Switzerland
Internet Computer’s ORIGYN is watching the watches using NFT authentication
ORIGYN, a Swiss foundation that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and authenticate objects of value, has partnered with luxury watch marketplace WatchBox. The pair will co-produce certificates of authenticity in the form of NFTs that enable customers to trade the digital ownership of a watch. ORIGYN is the largest project on the Internet Computer Protocol, or ICP, developed by The DFINITY Foundation blockchain. Individuals who purchase a collector quality timepiece via WatchBox can expect ORIGYN to certify the authenticated object thanks to its biometric technology. Each watch is given a unique biometric fingerprint and an NFT that contains all of this information is minted. These are utility NFTs that may offer customers insurance, digital provenance, con...
21Shares launches hybrid Bitcoin and gold ETP to enable inflation hedge
21Shares, a major issuer of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETP), is launching a new ETP tracking a mix of Bitcoin (BTC) and gold. The Switzerland-based firm on Wednesday announced the launch of the 21Shares ByteTree BOLD ETP (BOLD), a new product aiming to provide inflation protection by tracking an index providing risk-adjusted exposure to both BTC and gold. Listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, the new hybrid ETP is subject to monthly rebalances according to the inverse historic volatility of each asset. At launch, BOLD comprises 18.5% of BTC and 81.5% of gold. The new ETP was developed in collaboration with the United Kingdom-based alternative investment provider, ByteTree Asset Management. The product is positioned as the world’s first combined BTC and gold ETP. “Gold has hi...
Swiss crypto bank Sygnum secures in-principal approval in Singapore
Sygnum Singapore, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based cryptocurrency bank Sygnum, is expanding services after securing new regulatory approval from local authorities. The company announced Tuesday that Sygnum Singapore received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer three additional regulated activities under capital markets services (CMS) license. The CMS license was initially granted in 2019, allowing Sygnum Singapore to conduct asset management activities. The latest in-principle regulatory approval upgrades Sygnum Singapore to enable new tools like providing corporate finance advisory services, dealing with tokenized capital market products and digital assets, as well as offering custodial services for asset and security tokens. With the additional ...
FTX expands to Europe with CySEC approval
The global crypto derivatives and spot trading exchange FTX is expanding to Europe after receiving approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The new venture called FTX Europe would offer leading products of the company to the European clients via a licensed investment firm across the European economic area. The new European venture is headquartered in Switzerland along with a regional headquarters in Cyprus. Cyprus is seen as one of the reputed jurisdictions that offers a regulated medium for financial firms to access the European economic area. Thus, FTX would be able to offer its derivative crypto products as well, which is a big breakthrough, given Binance had to shut all crypto derivatives products last year across Europe. Sam Bankman Fried said their new ven...
FTX exchange looking to start operations in the European market
The crypto exchange has disclosed it has established a European division The exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried has previously talked about expansion and acquisition plans Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX has today announced a major milestone in its venture to explore new markets. The cryptocurrency exchange revealed today it has set up a Switzerland unit befittingly named FTX Europe that will be focused on serving users from Europe and the Middle East. The new unit has an additional base in Cyprus where it is licensed by the local watchdog CySEC according to the exchange’s press release. An FTX.US equivalent operating in Europe FTX previously set up a unit, FTX.US, that solely operates in the United States – a market that is widely considered stricter. The Switzerland-based unit, which comes two...
Swiss bank to offer Tezos staking, XTZ clears $4.00 for the first time in over two weeks
Tezos has been trading below $4.00 since 20th January Last week, one of Switzerland’s leading banks announced it is offering Tezos staking Tezos, like most of the crypto coins in the market, is trading in the green with approximately 22% of gains over the past seven days. The price of the crypto asset surged past $4.00 earlier today but has since retreated slightly to $3.98. The last time Tezos traded in this range was during the third week of January. The latest price development comes less than a week after CCRI ranked Tezo as one of the lowest energy-consuming networks. Tezos is only second to Polkadot in lowest energy consumption A report shared by the research firm Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI) last week shows that Tezos consumes less electricity than the majority of th...
