A U.S. fintech company recently announced the launch of a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, which facilitates fiat-to-crypto payments using "a customizable widget that developers can embed directly into their DEX, NFT platform, wallet, or dApp." According to a blog post, the fintech company "handles all the KYC, payments, fraud, and compliance, removing the need to integrate multiple third-party services." The blog post notes that the fintech company has rolled out support for crypto payouts to 67 countries and has entered into partnerships with several crypto projects, including a blockchain-based music streaming platform, an NFT marketplace and a DeFi wallet provider.

In related news, Bitcoin payments startup Strike recently announced a partnership that will facilitate payments into Africa. The partnership will reportedly enable users to send instant, low-cost transfers to Africa by taking advantage of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, which is a layer-2 payments network built on the Bitcoin Network. According to reports, the feature currently allows U.S. customers to send money to Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.

In a final recent development, a major U.S. derivatives marketplace and CF Benchmarks, a cryptocurrency index provider, recently announced that they will introduce three new DeFi reference rates and real-time indices for Aave, Curve and Synthetix on Dec. 19. According to a press release, the new benchmarks, "together with Uniswap launched earlier this year ... will capture more than 40% of the total value locked in DeFi protocols on the Ethereum blockchain." The new benchmarks will reportedly use pricing data from several major cryptocurrency exchanges.

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