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SpaceTravel to partner with UnionPay, The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia & Bali Tourism Promotion Board to Bolster Bali Tourism Industry through launch of BUBU App

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SpaceTravel, UnionPay International, and the Bali Tourism Promotion Board, supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Singapore, yesterday officially kicked off their partnership to offer BUBU, a lifestyle app for tourists in Bali. Singapore-based startup, SpaceTravel, will develop this app as this partnership hopes to embrace digitisation to bolster the Bali tourism industry through its recovery.

This partnership was announced at a webinar yesterday “Digitisation to Unlock Tourism Potential Post-Covid”. The event was attended by His Excellency Ngurah Swajaya, the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Singapore, Mr. Muhammad Neil El Himam, Director for Application & Governance of Digital Economy – Ministry of Tourism and Economy Creative of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. Putu Saroyini, Vice-Chair Bali Tourism Promotion Board, Mr. Wenhui Yang, General Manager, UnionPay International (UPI) Southeast Asia, Mr .Ping Teck Huat, CEO of SpaceTravel Pte Ltd, and other distinguished guests.

BUBU is an all in one application that allows tourists to Bali to navigate, book accommodation, transport and look for merchant offers, whilst giving merchants the ability to gain insights about and reward consumers when they spend.

In his opening address, Ambassador Ngurah said that since the pandemic Covid-19, the government has developed and rolled out a comprehensive strategy for the development of the Indonesian Tourism in line with the Cleanliness, Health, and Safety (CHS) protocol.

“The plan to reopen is gradual and emphasizes the importance of developing confident, safety, and quality tourism. Reopening borders has been discussed in the ASEAN context,” he said.

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Following him, Mr. Neil El Himam shared with attendees several marketing strategies which tapped on digitisation to increase quality tourist visits to Indonesia in the future. This included Indonesia Care, which taps on VR, Big Data, and blockchain to promote virtual, seamless tourism to future tourists to Bali.

“While we don’t hope to replace the in person experience, tourists can now preview what they will be seeing on the trip before they embark on it,” he remarked.

Similarly, Dr. Putu Saroyini stressed the use of mobile applications to engage the Chinese tourist market, which accounted for close to 20 percent of the country’s 18,000 daily visitors pre-Covid. Dr. Putu highlighted that the BUBU App taps on the human desire to gain rewards for their actions, which will encourage them to spend while travelling.

“This gamification feature will promote a higher user engagement, which I believe will make it the ideal choice for travellers when they come to Bali,” she said.

This was a sentiment echoed by Mr. Ping, who urged offline businesses to be quick in adopting digitisation to reach out to potential tourists while observing safety.

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“With the help of local tourism boards and UnionPay, we are able to engage these merchants directly and connect them with potential customers in a contactless and hygienic way,” he said.

Mr. Wenhui Yang, General Manager of UPI Southeast Asia further added, “We are pleased to be part of this partnership, to bring more value to our Cardholders, merchant acquirers, and Bali merchants alike.

“This app makes it easier for tourists to not only find their way around Bali, but to easily find and pay for exciting merchant offers when visiting the famed island of the Gods,” he said.

In Bali, the province’s success in fighting COVID-19 has resulted in the Indonesian government expressing interest in reopening its door on 11 September 2020. This has caused much excitement for industry players, who see this as an opportunity for business recovery and even growth.

UnionPay is accepted at almost all merchants in Bali now, and in many parts of Indonesia. UnionPay serves the world’s largest Card base of over 8 billion and is one of the fastest growing international payment networks, now accepted in 179 countries and regions.

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SpaceTravel also plans to conduct other webinars like best practices for businesses to stay connected to consumers during this challenging time, dialogues with local businesses on how they pivoted to ensure the proper roll-out of the COVID-19 safe distancing measures, and training on tools across the Facebook platform.

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World Chess and the Algorand Foundation propose leveling the playing field with a “chess passport”

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In a whitepaper published today, World Chess (LSE: CHSS) and the Algorand Foundation (ALGO) conceptualize a new blockchain-based system that would establish secure, private, and verifiable credentials for global sports organizations, including chess. Grandmaster Evgenij Miroshnichenko contributed to the paper alongside the Algorand Foundation and World Chess.

The move comes as interest in chess hits a new high, driven by popular television series on Netflix and the BBC, the 2024 awarding of the youngest-ever world chess champion, and the inclusion of chess for the first time in the Esports World Cup later this year.

