Highlights: .xRapid partners with Bittrex, Ardor update release, and another ICO is sued for securities fraud.
Source: BusinessWire
Bittrex will act as an exchange partner for xRapid in the U.S., with two other exchanges tapped to partner for Mexico and the Philippines. The exchange partners will facilitate payments made using xRapid by converting to and from various fiat currencies via XRP.
Source: NXT Forum | Lightweight Contracts | Transaction Vouchers
Ardor has released their version 2.1 update to testnet. The update includes the first released of lightweight smart contracts and transaction vouchers. Lightweight contracts are executed selectively by interested parties rather than on ever node simultaneously, addressing scalability concerns but potentially raising new security questions. Transaction vouchers allow a receiving party to prepare a payment request, then submit the details to the sender for approval via private key signature - essentially, a cryptocurrency invoice.
Source: JD
Chinese retailer JD is getting into Software-as-a-Service, creating “one-click deploy” solutions allowing companies to launch their own blockchains. Companies can create smart contracts and dapps on either a private or public enterprise cloud. The source article cites a number of use cases, like supply chain management and and digital copyrights, and an insurance company is already using the platform to track invoices.
Source: Business Insider
Chipmaker NVIDIA announced that they are no longer profiting from cryptocurrencies, citing low crypto prices and changes in mining rules as contributors. The company had previously announced expected declines in profit from cryptocurrency products, and now says it expects “negligible contributions” going forward. They did still exceed expected earnings for the second quarter.
Source: CoinDesk
Seattle-based e-betting startup Unikrn is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging securities fraud. The lawsuit alleges that the ICO’s “utility tokens” should have been classified as securities, and the company is therefore in violation of U.S. Securities Fraud. Unikrn’s ICO initially raised around $31 million, including investment from Mark Cuban.
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