Unbound: No 149
Legacy Payment Companies Embrace Blockchain Solutions. Their Infrastructure is Still “Fundamentally Not Aligned” with Web3 Payments
by Daniel Litwin | Marketscale
Legacy payment companies are finally embracing blockchain solutions at scale, though still behind compared to the innovation that young fintech companies are bringing to the next generation of payment solutions. Regardless, this embrace is taking many shapes, and it’s still not a guarantee that they’re up to the task.
In the last year, Visa and Mastercard have trialed new solutions, partnerships, or strategies to catch-up to the blockchain evolution:
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Mastercard has welcomed at least a dozen new startups from five different countries into its global engagement program, Mastercard Start Path, aimed at accelerating innovation in blockchain, web3, and fintech. It’s also partnered with Paxos for crypto trading services.
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The Visa Fintech Partner Connect program expanded to include Austria-based fintech company Bitpanda, enabling Visa’s partners to access Bitpanda’s investment infrastructure solutions for trading and investment services. Visa is now providing access to crypto trading for over 20 million European customers. The company is also partnered with Blockchain.com to offer a crypto debit card for payment using cryptocurrencies or cash balance.
Announced even more recently, Visa is forging ahead with the development of blockchain solutions for future payment systems, including Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and for managing 4337 paymaster contracts, while Mastercard is launching cryptocurrency credential services for secure international asset transfers.
“Women must find their own paths in Web3” – Yvonne Kagondu, pioneer of Kenyan Blockchain Ladies DAO
by Temitope Akintade | Technext
Yvonne Kagondu is one of the prominent ladies in the blockchain industry in Africa. Having been leading the charge of blockchain adoption, especially in Kenya, East Africa, for many years, Yvonne is now the founder of Kenya Blockchain Ladies DAO. This community brings together Kenyan women in the web3 space.
In a conversation with Technext, Yvonne Kagondu narrates how the underrepresentation of women in Kenya led to the formation of Kenya Blockchain Ladies DAO.
Masternodes: The Driving Force Behind Blockchain Adoption
by NewsBTC | NewsBTC
The blockchain industry is among the fastest-growing industries, with a staggering annual growth rate of 56.3%. While the blockchain market is poised to be worth $163.83 billion by 2029, there are several significant hurdles to mainstreaming the technology. The biggest one is mass adoption. Now, what prevents mass adoption of the technology despite the crazy hype around it?
Lack of awareness would be an obvious answer. While the mass adoption of blockchain is inevitable, with 44% of the top 100 companies already using the technology, there are certain roadblocks delaying the imminent. These issues include a lack of interoperability, transaction limits and network congestion. Lack of scalability is a major challenge with the blockchain trilemma preventing enterprises from embracing the technology with open hands.
Besides the blockchain trilemma, which leaves innovators with a scalability challenge, the translucent regulatory guidelines in different countries add to the challenge. As blockchain businesses and innovators rush to find the answer to the blockchain trilemma, masternodes emerge as a potential solution.
🌙 NASA - Best Photo from Last Week
Webb’s First Deep Field
President Joe Biden unveiled this image of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 during a White House event on July 11, 2022. One year later, the James Webb Space Telescope has changed the way we see the universe. From new views of old subjects to discoveries on the chemical composition of exoplanets, Webb has helped us gather clues about the origins of our own solar system and beyond.
To celebrate the completion of a successful first year, NASA has released Webb’s image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.
Learn more about SMACS 0723 and how Webb captured this image.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
Last Updated: Jul 12, 2023
Editor: Monika Luabeya
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