[co-author: Veronica Reynolds]
Solutions Debut for Wine, Farming Data, Media Authenticity and Credentialing
By: Veronica Reynolds
A multinational closures company has announced what it describes as the first European winery that tracks wine products using “connected closures” that leverage near-field communication and blockchain technology. The product reportedly allows customers to verify the authenticity of bottles and obtain detailed information about where the wines are made and in which vineyards the grapes are grown. In related news, a global leader in crop nutrition has partnered with a multinational computing giant to launch a blockchain platform inviting collaboration among food suppliers. The project aims to unify data that is typically dispersed and inaccessible in order to foster trust and provide access to shared data that can increase profits and improve sustainability. However, supply chain blockchain projects are likely to tread water until 2022, according to a Connecticut-based research company, which recently cited the lack of digitization of core aspects of the industry as the primary reason for the delay.
For the past few years, a well-known national news conglomerate has worked on a collaboration with an international computing giant to create the News Provenance Project, which seeks to explore solutions that could reduce the proliferation of misinformation online. The project recently published findings from a proof of concept intended to demonstrate how publishers might leverage blockchain technology to allow consumers of media to view how information and photographs have been changed or tampered with over time.
Another blockchain use case announced this week seeks to leverage blockchain to provide academic credentialing services, allowing graduates and employees to authenticate degrees earned while maintaining control over who can access the information. As this is just one of many recently announced blockchain solutions, it is no surprise that the enterprise blockchain developer community appears to be thriving, with a reported 12-fold increase in the number of engineers between the Q3 2016 and Q4 2019 periods, according to the newly released “Enterprise Blockchain Protocols Evolution Index 2020” report.
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Blockchain Platforms and Crypto Exchanges Launch Products, Announce Developments
By: Robert A. Musiala Jr.
This week, VAKT, a blockchain-based platform for processing energy commodity transactions, announced that it had closed a $5 million investment from a major Saudi Arabian venture capital firm. According to the press release, “The VAKT platform manages physical energy transactions from trade entry to final settlement, eliminating reconciliation and paper-based processes.”
Another recent press release announced the launch of Tether Gold (XAU₮), an ERC20 token product where each token reportedly “represents ownership of one troy fine ounce of physical gold on a specific gold bar.” XAU₮ is reportedly now available for trading on the Bitfinex exchange. In other exchange news, Binance.US recently announced that the exchange will soon offer “staking rewards” on two “proof of stake” cryptocurrencies, ALGO and ATOM. Staking allows owners to deposit their cryptocurrencies in addresses that enable the owner to receive cryptocurrency rewards in exchange for assistance verifying transactions on blockchains that utilize proof-of-stake consensus algorithms.
Late last week, major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced that it had completed an independent SOC 2 Type 2 examination. According to a press release, the exchange completed a SOC 2 Type 1 exam in January 2019. In a final notable development, a report this week provided details on a U.S. patent recently awarded to a major global technology firm for a “self-aware token.” The token would reportedly collect and report data on its own transactions and provenance.
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Foreign Regulators Issue New Regulations and Licenses, WEF Launches Consortium
By: Simone O. Otenaike
The Monetary Authority of Singapore recently announced a new regulation that aims to strengthen consumer protection and encourage the use of digital payment token services. The new regulation, the Payment Services Act, reportedly offers a new flexible regulatory framework and will attempt to bring all digital payment token services under the scope of current anti-money-laundering and counterterrorist-financing rules. Crypto businesses and exchanges based in Singapore will reportedly have a month to register with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and a six-month period to apply for the new payment institution license.
BCB Payments, a company that provides financial services for various cryptocurrency companies, was reportedly awarded an Authorized Payment Institution license by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority earlier this week. With the new license, the firm hopes to attract more cryptocurrency clients in the U.K. and Switzerland.
Late last week, the World Economic Forum announced plans to develop a global consortium for digital currency governance. According to reports, the goal of the consortium is to develop inclusive and interoperable policy solutions to address the existing fragmented regulatory system. The consortium will seek to bring together key stakeholders to develop guiding principles for the public and private sectors as they incorporate the use of digital currencies.
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Alleged BTC-e Operator Extradited, Insurer Traces Ransomware Payment, 51% Attack Reported, Crypto Crimes Report Published
By: Joanna F. Wasick
Late last week, Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen, was extradited from Greece to France on charges including extortion and aggravated money laundering arising from his operation of BTC-e, a cryptocurrency exchange alleged to have helped criminals launder billions of dollars. Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and was held there while France, Russia and the U.S. fought over which country should try him first. Vinnick’s lawyers said that after the proceeding concludes in France, he will be extradited back to Greece and then sent to the U.S. to face similar charges. According to reports, Vinnik has been on a hunger strike to protest his detention and maintains that he is innocent and being persecuted for posing a threat to the international banking system.
Earlier this month, the U.K. High Court of Justice froze 96 bitcoins on Bitfinex due to alleged connections to a ransomware scheme. An unnamed company’s computers had been hijacked by ransomware, and the company’s insurer ultimately paid the cybercriminals 96 BTC. That insurer then hired Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company, to track the bitcoin, which were ultimately traced to an address on the Bitfinex platform. In addition to freezing the cryptocurrency, the court demanded that Bitfinex provide information about the account holder. The case remains ongoing.
Last week, the Bitcoin Gold (BTG) blockchain reportedly fell victim to a 51% attack. During this type of attack, a single entity gains control over half of the network’s mining hashrate (computing power) and can then reverse prior transactions, enabling the attacker to double-spend the coins. More than $70,000 of BTG was double-spent in this particular attack. Other types of cybercrimes are detailed in Chainalysis’ 2020 report, out this month, which provides an overview of crypto crime activity that has occurred over the past year. Focuses of the report include money laundering, ransomware, terrorism financing and darknet markets. The report concludes: “Crypto crime will likely continue to evolve in both scope and technological sophistication, just like cryptocurrency itself.”
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