The intention is to create preventive measures to fight back terrorism as well as to improve transparency. Service providers may register until January 29, 2022.

The Bank of Spain should reveal, in upcoming days, the measures needed for registering bitcoin exchanges (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, as well as crypto-asset custody platforms.

The measure meets its frame in Law 10/2020 on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing. It sets up a registration process for every provider of virtual currency exchange services for fiduciary currency and custody of electronic purses.

Subsequently, the Spanish Government revealed a Royal Decree-Law 7/2021, in which the periods were set to put the record in tune. The term consists of six months, it starts on April 29 and reaches its end on October 29.

The decree established that the objective is the improvement of the mechanisms for the prevention of terrorism and to also improve the transparency and availability of information on the beneficial owners of bitcoin exchanges and custody platforms.

Right after October, companies involved with the provision of services with cryptocurrencies would have the opportunity to register until January 29, 2022.

More Strict Regulations

The law also highlights that any person who provides services of exchange of virtual currency for legal tender will be subject to preventive obligations. The regulation also establishes the obligation to register trusts, which are associations of companies that provide financial services, as well as entities of a similar nature that work in Spanish territory.

The single registry will be connected to those of other European Union countries and will remain active to public access and grant all the possible information.

The official provision designates the Bank of Spain as the leading entity in charge of supervising compliance with the obligations and conditions required by the Spanish State.

Regulations Will Mark a New Era

Experts like the financial lawyer and founder of IcoFunding, Alejandro Gómez de la Cruz, have expressed that these regulations will mark a before and after for the providers of services related to cryptocurrencies in Spain. Some analysts believe that harsher regulations will come as a result of these regulations.

Likewise, they argue that this situation will need a considerable rearrangement in the operation and operation of companies and users within the cryptocurrency ecosystem of Spain. Various experts also argue that there is a reduction in the safeguarding of privacy procedures with the single registry.

Other Measures that Spain has Taken Regarding Bitcoin

The European country has been taking steps to regulate bitcoin with more force. Last July, they reformed the Draft Law on Prevention and Fight against Tax Fraud. The regulations make citizens declare the possession of cryptocurrencies in Spanish and foreign custody platforms. Self-custody purses are exempt.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Blockchain startup Constellation Network works with the Air Force to bring data security and optimal communication between the Department of Defense and its partners.

The United States of America Air Force has signed a contract with the Blockchain Company Constellation Network that intends to leverage technology to bring security for the exchange of data between the US Department of Defense and its trading partners.

As reported by various news outlets, the Constellation Network acquired a contract with the military air branch to develop new ways to exchange mission data safely through the Defense Transportation System. The US Air Force would now use the company’s Hypergraph network to shield data.

Constellation clarified that it has been working in association with the firm Kinnami Software to create an end-to-end data security solution that uses the encryption of Blockchain technology and the management of distributed data. The goal is to ensure communication in missions involving aircraft and ship operations under contract with the Department of Defense (DoD).

Technological Development for Military Security

The contract assures Constellation a working relationship with the United States of America Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM); Air Mobility Command (AMC); AMC’s 618 Air Operations Center (AOC) and the representative Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) as its partners.

Constellation executives highlighted in a press release the effort could have a relevant impact on cybersecurity and the operational effectiveness of AOC 618 and AMC. Especially in the way the mission’s operations get coordinated with its business partners.

Lieutenant Colonel Tharon Sperry, deputy director of strategy for AOC 618, also assured that technological development could be vital to solving current security needs.

Constellation Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Benjamin Diggles emphasized that the effort played a vital role in the vote of confidence for Blockchain by one of the most sophisticated agencies in the world.

Blockchain technology has become attractive to business organizations due to its promise to generate more efficiency and security for various cases. This contract paves the way for more vital and critical uses of Blockchain for data protection in global digital infrastructure.

Air Force Eye on Blockchain

The initiative also included the participation of several agencies of the Department of Defense but also a partner of the Air Fleet of the Civil Reserve in Constellation’s native cryptocurrency, DAG, which serves to secure bandwidth. on the network.

The US Air Force had signed a commercial agreement with Constellation initially in 2019. At the time, the contract appeared to focus on data management. According to the report, this situation means that the firm would help automate the data management of the military branch.

The most recent contract between Constellation and the Air Force is a more advanced update of the previous contract that the company had secured two years ago.

The Air Force signed a two-year, USD 1.5 million contract with the SIMBA Chain company for the research and development of a Blockchain platform to upgrade supply chain logistics.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The Vast Bank, created in 1982, started bringing its clients services with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from its online banking application.

