– 17 million bitcoins have now been mined
– The Philippine authorities will allow 10 companies to mine bitcoin, conduct ICOs and operate exchanges in a special economic zone
– BBVA becomes the first global financial institution to issue loans using blockchain
– Binance adds a new feature of converting ‘crypto dust’ into BNB
– IBM introduces TrustChain, a blockchain platform, to verify the jewellery supply chain
17 million bitcoins have now been mined, surpassing another million milestone. This leaves only 19% to go before the supply cap of 21 mln is reached. As of now, a block contains 12.5 new bitcoins. Each block is mined every 10 minutes, meaning 1800 new bitcoins are generated daily. The last millionth mark was passed on November 22, 2017.
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The Philippine authorities will allow 10 companies to mine bitcoin, conduct ICOs and operate exchanges in a special economic zone. Yet trading digital assets into fiat money and vice versa is still banned throughout the country.
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BBVA, a Spanish bank, has become the first global financial institution to issue loans using blockchain. The technology will reduce the decision making process from several days to a few hours. The whole operation will be done via distributed ledger with access by both parties.
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Binance has added a new feature of converting ‘crypto dust’ that is equivalent to less than 0.001 BTC into BNB. The tokens can be used to pay commission fees within the exchange.
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IBM has introduced TrustChain, a blockchain platform, to verify the jewellery supply chain. A number of mining companies have already joined the project that lets tracking the origin and supply chain of gold and diamonds.