Russia’s blockchain-based voting system for the constitutional amendments has reportedly been attacked via an election observer’s node. As reported by state-owned news agency TASS, the attack occurred on June 27 around 8 PM CET. A government of Moscow representative told TASS that the attack did not cause a system malfunction, meaning that all e-votes will be successfully recorded on the blockchain. According to the official, cybersecurity experts were working to restore access to the attacked node. It is not clear if it’s been repaired at this point. E-voting, held from June 25 to June 30 for residents of Moscow and …

Russia’s blockchain-based voting system for the Constitutional amendments is off to a rocky start after going live earlier today, according to local media reports. E-voting, scheduled to take place from June 25 to June 30 for residents of Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod, is based on the Exonum blockchain platform developed by Bitfury. The blockchain will allegedly help to encrypt votes to provide secure and immutable data. Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod residents can vote offline or online via a special website that, according to a report from RIA news agency, was inaccessible during the first few hours after going live. According …

Bitfury, a cryptocurrency mining and blockchain development firm, is planning to launch a Bitcoin (BTC) mining fund in Japan in July. Katsuya Konno, the head of Bitfury Japan, confirmed the development with Cointelegraph Japan today. As uncertainty regarding traditional markets amid the coronavirus pandemic continues, investors are increasingly paying attention to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as an alternative investment. However, there has not yet been a way for investors in Japan to gain indirect exposure to Bitcoin through crypto-related infrastructure. The new offering will purportedly be the first crypto-mining fund in Japan, and will initially cater to institutional investors such as …

Bitfury, a mining company established in 2011, announced a partnership program on May 26 that lets institutions invest in Bitcoin (BTC) mining. The program will help family offices and other institutional funds diversify their portfolios into digital asset infrastructure. Bitfury says this was previously an arduous task for these investors. Investment will be possible in data centers in North America and other unspecified regions through custom-tailored investment solutions. These may include direct investment and engagement through private equity in joint ventures, though the company declined to go into detail on how the arrangements would work. Bitfury will manage all aspects …

Blockchain development firm Bitfury is re-assigning the computing power it uses for digital currency transaction processing to COVID-19 research. In an announcement on March 31, the company revealed that it had been allocating its high-powered GPU-enabled computing nodes to run COVID-19 calculations as of March 20. The redirection of Bitfury’s resources is contributing to a distributed computing endeavor, Folding@Home (F@H), created by a consortium of scientific research labs across North America, Europe and Asia. In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, F@H has launched a project to run simulations of the virus’ molecular structure in an effort to contribute …

Blockchain development firm Bitfury is set to partner with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a project to conserve and increase Kazakhstan’s forestland. As the Astana Times reported on Jan. 14, the project aims to help the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over the coming decade to meet its commitments in the 2016 Paris Agreement. Offsetting Bifury’s carbon footprint Bitfury and the UNDP are poised to sign an agreement later this month with the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources to create a forestland in the nation’s Pavlodar Region. The project will start …

The digital currency space has seen rapid growth and expansion in 2019, with heightened interest from governments and global corporations. Cryptos recovered from the 2018 bear market, when with Bitcoin (BTC) crashed to as low as $3,800, leaving numerous experts to paint a gloomy picture of a longstanding bear market and call the downturn in the first half of 2019 the longest and harshest in the crypto history. While cryptocurrency markets were struggling to recover, corporate and central bank digital currencies have quietly become a focus of attention. The blockchain sector has seen exponential growth in 2019, as it became …

Bitcoin (BTC) exchange PrimeXBT announced that it partnered with blockchain development firm Bitfury in order to ensure regulatory compliance. According to a press release published on Sept. 9, PrimeXBT will be using Bitfury’s blockchain analytics and cryptocurrency compliance software Crystal. The exchange hopes that the implementation will heighten its Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism policies, as well as improve client security. A PrimeXBT official said: “As a responsible member of the global financial community we are faced with the important yet challenging task of eliminating money laundering, without sacrificing the privacy of our clients.” PrimeXBT claims that …

Blockchain startup BitFury launched an artificial intelligence (AI) unit, Reuters reports on Aug. 13. “Data is the new oil” Bitfury chief executive officer and co-founder Valery Vavilov reportedly said that the company’s dive into AI is motivated by the need to analyze and extract information from great quantities of data. He reportedly noted that data is becoming the new oil and stated: “We have collected so much data, but only 2% of all this data has been analyzed; 98% is sitting idle and waiting to be analyzed.” Vavilov also reportedly explained that the AI unity of the firm is still …

Why have blockchain pilots in real estate abated somewhat? Those projects bump up against the fundamental inconsistency of blockchain and existing state system, and it seems they cannot confessed to this. First, there is no such thing as the use of blockchain for real estate. There are plenty of different concepts and ideas, and as you will find below, some of them are useless. And when you consider probably the most ultimate idea — i.e., a title token — you understand that none of the existing projects could offer a complex solution to address issues with inheritance, lost private keys, …

Indian tech firm Mphasis — majority-owned by the American multinational private equity firm Blackstone Group — has partnered with blockchain tech giant Bitfury on a trade finance project, Reuters reported on May 28. The report notes that Blackstone owns 52.3% of Mphasis, which is listed on the National Stock Exchange of India. According to Reuters, details of the Mphasis-Bitfury project are still evolving, but Mphasis’ senior vice president and global head of payments Andres Ricaurte has reportedly stated that: “Our goal is to accelerate the disruption and transformation in the trade finance space. The exact end-goal — whether it’s a …

Blockchain tech giant Bitfury partnered with major Kazakhstan-based financial hub to apply the technology across multiple industries, local government-backed newspaper The Astana Times reports on May 21. Headquartered in Nur-Sultan, the newly renamed capital of Kazakhstan, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) will apply Bitfury’s blockchain expertise in creating projects and promoting new startups on a global scale. In turn, Bitfury plans to launch data centers in Kazakhstan to gain exposure and cooperate with the Nur-Sultan city administration, as well as support the development and promotion of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the region. The blockchain firm is also planning …