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1.  Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, Saudi Aramco, has bought into the blockchain-based oil trading company Vakt. Saudi Aramco’s Energy Ventures branch has bought $5 million in new shares. The investment will be used to develop the platform, with a focus on expansion into the Asian market. In addition to investment, the oil conglomerate’s trading subsidiary Aramco Trading is set to use the Vakt platform. Aramco Trading will add its trading volumes to the blockchain-based platform. Read Full on Cointelegraph

2.  A patent document filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office describes a system, which relates to financial data processing in an electronic currency platform, as well as to processing e-commerce tokens, which have involved offline transactions. To track and record events of offline transactions, the system incorporates a so-called “self-aware token.” The document further draws a link between the system and a platform for tracking and validating e-currency tokens IBM described in a patent application back in July 2012. Read Full on Cointelegraph

3.  A draft of India’s national strategy on blockchain and distributed ledger technology suggests a digital Indian rupee, and a national blockchain. The National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG), a non-profit public body incorporated by the government of India, has proposed the Central Bank Digital Rupee (CBDR), a digital currency issued on a national permissioned blockchain. NISG “strongly recommended” that the CBDR be issued by India’s government and the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India. Read Full on Cointelegraph

4.  This week Lightning Labs developer Joost Jager unveiled a decentralized and censorship-resistant experimental new proof of concept that allows LN users to send private messages called Whatsat. The new protocol allows users to send private messages directly via the Lightning Network. The news demonstrates a further expansion of the Lightning Network’s capabilities, as well as, a stronger push for privacy in the space. Read Full on BitcoinLightning.com

5.  The amount of Bitcoin that was physically delivered in January on Bakkt has increased by 1,600% in recent weeks. Bakkt is a custodian that holds Bitcoin on behalf of Intercontinental Exchange's Bitcoin futures exchange. Since the futures have the option of being physically delivered, Bakkt is responsible for handing the movement of Bitcoin between traders. So far this month, 230 Bitcoin has been physically delivered, worth $2 million. This is up from last month, when just eight Bitcoin was delivered. Read Full on Decrypt

6.  New York-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini takes another key step toward its eventual launch in Europe. Gemini Europe, a division of the Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss-led exchange and crypto custodian, announced the hiring of Blair Halliday, former Circle compliance lead, as its new chief compliance officer. Halliday will also serve as Gemini Europe’s money-laundering reporting officer. Among Halliday’s duties will be to keep the firm's European division compliant with all relevant crypto and blockchain-focused legislation. Read Full on Decrypt

7.  Litecoin creator, Charlie Lee has been vocal about LTC becoming a privacy coin in the near future. Lee had on-boarded Grin developer, David Burkett to implement the MimbleWimble [MW] protocol and use extension blocks for scalability and privacy on the network. Noting fungibility as one of the important properties of money that had been missing from Litecoin, Lee said implementation of MW protocol might get them halfway there. Scalability has been the main concern for most coins, but according to Charlie MW scales better than Bitcoin. Read Full on Cointelegraph

8.  Zermatt, a municipality in Switzerland and popular tourist resort, in cooperation with Bitcoin Suisse; announced today that it will accept bitcoin (BTC) as a means of payment. This applies to taxes and official transactions with immediate effect. Bitcoin Suisse has installed a point-of-sale (POS) solution in the Zermatt town hall so fees for services from local authorities can be paid in bitcoin. In addition to having access to a POS device in the Zermatt town hall, taxpayers will also be able to pay their taxes at a communal level using bitcoin. Read Full on CryptoNinjas

9.  Leading Japanese consulting firm Nomura Research Institute jointly launched a crypto index with cryptocurrency investment solution provider Intelligence Unit. The new index’s name is NRI/IO Crypto-Asset Index.The index is meant to cover global crypto markets in U.S. dollars and Japanese yen by tracking the largest cryptocurrencies. The NRI/IO Crypto-Asset Index tracks the performance of a pre-defined basket of crypto assets and will be tradable in dollars and yen on NRI’s platform. The index includes BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH and XRP. Read Full on Cointelegraph