Gibraltar updates DLT framework to comply with FATF rules

Once again, Gibraltar is taking the lead in crypto regulations. The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has updated its regulations governing the operation of distributed ledger technology (DLT) providers to include the latest Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rules.  The GFSC said this is in response to blockchain’s fast-moving nature, especially as the agency seeks to support companies while protecting consumers. The updated guidance notes includes the latest FATF recommendations around virtual asset service providers (VASP) and the ‘Travel Rule,’ which requires VASPs to collect and transfer customer information in transactions.

Report: Blockchain Patents ‘Skyrocket’ in 2020, Alibaba Owns the Most Crypto Patents

A study from the team at Kisspatent shows that Alibaba Group is the largest blockchain patent holder in 2020 capturing 10x the number of patents held by IBM.

Gibraltar Updates Distributed Ledger Framework to Align With FATF Crypto Regulations

The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has updated its guidance notes for distributed ledger technology (DLT) providers to include recommendations for risk management, as well as clarify aspects around the issuance of digital assets.

EU to see comprehensive crypto regulation by 2024

Crypto continues its trek into the mainstream. The European Union, or EU, plans to incorporate crypto and blockchain technology into its main processes by 2024.  Over the next four years, the economic union aims to firm up fresh regulations that will promote blockchain and digital asset usage for international money transfers, according to details from internal documents that Reuters published Friday.  The documents detailed: “By 2024, the EU should put in place a comprehensive framework enabling the uptake of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and crypto-assets in the financial sector [...] It should also address the risks associated with these technologies.”

By 2024, EU will put in place a comprehensive framework on DLT, crypto-assets

Members of European Union have decided to make use of distributed ledger technology and adopt crypto-assets such as stablecoins, by 2024, in order to introduce new regulations to make cross-border pay The post By 2024, EU will put in place a comprehensive framework on DLT, crypto-assets appeared first on AMBCrypto.

Gibraltar Financial Services Commission Comprehensive Updates to its DLT Regulations

The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has updated its guidance notes for distributed ledger technology (DLT) providers in the country.

Why technology assurances are a must for crafting EU crypto regulation

Why we need regulatory frameworks in the crypto space, with a focus on regulating the financial aspects of cryptocurrency-based operations. When Malta set out to provide a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency sector, policymakers and advisers recognized how blockchain, distributed ledger technology and smart contracts, as well as related technologies, imposed new challenges to providing consumer protection and to fitting within existing legal structures. Immutability of data — and subsequently code, or rather smart contracts — is a desirable feature to provide guarantees to users that data (and smart contracts) cannot be tampered with.

Types of Consensus Algorithms

The main feature of distributed ledger technology is that it lacks a central authority.

The Robonomics token is trading for $95,000 each on Uniswap

Robonomics’ lifetime subscription token is trading for close to six-figures on Uniswap. The highly-anticipated launch of Polkadot’s (DOT) mainnet has seen many smaller crypto assets associated with the project explode recently. Both tokens of the distributed ledger technology (DLT)-powered robotics and Internet-of-Things (IoT) project Robonomics have been among those to surge alongside Polkadot, with the price of its utility token XRT increasing 10 times earlier this month. However, Robonomics’ “lifetime subscription token,” Robonomics Web Services (RWS), has also posted massive gains — becoming the first crypto token to trade for more than $100,000 when it tagged $116,000 in recent weeks. RWS’s extreme price owes to the token’s minute supply, with only 50 coins currently circulating from a maximum supply of just 100 tokens.

Goldman Sachs Is Hiring a New VP of Digital Assets

Goldman Sachs has put the word out it is seeking a new VP in the London-based Digital Assets team within its Global Markets Division. Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs is hiring a new vice president in the Digital Assets team within its Global Markets Division in London. According to a recent job posting on the investment firm’s website, the new VP will work with the Digital Assets team in “defining and executing Goldman Sachs’ distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain efforts firmwide, including any potential initiatives in the cryptocurrency space.” The role requires that any applicants be able to identify opportunities where blockchain and DLT digital assets can add value. The current global head of digital assets for Goldman Sachs is Mathew McDermott, who assumed the role on Aug.

