This week, R3 and a major multinational financial services company announced a partnership to develop and pilot a cross-border payments solution built on blockchain. According to reports, the financial services outfit will be the network operator for clearing and settlement, and R3's Corda technology and ecosystem will support blockchain implementation for the use case.

Reports indicate that the bitcoin futures platform, Bakkt, launched its regulated custodian this week in anticipation of opening bitcoin futures trading later this month. The Blockchain Monitor covered Bakkt and its regulatory approvals here. In related news, documents filed by Bitwise on Wednesday show that the cryptocurrency index and beta fund provider has engaged an American worldwide bank to be the administrator and transfer agent for its proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

This week Gemini announced that it is expanding its cryptocurrency custody solution through its Qualified Custodian, Gemini Trust Company, LLC. Among other new features, it will now support 18 different digital assets. In a final notable development, Blockstack announced that its SEC-qualified token offering has closed with a total of $23 million raised from more than 4,500 individuals and entities.

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