Блог

Enargas, an Argentine gas regulator, has given its approval for the start of the Gasnet platform based on a controlled blockchain whose task is to reduce and to accelerate the gas certification process.

The Gasnet platform, using the net of RSK smart contracts, is created by IOV Labs in the cooperation with Grupo Sabra, a developer of software. According to Pedro Perrota, who is one of Grupo Sabra co-founders, the platform not only will significantly reduce document management between a gas distributor Gasnor, customers and companies but also will accelerate the process of gas certification what usually takes about three months.

According to Diego Gutierrez, IOV Labs General Director, Gasnor and Energas will have the possibility to check all certifications and details of the completed transactions online. A transparent system will help to exclude any delays, thereby technical specialists will be able to provide the services to clients faster. Using private keys, technicians will control each step of the process, and smart contracts will allow to reduce inaccuracies and to confirm the reliability of the records.

Originally, the platform will be used for gas certification. But in the nearest future, in the process of successful system exploitation, IOV Labs and Grupo Sabra want to broaden its functions to track and manage a gas supply chain. The developers also intend to create an entire ecosystem based on blockchain. All regulated Argentine companies, working in the gas industry, will have the possibility to take its part. We recall that last September a Dutch oil and gas company Dietsmann has been starting to test the blockchain for fast interactions with clients and suppliers. In addition to it, last December Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium used blockchain for the voting on investment and costs issues.

FINTRAC is going to present updated regulatory rules of digital assets to counter money-laundering.

According to these rules, what will enter into force since June 1, 2020, exchanges will be required to review their policies in the KYC procedure. FINTRAC offers to toughen supervising activities of cryptocurrency companies and to strengthen a transaction control of digital assets. The companies which turnover is more than $10,000 will be obliged to register as cash operators.

If the sum of the transaction is more than $1,000, such companies must state the sender’s name, the recipient’s name, their addresses, a birth date, a contact phone number and the type of cryptocurrency in which the deal is. As for the transactions with a larger sum, the regulator will demand to provide more detailed information.

FINTRAC thinks that rules issued by FATF concerning the AML and the CFT procedures aren’t scrupulous enough. That’s why it’s necessary to set a new “threshold” for the firms, working with digital assets. Moreover, in a regulator’s opinion, updated regulatory rules must act not only in Canada’s interest but also in other jurisdictions. We recall that this January CSA has published the manual. According to the manual, Canadian exchanges will put under the national laws about stocks in case they work with crypto-assets, which are stocks and derivatives.

Zebpay, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, denied local mass media’s information about numerous violations, identified by regulators during the review. The company referred to a fixed mistake in accounting.

This week local mass media has informed about the audit of Zebpay by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) of India. In the result of it, the violations in different provisions of the Law “About companies” were found. Vikram Rangala, Zebpay Marketing Director, commented on the situation, specifying that the audit was but in the beginning of last year.

In his words, the only violation was the accounting mistake, which appeared because of uncertainty in digital assets regulation and absence of clear requirements in reporting of cryptocurrency transactions. However, the issue was closed, the mistake was eliminated and the exchange had to pay “a small fine”. Its exact sum wasn’t reported.

Rangala added that the exchange had met the regulators’ requirements. Any violations in unethical or illegal actions weren’t charged. He explained that mass media misinterpreted what happened.

In the words of Ddeepak Kapoor, BEGIN India Analytical Centre Founder, who cooperated with an Indian Government and Authorities to combat cryptocurrency crimes, the Ministry didn’t have anything against Zebpay.

Kapoor noted that the issue of firms’ taxation, working in the sphere of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, must be addressed. It was necessary to avoid misunderstandings about what could “put an imprint” on the companies’ activities. The exact regulation would be able “to make life easier” not only for such companies but also for the government authorities. Let us recall that in September 2018 Zebpay ceased trading in connection with the Central bank of India’s decree, prohibited to provide services to cryptocurrency exchanges by local financial institutions. Despite that prohibition, the exchanged promised its clients to return the funds to their bank accounts in Indian rupees. In this February Zebpay stated about its reactivation in a country.

The government of an American state Hawaii is planning to launch a regulatory “sandbox” for companies, issuing and working with digital currencies.

The official statement says about the “Digital Currency Innovation Lab” creation. Under this two-year initiative, companies, issuing cryptocurrencies, will be able to work in Hawaii without a state license for financial services.

The State Governor notices that he hopes to get a broader picture of digital currencies and their possibilities during a state of “sandbox”. In the future digital currencies in Hawaii may be legalized.

