ChainCatcher news, financial technology provider Union Fintech has launched the ZK chain Union Chain. Union Chain aims to build, issue, distribute, and trade on a single chain by combining CEX and tokenized licensed RWA assets with blockchain technology, in order to create a bridge between the cryptocurrency and TradFi sectors.

According to ChainCatcher news and analysis from Glassnode, on-chain activity dominated by retail investors in the Asia-Pacific region is growing significantly faster than in the United States and the European Union.Since the cycle low in December 2022, the Bitcoin supply in the Asia-Pacific region has increased by 6.4% year-on-year, while the United States and the European Union have seen declines of 5.7% and 0.7%, respectively, indicating a sustained increase in demand for Bitcoin from retail investors in the Asia-Pacific region.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, a union in the United States is seeking a temporary court order to prevent the U.S. Treasury from handing over personal and financial data of Americans to Elon Musk's government efficiency task force. The lawsuit mentions reports that after a career official at the Department of Justice resigned, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allowed the DOGE team access to the federal payment system last week. The lawsuit claims that these systems contain confidential information about taxpayers, employees, and companies.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, cross-chain token trading infrastructure provider Reservoir has completed a $14 million Series A funding round, led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Archetype, 1kx, and others. The financing is structured as equity plus token warrants, and Union Square Ventures partner Nick Grossman will join the board.It is reported that Reservoir was founded in 2021 and previously raised $12 million. The company currently has 25 employees and plans to expand to 40 by the end of the year. The company's products include the cross-chain bridging and swapping platform Relay, the decentralized exchange Reservoir Swap, and the NFT trading marketplace API, serving major platforms such as Coinbase, OpenSea, and Magic Eden.

ChainCatcher news, the cross-chain settlement layer Union has announced the launch of the Union Foundation. The Union Foundation is an independent organization dedicated to building a safer, decentralized, and interoperable Web3. Its core focus is to fund initiatives that support the Union network and to incentivize its development through maintenance, continuous development, and the creation of decentralized applications (dApps), including grant programs and the Union Fellowship program. The Union Foundation has announced that a token economic model will be released soon, and the Union mainnet is also set to launch.

ChainCatcher news, several Philippine banks, including UnionBank, Rizal Commercial Banking, Cantilan Bank, and Rural Bank of Guinobatan, plan to launch a peso stablecoin named PHPX later this year, initially operating on the Hedera Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) network.This project is initiated by the Singapore startup Just Finance, and the banks will play a significant governance role. Cross-border payments, especially remittances, are one of the key use cases for this project.

ChainCatcher news, the cross-chain settlement layer Union announced the completion of a $12 million Series A funding round, led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and Longhash Ventures, with participation from Borderless Capital and Blockchange, as well as blockchain founders from Polygon, Movement, and Berachain. The total funds raised have reached $16 million.The funding will be used for core team expansion, partner integration, and ecosystem development.According to RootData, Union is an efficient interoperability protocol that connects all blockchains and Rollups within any ecosystem. It is based on consensus validation and does not rely on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC.

ChainCatcher news, Conflux has partnered with Asia's top e-commerce platform Smile Shop to launch the BitUnion prepaid card, which is now available for global digital asset payments in 183 countries and regions.The BitUnion prepaid card uses the UnionPay International dollar prepaid card framework and is the first crypto UnionPay card. Users can recharge, shop online, shop in-store, and withdraw cash globally.

ChainCatcher news, blockchain solar company Glow has completed a $30 million financing round, led by Framework and Union Square Ventures. This round includes $6.5 million in funding for the company and $23.5 million in solar investments.Glow's CEO and co-founder Vorick stated that he plans to use this funding to expand the company from 5 megawatts of power to 600 megawatts over the next 18 months and to expand into new countries.Glow operates a DePIN network composed of solar power plants in the United States and India. To encourage its farms to move beyond the "dirty" energy grid, the founders designed a holistic economy based on subsidies and token incentive models.

ChainCatcher news, the Dutch government has sought public opinion on a proposed law that would require cryptocurrency service providers (such as exchanges) to collect and share user data with local tax authorities to comply with EU regulations.The Dutch Ministry of Finance stated in a press release on October 24: "The purpose of this bill is to increase the transparency of cryptocurrency ownership to prevent tax evasion and avoidance."Under the new law, tax authorities will share data collected by service providers regarding residents of these countries with tax authorities in other EU countries, as stipulated by the EU-wide cryptocurrency tax reporting rules (i.e., DAC8) passed last year. The ministry explained that these rules reduce the administrative burden on cryptocurrency service providers because "they only need to report in the EU member state where they are registered."

