United States technology company IBM and Danish logistics firm Maersk have decided to discontinue their co-developed blockchain-backed supply chain platform, TradeLens, citing a lack of “global industry collaboration” as a key reason behind the decision. Maersk stated on Nov. 29 that it has begun taking immediate action to cease operations on the platform which should take full effect by Q1 2023: “The TradeLens team is taking action to withdraw the offerings and discontinue the platform [...] During this process all parties involved will ensure that customers are attended to without disruptions to their businesses.” While the blockchain-based shipping solution was …

For decades, banks and insurance firms employed the same mostly static but highly profitable and centralized business models. Also for decades, Big Tech firms such as Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Google have monopolized user data for their profit. However, blockchain projects could significantly challenge Big Tech’s grip on user data. In 2015, the future of money was at the forefront of financial experts’ minds at the World Economic Forum in Davos. There, they started to seriously focus on the challenges presented by the rise of Bitcoin (BTC), digital assets and fintech. The world of finance began to realize that …

Decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap's recently updated privacy policy appears to have attracted the ire of some members of the community, with concerns that collecting and storing user data works against crypto's core values. In recent responses to a November blog post regarding its updated privacy policy, some vocal members of the community suggested it i uncharacteristic for a decentralized entity to collect and store information about its users. In the Nov. 11 post from Uniswap Labs, released around the time of FTX’s collapse, the decentralized exchange released its privacy policy to explain how it collected and stored user data. “With …

The fall of major crypto ecosystems — such as FTX and Terra (LUNA) — this year highlighted the importance of transparency around the true reserves held by crypto exchanges and businesses. Amid the ongoing fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) across the crypto space, crypto exchange Bitfinex revealed its proof of reserves to the general public. Over the past few days, major crypto exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Kucoin and Crypto.com, committed to sharing their proof of reserve to regain investor confidence. Walking the talk, Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino shared the list of the main Bitfinex wallets, last updated on November 11. …

The future of blockchain and biometrics merge The merge of blockchain and biometrics has cogent potential. A new emerging ecosystem based on it is here to improve human life as such. The current crypto paradigm is dominated by power- and capital-based schemes. Appearing as an alternative, Sybil-resistant human-based protocols allow reorienting the systems away from such technocratic and oligopolistic narratives, providing true decentralization and democracy. Infrastructures based on human biometrics combined with blockchain are capable of creating innovative decentralized human-based digital verification layers and stable financial networks that rely on the existence of human life itself. Biometric-based blockchain projects formalize …

In Celsius Network’s recent court filing, the billion-dollar centralized finance (CeFi) platform exposed more than 14,000 pages of customer identity and on-chain transaction data without user consent — a prescient reminder that privacy absent decentralization is no privacy at all. As part of its bankruptcy proceedings, CeFi lending giant Celsius Network disclosed names and on-chain transaction data of tens of thousands of its customers in an Oct. 5 court filing. While Celsius’ user base complied with standard Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures in order to open personal accounts with the CeFi platform, none consented to nor could have anticipated a …

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced its latest virtual reality (VR) headset at the Meta Connect 2022 event on Oct. 11. The company introduced new features to enhance digital avatars, which raised privacy concerns regarding data collection. The Quest Pro is the latest piece of VR technology released by Meta as it continues its push into the metaverse. It utilizes five cameras inside the headset, which are positioned to watch and track a person’s facial expressions and eye movements. In addition, it has five external cameras, which will be employed in the future to track other bodily …

Jimmy McNelis, the founder of Web3 tech firm nameless, says there are too many NFT projects rushing to market without proper smart contract testing — potentially leading to millions lost. Speaking with Cointelegraph, McNelis suggested that a lot of NFT projects often rush to market without fully simulating how its smart contracts will work, even skipping extensive audits in some cases. McNelis said an example of this was observed during the sale of the Akutars NFT collection in February 2021 — featuring 15,000 tokens that went up for sale on Winklevoss-owned NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. McNelis said while the NFT …

The sanctions imposed by the United States government on Tornado Cash have reignited a public debate on privacy. For many in the relatively young crypto community, such an intervention by the federal government seems groundbreaking. However, tussles between the private sector and the state on the issue of privacy are far from new and can provide compelling insights on what we might expect next for privacy in the crypto industry. In the 1990s, Phil Zimmermann released Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), one of the first openly available public-key cryptography applications that featured end-to-end (E2E) encryption. Zimmerman’s creation prompted a criminal investigation …

Widespread adoption of Web3 mayeventually become a reality but Trust Wallet CEO Eowyn Chen foresees three main barriers standing in the way of mass adoption. During the Australian Crypto Convention on Sept. 18, Chen outlined how security, ease of use, identity, and privacy were all vital aspects to address for growth in the Web3 industry. Chen is the CEO of Trust Wallet, a major multi-chain, non-custodial crypto wallet acquired by Binance two years ago. She was speaking in a keynote presentation that was attended by Cointelegraph reporters on the ground in Queensland, Australia. On the security front, Chen says protections …

On Sept. 8, Coinbase announced it was bankrolling a lawsuit against the United States Treasury Department. The cryptocurrency exchange is funding a lawsuit brought by six people that challenges the sanctions on Tornado Cash. And on Sept. 9, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler announced he was working hard with Congress to create legislation to increase cryptocurrency regulations. But these two stories are not mutually exclusive. And the sequence of events proves that governments are purely reactive rather than proactive when it comes to decentralized finance (DeFi). Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control …

BNB, the native token of Binance’s BNB Chain, entered a symmetrical triangle formation on Aug. 10, when it first faced the descending trendline at the $335 resistance. The following five weeks have been a struggle around $280, the exact intersection between the two conflicting ascending and descending patterns. A decision on whether the symmetrical triangle will break to the upside or downside is expected by Sept. 30, when the trendlines cross. Currently holding a $45 billion total market capitalization, BNB Chain token has outperformed the broader altcoin market by 15% over the past three months. The latest breakthrough in BNB …