Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies fell on Tuesday morning in Asia despite new confidence in blockchain crypto currencies, including the cash and gold-backed digital currency X8, which received Sharia certification by the Shariyah Review Bureau for Islamic investors.
Bitcoin edged down 0.92% to $6405.7 at 11:16PM ET (03:16 GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ethereum slid 1.3% to $211.08 on the Bitifinex exchange.
XRP was the only gainer among major cryptocurrencies, seeing a rise of 1.57% to $0.51795 on the Poloniex exchange.
Litecoin lost 2.81% to $50.323 on the Bitifinex exchange.
Swiss firm X8 AG was granted certification from Islamic scholars for its cash and gold-backed digital currency, a step forward for its plan to expand its business in the Middle East, according to its statement on Monday.
X8 currency is Ethereum-based and backed by eight fiat currencies and gold, aiming to “counter the inflationary headwinds experienced across the global markets.”
“With the changing environment of banking and asset management primarily due to fintech-driven shifts, the market for wealth preservation in Islamic finance is poised to see disruption and it is for this reason that we are seeing an increasing demand for our product in the Islamic markets,” said Francesca Greco, X8’s director, in a statement.
Various reports showed that at least five other exchanges are involved with the Bahrain market, with the first central bank-backed crypto exchange to launch in the Middle East as early as next year.
Elsewhere, Singapore’s monetary authority and Singapore Exchange also developed a settlement system for tokenized assets that can function across different blockchain platforms. The system aims to simplify post-trade processes and shorten settlement cycles, the Ministry of Communications and Information announced on Sunday.
Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, gave his vote of confidence in blockchain technology: “Blockchain technology and asset tokenization are fueling a new wave of innovation globally…the concept of asset tokenization, as well as other learnings gleaned from this project, can potentially be applied to a broad spectrum of the economy.”
Bitcoin exchange Binance’s Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao expects another “bull run” in bitcoin “sooner or later,” he told CNBC.