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, the ZK-driven interoperability protocol Union has announced its integration with the modular General Abstract Layer XION, bringing chain abstraction into the Union ecosystem. This will provide the growing list of connected chains in the Union network with XION's user-friendly features, reducing friction in the web3 user experience.With the integration of XION, all users on Union's connected chains will gain powerful new capabilities along with Union's fast, low-cost, and secure ZK-supported transaction and messaging functionalities.

ChainCatcher news, stablecoin payment platform Sling Money announced the completion of a $15 million Series A funding round, led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from Ribbit Capital and Slow Ventures. This round of funding will help Sling Money advance its mission of global payments. Transfers on Sling Money use Pax Dollar (USDP), a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company. USDP and its reserves are strictly regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services.Sling Money leverages stablecoin technology and a user-friendly interface to enable users to make instant transfers between over 50 countries, with almost zero fees. The company previously raised $5 million in a seed round led by Ribbit Capital.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the African Union (AU) Executive Committee has approved the "Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy," which aims to promote the adoption of artificial intelligence in African member states, including Nigeria, by the public and private sectors. This landmark decision was officially announced on August 9 on the AU website.The strategy was formally adopted at the 45th AU Executive Committee Ordinary Session held in Accra, Ghana, from July 18 to 19, 2024, after being recognized by the African Ministers of Information and Communication Technology in June. The strategy proposes several key recommendations, including the establishment of an integrated hardware and software environment specifically designed for artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as emphasizing the creation of an artificial intelligence governance framework, promoting public sector applications, and aligning artificial intelligence with the African Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. As of July 2024, six African countries have developed independent artificial intelligence strategies.

ChainCatcher news, Hong Kong's DAB Legislative Council member Chan Chung-nee stated that he suggests the government improve the compliance and regulatory framework in the Web3 cryptocurrency sector to protect investors' rights and promote market fairness and transparency. By utilizing technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence for risk monitoring and early warning in the Web3 market, and establishing a Web3 industry committee to formulate industry norms and standards, as well as enhancing training for practitioners. "Regulation must be done well to prevent fraud, but we do not want the industry to be overly regulated; a balance must be achieved."

ChainCatcher news, ZK-driven interoperability protocol Union announced on X that Berachain has now launched the Union public testnet. Union will bring Cosmos blue-chip assets such as TIA, ATOM, and DYDX to Berachain for its DeFi application suite.Union is a zero-knowledge infrastructure layer for general messaging, asset transfer, NFTs, and DeFi. It is based on consensus verification and does not rely on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC.

ChainCatcher news, the zero-knowledge infrastructure layer Union released a snapshot emoji on X, implying that the snapshot has been completed.Previous news, Union announced the launch of the public testnet on X and created tasks on Galxe to attract users to join. According to the introduction, Union is a modular interoperability layer for general messaging, asset transfers, NFTs, and DeFi.

ChainCatcher news, the zero-knowledge infrastructure layer Union announced its public testnet is now live on X.According to the Web3 asset data platform RootData, Union is a zero-knowledge infrastructure layer for general messaging, asset transfers, NFTs, and DeFi. It is based on consensus verification and does not rely on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin Magazine, the Taunton firefighters' union will become the fourth union in the United States to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet.

ChainCatcher news, according to Caixin, on Tuesday local time, the European Council officially approved the "Artificial Intelligence Act," which is the world's first comprehensive regulation on artificial intelligence (AI).The European Commission proposed the "Artificial Intelligence Act" in 2021, aiming to protect citizens from the harms of this emerging technology. After multiple rounds of negotiations and consultations, the European Parliament approved the bill in March this year. As the two main legislative bodies of the EU, the European Council and the European Parliament play the roles of the upper house and lower house, respectively. The EU "Artificial Intelligence Act" imposes strict transparency obligations on high-risk AI systems, while the requirements for general AI models are lower.With both legislative bodies having approved the bill, it will be published in the EU Official Journal after being signed by the Presidents of the European Parliament and the European Council, and it will come into effect 20 days after publication.