San Francisco-based nonprofit Kiva, a company that crowdfunds loans for financial inclusion, has launched a blockchain platform for credit history with the government of Sierra Leone. According to a Reuters report on Aug. 21, Kiva and the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, jointly launched the blockchain initiative in Freetown, the country’s capital. Biometric data collected by the government, such as fingerprints, will be used by the platform to give lenders a way of obtaining the credit history of loan applicants. Individuals looking to borrow money would have a digital wallet for loans, and their transactions would be recorded …

Facebook-owned messaging service, WhatsApp, is purportedly in preliminary talks with multiple digital payments firms as well as a state-owned bank to launch digital payment services in Indonesia. Reuters reported that they had learned of this development from anonymous sources on Aug. 20. According to the report, WhatsApp is currently negotiating with transportation booking service Go-Jek, mobile payments provider DANA, fintech startup OVO and state-owned Bank Mandiri. Bank Mindri operates a digital wallet service, per the report. WhatsApp’s plan for Indonesia is to support payments through digital wallets in the region, according to Reuters’ sources. The report further speculates that Facebook’s …

French hardware wallet producer Ledger will provide its asset management system to Estonia-based crypto exchange Rokkex. Cybersecurity-focused exchange Built by Lithuanian cybersecurity and fintech professionals, Rokkex will integrate its trading platform with Ledger’s enterprise wallet management solution Ledger Vault to secure its crypto assets, according to a news release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 20. Lukas Krikstaponis, Rokkex’s co-founder and CEO, said that the platform has successfully tested Ledger’s technology on its platform to date. Demetrios Skalkotos, global head of Ledger Vault, explained: “Rokkex’s customers expect full transparency and protection from crypto hacks. [...] By leveraging Ledger Vault, Rokkex will …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has added support for MakerDAO tokens and decentralized apps (DApps) in its wallet. Huobi Group shared the announcement with Cointelegraph on Aug. 19. MakerDAO has a stablecoin called Dai, a token named MKR, and applications including CPD Portal. The Maker project is a combination of its stablecoin, collateral loans and community governance. MakerDAO is a type of decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which is an organization that is managed solely by smart contracts and code, not human managers. A DAO is also operated by users via a consensus voting mechanism, which can be used to make changes …

The Capital Market, Insurance and Saving Authority, a division of Israel’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), is looking to accelerate the process of procuring licenses for blockchain and fintech companies in the country. Israeli business news outlet Calcalist reported the development on Aug. 19. According to the report, the authority has launched dedicated industry teams, some of which specialize in blockchain companies. According to the report, the authority is hoping to foster local competition by licensing more fintech companies. Moshe Barkat, who was appointed as the supervisor for the department back in 2018, remarked: "Business and technological innovation and the relationship …

Digital asset trust and security company BitGo has appointed wallet provider Xapo’s former senior vice-president Pete Najarian as its new chief revenue officer (CRO). As finance-focused media outlet Finance Magnates reported on Aug. 19, Najarian will now serve as BitGo’s CRO, reporting to the company’s chief executive officer Mike Belshe. Commenting on the appointment, Belshe said: “Pete has a deep understanding of capital markets and an exceptional breadth of experience in financial services. This makes him a perfect partner for institutional investors who are entering the cryptocurrency market. We’re building the financial infrastructure of the future and Pete’s experience in …

United States-based investment banking company Bank of America (BofA) has filed a patent for a digital currency wallet with multiple layers of asset access. The proposed wallet would accept different passwords for different amounts of funds requested. The United States Patent and Trademark Office published BofA’s application on Aug. 15. Per the filing, this technology would comprise a computing platform with a digital wallet interface. The platform would be configured to operate within a peer-to-peer network for blockchain management — which could potentially be public or private. The application points to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as examples of digital …

On Aug. 18, the developers of ZenGo, a non-custodial keyless cryptocurrency wallet solution, announced that their app now supports Facebook’s Libra testnet. Experimenting with Libra According to the announcement, now users “can send and receive Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, Libra, just like any other cryptocurrency in ZenGo.” The developers also noted that the “testnet funds don’t hold any real value and are only for testing purposes.” The post explains: “If you would like to experiment with Libra, you can turn on Libra testnet from the Account tab in the wallet. Once you turn on the feature, make sure your wallet is …

Dash has released Dash Core v0.14.0.3, a new version of the wallet and P2P client for its cryptocurrency DASH in light of recent transaction spikes on its mainnet. Security upgrade Dash Core announced the news in an official blog post on Aug. 15. According to the announcement, Dash was hit with either an external stress test or attack on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The post said that “the upgrade is strongly recommended for all Masternodes and is also recommended for all users, exchanges, partners and full node operators.” The developer subsequently discovered issues including mempools not being emptied, a …

Charles Hoskinson, a co-founder of the Ethereum Network and current CEO of IOHK, has announced that IOHK-created project Cardano is rolling out version 1.6 within a few days’ time. Hoskinson teased the upcoming launch in a Twitter post on Aug. 13. Hoskinson also asked users to send screenshots and comments on the latest version of Daedalus, which is an open source cryptocurrency wallet also backed by IOHK. As per IOHK’s website, Cardano is a blockchain platform that uses the proof of stake algorithm Ouroboros. Its native cryptocurrency, ADA, is based on the functional programming language Haskell. Daedalus, for its part, …

The Binance-owned digital currency wallet, Trust Wallet, has released a desktop application for macOS. The team behind Trust Wallet announced the development in a tweet today, Aug. 12, also revealing that the wallet will be available in the Mac App Store shortly. In a series of tweets, Trust Wallet founder Viktor Radchenko disclosed that support for Linux will be launched next week. Radchenko further said that the main challenge for the team now is to port Trust Wallet to Windows, which they have ostensibly not done yet. Radchenko also noted that most desktop crypto users — around 75% — are …

South Korean internet giant Kakao Corp has launched a teaser page for its forthcoming cryptocurrency wallet, Klip. According to a report from News1 Korea on Aug. 12, Kakao has made the wallet teaser page available as part of the “More” tab on its messaging app KakaoTalk — the platform into which the real wallet will eventually be integrated. 50 million active users will have access to the wallet The Klip wallet — developed by Kakao’s blockchain subsidiary, GroundX, will allow users to store the Klaytn they earn online. With a focus on supporting applications such as finance, content creation and …