[co-author: Veronica Reynolds]
Blockchain Clearing, Settlement, Custody and Capital Markets Developments
By: Diana J. Stern
This week, R3 and a major multinational financial services company announced a partnership to develop and pilot a cross-border payments solution built on blockchain. According to reports, the financial services outfit will be the network operator for clearing and settlement, and R3’s Corda technology and ecosystem will support blockchain implementation for the use case.
Reports indicate that the bitcoin futures platform, Bakkt, launched its regulated custodian this week in anticipation of opening bitcoin futures trading later this month. The Blockchain Monitor covered Bakkt and its regulatory approvals here. In related news, documents filed by Bitwise on Wednesday show that the cryptocurrency index and beta fund provider has engaged an American worldwide bank to be the administrator and transfer agent for its proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
This week Gemini announced that it is expanding its cryptocurrency custody solution through its Qualified Custodian, Gemini Trust Company, LLC. Among other new features, it will now support 18 different digital assets. In a final notable development, Blockstack announced that its SEC-qualified token offering has closed with a total of $23 million raised from more than 4,500 individuals and entities.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Payment Applications Continue to Expand Services
By: Robert A. Musiala Jr.
According to two recent announcements, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world as measured by trading volume, will launch U.S. operations “in the coming weeks” and “will open account registration … on Wednesday, September 18, 2019.” According to another recent report, BUSD, Binance’s new stablecoin, which will be backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars, will be made available for trading on a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange beginning next week.
This week the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) published new guidance on stablecoins. According to the press release, “The requirements under supervisory law may differ depending on which assets (e.g. currencies, commodities, real estate or securities) the ‘stable coin’ is backed by and the legal rights of its holders.” FINMA also confirmed that it had received a request from the Libra Association “for an assessment of how the supervisory authority would classify the planned Libra project.” At a conference this week for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a French official said, “[W]e cannot authorise the development of Libra on European soil.” The French official advocated creation of a “public digital currency” to compete with the proposed Libra project.
In Japan, late last week the country’s financial regulator granted a cryptocurrency exchange license to an affiliate firm of a popular instant messaging app. According to another recent report, the highly anticipated Telegram Open Network blockchain project is due to launch by the end of October. Also, this week the Stellar Development Foundation announced that it will “airdrop” 2 billion XLM tokens into the accounts of users of another popular encrypted messaging app.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
Blockchain Pilots for Mortgages, Recycling, Supply Chain and Digital Identity
By: Simone O. Otenaike
Late last week, one of the nation’s leading mortgage companies successfully originated a loan on Provenance, a blockchain platform that reportedly allows lenders to originate, service and finance loans with lower costs and reduced risks throughout the loan process. The mortgage company will originate home equity line of credit loans through Figure, a SaaS that offers borrowers the ability to complete the lending process digitally and access their funds in days. Also this week, a digital logistics firm, Marine Transport International, launched Traca – a blockchain-based tool that reportedly enables recycling companies to relay essential data to value chain stakeholders (e.g., trash producers, recyclers, regulators and processing centers) in an accelerated time frame. Traca’s first trial reportedly cut administrative processing times from a few hours to minutes during the transport of used paper containers to Thailand from England.
A global professional services firm recently partnered with TruTrace Technologies to deliver a blockchain-based traceability solution for the cannabis industry. TruTrace’s technology reportedly collects and stores plant-testing data and genomic verification using a blockchain-powered database. Also this week, another leading global professional services firm released a report on blockchain technology in the industrial manufacturing sector. Topics addressed in the report include blockchain solutions to address supply chain transparency, track credentials of key personnel, and improve audit and compliance measures. According to the report, the industrial manufacturing sector is ranked second to financial services among industries leading the way on blockchain.
In international news, the government of Catalonia announced plans to develop IdentiCAT, a decentralized identity platform for its citizens. The Catalonian government’s new self-sovereign system reportedly seeks to allow any user to verify the legal age of a citizen with the ID system, without the citizen providing either his or her birth date or place of birth. IdentiCAT ultimately aims to empower citizens to control and manage their own identities with complete privacy.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
Cryptomining Malware Found in Study Materials, Other Malware Uses Bitcoin to Proliferate
By: Veronica Reynolds
A global cybersecurity company recently reported that cryptomining malware hidden in digital textbook downloads was the second most common type of malware spread under the guise of study materials. The malware, Win32.Agent.ifdx, is a program that opens a text file when launched to trick the user into thinking the file is benign. Once installed, the malware can download other pieces of malware, including cryptominers that allow hackers to generate profits through use of the host’s processing power.
According to another recent report, the Bitcoin blockchain is being used by the Glupteba malware dropper to improve the malware’s connection to command-and-control servers (C2 servers), which hackers use to control compromised systems. When a compromised system disconnects from a C2 server, hackers can use the Bitcoin network to replace C2 servers, allowing the compromised system to reconnect. The report noted that the Glupteba malware is also capable of implementing cryptomining and can steal browser data and passwords.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
