Lemon Healthcare launches blockchain-based electronic prescription service

Gate Ventures, the investment arm of Gate.io, a global cryptocurrency exchange with its origins in China, has gotten together with Thailand’s Boon Ventures and Movement Labs, to launch a $20 million fund aimed at supporting projects that utilize the Move programming language, as well as interoperability with the Ethereum ecosystem.  Accelerating Move-based blockchain adoptionMovement Labs is a developer of modular Move-based blockchains. A press release published on PR Newswire on Oct. 13 outlined that the firms intend to direct the fund towards a number of key areas. Firstly, its objective will be to accelerate the adoption of Move-based blockchain solutions. Secondly, the fund will be directed towards supporting projects which enhance security and performance in decentralized networks. A further objective is the extension of support to projects which bridge Move and Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) ecosystems. The final key objective has been set out to drive innovation in Web3 infrastructure and applications. Gate Ventures Managing Partner Kevin Yang claimed that the $20 million fund “marks a significant milestone in [the company’s] mission to drive forward-thinking solutions in the Web3 ecosystem.” Yang added that in collaborating with Movement Labs and other forward-thinking entities within the Web3 sector, the company is “paving the way for the future of decentralized technology.”Photo by Nino Steffen on UnsplashMentorship & hackathonsWeb3 startups supported by the fund will be given access to a mentorship program, while hackathon events will also be organized. Furthermore, there will be an opportunity for selected startups to participate in a research grant program relative to blockchain interoperability. Gate Ventures garnered attention within the industry recently, with the announcement in August that it had entered into a partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Blockchain Center. That collaboration has led to the establishment of Falcon Gate Ventures, a $100 million Web3 innovation fund.Last month, the company participated in the Series A funding round of Kroma, an Ethereum layer-2 network project. While interoperability is singled out as a key objective of this fund, Movement Labs has been working towards that goal recently. Last week, the firm appointed an omnichain interoperability protocol project, LayerZero, as an interoperability provider. It’s envisaged that the partnership will enable developers using the Move programming language to create decentralized applications that can run across various blockchain networks, including EVM. While Facebook parent company Meta developed the Move programming language, Movement Labs has worked towards developing its use further. Earlier in the year, Movement partnered with Aptos Labs, a firm that was founded by ex-Meta employees that has built out a network based on Move, in another effort to bring about blockchain interoperability relative to EVM and non-EVM networks. A spokesperson for Movement Labs told Cointelegraph that “the ultimate goal is to create an integrated blockchain environment where developers can build across platforms without sacrificing security or performance.” Back in April, Movement raised $38 million in a Series A financing round which was led by Polychain Capital. At the time, Movement Labs Co-Founder Rushi Manche said that he and his co-founders “started building Movement to increase the velocity of innovation in crypto where the next Facebook can be built on-chain by developers who do not have the resources for large development teams and expensive auditors.”

