On May 28, the Digital Dollar Project released its white paper, a 30-page document detailing the potential applications of a CBDC. The white paper continues the nascent think tank’s work to push forward development of a digital dollar. The project and the tenets of the new white paper The paper details certain core tenets of what it considers a digital dollar and what it will push forward. The Digital Dollar Project was founded by former leaders of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and professional services company Accenture. One of those founders is Daniel Gorfine, the head of the CFTC’s fintech …

In a May 27 interview sponsored by Chainalysis, Director of the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Kenneth Blanco was adamant that the regulator is not the enemy. “This technology belongs to all of us” FinCEN is the governing body that enforces the Bank Secrecy Act in the U.S., requiring financial institutions to provide know-your-customer (KYC) information. It’s a contentious topic within crypto, so it is no surprise that Blanco was careful to portray FinCEN as a part of the environment. Blanco lamented “that we’re allowing a technology that could be so beneficial to be hijacked by people,” continuing …

CoolBitX Founder Michael Ou believes regulators in Asia are leading the way when it comes to compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) travel rule, which is due to be implemented in June. The startup has developed a solution to the travel rule, called Sygna Bridge, which allows exchanges to communicate the identities of the senders and receivers of each transaction. On May 7 it announced it had conducted a series of cross-border transfer tests that demonstrated Sygna Bridge’s effectiveness in complying with the FATF guidelines by verifying transactions against the names of known terrorists and drug dealers. Singapore …

April 28, CipherTrace launches Armada, a product designed to eliminate risky cryptocurrency blind spots for banks and financial institutions. Unlike other products by CipherTrace and many similar products by its competitors, Armada focuses on the off-chain data instead of on-chain data. It can work in tandem with banks’ existing monitoring tools: “To identify transactions with virtual asset service providers (VASPs), including those with weak KYC or operating as unregistered money service businesses (MSBs).” The press release further says that with the release of Armada, CipherTrace aims to provide: “Critical visibility into risky cryptocurrency blind spots so know your customer (KYC) …

Peer-to-peer, or P2P, trading platform, Oobit, has launched its purportedly SkyScanner-styled Bitcoin (BTC) price aggregator, Oobit Hunter. Oobit has also launched ‘Pass’ — “a single KYC passport for use on multiple trading platforms” that allows traders to access multiple exchanges simultaneously. Coinbase partners with crypto liquidity aggregator Oobit’s Hunter is described as “an AI-driven liquidity aggregator” that searches multiple exchanges to identify the best available prices for cryptocurrencies. The firm has partnered with Coinbase to launch Hunter, with Coinbase providing custody and escrow services to users. Oobit hopes to target crypto users of all levels, claiming that Hunter can both …

This week’s headlines from Japan included Bitbank adding smartphone compatibility for identity verification, Fobi Japan announcing leverage trading, Coincheck announcing order limits, Rakuten Wallet announcing margin trading, and product trading company Marubeni testing blockchain for tracing steel pipes. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. BitBank launches smartphone ID verification Japan-based crypto exchange, BitBank, recently added smartphone compatibility for its Know Your Customer, or KYC, practices. Using their smartphone cameras, customers can now snap pictures themselves and related required paperwork for verification. At present, BitBank is only compatible with Apple’s iOS, although …

Peer-to-peer exchange Paxful will add security to its operation through a partnership with blockchain analysis outfit Chainalysis. Through a new partnership, Paxful will harness specific technologies from Chainalysis. “Paxful uses the Chainalysis Reactor to conduct deep investigations and the Chainalysis KYT to monitor transactions for any illicit behavior,” Youssef said, referring to the firm’s Know Your Transaction solution — a similar acronym to Know Your Customer, or KYC, regulations. Youssef added: “Through working with Paxful, Chainalysis is evolving its policy and will evaluate P2P exchanges on a case-by-case basis before labeling them as risky, just as it does for other …

A new report on the PlusToken Ponzi scheme shows regulated exchanges are being used to dump coins, despite stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) identify verification rules. Investigative company OXT Research has released a second edition of their in-depth blockchain analysis on the PlusToken scam. The report explained PlusToken funds generally moved from unmixed allotments and locations, to mixers. After mixers, the funds saw consolidation, and then finally distribution. OXT’s report said: “Approximately 80% of coins entering mixing have been distributed while up to 33,872 BTC remain in the mixer and 3,853 BTC are in the distribution process, resulting in a …

As of early February, more than $1 billion U.S. dollars of assets reside in decentralized finance protocols, commonly called DeFi protocols. DeFi protocols and platforms offer crypto holders sophisticated financial tools that were unavailable to them just a year or two prior, but the rapid evolution and speedy adoption of DeFi has left some observers wondering about the ecosystem’s future. Skeptics and supporters alike want to know when Bitcoin (BTC) — the first and most popular cryptocurrency — will receive adequate DeFi support. Decentralized finance with Bitcoin is on the way, but there are good reasons that it’s relatively late …

While some global cryptocurrency exchanges move to expand Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, some major rivals claim that crypto platforms do not need KYC at all. Digitex, a Seychelles-based crypto derivatives exchange, will start removing KYC identification this week in response to a major user data leak that happened last month. Digitex will have no KYC identity requirements as of April 2020 Adam Todd, CEO at Digitex Futures Exchange, revealed the news in a public video statement on March 4, declaring that Digitex will have all KYC identification processes removed from its platform as of April 2020. Todd clarified that …

It is no secret that the United States Internal Revenue Service is working to cope with the unique challenges of taxing cryptocurrencies. In the first of a series of panels today, March 3, four experts spoke about recent advancements in cryptocurrency technology and the challenges and opportunities they present for regulators. Public ledgers offer more transparency to regulators Jesse Spiro, global head of policy & regulatory affairs at crypto analysis firm Chainalysis, was especially optimistic about the promise that public ledgers hold for regulators — unsurprising, given Chainalysis’s work tracking transactions on such ledgers. “As technology continues to develop, I …

An ex-employee of cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Digitex began leaking stolen Know-Your-Customer (KYC) on Telegram. The stolen data reportedly includes passport and driving license scans and other sensitive documentation pertaining to more than 8,000 Digitex customers. The Seychelles-based exchange issued Cointelegraph a statement indicating that it is not currently able to comment on the incident and is seeking legal counsel: “Digitex Futures is aware of a leak of confidential data. We are not able to comment fully on the incident at this time and are currently seeking legal counsel. However, we can confirm that this was not an external hack but …