French luxury goods giant Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) is reportedly working with ConsenSys and Microsoft Azure to develop a blockchain platform for tracking its products, crypto media agency CoinDesk reports on March 26. Dubbed AURA, the blockchain-powered platform is reportedly scheduled to go live in May or June 2019 with two major LVMH subsidiaries: Louis Vuitton and Parfums Christian Dior. Louis Vuitton is French fashion house founded in 1854 and known for its signature LV logo, while Parfums Christian Dior is the perfumery and cosmetics line of other French fashion house Christian Dior. According to the report, the …

New York-based fintech infrastructure provider trueDigital Holdings (TDH) is partnering with crypto data firm Kaiko and digital assets analytics company Inca Digital Securities to widen the distribution of its over-the-counter (OTC) reference rates for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The development was shared with Cointelegraph in a press release on March 25. As reported last year, TrueEX created TDH as an affiliate in March 2018, immediately announcing a TDH partnership with prominent blockchain tech firm ConsenSys (created by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin) to create a benchmark rate for the price of Ethereum. The newly forged strategic partnership deal will see …

Central banks should leave issuance of digital currencies to corporations such as Facebook and JPMorgan, according to a blockchain and financial partner at PwC France, Forbes reports March 22. According to PwC France’s Pauline Adam Kalfon, central banks should stay away from the issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) until large corporations test out the tokenization of fiat currencies themselves. Only when cryptocurrencies are "battle-tested by corporations,” should central banks make a move towards the crypto space, Kalfon argued, adding that it will reduce the likelihood of potentially negative consequences on the economy arising from any central bank issuing …

The Ledger Nano S from French crypto hardware wallet firm Ledger has received a First Level Security Certificate (CPSN) from France’s national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI. The development was shared with Cointelegraph on March 18. The National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) reports to the Secretariat-General for National Defence and Security (SGDSN) in order to assist the French Prime Minister in matters of defence and national security. According to their list of certified products, 122 out of 261 products that ANSSI has started evaluating since June 1, 2018, have been certified. Products aspiring to receive a CPSN certificate undergo a series …

French commercial court clerks will use a blockchain-based platform to record changes in companies’ legal status within the country. The development was revealed in an official announcement on March 14. The blockchain network was jointly developed by IBM and the National Council of Clerks (NCC) and will reportedly be deployed starting in 2019 by the clerks operating in commercial courts across France. The blockchain platform is built on the Hyperledger Fabric framework and aims to increase transparency and efficiency in legal transactions associated with the lifecycle of companies in the registry. Specifically, the solution will be used to record and …

The head of the Finance Committee of France’s National Assembly, Eric Woerth, is suggesting a ban on anonymous cryptocurrencies, or so-called privacy coins. Woerth expressed his position in a recent report on crypto assets and blockchain technology. In a forward to the report, Woerth considers the introduction of a ban on digital currencies that provide greater anonymity to users, stating: “It would also have been appropriate to propose a ban on the dissemination and trade in [cryptocurrencies built] to ensure complete anonymity by preventing any identification procedure by design. [...] This is the case for a certain number of [cryptocurrencies] …

Setl, a Credit Agricole-backed blockchain startup based out of the United Kingdom, has filed for insolvency. The insolvency notice was filed on March 7 with U.K. authorities. Credit Agricole is reportedly the world’s largest cooperative financial institution, headquartered in France. Setl was founded by Peter Randall, one of the founders and former CEO of the alternative European stock exchange Chi-X, and Anthony Culligan, founder of peer-to-peer Bitcoin (BTC) trading venue Roolo, in July 2015. The company was granted approval from the French securities regulator to run a Central Securities Depository (CSD) in October last year. As Cointelegraph reported in January, …

The main trade seaport of France, Marseille Fos Port, will participate in a blockchain pilot for freight logistics in June 2019, local industry news outlet PortSEurope reports on March 6. The project aims to use blockchain technology for supply chain logistics and intermodal freight forwarding on the Mediterranean-Rhône-Saône axis (MeRS) transport corridor. According to the report, the blockchain initiative is supported French authority, the Interministerial Delegation for the development of the port and logistics for MeRS. The project is also reportedly backed and supported financially by the French public sector financial institution Caisse des Dépôts, navigation authority Voies navigables de …

French retail giant Carrefour has continued blockchain development by applying the technology for tracking milk, according to a press release published on March 1. Starting from March, the retail giant is gradually rolling out its new blockchain-powered product, Carrefour Quality Line (CQL) micro-filtered full-fat milk. CQL is touted to guarantee consumers complete product traceability across the entire supply chain — from farmers to the store shelves. With CQL, consumers will be able to see the GPS coordinates of farmers whose animals’ milk was collected, get information about when the milk was collected and packaged, as well as find out about …

The IOTA Foundation has announced the Smart City Hackathon sponsored by French global automobile manufacturer Groupe Renault, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports Feb. 25. At the hackathon, participants will compete by using new technologies to solve inter-city problems submitted by corporate partners. Contestants will use distributed ledger technology (DLT) to develop more efficient transport, energy grids and buildings. The contest is based on IOTA’s Tangle system, wherein participants will develop Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M), and data driven concepts for the smart city environment. Designed specifically for the IoT industry, IOTA’s Tangle system represents an organizational model that uses Directed …

French President Emmanuel Macron has advocated the use of blockchain to innovate supply chain management in the European agriculture industry. The president made his remarks during the 56th International Agriculture Fair in Paris on Saturday, Togolese agriculture news site Agridigitale reported on Feb. 23. Macron called for unity among European nations to counter competition from global markets in China, Russia and the United States, underscoring the importance of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in this regard. He identified three broad strategies to advance the continent’s agricultural industry and maintain a competitive edge, affirming that “no farmer or consumer wants …

French cryptocurrency hardware wallet company Ledger published a post on its official blog on Feb. 14 apologizing for issues with a recent firmware update for its Ledger Nano S. Specifically, the update reportedly decreased the device’s storage capacity, which the firm has promised to remedy. “This was not planned obsolescence, simply put, we messed up. We apologize and we’re committed to making it right,“ the post states. Some users had interpreted the firmware version 1.5.5 update as a way to bring planned obsolescence to the Ledger Nano S. The reason for the suspicion is that the update was released shortly …