Australia’s main opposition party would inject $3 million AUD ($2.1 million) into blockchain technology should it win next month’s federal election, tech news magazine ZDNet reported on May 1. Under plans previously outlined as part of its election pledges, the Australian Labor Party said it would divert the funds to set up a dedicated Blockchain …

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released recommendations for policymakers on how to regulate blockchain technology on April 30. Founded in 2006, ITIF is an independent nonprofit institute that provides policymakers with information, analysis and recommendations for handling new technology. In its new guide, ITIF included an array of proposals for policymakers to better …

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has allowed three blockchain-based businesses to join the latest cohort of its regulatory sandbox, the organization announced on April 29. Diro Labs is one of the blockchain-driven companies accepted by the FCA for performing tests on a “short-term and small-scale basis.” According to the regulator, the startup uses a “central blockchain-based …

London-based West Ham United — a soccer team that plays in the English Premier League — is partnering with blockchain platform Socios.com to launch a fan token ecosystem. The news was revealed in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 30. As previously reported, the Socios tokenized voting platform and blockchain-based mobile app is …

Rob Carter, the chief information officer of American delivery services company FedEx, has called for uniform standards in the blockchain industry, tech-focused media outlet Computerworld reported on April 25. Speaking at the Blockchain Global Revolution Conference, Carter argued that mandated standards would help create uniformity for blockchains used in supply chains. He also noted the …

HTC has revealed plans to launch a second-generation model of its blockchain-centric smartphone before the end of 2019. Taiwanese consumer electronics giant HTC has revealed plans to launch a second-generation model of its blockchain-centric smartphone before the end of 2019. The news was announced in a report from English-language Asian IT news source Digitimes on …

Ethereum (ETH) core developer Hudson Jameson announced that a third-party audit of the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)-resistant proof-of-work algorithm ProgPoW has been funded. The dev made the announcement during the latest bi-weekly Ethereum core developer meeting held on April 26. During the call, it was specified that the targeted funding amount of 50,000 units …

Enterprise blockchain platform Ontology (ONT) plans to launch a version of the regulated USD-backed stablecoin Paxos Standard (PAX) on its own blockchain. The company announced the news in a press release published on April 27. Per the release, the new token (PAXO) will be based on Ontology’s OEP-4 token standard, which will enable atomic swaps …

Illicit crypto mining — or cryptojacking — against consumers “is essentially extinct,” declares a report released by cybersecurity company MalwareBytes on April 23. Per the report, after in-browser mining service CoinHive shut down in early March — when the team claimed that the project had become economically inviable — cryptojacking against consumers has sharply decreased. …

The Ministry of Finance in Austria is considering establishing a regulatory sandbox for the fintech industry, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports on April 26. The country’s Finance Minister Hartwig Loeger said that the FinTech Advisory Council — which was formed by the Ministry of Finance last year —  will aid in the development of relevant rules …