2020 …

The biggest credit card issuer in Japan, JCB, has partnered with technology accelerator TECHFUND to build a sustainable transaction system on the blockchain. According to a May 15 statement released by JCB, the partnership will utilize TECHFUND's expertise on security token offerings (STOs) and staking to create a new platform for transactions. Also based in Tokyo, TECHFUND has a program called ACCEL BaaS (Blockchain as a Service) which aims to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technologies for startups and enterprises. JCB moves towards blockchain The financial firm has made some steps towards innovative solutions to online payments. Cointelegraph reported in …