Bitcoin Daily: UK Wants Blockchain Rules With US; Figure Completes $150M In Home Loans Using Blockchain; Celo Starts ‘Alliance’ For App Developers

The Celo Foundation on Wednesday (March 11) rolled out its Alliance For Prosperity with 50 members, according to reports.

The alliance, a Libra competitor, provides an avenue for developers to create decentralized apps based on Celo blockchain technology as well as U.S. stablecoin. Members include Andreessen Horowitz, Anchorage and Bison Trails, among others.

The open-source Celo platform is still in its experimental phase with plans to officially roll out its mainnet next month. According to reports, the biggest element that sets Celo’s network apart from other blockchains is that Celo Dollar stablecoin payments can be sent to phone numbers instead of complex addresses.

In other news, Figure Technologies concluded a $150 million securitization of a collection of home equity lines of credit with the help of blockchain technology, CoinDesk reported.

All of the steps — ranging from the loans’ organization to monthly payments from those who are borrowing money — are run on the blockchain of Figure, as cited in the report.

The process of making loans into bolds that investors buy can look like a “Rube Goldberg machine,” the report states. Figure, however, said it can make the procedure quicker and reduce expenses. Figure CEO Mike Cagney said per the report, “It costs us significantly less to originate loans on blockchain.”

Lewis Cohen, a principal at DLx Law who was not a participant in the transaction, said per the report, “While there are certainly other companies trying blockchain-based securitization, Figure’s project is at minimum a notable and high-profile effort. The future of securitization involves a level of detailed and accurate information about underlying assets that blockchain technology is well suited to provide.”

Meanwhile, Britain’s trade negotiators are seeking to have an impact on the international regulation of blockchain in trade discussions with the United States, CoinDesk reported, citing the U.K.’s Department for International Trade’s (DIT) goals.

The trade broker said it will “seek to deliver” trade terms that are beneficial for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). There are also some requests for tighter cross-border crypto tie-ups in the report.

The CEO of smart contracts API company Clause, Peter Hunn, said the arrangement could be a positive for the blockchain arena. He said per the report, “There is a lot that can be done here to provide standardized interfaces using DLT systems and smart contract code that reduce administration, financial and compliance burdens.”