Colombian Technology Ministry Endorses Blockchain and Crypto

Colombian public entities have identified ten areas that would benefit from blockchain solutions. The Colombian Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, or MinTIC, released a first-of-its-kind draft of a guide that calls for the public sector to adopt blockchain technology, including crypto payment-related matters. In the Guide for the use and implementation of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT/Blockchain) in the public sector, MinTIC explains the advantages and disadvantages of implementing DLT within projects related to public entities. The Ministry also pointed out the country "is lagging" in adopting blockchain technology, citing the European Union countries, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Canada. The organizations behind the guide — which includes ViveLab Bogota, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá City Hall, and the National — proposed ten solutions that could be implemented: payments in crypto, land registration, voting, identity data management, supply chains, health records, business records, filing of academic degrees and management of taxes and public tenders. Such solutions aim to remove third-party involvement within the security infrastructure using blockchain technology, which increases the "confidence and transparency" in the data management. Citing Satoshi On the section about cryptocurrencies, the MinTIC quotes the draft "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" — published in 2008 by the person or persons who created Bitcoin (BTC), Satoshi Nakamoto — to explain that such solution expects "to ensure the consumers' protection who invest in cryptocurrencies." There have been attempts to regulate the crypto environment in Colombia, although they were seemingly unsuccessful.

VeChain Partners With Consulting Giant Grant Thornton Cyprus

The enterprise blockchain platform VeChain says it’s teaming up with accounting and consulting giant Grant Thornton Cyprus to bring advanced distributed ledger technology solutions to a wide range of industries.

Fed Is In No Rush With Decision on Digital Dollar - Governor

Lael Brainard. Source: a video screenshot, Youtube, CNBC Television Following speculations about a potential upcoming digital version of the US dollar, an official with the US Federal Reserve revealed yesterday that the central bank is indeed experimenting with distributed ledger technology (DLT), although she stressed that no decision has been made to actually introduce it. The admission that

Animoca Targets Non-Crypto Gamers by Developing Big Brand Games

The CEO of Animoca Brands, Yat Siu discussed his firm’s strategy of bringing the benefits of blockchain technology to non-crypto-native games with loyal audiences. While investment is heating up in the blockchain gaming sector, a common criticism of crypto-powered games has been how to secure users from outside of the cryptocurrency space. Blockchain gaming powerhouse, Animoca Brands, believes that acquiring mainstream games with loyal players and exposing them to the benefits of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) is the best way to attract new audiences into crypto. Cointelegraph spoke to Yat Siu, the chief executive of Animoca Brands, to learn about his firm’s strategy for bridging the gap between the mainstream gaming and crypto worlds. Animoca Brands has quickly emerged as a leading firm within the crypto gaming sector, securing a global licensing agreement with Formula 1 ahead of its F1 Delta Time release, and announcing a $3 million initial exchange offering (IEO) for its title The Sandbox on Binance’s launchpad last week. Siu described The Sandbox as a prime example of how strategic acquisitions have allowed Animoca to capture non-crypto-native audiences and expose them to blockchain technologies. “When we do acquisitions, we're not buying companies that are necessarily blockchain-related,” Siu said.

Coca-Cola Embraces DLT and Ethereum for Supply Chain Efficiency

The partner of Coca-Cola’s largest US-based bottling company is expanding its use of blockchain to enhance efficiency across the beverage company’s supply chain. Coke One North America (CONA), a partner of the largest US-based Coca-Cola bottling company, will use The Baseline Protocol to enhance transparency and reduce friction in “cross-organization supply chain transactions.” The project will see CONA partner with distributed ledger technology (DLT) firms and Baseline Protocol founding members Unibright and Provide to establish a “Coca-Cola Bottling Harbor” — allowing streamlined transactions among both internal bottler-suppliers and external suppliers of raw materials. Coca-Cola bottlers expand blockchain adoption On August 3, Unibright announced CONA’s plans to expand its use of blockchain technology across its supply chain. The announcement notes that the 12-largest North American Coca-Cola bottlers began using a Hyperledger Fabric-based blockchain platform for internal supply chain management last year, driving increased “transparency and efficiency” in bottlers’ intricate supply chains. The new project will see CONA expand its use of DLT beyond its internal network to incorporate external suppliers, such as raw material vendors distributing cans and bottles. In addition to facilitating untamperable data recording and “complex inter-organization business process automation,” the announcement notes that the Baseline Protocol can be deployed for asset token and decentralized finance (DeFi) use-cases.  CONA expects to publish results in Q4 Data will be ‘baselined’ to the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet to create “an integrated, private, distributed integration network” for CONA. Speaking to Cointelegraph, ConsenSys developer and Baseline Protocol co-founder John Wolpert described ‘baselining’ as “a technique for using the public Ethereum Mainnet to maintain consistency between different records and systems of r

DLT Passport, Scammers Preying on Retirement Funds + More News

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news. Blockchain and DLT news ShareRing, an enterprise-ready platform using distributed ledger technology, has launched the first private contact-tracing passport that can be integrated with e-visa on arrival systems

Malaysia’s Stock Exchange Eyes Blockchain for Bond Market Digitization

Known as Project Harbour, the initiative will use distributed ledger technology as a register for a bond marketplace.

