On Tuesday, Romania’s National Institute for Research and Development In Informatics, also known as ICI Bucharest (ICI), announced that it would be building an institutional nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace and a decentralized Domain Name System (DNS). Both services will be built on the Elrond blockchain, which is known for its ability to speed up transactions via sharding. ICI was founded in 1970 and is currently the most institution for government-sponsored research in the field of information technology in Romania. It currently supervises the Romanian National Register for Domain Names. As told by Elrond, the initiatives would be the first of …

The National Bank of Romania has greenlighted an acquisition in the blockchain industry, authorizing the blockchain startup Elrond to acquire a payment processing platform. Elrond, a blockchain firm focused on distributed applications, received approval to purchase the electronic money institution Capital Financial Services, which acts under the brand Twispay, according to an announcement released on Thursday. Twispay provides an international payment solution supporting multiple fiat currencies and integrating various payment methods. The firm is a principal member of Visa and Mastercard, meaning that it directly participates in issuing cards and is allowed to acquire merchants. The firm is also licensed …

The Untold Festival, scheduled to be held in Romania next month, has partnered with the Elrond network to allow concert goers to pay for their tickets in cryptocurrency. In a Tuesday announcement, Untold said that tickets for its 2021 festival could be purchased using Elrond eGold (EGLD). The festival reported that it would be allowed to have an unlimited number of attendees despite the ongoing pandemic (the number of daily reported COVID-19 cases in Romania has been under 1,000 since June.) Following the rollout of the ticket purchases with EGLD for Untold, Elrond CEO Beniamin Mincu said the project would …

A public university in the Romanian city of Sibiu in Transylvania has said it will allow students to pay for their admission fees in crypto. According to an announcement from Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu on Wednesday, the institution plans to implement crypto payment methods for its more than 11,000 students starting in July. Students will reportedly be able to pay for admission fees — tuition is roughly $1,000 per year for undergraduates — using Elrond (EGLD), which the university will then convert to Romanian leu. “Our university has been and will continue to be a supporter of the community …

For the first time in Romania, the recent national parliamentary elections, which were held in November, used blockchain technology with the main purpose to guarantee the integrity of the electoral process and to strengthen its transparency. The government aimed to ensure tamper-proof and real-time data on voters’ presence. There is still a way to go for the voters to be empowered to record, manage, count and check the votes themselves (without bypassing it to the electoral authorities) by allowing them to hold a copy of the voting record. However, the perspectives of fostering the development of a tech-enabled community consensus …

The Romanian authorities are set to host their first-ever auction of cryptocurrency, seized from a fraud case. On Oct. 2, the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI) announced its forthcoming auction of the confiscated Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), as required by a ruling from the Prosecutor's Office in Ploiesti Court. The specific quantities of cryptocurrency up for auction have not been reported. In a press release, ANABI stated: Taking into account the nature of the moveable property put up for auction, the successful tenderer will have to inform the Agency, to proceed with the transfer, about …

Rossen Iossifov, a 53-year-old Bulgarian national and owner of the ‘RG Coins’ cryptocurrency exchange, has been convicted of operating a multi-million dollar money laundering ring as part of a transnational auction fraud scheme. Following a two-week trial Iossifov was found guilty by a federal jury in Frankfort, Kentucky, of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. The Kentucky resident will face sentencing on Jan. 12, 2021. The jury found that at least 900 U.S. citizens were conned in a scheme that saw Iossifov’s Romania-based accomplices post advertisements on popular auction platforms like eBay and Craigslist for high-value …

The European Union and the European Central Bank wanted to create a unitary legal framework that would limit the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions, especially in the spectrum of money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion. The simplest method of control and probably the only one possible in the case of digital currency transactions is by checking the route of fiat currencies. Any purchase of digital currency with fiat money and vice versa is monitored through exchange providers. As there is no legal framework in the EU to provide a definition and regulation on digital currencies, digital foreign exchange services and …

Elrond (ERD) believes it has what it takes to overcome the behemoths of the proof-of-stake, or PoS, world. This Romanian PoS blockchain raised $3.25 million in an Initial Exchange Offering, or IEO, in July 2019. Elrond CEO, Beniamin Mincu, told Cointelegraph that Binance’s IEO process was very tough. He explained though that through perseverance, the project was able to raise the necessary funds, and receive significant exposure. Ethereum 2.0 — ahead of schedule Elrond’s technological stack reads very similar to what has been anticipated for Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 — sharding, secure PoS, a virtual machine; however, Mincu drew a number …

Fifteen people have pleaded guilty to involvement in an international syndicate that used fraudulent online auctions to dupe victims out of Bitcoin (BTC) according to the United States Department of Justice (DoJ). From at least December 2013, the syndicate used listings for non-existent goods on auction and sales websites to defraud victims, with the group laundering the funds through a Romanian crypto exchange Coinflux in recent years. According to the DoJ’s announcement, four of the guilty pleas were made by Romanian nationals in the past 24 days before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew A. Stinnett, with two taking place in the …

Blockchain startup Modex announced the launch of its blockchain-based database platform for simplified blockchain deployment, which will be piloted by Dietsmann, a major oil and gas firm. Simplifying blockchain adoption On Sept. 19, Modex announced the release of its latest product, the Modex Blockchain Database platform (Modex BCDB) which simplifies the way companies can deploy blockchain technology projects. According to the announcement, Modex BCDB enables companies to start blockchain projects in just a few hours, instead of days or even months. Mihai Ivascu, CEO and founder of Modex said: “With the launch of Modex BCDB, we’re excited to usher in …

An official from the Romanian central bank has stated that cryptocurrency will not replace currency issued by central banks as it is not necessarily a currency. The news was published by local media outlet Business Review on April 16. Daniel Daianu, a member of the Romanian National Bank (BNR)’s Administration Council, reportedly stressed the necessity to be aware of the difference between institutions and their roles, ensuring that those roles will not disappear. Daianu also addressed the importance of making the distinction between blockchain technology and digital currencies. Daianu said: “In my opinion, these are financial assets, not cryptocurrencies, and …