Digital Currency Weekly Recap 3-27-2016

GameCredits Announces CoinFest UK GrandPrix Contest

GameCredits will be one of the presenters at the CoinFest UK event, and is marking the occasion with a new contest. In honor of its participation in the event, GameCredits will be conducting a contest for players on their GrandPrix gaming platform and awarding almost 1.5 BTC worth of prizes to the winners. The GrandPrix event will be launched on April 8th, 2016. Further details will be available on the GameCredits website by April 1st. The GrandPrix event at the CoinfestUK consists of a race that will take place over the course of 21 days, with the fastest times winning the contest prizes:

1st Place - 15K GameCredits

2nd Place - 5K GameCredits

3rd Place - 1K GameCredits

Dutch Central Bank Could Launch its Own Cryptocurrency

The Dutch Central Bank is reportedly exploring blockchain technology, and may even be considering the launch of its own digital currency sometime in the future. The technology and its potential disruptive capabilities received attention in the central bank’s recently-released 2015 annual report, in which the bank praised the blockchain as being exactly the type of innovation the financial system could use to reduce transaction costs.

Other areas of interest included the way in which the technology will impact banking systems and the financial industry’s revenue models. The report recommended additional study of the technology and various issues such as regulatory needs and payment system governance, while also noting the bank’s prior warnings about the risks that could accompany widespread adoption of digital currencies.



Thomson Reuters to Sponsor April’s London Ethereum Meetup

The next Ethereum Monthly Meetup begins April 7, 2016, and will be sponsored by multinational media and information giant Thomson Reuters. A recent announcement posted on the Ethereum meetup page revealed the sponsorship, and offered additional details about the April event.



New Ripple Office in London Serving Europe

Ripple has opened a new office in London, England from which it will work to service its customers across Europe. The move is part of the company’s ongoing effort to expand its global reach, and comes in the wake of other recent expansions in Asia. Ripple’s unique currency solutions have been finding a receptive audience in many areas of Europe, and the continent is also home to Ripple partners like Santander and Fidor Bank.



First Multi-Sig Ethereum Wallet Unveiled

BitGo developers Ben Chan, Mason Borda, and Bharath Chandrashekar recently released the first multi-sig Ethereum wallet, which has been named Ether.Li. The wallet reportedly provides added protection using a process that creates between two and three Ethereum-based smart contracts. The second key for the wallet is maintained by the service, and no transactions can be made without it. In addition, the Ether.Li provides users with 2-factor SMS authentication. The developers have noted that the product remains in its proof of concept stage, and no formal announcement about its launch has been made.



Lisk ICO Reportedly Raised $5.8 Million – Second Best Crypto Crowdfund Result

The Lisk ICO that ended last month reportedly raised a total of $5.8 million. The company’s crowdfunding effort was successful enough to rank it as the second-best cryptocurrency ICO in history – with only the Ethereum crowdfunding effort raising more. The network is scheduled to launch on April 11, 2016.