JP Morgan has successfully completed its inaugural cross-border transaction using DeFi on a public blockchain. In doing so, the banking giant has begun paving the way for other banking and financial institutions to start using decentralized finance as a default infrastructure going forward.

Important details

On November 2nd, 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched Project Guardian as part of a pilot program to explore potential DeFi applications in wholesale funding markets. To that end, the initiative was a vital step in investigating how traditional financial institutions, among various other use cases, can potentially utilize tokenized assets and DeFi protocols to successfully carry out financial transactions.

The pilot program was also attended by Singapores biggest bank (DBS Bank), SBI Digital Asset Holdings, and Oliver Wyman Forum. The transaction was carried out on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Polygon with the help of a modified version of the Aave protocols smart contract code. Furthermore, the MAS stated that a live cross-currency transaction incorporating tokenized Singaporean Dollar and Japanese Yen deposits, as well as a simulated exercise of purchasing and selling tokenized government bonds, was successfully carried out.

Additionally, Tyrone Lobban, JP Morgans Onyx business units Head of Blockchain Launch and Onyx Digital assets, stated that the tokenized Singapore dollar deposits became the first recorded instance of any bank issuing tokenized deposits.

What comes next?

According to MAS Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty, this is a huge step in the right direction, one that will significantly improve existing financial networks and help bridge the gap between them and DeFi. The CFO also said that the latest pilot has aided in the development of the countrys digital asset strategy as well.

Umar Farooq, CEO of Onyx by JP Morgan, a blockchain focused business unit within the asset management firm, claimed that JPMorgans on chain transaction on a public blockchain was nothing short of groundbreaking and will forever be known as a truly historic moment. The achievement comes as many top financial institutions have anticipated big things for blockchain oriented tokenization of real world assets.

Earlier in 2022, Boston Consulting Group predicted that the total value of tokenized illiquid assets would reach over $16 trillion by 2030. Popular DeFi lending protocol Aave also recently commented on the new pilot, calling it a monumental achievement for the industry because it indicates a gigantic step towards bringing traditional financial assets into DeFi.

Instagram has announced that a select group of digital creators will soon be able to mint and sell NFTs directly the social media platform instead of relying on various third parties.

The image based app recently launched its Digital Collectibles feature in 100 countries, thereby successfully enabling users to connect to their digital wallets and display NFTs that they created or purchased. The linked NFTs would therefore appear in users feed with a unique effect to indicate authenticity.

Moreover, the most recent update will enable creators to create their own digital collectibles and sell them on and off Instagram, providing them with a end-to-end toolkit which can be utilized for creating, displaying, and selling NFTs.

The new marketplace would also first be tested among a small group of creators in the United States, including Amber Vittoria, Dave Krugman, Jason Seife, Refik Anadol, and others, via the Polygon blockchain. Instagram will additionally support the Solana blockchain and the Phantom wallet along with video focused digital collectibles.

Meta stated that there will be no fees for displaying and sharing a digital collectible on Facebook or Instagram and that there will be no additional fees for selling digital collectibles either until at least 2024.

Furthermore, the company promised that neither creators nor collectors would have to pay gas fees for digital collectibles purchased on Instagram at launch. However, application store fees for Android and iOS may still be applicable.

The worlds biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, recently announced that it shall be testing a new system which freezes trading of NFTs involved in suspicious sales while it investigates the transaction to prevent theft, scams, and any other potential fraudulent behavior.

When the platforms new automated system detects a suspicious NFT sale, it will notify the seller, providing the user a week to confirm or dispute the transaction before the asset may officially be sold.

Moreover, as per OpenSea, fraudulent entities often attempt to flip stolen NFTs after draining the victims assets through malicious links claiming to offer free mints or airdrops. In fact, cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic revealed that more than $100 million in NFTs had been stolen between July 2021 and July 2022.

Scams and theft, according to Saurabh Sharma, OpenSeas Head of Search Products, are therefore among the most significant barriers to wider NFT adoption. Additionally, while OpenSea can prevent the resale of stolen NFTs, the company cannot guarantee that victims can successfully reclaim their lost assets unless the perpetrators cooperate.

In related news, OpenSea also recently unveiled the launch of an automated URL scanner to detect malicious links to further deter undesirable entities.

Immutable X, a Layer 2 Ethereum scaling protocol, is now officially powering GameStops NFT marketplace as the initiative has gone live. In March of this year, Immutable was valued at $2.5 billion.

The video game store industry is declining, but it is poised to become a major player in the NFT gaming sector, competing with crypto based gaming NFT platforms such as Fractal, among others.

