Morningstar Ventures has announced an investment in blockchain development company Coti. The specific amount has not been disclosed, but the new funds will be used to support the development of its ecosystem and L2 privacy solution. Coti was founded in 2017 and is a payment-centric L1 platform that is currently transitioning to an Ethereum-based L2 privacy solution. COTI V2 introduces smart contracts using Garbled Circuits, promising faster computation and enhanced privacy.

Jenny Johnson, Chairman and CEO of asset management giant Franklin Templeton, attended a seminar hosted by the Financial Academy in Hong Kong, reiterating that Hong Kong is an important component of its investment strategy. Johnson also expressed optimism about the future prospects of disruptive technology blockchain and acknowledged that it will bring a lot of investment opportunities.

Growing up my family was always moving homes. I've never had somewhere I could really call my own. Like many other people whose families have rented home to home their entire lives, you soon realise how much of a hassle it is to have a lot of belongings. It's why I prefer to throw away a lot of my keepsakes or momentos and while it's nice to be able to look back at something that reminds you of a former time in your life. It soon starts getting impractical. There's no possible way you can hold on to every keepsake you accumulate in your life. You might have visions of sharing some of your favourite memories with your grandkids but most of the time those old drawings, trophies, shirts or whatever other item you find valuable soon get eaten away by the cruel nature of time.

BRICS, a group of nine nations including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, has announced plans to create an independent payment system based on digital currencies and blockchain technology. The move is part of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement framework, which aims to protect against global liquidity pressures and reduce reliance on the US dollar. The payment system will be designed to be convenient, cost-effective, and free from political influence. The BRICS CRA is seen as a competitor to the International Monetary Fund, and recent reports suggest that the group is also working on a multisided payment platform called the BRICS Bridge.

Blockchain security solution CredShields has announced the completion of a $1 million strategic round of financing, with participation from Draper Associates. As of now, the company's total financing has reached $1.8 million. CredShields mainly provides Web3 security services, offering solutions to protect digital assets and ensure the integrity of blockchain-based transactions. The new funds will be used to accelerate the development of its automated and simplified smart contract auditing tool, SolidityScan.

Recently, the "China Blockchain Innovation Application Development Report (2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), which was guided by the Information Development Bureau of the Central Cyberspace Administration and led by the Data and Technology Security Center of the Central Cyberspace Administration, was officially released at the National Blockchain Innovation Application Pilot Summary and Exchange Conference. The "Report" combs through the overall situation of the development of China's blockchain innovation applications in 2023 from the aspects of top-level design, technology application, standard development, and ecological construction, summarizes the main practices and effects of promoting blockchain innovation applications in key areas and representative regions, analyzes the current situation and challenges, and looks forward to future development. At the same time, the Data and Technology Security Center of the Central Cyberspace Administration has launched a collection of blockchain innovation application cases for 2023 nationwide. After preliminary review, re-examination, public announcement and other links, 66 blockchain innovation application cases (including 10 excellent cases and 56 typical cases) were selected and compiled into the "China Blockchain Innovation Application Case Collection (2023)", providing reference for in-depth promotion of blockchain innovation development in various regions and industries.

Harmony has announced that it has resolved the network interruption caused by node validation issues. On February 10th, the Harmony mainnet node got stuck, causing the network to stagnate. This problem can be traced back to an "already known block" error, indicating that there are deeper problems with block and shard state validation. After investigation, the Harmony team found that the root cause was the lack of shard state data required for block validation in snapDB. This led to expired cross-links causing validation failures, causing the network to be stuck in a loop of view changes.

Blockchain gaming platform PlayDapp announced on social media that the PLA smart contract has been suspended and requested a halt in trading to conduct a migration snapshot. Efforts are currently being made to protect holders' assets, and trading is requested to be stopped. Migration will soon take place based on the snapshot.

According to official sources, blockchain game Illuvium plans to launch the game "Illuvium: Overworld" in the second quarter of 2024. It is reported that Illuvium will also release a new game feature, the Illuvial Hunting prototype, aimed at reshaping the user's gaming experience in Overworld.

The early internet was a magical place because it was driven by people and their creativity. Builders knew that whatever they made, they owned — a simple promise that established the right incentives for the technology to flourish. But now, the internet is stagnating and it’s harder than ever for new apps to break through.