“Information, getting during the initiative, will help us to define the future of digital currencies in Hawaii”, the statement says.

Companies will be able to make their applications since May 1, 2020. However, for the application’s approval, each company needs to demonstrate both high financial knowledge and technologies and to have the necessary capital.

This program is the result of cooperation by the Ministry of Trade, FID and Hawaiian Technology Development Corporation. Furthermore, the companies, taking part in the “sandbox”, won’t be under a regulatory investigation in case of any breaches.

We recall that in this January several Hawaiian legislators offered some local banks to save “digital stocks”, “virtual assets” and other “open blockchain tokens”.

Blockchain of UPA decided to add Universal Protocol Token as well as Universal Euro and Dollar stablecoins to Bittrex cryptocurrency stock.

UPA (universal protocol alliance) unites six partners, who operate using blockchains and crypto money. Companies like Uphold or CertiK, just like Blockchain at Berkeley, and, in addition, Cred company and Bittrex have been a part of UPA since it was created. Alliance declared that universal currencies will be provided according to relevant fiat currencies (1:1 ratio). Moreover, UPEUR became a first stablecoin which is backed by the euro.

According to UPA, UPT holders will be able to take advantage of low fees and profitable annual income rate. This initiative focuses on users who live in countries with a high level of inflation so that they can hold funds or make profits in licensed banks. Despite that option, users will have access to additional opportunities provided by the platform of Universal Protocol.

Like that it will become possible to regain access to funds in the case when private keys are lost. Moreover, the user will be able to appoint the receiver of the payment, who can demand the funds’ transfer if there were no operations with the user’s account for a long time. Besides, the right to control digital assets can be transferred to a centralized exchange.

Traders will also be able to stake UPUSD with CredEarn app on Uphold. J.P. Thieriot, Co-founder of the Alliance and Head of Uphold startup, said that the UPA operations are aimed at a smooth and instant exchange of digital assets, as well as а mass implementation of stablecoins. For a dynamic token generation, the platform uses smart contracts. Last year we informed that for the Universal Protocol token support Thieriot planned to introduce a custody Ledger Vault solution.

Tether company announced the launch of stablecoin USDT on blockchain of Bitcoin Cash. Important to mention that the total capitalization of stable cryptocurrency is now above 5.7 billion dollars.

In recent days the capitalization of stablecoins majority has risen significantly in the context of cryptocurrency market fall. From 10^th until 15^th of March Tether company issued 300 million USDT on the blockchain-related to Ethereum.

Those coins are available today on Ethereum, Omni, Tron, Algorand, Liquid Network and EOS blockchains. Taking in mind, that at the beginning stablecoin was released on Omni Bitcoin protocol and only then appeared on other blockchains. Now a big amount of coins are located on blockchain of Ethereum – where the total sum is about 3.7 billion dollars.

Bitcoin Cash offers a huge block size and lower charges in comparison with standard Bitcoin. When a large part of coins belonging to Tether is transferred to this protocol, that fact will help to cut pressure on the platform of Ethereum. As a result, we expect the fees in a network of cryptocurrency, which owns the second place with its capitalization, to decrease.

«One of the most important advantages of our company is that it operates on a big number of platforms. We definitely will benefit from Bitcoin Cash and Tether cooperation. It is expected that adding support to our stablecoin on this blockchain will be simple. Despite this, Bitcoin Cash applications will support Tether payments, » said Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer. As we have informed, in the middle of February Roger Ver, Bitcoin.com CEO, has already mentioned that stablecoin USDT would appear on Bitcoin Cash blockchain.

Italy declared national quarantine over the coronavirus pandemic. In that context local bank Banca Sella has started bitcoin trade on its digital platform – Hype.

The bank will become a mediator between traders and cryptocurrency exchanges with its platform to reduce security issues for users. Now all the citizens are at home so we can see a keen interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.

Hype platform will allow not only to buy and sell bitcoin but also to pay with cryptocurrencies for goods and services. Meanwhile, the amount of Italians who are using the platform today is already 1.2M. Hype CEO Antonio Valitutti said:

«Cryptocurrency market and bitcoin trade, in particular, continue attracting interest especially among our customers – young and smart, by definition, they want to receive the access to global opportunities with the platform they use every day». Last November it was reported that bitcoin became the third most popular way to pay for online purchases in Italy.

