The co-founder of Ripple, Chris Larsen, along with his wife and Rippleworks, donated $25 million in digital currency to a California university, Coindesk reported. San Francisco State University called the donation the “largest gift ever made in a digital asset to a university in the U.S.” in an announcement. The funding would reportedly be allocated to the College of Business and would also go toward two new faculty chairs. The university’s president, Leslie E. Wong, said in the announcement, “This groundbreaking gift will position the College of Business as an evolving, distinctly diverse and industry-relevant epicenter of business innovation and entrepreneurship.”
In other news, Western Union is collaborating with blockchain firm Coins.ph for Philippines remittances, Coindesk reported. Through the arrangement, domestic and international payments land in the digital wallets of the “over 5 million” users of Coins.ph. The crypto firm’s co-founder and CEO, Ron Hose said, according to reports, “There are many overseas Filipino workers who send money back home regularly and are always looking for additional remittance options that will make it most convenient for their loved ones to receive money.”
On another note, digital currency exchange owner Quadriga Fintech Solutions Corp. has received the green light from a Canadian court to move to a process for bankruptcy from creditor protection, Bloomberg reported. Quadriga is said to owe customers $195 million or C$260 million following the death of founder Gerald Cotten, who reportedly didn’t tell someone how to access client digital currencies. At the beginning of April, Ernst & Young said in a report that the likelihood that Quadriga comes out of restructuring “appears remote” and that asset recovery investigation could be handled better in bankruptcy.
And BMW, as well as General Motors, are getting behind the blockchain to share data for autonomous cars, Coindesk reported. Exploratory work is reportedly done through a consortium that was put together last year called the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI). A General Motors manager, Michael Filipowski, told the outlet, “I am excited to chair the AVDM working group and kick off the development of our collaborative efforts with the other OEM [original equipment manufacturers] and supplier MOBI members.”
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