If adopted, the system would allow chess players to independently manage their identity and credentials across all chess platforms and organizations with a single decentralized ID, and one login credential for everywhere they play. They could then easily “port” their identity, achievements, records of play, rankings, and rewards across online chess platforms, as well as seamlessly from the digital world to in-person games and tournaments. This provides them with a much easier way to prove their identity, no matter their status or documentation; it would also reduce tournament application times significantly. Chess organizations would then be able to welcome even more players to their competitions, including those who have built their chess career solely online, as well as players who have previously only competed in tournaments held by other organizations.

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Among other benefits, the adoption of a “global chess passport” would make it much easier for organizers and chess clubs and federations alike to onboard and register players, both online and offline.

Another benefit of the proposed system is to safeguard fair play. As chess becomes increasingly integrated into e-sports and online competitions, the use of AI programs or player fraud (one player representing another) is an increasing concern. Being able to confirm player integrity (including whether they have been banned for cheating on any other platform) ensures credibility of chess contests and competitions. These verifiable credentials also preserve player privacy. They can be used to confirm player eligibility and relevant identity data without providing access to sensitive documentation, such as passports. Finally, identity verification also prevents fraud in tournament payouts. Phishing and other attempts to steal winnings are on the rise; this ensures only the rightful winner can access their prize funds.

“I think that chess needs its version of the global e-version of drivers license. It’s a global game, and using blockchain for the benefit of having one universal independently verifiable ID is something that both players and organizers will certainly benefit from,” says Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess.

“This initiative is not just about chess; it’s about the future of fair play and verifiable achievement across all sports and esports,” said Bruno Martins, principal architect at the Algorand Foundation and co-author of the whitepaper. “Chess has a rich history of proving the usefulness of new technologies. In this case, World Chess is showing the integrity, privacy, and portability of records in any competitive arena is not only possible – it’s in the best interest of every player, everywhere.”

Statista estimates that the market for esports should reach $4.8 billion in 2025, with nearly 900 million players by 2029 (source), all of which could benefit from better cross-platform registration for online and in-person competitions.

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The full whitepaper and more information about the proposed open-source system can be found here. Chess platforms, esports organizations and other parties interested in contributing to the project can get involved by contacting [email protected].

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Blaqclouds Board Approves 30-Day Revenue Acceleration and Ecosystem Monetization Plan

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Blocks & Headlines: Today in Blockchain – April 23, 2025 – EDPB, Binance, MicroCloud, Nile Coin, TruaBroker

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Welcome to Blocks & Headlines, your daily op-ed–style briefing on the most significant developments in blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency industry. Today’s dispatch spotlights landmark privacy guidelines from the European Data Protection Board, Malaysia’s engagement with Binance’s founder to turbocharge digital finance, a groundbreaking blockchain reconstruction solution from MicroCloud Hologram, the impending launch of Nile Coin on Solana by Hyperscale Data’s subsidiary BitNile.com, and Trua’s AI-driven TruaBroker compliance platform. These stories underscore how regulation, infrastructure innovation, token launches, and compliance automation are shaping Web3’s next chapter.


1. EU’s Privacy Guardrails: EDPB Proposes Blockchain Data Access Guidelines

Source: Decrypt

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has published draft guidelines aimed at reconciling blockchain’s immutable architecture with GDPR’s privacy mandates. Key directives include avoiding on-chain storage of personal data when it conflicts with Data Protection by Design and by Default, conducting Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for high-risk processing, and implementing organizational and technical measures to limit default data access to an “indefinite number of persons” Decrypt.

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Op-Ed Insight:These guidelines mark a pivotal moment. By mandating privacy-by-design and off-chain anchoring of sensitive information, the EDPB effectively pressures projects to adopt hybrid architectures—where on-chain transparency coexists with off-chain confidentiality. While defenders of pure decentralization decry potential censorship, privacy advocates hail these guardrails as essential to prevent authoritarian misuse of immutable ledgers. Ultimately, projects that bake data protection into their smart contracts and storage layers will secure both regulatory compliance and user trust.


2. Malaysia Taps Binance’s CZ for a Blockchain Finance Overhaul

Source: Bitcoin News

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has initiated high-level discussions with Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance’s founder and former CEO, to position Malaysia as Southeast Asia’s preeminent hub for tokenization and digital finance. The dialogue focuses on leveraging blockchain to modernize capital markets, streamline cross-border payments, and foster regulatory sandboxes that attract global Web3 startups Beamstart.

