Despite its history of security and technical issues, blockchain voting platform Voatz has reportedly been deployed successfully at the Michigan Democratic Party State Nominating Convention. More than 1,900 delegates at the virtual convention, held from Aug. 29-30, were able to nominate candidates using Voatz for the state’s Supreme Court, state Board of Education, and boards at state universities. The event was held online due to restrictions caused by the pandemic. “There were so many unique challenges with this year’s convention because of the pandemic, but the Voatz platform eased many…
Month: September 2020
Heads of Binance.US and eToro grace Fortune’s top 40 under 40 list for 2020
Fortune picked out a number of individuals deemed as most influential for 2020, listing 40 different names across five separate sectors. Binance.US CEO, Catherine Coley, and eToro CEO Yoni Assia found their names on the list, published on Sept. 2, under the finance section. Technology, politics, healthcare and media made up the other sections, each holding the top 40 people under the age of 40 — putting a total of 200 individuals on the list across all sectors. Binance.US serves as the United States’ regulatory-friendly crypto trading option under exchange powerhouse…
CEO shares an early adoption story about selling Bitcoin inside various Taco Bells
Following an earlier endeavor selling Bitcoin (BTC) at a premium on eBay in 2015, Chris Maurice, CEO of African crypto exchange Yellow Card, made a small business selling the asset at multiple Taco Bell locations. Maurice worked with his friend Justin Poiroux on the endeavor. Poiroux, who later co-founded the Yellow Card exchange, first explained Bitcoin to Maurice about two years prior. “We would post on Craigslist and on LocalBitcoins, and we would say, ‘Hey we have Bitcoin, come meet up with us and give us cash and we’ll give you the Bitcoin,’” Maurice told…
US federal court calls NSA’s mass phone data collection illegal
In the final decision on a criminal case that began a decade ago, an appellate court has said that the National Security Agency’s phone data collection practices were in fact illegal. They did, however, uphold the convictions in the case. According to the 9th Circuit Court’s Sept. 2 opinion in USA v. Moalin: We conclude that the government may have violated the Fourth Amendment and did violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) when it collected the telephony metadata of millions of Americans. The court continued to attack the program,…
Blockchain technology, financial and self-sovereign digital identities
Imagine if it were possible for your identity to be available at any time, where third parties could only access it with your consent. The discourse that everyone has the right to own their digital identity has been gaining momentum around the world. And the path to this is the development of “decentralized digital identity” solutions. What is a self-sovereign identity? Here, it is important to clarify that according to the concept of self-sovereign digital identity, owners (holders) of the digital identity are responsible for the control and management of…
Combatting the ‘Death Note’-inspired ransomware
There is still an element of the crypto “Wild West” in 2020, as cryptocurrency stolen through hacks and ransomware attacks is still being cashed out on major exchanges around the world. Ransomware attacks have proved to be a lucrative cash cow for cybercriminals over the past few years, with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation estimating that over $144 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen between October 2013 and November 2019. A press conference held by the FBI in February revealed the huge amount paid out in ransom to…
Swiss crypto bank Sygnum scores approval for digital asset trading
Sygnum, a major cryptocurrency bank in Switzerland, is preparing to finally introduce digital asset trading after receiving regulatory approval. On Sept. 1, Sygnum announced that it received regulatory approval from the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), allowing the company to expand its services to a digital asset trading facility. The new approval enables Sygnum to “cover the complete life-cycle of a security,” starting from services like primary issuance, settlement, and custody to secondary trading. As part of Sygnum’s new capabilities, users now have access to instant settlement via the Sygnum-issued…
Seoul police reportedly investigating South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Bithumb
Seoul police have reportedly raided Bithumb, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea. According to a report by local publication Seoul Shinmun, an intelligence crime unit at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has reportedly conducted search and seizure investigations at Bithumb’s office in the Gangnam District on Sept. 2. As reported, the latest checks are purportedly connected with an ongoing police investigation involving Lee Jung Hoon, chairman of board at Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings. The executive has reportedly been under investigation for alleged economic fraud involving the token known…
$27M of Sushi funds could disappear at the drop of a chef’s hat
Analysis of hot DeFi protocol SushiSwap’s smart contracts has revealed that as much as $27 million worth of the native token is in an admin wallet that could be dumped without warning. Data analyst and partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, Adam Cochran, took a deep dive into the administrative wallet structure of SushiSwap – a protocol that has gained a lot of traction, and a billion dollars of liquidity, in the past few days. The analysis of the Uniswap clone, emerged from a revelation by Twitter user Sasa (@cicnos1) that the…
Vienna and Singapore stock exchanges embrace Bitcoin and Ethereum
The Vienna Stock Exchange, or Wiener Börse, has become just the third “official regulated market” worldwide to list a Bitcoin (BTC) product. The exchange listed 21 Shares AG’s Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded products (ETPs), ‘ABTC’ and ‘AETH’, on September 1. Exciting news today, our #Bitcoin and #Ethereum ETPs — ABTC and AETH are the first crypto-centric ETPs admitted on @wiener_boerse, the Vienna Stock Exchange, one of the most established exchanges in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe! https://t.co/jX3UOnsytA — 21Shares (@21Shares_) September 1, 2020 Thomas Rainer, Wiener Börse’s head of…