South Korea’s largest messaging app operator Kakao has invested in Orbs, an Israeli blockchain startup, Reuters reports Dec. 13. The report states that Orbs did not disclose the size of the investment. Moreover, the startup reportedly explained that this investment “builds on its existing partnership with Kakao blockchain subsidiary Ground X.” As Cointelegraph reported in October, Ground X released the testnet of its DApp platform Klaytn ahead of its scheduled release next year. The aforementioned partnership gave place to a collaboration “on blockchain applications and research and development projects.” According to CrunchBase data, Kakao has raised a total of $1.5 …

Chinese crypto mining giant Bitmain is closing its development center in Israel and firing local employees, Israeli business news outlet Globes has learned Monday, Dec. 10. Bitmaintech Israel — founded in 2016 to explore the use of blockchain technology, work on the Connect BTC mining pool, and develop the infrastructure behind Bitmain’s artificial intelligence (AI) project Sophon — will close this week. All 23 employees will be fired, the Globes reports. Gadi Glikberg, head of the Israeli branch as well as Bitmain vice president of international sales and marketing, is also leaving. Globes reports that Glikberg linked the closure to …

Ehud Barak, a former Israeli Prime Minister, has compared digital currencies to Ponzi schemes, Israeli media agency Arutz Sheva reported on Dec. 3. Barak had participated in the Camp David Accords in 2000 as part of an attempt to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and now serves as the chairman of medical marijuana producer InterCure. Speaking at an event hosted by Israeli financial outlet Globes in Tel-Aviv this Sunday, Barak fielded a question comparing the alleged marijuana investment “bubble” to crypto by underlining that “he would never invest” in cryptocurrencies as “Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies [are] a Ponzi scheme.” Meanwhile, Barak underlined …

Israel’s first dedicated crypto investment firm for institutional investors, Silver Castle Ltd., has launched two new crypto funds this month, Bloomberg reported Nov. 18. The firm – whose high-profile lineup includes the former CEO of Israel’s largest bank, Bank Hapoalim, as well as the founder of the country’s largest investment fund, Psagot Ofek – reportedly expects to have $50 million in assets under management (AUM) by the end of the year. As Bloomberg notes, global competition is fierce for crypto investment funds today, with over 370 crypto-focused funds with as much as $10 billion in AUM collectively, citing data from …

An Israeli study group exploring digital currency options has recommended that the country’s central bank not issue its own token, a press release confirmed Nov. 6. The interdepartmental team, set up in November 2017 by the governor of the Bank of Israel to “examine the issue of central bank digital currencies [CBDCs],” revealed its findings in a full report this week. “Central banks around the world are examining the possibility of issuing digital currency and/or using distributed technologies in the payment systems, but no advanced economy has yet issued digital currency for broad use,” it summarizes, adding: “The team does …

Israel-based projects have raised over $600 million through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as of the third quarter (Q3) of 2018, according to report by cryptocurrency analytics firm One Alpha released Nov. 2. Per the research, 140 blockchain-focused companies in Israel have attracted $1.3 billion in investment, wherein more than 60 percent of companies and 88 percent of funds are ICO-related. From Q1– Q3 2018, Israeli startups raised $606 million through ICOs, wherein the largest number of ICOs took place during Q2, and Q1 was the most profitable, with $315 million raised through crypto-asset offerings. One Alpha notes that in 2017, …

Israeli blockchain startup StarkWare Industries has completed a $30 million financing round, generating funds from such industry players as Intel Capital and Sequoia USA, according to an announcement published Oct. 29. Established in 2018, StarkWare Industries develops both software and hardware, with applications including transparent privacy in blockchains, increased transaction throughput, as well as off chain computation. The company offers a zero-knowledge protocol STARK, that purports to address the privacy and scalability challenges of the blockchain field. The firm has announced the completion of its $30 million financing round, which was led by Paradigm, a crypto hedge fund founded by …

The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) has started to use blockchain to improve the cybersecurity of its messaging system, online newspaper Times of Israel reports today, October 3. The government regulator has reportedly embedded the technology into a system dubbed “Yael,” used to deliver messages and other information to entities that fall under ISA oversight. The ISA has further plans to implement blockchain in two other systems, including an online voting system that enables investors to participate in ISA meetings remotely, and a system called ‘Magna” that stores all the reports filed by ISA-regulated entities. The blockchain solution used by ISA …

Switzerland and Israel have agreed to share their experience on regulating the blockchain industry, Reuters reports Monday, September 17, citing both countries’ high-ranking officials. Switzerland’s Minister of Finance Ueli Maurer and State Secretary for International Financial Matters Joerg Gasser have recently visited Israel to officially request access to the local markets for Swiss banks. As Gasser told Reuters, by the end of 2018 he plans to prepare a report on blockchain regulation for the Israeli officials that would outline general recommendations. He expects that these notes might be approved by the Israeli parliament in 2019 and go into effect by …

On Sept. 4, the government of Bahrain, a constitutional monarchy in the Persian Gulf, emphasized the importance of blockchain for the country’s economy. While the kingdom seems to be taking a rather positive approach toward crypto, the Middle East at large has proven to be a difficult region for virtual currencies, as a large chunk of countries there have banned crypto trading. Nevertheless, the Middle East seems to be on its way to become the global blockchain powerhouse: From Dubai to Tel Aviv, the technology is being thoroughly researched and adopted. The list below is based on thorough news research, …

Iran-based malware that demands a digital ransom in cryptocurrencies is on the rise and will further escalate in the present geopolitical climate, according to a report published by global management consulting firm Accenture on August 7. After two years of analysis, Accenture Security iDefense predicts that emerging trends in the Iranian cyber threat landscape will intensify as the country is forced into a defensive and economically straitened position in the wake of the U.S. exit from the Obama-era Iran nuclear accord this spring. With the US set to imminently to reimpose tough economic sanctions, Accenture has warned that the ransomware …

This interview has been edited and condensed. Cointelegraph recently spoke to Guy Zyskind, the founder and CEO of decentralized blockchain company Enigma and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), about the future of blockchain protocols and where Enigma fits in. During TechCrunch’s recent Ethereum Meetup in Zug, Switzerland, Zyskind elaborated on his successful experience teaching a blockchain course at MIT, as well as his regrets over missing out getting into crypto way back in 2010. Molly Jane: First off, could you explain what the Enigma protocol is and how you originally ended up in the blockchain world? Guy …