Furthermore, the marketplace shall reportedly include assets for Immutable X games like Gods Unchained, Guild of Guardians, and Illuvium, as well as various other Web3 games. Also, by utilizing Immutable Xs Ethereum scaling, all transactions would not have any fees and will additionally provide carbon-neutral minting.

Other strategic Web3 moves by GameStop this year include a collaboration with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX US last month in order to provide users with access to FTXs digital asset marketplace.

Fantom is among the most rapidly growing Layer 1 blockchain platforms. Recently, it launched Watchdog, a continuous smart auditing system. Decentralized applications built on Fantom will therefore reportedly benefit from automatic audits by the Watchdog system, thanks to a collaboration with leading blockchain security firm Debaub.

The release of Watchdog will not only improve the security of dApps on Fantom, but it will additionally improve the overall quality as well as performance of apps native to Fantom.

Why does this matter?

Security flaws in smart contracts are becoming increasingly common. According to FBI research, approximately $1.3 billion in crypto was stolen in the first quarter of 2022, with 97% of the theft occurring within the DeFi ecosystem. While third party smart contract auditing firms are essential for projects to discover these vulnerabilities, a combination of factors, such as high costs and lengthy wait times, frequently discourage startups and emerging projects from conducting an audit.

With that in mind, Watchdog will provide a powerful automated tool which continuously monitors smart contracts to offer projects with an alternative auditing system that is reliable, affordable, and most importantly consistent.

With Watchdog, Fantom is hence striving to bring a new level of security and protection to the ecosystem, said Michael Kong, CEO of Fantom Foundation. He further indicated that developers need access to smart contract auditing tools that are affordable, efficient, and trustworthy. Watchdog does exactly that, he added, and it will thus set a new security standard going forward.

What comes next?

Using automated, continuous auditing systems like Watchdog to supplement costly third party audits allows projects to effortlessly analyze selected smart contracts. In addition, any issues with dApps analyzed on the Fantom Network are investigated by a human auditor.

Moreover, the Watchdog auditing system will reportedly provide various benefits such as round the clock analysis for more than 80 different types of exploits, periodic updates as well as improvements with new attack vectors which correspond to the gradual emergence of new research, versatile updates with the latest network data and smart contracts of selected projects, professional examination for warnings at a larger scale, addressing specific issues far more effectively, and immediately contacting the relevant project team as soon as a vulnerability has been discovered.

As the crypto and blockchain industry continues to grow, we can expect more security measures to be steadily deployed over many fields in DeFi such as smart contracts, NFTs, the metaverse, and blockchain itself.

To encourage local students, particularly those who live far away from school, the Japanese city of Toda has reportedly implemented a new metaverse based schooling service.

However, students must obtain permission from their respective school principals to attend metaverse schooling and will be supervised at all times.

The city chose this new schooling service that enables students to explore the campus and study in virtual classrooms primarily because of both the mainstream attention being given to the metaverse concept these days and the potential that it has for the education industry.

Furthermore, whereas various attempts to boost school attendance continue to be difficult in the country, Japanese officials are betting on metaverse based education to help students connect with those around them.

Todas education center director, Sugimori Masayuki, hopes to see metaverse students grow up and eventually become an integral part of Japans technologically advanced society. To that end, the city of Fukuoka recently announced a partnership with Astar Japan Labs as it strives to become Japans Web3 hub.

Google Cloud has announced the launch of its own node-hosting service for Web3 developers. The service, which is being called the Blockchain Node Engine, shall reportedly enable developers to depend on Google Cloud to deploy a new node, thereby making the entire process quicker, easier, and more secure.

Furthermore, not only will the Google Cloud Blockchain Node Engine be fully managed, but it would also successfully track the nodes for developers and deal with any potential issues which may arise.

According to James Tromans, who leads Google Cloud Platforms Web3 product, the Blockchain Node Engine will address two main challenges, namely the time it takes to launch a node, and the process of maintenance.

The Blockchain Node Engine therefore alleviates many known issues while also granting developers complete autonomy over where their nodes shall be deployed. The most popular blockchain, Ethereum, will thus be the first to be supported by the new initiative.
 

As part of an ongoing trend for social media platforms which also include both Instagram and Facebook, Twitter has announced that it is developing a new wallet prototype which will reportedly allow users to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies.

Last September, the social media giant introduced a feature that enabled users to tip content creators with Bitcoin (BTC). In mid-February, Ethereum users gained access to Twitter-native crypto tipping as well.

Earlier in 2022, the company also permitted users to display their NFTs as profile pictures. To that end, the new inclusion of crypto wallets could transform Twitter into a full-fledged Web3 platform, however it is still too early to make that claim.
 

Interpol has unveiled the first metaverse designed specifically for law enforcement communication. The aptly named Interpol Metaverse has reportedly already been developed, allowing police officers all over the world to communicate with each other and participate in immersive training courses in forensic investigation along with various other policing capabilities.