Op-Ed Insight: Engaging CZ signals Malaysia’s ambition to leapfrog legacy financial architectures by importing Binance’s exchange expertise and compliance playbooks. Yet success hinges on crafting balanced regulations that encourage innovation without compromising investor protection. If Malaysia can marry CZ’s technical insights with proactive oversight—such as clear licensing pathways for decentralized exchanges—it could catalyze a shift in regional capital flows from traditional finance hubs like Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.


3. MicroCloud Hologram’s VSS-Powered Blockchain Reconstruction Solution

Source: PR Newswire

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MicroCloud Hologram Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLO) unveiled an innovative blockchain reconstruction solution that employs Verifiable Secret Sharing (VSS) technology to split and distribute private key shares across distributed nodes. Four core components—VSS-based key sharding, redundant node storage, dynamic participant verification, and incentive-driven reward/penalty mechanisms—enable rapid, trustless restoration of blockchain data integrity following attacks or node failures PR Newswire.

Op-Ed Insight: As DeFi and on-chain finance proliferate, uninterrupted availability and data consistency have become paramount. MicroCloud’s VSS approach transforms reconstruction from a centralized recovery process into a decentralized protocol, minimizing reliance on any single custodian. This paradigm could redefine disaster-recovery benchmarks: imagine an exploited smart contract whose state is instantly rebuilt through pre-sharded secrets, preserving transactional continuity without manual key escrow.


4. BitNile.com to Launch Nile Coin on Solana Blockchain

Source: GlobeNewswire

Hyperscale Data, Inc. (NYSE American: GPUS) announced that its social gaming subsidiary BitNile.com will launch Nile Coin on Solana on May 1, 2025. Solana’s high throughput and low fees position it as an optimal platform for BitNile’s gaming ecosystems, where Nile Coin will fuel in-game economies, reward completions, and facilitate peer-to-peer transactions. Further details on tokenomics and utility are expected in the coming weeks GlobeNewswire.

Op-Ed Insight: While new token launches are ubiquitous, Nile Coin’s Solana-native design leverages one of the fastest blockchains for scalable micro-transactions—a critical requirement for social gaming. Success will depend on robust token utility, partnership integrations, and community incentives. If BitNile.com can embed Nile Coin across multiple entertainment verticals (e-sports, virtual concerts, NFTs), it could ignite a network-effect flywheel, bolstering both user engagement and on-chain liquidity.

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5. TruaBroker: Automating Compliance with AI-Powered Trust Credentials

Source: PR Newswire (via Benzinga)

Trua, a leader in digital trust credentials, launched TruaBroker™, a cloud-based platform that automates compliance for broker-dealers and Registered Investment Advisors. Built on Trua’s patented Continuous Evaluation engine, TruaBroker delivers real-time monitoring of FINRA, SEC, and NFA records; identity verification; and continuous credential checks—all without IT integration. Its AI algorithms flag licensing gaps, disciplinary histories, and civil actions, enabling firms to maintain audit readiness and mitigate risk proactively Benzinga.

Op-Ed Insight: In an era when on-chain transactions intersect with regulated financial activities, seamless compliance is non-negotiable. TruaBroker’s model—issuing reusable, verifiable digital credentials anchored by blockchain—offers a blueprint for how KYC/AML processes can evolve into dynamic, trustless workflows. As DeFi platforms eye tokenized securities and on-ramps, integrating similar continuous-evaluation mechanics could become a competitive differentiator, blending self-sovereign identity with regulatory assurance.


Conclusion
Today’s headlines illustrate blockchain’s multifaceted evolution: from regulatory frameworks enforcing privacy and consumer rights, to infrastructure innovations that ensure resilience; from national strategies enlisting industry titans to drive tokenization, to platform launches forging new digital economies; and from compliance automation transforming institutional trust to AI-powered credentialing.

As the space matures, successful projects will be those that:

  1. Embed privacy and compliance by design—aligning with GDPR and global regulations.

  2. Invest in self-healing architectures—leveraging cryptographic primitives like VSS.

  3. Cultivate vibrant token ecosystems—anchored on high-performance chains.

  4. Adopt continuous, AI-driven governance—bridging the gap between Web3 innovation and traditional financial oversight.

Stay tuned to Blocks & Headlines for incisive commentary and daily updates on the blockchain stories that shape tomorrow’s decentralized future.

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The post Blocks & Headlines: Today in Blockchain – April 23, 2025 – EDPB, Binance, MicroCloud, Nile Coin, TruaBroker appeared first on News, Events, Advertising Options.

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