Dutch Regulator Approves Tokenized Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform

The Netherlands’ financial regulator has approved the blockchain-powered real estate crowdfunding platform Max Crowfund. Max Crowdfund, a blockchain-powered real estate crowdfunding platform connecting property developers and investors, has received approval from the Financial Markets Authority in the Netherlands. With approval from the AFM, Max Property Group — the platform’s parent company — will commence the platform’s roll-out in partnership with distributed ledger technology provider Jelurida. Investors pay a one-time fee equal to 0.1% of their investment, in addition to monthly administration fees of 0.1%.

Eftpos Australia Launches DLT Micropayments Pilot With Hedera

Australia’s leading point-of-sale technology provider, Eftpos, is launching a proof-of-concept exploring DLT-powered micropayments in partnership with Hedera. Eftpos Australia, the country’s leading point-of-sale technology provider, has announced a partnership with distributed ledger technology (DLT) firm Hedera to conduct a micropayments proof-of-concept using an Australian dollar stablecoin. Eftpos chief executive Stephen Benton described the collaboration with Hedera as part of a broader digital payments innovation strategy intended to modernize Australia’s payment sector. The pilot aims to demonstrate how micropayments can be used to offer innovative payment solutions, such as “pay per page content or streaming services on a pay-per-second basis.” The proof-of-concept will be powered by an Australian dollar stablecoin through Hedera’s consensus service. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Robert Allen, an ecex at Eftpos and the deputy chair of Blockchain Australia, described the proof-of-concept as part of a diversification strategy the firm has been developing “over the last year or two.” “Diversification for Eftpos means getting on the front foot in terms of the future, it's about how innovation is flooding into the payments space, and how we can stay one step ahead of all of that,” Allen said. Allen said that Eftpos sought to partner with Hedera a few months ago due to their “professionalism, enterprise-grade technology, and growing governance council.” “You can’t really argue against a governing council that are actually part-owners of a company, [and] that includes Google, FIS, Boeing, Tata, Deutsche Telekom and the list goes on,” he added. DLT micropayments to disrupt economy Allen discussed some of the applications that the payments firm envisages for its stablecoin-powered micropayments system in the future, emphasizing opportunities for “pay-per-view on a page-by-page basis” and “getting behind paywalls a

Gibraltar Gov't Partners With Post-COVID DLT Hackathon

Gibraltar Finance, the business development arm of Gibraltar’s government, will provide support to the forthcoming Post-COVID Hackathon. Gibraltar Finance has been announced as an official partner of the upcoming Post-COVID Hackathon — a global, online initiative intended to create open-source solutions addressing the health, social and economic challenges posed by the post-COVID-19 era. The event is expected to see participation from hundreds of teams internationally building in the distributed ledger technology (DLT) sector, with over 200 industry experts slated to assist participants. Albert Isola, Gibraltar’s Minister for Digital and Financial Services, expressed pride in the government’s involvement with the hackathon, stating that “the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a range of new global challenges.” “I am excited and look forward to seeing the dynamic solutions that will arise from this initiative, geared towards helping global communities adjust to the post-pandemic world.

Tim Draper: Tokenize Masterpieces to Disrupt the Art Auction Duopoly

Venture capitalist and Bitcoin investor Tim Draper believes that blockchain technology is driving much-needed disruption in the art industry. Famed Silicon Valley and crypto investor Tim Draper believes that distributed ledger technology is transforming the art industry. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Draper emphasized the benefits that many of the core utilities of DLT offer to the art sector, such as immutability, transparency, and traceability: “People are going to be able to tokenize their art, and that will make buyers of art more secure in their purchase decision, and make artists happier about knowing where their art is and who owns it.” Fractional ownership disrupts art industry Draper also noted the emergence of “a cottage industry growing for people to own shares in masterpieces and have it stored or ‘rented’ by people who want to put it on display but can’t afford to buy it outright.” The investor predicts that DLT will drive a revolution in how art is bought and sold, emphasizing the potential for greater decentralization to upend the long standing hierarchy in the art industry. “I suspect that Sotheby’s and Christie’s have had their duopoly long enough, and now there is an opportunity for an upstart to break into the art world with a new approach around the blockchain,” he said. “Blockchain will make art trading more flexible and more secure.” Charity art auction for COVID019 On June 25, Draper delivered a keynote address for Art&Co, the world’s largest online auction in support of COVID-19, on the subject of the intersection between art and DLT. “It’s a partnership made in heaven,” said Draper. “

CFTC Committee to Hold Remote Meeting on DLT and Digital Currencies

An upcoming US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, advisory group meeting will host talk on a number of topics, including Distributed Ledger Technology, or DLT, digital assets and trading.