Trezor removes controversial address verification protocol, other wallets follow suit
Since 2019, Swiss financial crypto intermediaries have required proof of ownership of an external wallet’s address for Bitcoin withdrawals and deposits to their customers’ non-custodial wallets. One automated mechanism used for this is the Address Ownership Proof Protocol, or AOPP. The Trezor hardware wallet introduced AOPP signing as part of its latest January update last week, allowing users to generate signatures that conform to the AOPP standard used in certain jurisdictions. On Jan. 28, Trezor announced that it will remove this protocol in the next Trezor Suite update “after careful consideration of recent feedback.” Recent feedback refers to Reddit and Twitter users who were concerned that the use of AOPP signaled Trezor’s support f...
Institutional investment will boost Bitcoin to $75,000, says SEBA CEO
The CEO of Switzerland-based financial institution SEBA Bank shared his predictions for Bitcoin (BTC) in 2022. A boon for BTC bulls, Guido Buehler was optimistic about institutional adoption and a price increase to $75,000 per coin. He explained in an interview that at SEBA, asset pools are looking for the right time to invest; however, they need the right counterparties and the necessary regulation in order to deploy capital. When pressed on whether Bitcoin would hit new highs this year, Buehler thinks it’s possible, “The question is always time.” He noted that with BTC dominance bottoming out at 40%, it’s a pivotal moment for investors looking for a directional play. The interview took place at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where “sophistic...
Seba Bank raises $119M in Series C funding
Seba Bank, a Swiss-based digital assets banking platform regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, announced on Wednesday that it had completed a successful Series C funding round of 110 million Swiss franc, or $119 million U.S. dollars. Notable investors in the round included cryptocurrency exchange FTX, quantitative digital currency trading firm Alameda Research, decentralized finance asset management firm DeFi Technologies, and venture capital entities such as Altive, Ordway Selections and Summer Capital. The bank said it plans to use the funds to fuel international growth and drive demand from institutional investors in the digital assets industry. Seba has been at the forefront of crypto innovation in Switzerland. In September 2021, the firm was granted the f...
Ice maidens: 10 first ascents by female mountaineers
In a world dominated by men, a select group of women have shattered the ice ceiling. Here we review some daring first ascents by female mountaineers I’ll be honest: it rankles to write the words ‘the first female’ to do such and such. It feels patronising, as if to say you weren’t good enough to play with the big boys but I’ll pat you on the head anyway. The truth is, of course, that being the first female to do something great is and should be an achievement. We in the western world have lived under a patriarchy for centuries; one that has undermined and undervalued women at every turn. The select few that have broken through deserve to be hailed as great. Today, we pay homage to 10 daring first ascents by female mountaineers. first ascents by female mountaineers: Specific pea...
Switzerland vs Bulgaria preview, team news, betting tips & prediction
Switzerland will look to continue their impressive run of form with a win over Bulgaria when the two sides meet in the World Cup qualifiers this week. The two sides will meet on the 15th of November at 19:45 pm BST. Switzerland will be desperate to pick up a win here. They have drawn quite a few matches recently and the home fans will demand all three points here. The hosts are level on points with leaders Italy and a win here could take them to the top of the table provided the other results go their way. Bulgaria are third in the standings with two wins from seven qualifiers and they will be looking to pull off an upset here. Switzerland vs Bulgaria team news Switzerland possible starting lineup: Sommer; Widmer, Schar, Rodriguez, Garcia; Freuler, Zakaria; Steffen, Shaqi...
Italy vs Switzerland preview, team news, betting tips & prediction
Italy will look to pick up a win over Switzerland when the two sides meet in the World Cup qualifiers this week. The two sides will meet on the 12th of November at 19:45 pm BST. Italy are at the top of their group but they are level on points with Switzerland. The visitors will be looking to pick up a win here and overtake the European champions in the standings. The home side have not been at their best in their recent outings and they will need to improve in order get a good result here. Switzerland, on the other hand, are on an unbeaten run right now and they will fancy pulling off an upset here. Italy vs Switzerland team news Italy possible starting line-up: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Emerson; Barella, Jorginho, Locatelli; Chiesa, Bernardeschi, Insign...
