DLT Passport, Scammers Preying on Retirement Funds + More News

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 4 min read

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

Source: Adobe/chingyunsong

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 (eVOA), travel insurance companies, airlines, hotels and retail shops, their goal being to revive the global tourism industry. Per the emailed press release, the passport enables travelers to upload identification documents including the eVOA, passport, travel insurance, accommodation information, and a negative COVID-19 test.
  • Japanese Microsoft partner and blockchain firm LayerX has reported USD 321,000 operating profits in FY2019, per Gamebiz. The company, which specializes in blockchain development, raised some USD 28 million in funding in May this year.
  • Russia’s Sberbank is set to begin using blockchain technology to power automatic payments, reported CNews. The bank – one of the country’s largest – will apply the technology to its SberCloud (corporate cloud) operations. Sberbank stated that it expected “other banks and IT companies” to join its initiative.
  • South Korean bank operator Hana Financial Group has signed a memorandum of understanding on blockchain and industry 4.0 cooperation with POSTECH and KAIST, the nation’s two biggest tech universities, per DDaily. The group and the universities stated that they would create a multi-disciplinary center to foster technical talent and pool research data.
  • The Ethereum Foundation is building a security team dedicated exclusively to Ethereum 2.0 (ETH 2.0), said in a tweet researcher Justin Drake. The recruitment process has already started, with the foundation looking to hire a variety of experts which would thoroughly inspect and audit ETH 2.0 security, software, cryptoeconomic modelling, and every other aspect.
  • Blockchain-powered wealth management service SwissBorg (CHSB) and ID verification company Onfido have partnered with the goal of providing a regulatory compliant customer onboarding experience, said the press release. The partnership allows the companies to verify remote users while streamlining the onboarding process and watchlist checks, while Onfido’s AI-powered identity verification technology enables SwissBorg applicants to sign up by taking a photo of their government-issued identity document and a selfie.

Crime news

  • The average age of people who falls for crypto scams in South Korea is 56, said a financial regulator. The Financial Supervisory Service reported, via Kuki News, that “many middle-aged people unfamiliar with the newer financial innovations such as crypto assets” are likely to fall victim to of crypto scammers, who cheat their victims out of “retirement funds.”
  • McAfee Advanced Threat Research (ATR) discovered a large sum of bitcoin (BTC) linked to the NetWalker ransomware, initially known as Mailto, said cybersecurity company McAfee in their recent report. In the two addresses uncovered by tracing the transactions a total of BTC 641 (USD 7m) was held on July 27. The total amount of extorted bitcoin uncovered by tracing transactions to the NetWalker-related addresses is BTC 2,795 between March 1 and July 27, 2020. By using historic bitcoin to USD exchange rates, the team estimated a total of USD 25 million was extorted.

Crypto adoption news

  • Argentina has welcomed its first dollar crypto ATM, per TyN Magazine. The machine has been installed in a Buenos Aires branch of Walmart, and is operated by Athena Bitcoin.

Gaming news

  • Global interactive entertainment and multiplatform licensing group Atari and digital entertainment company specializing in blockchain and gamification Animoca Brands have expanded their partnership and licensing arrangement, said the press release. Per the new agreement, Animoca Brands gained global development and distribution rights, including for blockchain and NFTs, for additional 15 Atari Games, 13 more titles will be included contingent on revenue milestones; Animoca Brands became the preferred supplier of blockchain content and technology on the Atari VCS game console, etc.

Investments news

  • Ripple’s incubator arm Xpring has announced today an additional, unspecified investment in XRPL Labs, in order to support development of its Xumm Wallet and Platform. According to the announcement, Xpring said it believes Xumm is “one of the best representations of the XRP Ledger.”

Career news

  • Blockchain infrastructure startup Bison Trails has hired Elizabeth Ralston as its first general counsel in charge of all legal, risk, compliance and policy matters. She previously worked as the legal and compliance director at BlockTower Capital, and as a vice president at investment bank Goldman Sachs, reported Bloomberg Law.

Exchanges news

  • Following the last Friday’s hack of user accounts and the subsequent theft of EUR 1.18m (USD 1.4m), crypto trading platform 2gether has announced that the app will be relaunched likely on Wednesday with its testing starting today. Furthermore, they offered three options in regards to the refund of the stolen funds: receiving the taken amount of funds in 2GT tokens, at the issuance price of EUR 0.05 (USD 0.059); receiving the amount in company shares; or waiting until the recovery of all stolen funds or until obtaining the funds needed to refund the full position. The last is the default option.