DLT Voting Would Likely Benefit Democrats: UNSW Professor

Professor Richard Holden thinks exploring distributed ledger technology for voting in US elections could put voter fraud lawsuits to bed. Richard Holden, an economics professor at the University of New South Wales Business School, says using distributed ledger technology could allay Republican concerns over mail-in voter fraud — but would likely benefit the Democratic Party.  Holden spoke at the Unitize conference on July 9 on The Law and Economics of Blockchain.

Institutions Will Drive Mass Adoption of Blockchain in Finance, Says Expert

Blockchain experts discuss how institutions will play a major role in the mass adoption of blockchain-based financial infrastructure. Benjamin Soh, founder of blockchain development firm STACS, said that institutional players, not business-to-consumer companies, will drive the mass adoption of financial infrastructure built on blockchain technology.  During the Unitize virtual conference, Soh said that if they could bring bank institutions to use the blockchain, millions of bank customers will automatically be a part of the blockchain finance infrastructure without them even knowing. Providing bank customers with a blockchain-based wallet while still using the traditional payment gateways will be the necessary first step towards bringing the efficiencies of distributed ledger technology to the financial system, Soh added. Asia is leading in blockchain finance Speaking about the development of blockchain-based finance in Singapore, Soh noted that except for Switzerland, there are hardly any other European countries that are as supportive of blockchain finance as Singapore.  According to Soh, Singapore is the closest to fully replacing the current financial infrastructure with one based on distributed ledger technology. He also highlighted that the governments of other Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, and South Korea were taking strong initiatives to bring distributed ledger technology into finance.  Reflecting on a similar point, Vinay Mohan, one of the early members of ConsenSys Singapore, said that the more SMEs and retail users gain access to democratized finance, the more mature Asia’s financial infrastructure will become.  Mohan stated that due to the complex nature of current banking infrastructure, 70% of South-East Asian SMEs struggle with proper digital financial services and the advent of blockchain and central bank digital currencies may pave the way to deliver banking services to those Asian businesses and

Gibraltar Watchdog Grants License to Belarusian Crypto Platform

Currency.com obtained a distributed ledger technology license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, or GFSC, issued a new distributed ledger technology license to the Belarus-based cryptocurrency platform, Currency.com, on July 6. According to the announcement, the platform will be allowed to use DLT to store or transmit value belonging to others in connection with the provision of dealer and custody services thanks to the license granted by the GFSC. Jonathan Squires, CEO of Currency.com, gave some insight into the company’s intentions for the license: “Our operations in Gibraltar are part of our commitment to expanding across the globe, offering a blockchain-backed, highly regulated and secure service designed to give customers the flexibility they’ve been looking for.

This Is What EU Wants From Blockchain and DLT

European Union recently rewarded six blockchain / distributed ledger technology (DLT) projects, showing its interest in teams that aim to solve sustainability challenges. The European Innovation Council (EIC), has awarded EUR 5 million (USD 5.7 million) to six winners of its call to propose ideas for "scalable, deployable and high-impact blockchain solutions for

Manga Book Promises to Teach Readers about Basics of Blockchain

The link between blockchain, crypto and manga continues to deepen in Japan – where a software company has published a new book explaining all the intricacies of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technology using the power of manga. Entitled “Blockchain through Manga” (rough translation), the book is the brainchild of software and computer network systems

ASX Under Pressure to Further Delay Rollout of DLT Settlement System

The blockchain-based clearing and settlement system from Australia's biggest stock exchange faces further delays if unhappy firms get their way.

Switzerland Won’t Amend Tax Law in Regard to Blockchain in Near Future

Switzerland does not need to amend its current tax legislation to cover blockchain-based arrangements, the Federal Council believes. Switzerland’s existing tax law is applicable to developments in the blockchain industry, the Swiss Federal Council said. According to the federal authority, Switzerland does not need to amend its existing tax legislation in regard to blockchain and distributed ledger technology, or DLT. No legislative action is necessary regarding blockchain industry In a June 19 meeting, the Federal Council has addressed a report on the need to amend Switzerland’s tax law in response to DLT and blockchain developments.

Microsoft, EU-Based Universities Say Blockchain Could Help Meet Paris Agreement Carbon Goals

A new paper from Microsoft and universities in Germany and Denmark sets out how blockchain technology could overcome issues with providing an international carbon credit market.