Announcements Original

The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced members for the Market Advisory Group for the digital euro project. Following the assessment of applications, the selection committee appointed 30 senior business professionals “with proven experience and a broad understanding of the euro area retail payments market”. Meetings are expected to commence quarterly from November 2021, “I […]

A story on Blockchain.News cites a US Treasury report that asserts digital currencies are posing a critical impediment to its sanctions policies, a trend to which it is determined to put an end. In the report, the Treasury Department highlights digital currencies as one of the primary technological innovations that make its sanctions efforts ineffective. […]

India’s Economic Times has a good explainer on blockchain and DLT that highlights the implications of the technologies for banking and financial services. It opens by asking the reader to imagine a world where money can be sent to anyone without the need for a bank, with no bank fees, complete control over assets, and […]

According to a story on Yahoo Finance, Steven Mnuchin, the former US Treasury Secretary said he is investing in blockchain companies but not cryptocurrencies. Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Mnuchin said investors should know what their money is going towards when it comes to investing in stablecoins, reports Yahoo Finance. Investors should know […]

London was alight with all things crypto and up-and-coming this October. Token 2049 was back in London after our close-to-home and virtual-only networking of the past 18 months. Blockchain Ireland, proud community partners are pleased to connect with the Token 2049 ecosystem across EU, UK and Asia. Here are reports from BCIRL members who travelled […]

Fiona Delaney, Chair @BCIRL #Startups attended EU Blockchain Week in the handsome city of Ljubljana during the period of the Slovenian EU Presidency.  Representing Blockchain Ireland she spoke at the Innovation Ecosystems panel on opening day, where representatives across Europe shared insights from research, industry and the legal profession to talk about our national blockchain […]

Much of the promise of blockchain and DLTs has been around their application in wider use beyond crypto-currencies and fintech in general. Writing for Cointelegraph, Matthew van Niekerk opines that governments will not only use blockchain for fundamental services such as identity, but as a framework for economic growth. Likening the advent of blockchain adoption […]

Techstars, the organisation that runs accelerators, funding and mentorship to start-ups, is to run a blockchain focused programme in Dublin. According to a report in the Irish Times, the accelerator will run from March 2022, working with entrepreneurs to build blockchain technology and tokenisation protocols. It will be a collaboration with Alphabit Fund, the regulated […]

Hillary Schieve, the mayor of Reno, Nevada, not only invests in cryptocurrencies herself, but sees the technology as a way to improve government services. According to a story in Wired, Schieve has created non-fungible tokens for art works that are installed in a Reno plaza. Offered for sale on a blockchain called Tezos, the NFT […]

As with any emerging trend, there are those who have their reservations about the long-term value of non-fungible tokens, particularly as they apply in the art world. In an analysis piece for Cointelegraph, Rachel Wolfson considers not just the market for art NFTs, but also the fact that their underlying value is tied to the […]

Blockchain has the potential to make the financial services industry more transparent, less susceptible to fraud and cheaper for consumers, according to an article on the money section of USNews.com. The piece highlights how blockchain can make the financial industry more transparent since users are performing activities on a public ledger, which can expose inefficiencies […]

Iota Foundation has been selected to support the European Commission’s blockchain initiative, as one of seven projects in the preliminary stage of designing an EU-wide distributed ledger technology platform. Cointelegraph reports the initiative seeks to increase the efficiency and accountability of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), a network of nodes dedicated to facilitating the […]