According to ESET researchers reporting, cybercriminals, who created Stantinko mining botnet, developed also several obfuscation methods in order not to be found.

Vladislav Hrčka, an associate of ESET internet security company, who is responsible for malware analysis, revealed a recent result of the research and told about activities that can be taken against the botnet providers on his webpage.

«People who created Stantinko botnet are improving their skills and introducing new models which include original and unpredictable methods, » he noted.

This botnet appeared in 2012 and is being spread with the help of malware, which is embedded in piracy files. The main targets of Stantinko are users from following countries: Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. At first, it was doing users activity fraud, advertising integration, SM fraud, and passwords’ theft. Nevertheless, in the middle of 2018 the owners of the botnet added to its profile a new hidden mining module Monero for cryptocurrency.

Monero includes such elements that are capable to find antivirus program and stop all other cryptocurrency mining processes. The module exhausts almost all assets of the chosen machine, and at the same time stops its intervention in order not to be found when a PC owner clicks on Task Manager to figure out why the device works so slow.

Stantinko platform doesn’t interact with pool of the miners and prefers to use proxy servers. Digital security company ESET discovered the previous reporting about cryptocurrency fraud module in the middle of autumn last year, however since that time the botnet providers found other methods to avoid being found:

• Strings entanglement – this is a tool when the most important strings are created and can be visible in back-office only when users need to see them.
• Non-working strings and assets – a method when assets and strings are added without impacting functionality.
• Entanglement of the managing commands flow– conversion of the managing commands into a tough-readable form to make the order of basic elements unpredictable.
• Non-existing code – a command that never functions, and its unique objective is to adopt files so they could look more legitimate.
• Non-active code – a technique of code introducing that is done but has no sense and does nothing. With this method it is easy to trick behavioral founding.

«The most notable details of Stantinko is the manner it functions and how it thwarts analysis and finding. Because it uses source-level entanglements with a seed of random and that Stantinko’s creators adjust the tool for every victim, each sample is non-repeating,» mentioned Hrčka in first reporting. As we informed previously, in September a new miner virus Skidmap for Linux operating system was discovered. This virus is covering up its activity.

A large Chinese commercial bank China Everbright Bank (CEB) is introducing blockchain-system for tracking the chains of deliveries. The system was developed by a company Ant Finance, a subsidiary of a trading giant Alibaba.

Network blockchain-platform Duo Chain, launched specifically for the operations with the chains of deliveries and accompanying them financial operations, will be implemented in the bank’s structure. CBE will become the first Chinese bank that uses Duo Chain in its work process.

The platform assists both participants of the deal — the seller and the buyer — to decrease the number of frozen assets and to increase the money flow. The blockchain makes the entire process of purchase and delivery more efficient and reduces the costs. Besides this, the platform allows organizing short-term loans for the buyers or early payments for the sellers.

Utilization of Duo Chain will help to increase the security of the financial trade deals and avoid  fraud transactions. The platform allows us to complete the full identification of the users and hand them out the digital signatures, then to add their data into the blockchain and later verify whether it remained unchanged. The deals of trade financing on the blockchain are becoming more and more popular. Similar systems were already tested by the leading banks, such as JPMorgan, Standard Chartered and SBI Holdings. Earlier, it was reported that Chinese banks in the city of Chongqing were also using the block-chain system of trade finance, through which the deals worth 460$ million had been transacted in the previous year.

On 17th March, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro proclaimed national quarantine due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This led to growth in Bitcoin trading volume in the country.

To date, only 33 cases of Coronavirus infections have been recorded in Venezuela, despite this Maduro decided to take the stringent measures and hence to enact national quarantine. This resulted in the temporary closure of most companies, including banks, so Bitcoin has turned out to be a real alternative to fiat money.

At the beginning of 2020, Bitcoin demonstrated its record trading volume with Venezuelan bolivar on the platform LocalBitcoins. Since then, trading volumes have been gradually declining, however, two weeks ago the popularity of Bitcoin has grown again.

It seems that the spread of Coronavirus affected the popularity of the first Cryptocurrency throughout the Latin American continent. Thus, Bitcoin trading volume in Peru increased by 30%, and in Columbia — by 15%. Both countries recently closed their borders. Earlier this month, it was reported that global Bitcoin trading volumes on the platform LocalBitcoins had fallen to a 7-year low. Previously, the leading peer-to-peer exchange platform has lost a significant number of users and faced a loss of credibility due to the blocking of accounts and the transfer of customers’ personal data to law enforcement agencies.