Indian Railways (IR), the state-owned manager of India’s railway network, plans to issue non-fungible token (NFT)-based train tickets to transport pilgrims to Maha Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious festival. The Hindu festival is of particular significance given that it only occurs once every 144 years. ChainCode Consulting partnership According to a report published by Indian news outlet Pune.news on Jan. 13, IR has collaborated with ChainCode Consulting, a Bangalore-headquartered enterprise blockchain development and consulting firm, to provide the digital tickets. The Polygon blockchain has been chosen as the network upon which the NFT tickets will be minted. The tickets will then be made available to end users via NFTtrace, a real-world assets (RWA) tokenization and traceability platform run by ChainCode Consulting.Photo by Choong Deng Xiang on UnsplashLong-running collaborationService users and railway personnel will be free to check the validity of tickets on the public blockchain. This announcement is just the latest installment of a long-running collaboration between ChainCode Consulting and IR. In March 2024, a similar project was pursued by both parties. On that occasion, the collaboration involved the release of a series of NFT tickets for use on a train line running from Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, to the Indian capital, New Delhi.  In that instance, NFTs were minted on the Hyperledger blockchain. A previous collaboration, earlier in 2024, saw NFTs minted on Polygon for digital tickets covering journeys to the sacred Hindu city of Ayodhya. Commenting on the choice of Polygon relative to this latest collaboration, Alok Gupta, CEO of ChainCode Consulting, stated: “By partnering with IRCTC and leveraging the Polygon blockchain, we are enabling a digital-first experience that complements the spiritual and traditional significance of the Mahakumbh while introducing a new level of engagement through NFTs.” Polygon is an Ethereum ecosystem scaling network. With that, it has fast throughput and low gas fees and it's on this basis that it’s understood that Polygon was chosen in this instance. Aishwary Gupta, global head of payment and fintech at Polygon Labs, the key developer behind the Polygon blockchain, told Cointelegraph that public blockchains are playing an important role in doing away with middlemen and intermediaries.  The Polygon Labs executive stated that at both state and central government levels in India, Polygon has been used on a number of projects. He added: ”With its low cost and high throughput, we are sure that the NFTs being issued around Maha Kumbh Mela would be yet another great success.” $94 billion market opportunityTicketing remains one of the proposed use cases for blockchain technology that has the potential to gain traction. That potential hasn’t gone unnoticed by ticketing industry leader Ticketmaster. In 2023 the company rolled out token-gated ticket sales. The feature enables artists to reward fans who hold NFTs with access to exclusive pre-sale events, prime concert seating and many other incentives and rewards. NFT technology offers a solution to a number of issues experienced within the events industry, including ticket scalping, fake tickets and security issues. The live events business is a $94 billion industry, underscoring the opportunity available to be exploited by innovative NFT-based ticketing startups. 

UAE strengthens regulatory oversight of virtual asset service providersThe Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) and other relevant authorities in the Middle Eastern country have issued new joint guidance for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) operating within the UAE.Photo by Thomas Drouault on UnsplashPushing back against unlicensed VASPsThese guidelines aim to prevent VASPs from operating without proper licenses in the jurisdiction, demonstrative of the country’s efforts in fighting financial crimes and maintaining the integrity of its financial system.The document outlines the penalties for VASPs operating in the UAE without a valid license. They will face civil and criminal sanctions, including financial penalties against the entity, its owners and senior managers. Moreover, the guidance cautions that licensed financial institutions (LFIs), designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) and licensed VASPs that engage with unlicensed VASPs will be subject to law enforcement actions.The National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organizations Committee (NAMLCFTC) is the specific entity responsible for having issued the guidance in conjunction with the central bank.VASP ‘red flags’As part of those guidelines, a list of “red flags” for VASPs has been included. Through reliance on these indicators, it’s hoped that bad acting VASPs can be identified by consumers and other industry stakeholders. The document refers to red flags such as the lack of regulatory licensing, no physical presence in the UAE, pressure being applied by a platform to invest quickly and a lack of regulatory disclosure as items to look out for.Otherwise, the guidance encourages stakeholders to be suspicious of unsolicited contact being employed as a means of operation by a platform, the lack of a record of compliance, poor website and communications and the offer of unrealistic promises.Lastly, the document suggests that people should be observant of any illicit use of virtual currency, the use of fake wallets, engagement in terrorist financing and a lack of consumer protection as red flag items.The new guidance instructs all LFIs, DNFBPs and licensed VASPs to report transactions involving suspicious parties. The guidance also emphasizes that information related to unlicensed virtual asset activities can be reported through whistleblowing mechanisms.Exiting FATF ‘grey list’The release of these guidelines is part of an effort by the UAE to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list.” The grey list indicates deficiencies in a country’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regimes.Improving control mechanisms relative to crypto has been a theme for several countries who are similarly looking to exit the FATF grey list. Last week, it emerged that Turkey is crafting new regulations governing crypto in an effort towards “grey list” removal. Earlier this year, Pakistan announced a renewed ban on cryptocurrency, as part of its efforts to remain off the grey list it had been listed on over an extended period.The UAE was placed on the FATF’s grey list in March 2022 due to AML and CTF deficiencies. However, the country made a commitment to work with the global watchdog to improve its regulatory frameworks in these areas.