Inshorts

KPMG announced the introduction of its Digital Ledger Services, a comprehensive suite of services designed to help financial services companies realize the potential of blockchain – providing faster and more secure transactions, streamlining and automating back-office operations, and reducing costs by utilizing blockchain-based technologies.

ItBit, a company offering Bitcoin trading services for financial institutions announced it is rebranding as Paxos. The name Paxos is inspired by a technical term that represents a process for reaching consensus. Bankchain, one of the leading services of the company, is a cloud-based PaaS solution transforming post-trade market infrastructures and back-office processes for its global clients.

LibertyX, a Bitcoin ATM (BTM) company, is reported to be installing 16 new machines in the Miami area. Using these BTMs, users can now purchase cryptocurrency with cash at a 4% fee.

The first Convergence meetup in London hosted by Jamie Burke and Lawrence Lundy of OutlierVentures.io is scheduled for October 17. Topics to be covered include the 'blockchain enabled convergence' of macro trends like AI, Robotics, VR & AR, 3D Printing and IoT combined with a panel of discipline experts to specifically address their respective fields.

EverdreamSoft, creator of the first arcade game that integrated Bitcoin – Spells of Genesis, and IndieSquare have joined together for a new “Project ORB” (ORB, an acronym for Ownership Revolution on the Blockchain). 

According to the announcement, ORB is a concept name for tokenized game items on the blockchain and it brings back true ownership to game players utilizing P2P technology. ORBs can be playable in multiple games and beyond the gaming industry. The new project launch is scheduled for mid-September.

Lykke, a Swiss Fintech company building a global marketplace using blockchain technology, announced the start of its Initial Coin Offering campaign by selling 30 million Lykke coins until October 10, 2016. 

The coins represent ownership of Lykke, an exchange for trading financial instruments using blockchain technology. Anyone over 18 (except US citizens) can buy Lykke coins using the Lykke Wallet application for iOS or Android. Buyers can pay using Swiss francs, US dollars, Bitcoin, or Ether.

The Bitcoin price finally overstepped the level of $600 as soon as Apple first announced its plans to integrate the Circle mobile payment application into iMessage. Experts expecting a bullish trend coming soon. More details in the weekly Bitcoin price analysis.

Wipro Ltd, India’s third-largest software company, announced they are to set up a research facility to develop software applications using Blockchain technology. According to the report from Livemint, Wipro is working on a few projects using blockchain technology for its banking clients, as an alternative to the current SWIFT transfer system.

Bitmain Technologies, one of the leading Bitcoin mining pools, announced the launch of the second pool to set new benchmarks in terms of stability, efficiency, and service for all mining pools, said Nisthant Sharma, international marketing manager at Bitmain. Bitmain’s first Antpool platform already has about 13% of the Bitcoin network's market share.