The Interpol Metaverse also allows visitors to take virtual tours of a replica of the Interpol General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France.

The new initiative is a key component of the global policing organization's efforts to adapt as crime moves online. Counterfeiting, data theft, ransomware, hacks, money laundering, financial fraud, phishing, and online harassment are all potential crimes in the metaverse which must be addressed.

Interpols Executive Director of Technology and Innovation, Madan Oberoi, stated that by identifying these risks early on, the team can work with stakeholders to design the appropriate governance frameworks and cut off future criminal markets before they form. Only by having these discussions, Madan continued, will Interpol be able to develop an effective response to these new types of criminal activities.

TRM Labs, which is widely considered to be among the industry leaders in blockchain analytics and intelligence technology, has reportedly onboarded risk management tools for Binance Custody. The institutional-grade digital asset custody solution can now ensure risk management and regulatory compliance for client holdings via TRMs full-service platform thanks to the new integration.

TRMs comprehensive suite of tools for meeting AML and CFT regulatory requirements and managing risks like sanctions, stolen funds, and terrorist financing includes real-time transaction monitoring, wallet screening, forensics, and VASP due diligence.

Why does this matter?

Amid mounting institutional interest in digital assets, security concerns and issues related to custodial services continue to be a significant barrier in terms of broader institutional participation. Binance Custody, which launched in December 2021 to address such concerns, provides reliable security and integrated access to deep institutional liquidity venues through audited, insured, and compliant technology solutions.

Moreover, since its inception, the company has obtained ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certifications along with SOC 2 Type 1 attestation, and is presently focusing its efforts on obtaining SOC 2 Type 2 attestation as well. This is important because as the crypto and blockchain sector continues to become increasingly popular, Binance would ideally want to maintain its position as the largest crypto exchange in the world which means that it must implement the best security measures to safeguard users at all times.

The top priority as an institutional custodian is to hence offer safe and compliant services which clients can regularly depend on, said Athena Yu, EVP of Binance Custody. Athena further stated that by using TRMs compliance and risk management solutions, Binance Custodys suite of custody solutions will be significantly enhanced which will allow clients to participate in this burgeoning digital economy in a safe and risk free manner.

What is next for Binance?

The aforementioned integration is the newest in a series of steps taken by Binance Custody to reduce its exposure to financial crime risk, especially after the recent hack. TRM is used by Binance Custody to monitor high-risk wallets and to oversee as well as examine fraudulent behavior. TRMs asset coverage, risk assessment, and forensics technology therefore equips institutions to handle regulatory and reputational risk associated with digital assets like cryptocurrencies.

As digital assets become more widely adopted, it is critical that institutions have the appropriate compliance measures put in place especially when selecting partners like custody service providers, said TRM CEO and Co-Founder, Esteban Castao. The CEO also claimed that by implementing TRMs compliance and risk mitigation tools, Binance Custody reaffirms its commitment to providing innovative services that prioritize safety and trust above all else.

South Africas financial markets regulator has officially decreed cryptocurrency assets to be financial products, laying the legal groundwork for cryptocurrencies to be regulated going forward.

The FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority) recently stated that while cryptocurrencies are not issued by a central bank, they can however be traded, transferred, or utilized for payments. These assets were recognized by the FSCA as a digital representation of value on distributed ledgers.

Governments and regulatory bodies around the world have steadily increased their scrutiny of the digital asset class, a pattern which has accelerated since the monumental collapse of the Terra-LUNA stablecoin project earlier on in the year as well as the ongoing bear market.
 

Mastercard wants to bring crypto to the mainstream by making it easier for banks to participate in the burgeoning industry. The payments giant therefore intends to announce a program which will assist financial institutions in offering cryptocurrency trading capabilities.

Mastercard will thus serve as a bridge between PayPal and Paxos. According to the company, Mastercard and Paxos shall manage regulatory compliance and security, which are two of the main reasons banks typically avoid the asset class to begin with.

Despite the infamous volatility associated with crypto, Mastercards Chief Digital Officer, Jorn Lambert, stated that there is still significant demand for the asset, however it is also worth mentioning that about 60% of respondents want to test the waters a bit first before getting fully involved.

Lambert further indicated that numerous consumers have expressed a passing interest in crypto, but would feel more comofortable if those services were provided by familiar financial institutions instead of relatively unknown entities.

Both Mastercard and Visa have been making waves in the crypto space. Mastercard has already collaborated with Coinbase on NFTs and Bakkt to enable banks and merchants in its network to provide cryptocurrency-related services. Visa recently announced that it has over 70 crypto collaborations and has partnered with FTX to provide crypto debit cards in 40 countries.