Here is a summary of some of the major news from the cryptocurrency and blockchain world over the past 24 hours.
Coinbase raises $300 mln in new funding round
Coinbase said it raised $300 million in a new funding round that gives the US cryptocurrency exchange a market valuation of more than $8 billion. The additional funding will help Coinbase speed up the adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The funds will be used to build infrastructure between fiat and crypto; to develop more utility applications for digital currencies; and to add more features and crypto assets to its Custody offering.
JP Morgan's Ethereum-Based Quorum Blockchain can Tokenise Gold Bars
Financial services major JP Morgan's Ethereum-based blockchain, Quorum, can tokenize gold bars that will allow sustainable miners to earn a premium on the global markets, Financial Review reported on its website. The Enterprise-ready distributed ledger platform opens new world of trading opportunities with the blockchain technology, apart from moving money, the report said. It allows users to operate smart contracts, or a computer program that automates processes based on a set of rules.
Bitcoin mining can worsen global warming: Study
A research says crypto currency mining could produce enough emissions to raise global temperatures by 2°C within 15 years. "Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency with heavy hardware requirements, and this obviously translates into large electricity demands," said Randi Rollins, a master's student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and co-author of the paper. Rollins and her colleagues estimated that the use of bitcoins in the year 2017 emitted 69 million metric tons of CO2.
Nasdaq to integrate Microsoft Azure Blockchain to its Financial Framework
Nasdaq, plans to integrate the Nasdaq Financial Framework (NFF) with Microsoft Azure Blockchain in a bid to accelerate its blockchain capabilities in line with the industry's rising demand. Azure will now enable Nasdaq to provide secure interoperation and communication between the NFF core infrastructure, ecosystem middleware and customer technologies, using an innovative blockchain microservices suite to execute transactions and contracts.
Current Prices
As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading down 0.61 percent or $38.48 at $6224.13. Ethereum is 1.03 percent lower or $2.01at $193.41 on Coinbase.
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