ICELAND ACQUIHIRE: Ripple is expanding its engineering team and moving into a new region with the acquisition of Iceland-based crypto trading firm Algrim. The Algrim team will add six engineers to Ripple’s ranks, with a focus on integrations with partner crypto exchanges to expand Ripple’s cross-border payment corridors and contribute to the ongoing development of the its on-demand liquidity product, said Amir Sarhangi, Ripple’s vice president of products. Full story
QUANTUM THREAT: Tech giant Google claims to have achieved “quantum supremacy,” meaning it has built a quantum computer able to solve formerly impossible mathematical calculations. If proven true, this marks a major milestone in the development of quantum computers and possibly, the demise of blockchain technology as we know it today. But the threat of quantum computing has motivated researchers, technologists and, now, governments to build software able to resist quantum-powered. Full story
HOLDING A GRUDGE? LedgerX executives claim the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) treated them unfairly – because of a blog post. According to two letters obtained by CoinDesk via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, LedgerX believes former CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo was personally biased against the company, and improperly used his position to delay the approval of an amended Derivatives Clearing Organization registration. “We have strong reason to believe that this unreasonable delay that is in clear violation of the Commodity Exchange Act is related to the Chairman’s animus towards a blog post written by our CEO,” the first letter, dated July 3, 2019, states. Full story
CRYPTO YIELD FUND: Los Angeles-based Wave Financial has launched the Wave BTC Income & Growth Digital Fund, touting the product as the first crypto-derivatives-based yield fund on the market. “I think what was missing in the crypto market is a lot of very solid traditional types of products, but with crypto assets,” said Ben Tsai, managing partner of Wave Financial. After several months of due diligence, Tsai said Fidelity Digital Assets will provide custody for the fund. Full story
BAYER ON THE BLOCKCHAIN: Bayer Crop Science has agreed to work with Ant Financial, the payments affiliate of Alibaba, to develop a blockchain-based system for agricultural product monitoring. The companies will utilize blockchain to increase efficiency, improve the income of farmers, ensure the production of high-quality food and aid in the digitization of agriculture, they said last week. Full story | 