A small family bank in the United States of America claimed to be the first ones in the country to allow its customers to purchase, sell and manage digital currencies directly from their bank accounts.

Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Vast Bank is a small, family-owned banking institution almost 40 years old that has started offering a new Crypto Banking feature. The functionality can be found on the bank’s mobile app. It offers customers trading in Bitcoin and six other different cryptocurrencies.

Brad Scrivner, CEO of Vast Bank, explained in a press release that the initiative appeared due to growing customer demand.

Vast Bank Offers Trading of Multiple Cryptocurrencies

Former Valley National Bank has been testing the cryptocurrency purchase service by customers from their bank accounts for the first half of the year and claims now to be ready to bring users a complete crypto experience from the same place where they check their account balances.

The bank also highlights a national survey that revealed that more than 50% of people interested in cryptocurrencies said they prefer to set investment in Bitcoin through a bank rather than any other platform.

The CEO commented that the polls have probably said that 60% of people who have not yet committed to cryptocurrencies say they would like to do so but would like to do it through their bank.

According to the information, through the online application, users can purchase, sell and manage various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC). The service also brings clients the chance to view their digital asset account balances alongside their trust account balances.

Vast Bank acts as custodian of its clients’ cryptocurrencies while Coinbase acts as an exchange. According to the bank’s website, checking accounts are insured up to USD 250,000 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and digital currencies receive protection through an insurance policy covered by Coinbase.

A Response to an Increasing Demand

Although it is a relatively small institution, Vast Bank intends to keep expanding its services with cryptocurrencies. The bank had just under $ 800 million in assets for the first quarter. By comparison, JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank by assets, has $ 3.2 trillion.

Vast Bank, which has also served cryptocurrency companies that have been discriminated against by banking, said it will keep evaluating new cryptocurrencies to maintain its offering up-to-date.

They also hope to bring more security to open the doors to wholesale investors, and they have advanced plans to include new cryptographic features to the platform.

The Oklahoma small bank’s initiative comes amid growing interest from US banks to offer their customers services and exposure to cryptocurrencies. Some banking entities like Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, among others, have recently made moves toward this direction.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The system responds to user requests to define attributes of their crypto assets. The token service would offer an interface that sets permissions to transferences, minting, and burning.

Microsoft, one of the world’s most famous software and technology companies, has patented a template service that will make the creation of non-fungible (NFT) and fungible tokens on different blockchains easier.

The United States of America Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) highlighted the approval of the patent on August 24, in response to the application filed by the company on February 25, 2019.

The proposal aims at developing software to help users create and manage tokens on different networks quickly, and more efficiently, as the report reads.

In that sense, Microsoft’s system will make this process easier and more fluid. To achieve this goal, it will present the user with some new templates that will carry out particular functions and would count on specific features.

Once the user selects one of the features presented, the token will meet its creation on the specified network. The templates offered may vary depending on the kind of crypto asset the user desires to create or the physical asset it represents.

Among the variety of templates that the system incorporates, users will have the opportunity to create tokens with a fixed supply, NFT with variable supply, or of the type that goes as collectables. The software will count on functions to transfer, mint, and burn certain amounts of tokens.

So far, the company has not released any official statement, so it is unknown when this token template service would see the light of day.

Back in 2020, Microsoft, IBM, and Nasdaq joined efforts in an alliance to standardize token-based ecosystems. Microsoft, IBM, Nasdaq, and 29 other companies joined forces to create the InterWork Alliance (IWA) to standardize token-driven ecosystems on a global scale.

On June 2, 2020, the launch of the InterWork Alliance got unveiled. The alliance was a non-profit organization that would allow companies to standardize the exchange of value through tokens in cases and use networks.

According to the alliance, distributed applications have the potential to affect the global economy. However, it notes, a considerable number of existing platforms have stalled the adoption of tokenized assets.

The alliance aimed to be a tool for all companies that have had hard times creating a token. In addition, they wanted to standardize the concept of what a token is among companies around the world to make it a more easy-to-understand concept.

What the alliance wanted was to include a lot of these companies in the world in tokenized ecosystems. Commercial standardization met its creation for those companies to agree on distributed business models without choosing a platform first.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Ethereum suffered a hard fork due to outdated nodes. Developers advised users and merchants to use the new Geth client update.

The Ethereum network has faced a fork or breakdown of the decentralized consensus, causing there to be currently two independent blockchains in operation.

According to a series of researchings by The Block Research, a bug in the Geth client, the first software used in Ethereum nodes, would have been exploited on August 27, 2021.

The medium points out that the bug was also a target of exploitation in the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Huobi ECO Chain, blockchains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Ethereum virtual computer.

Ethereum’s principal security developer, Martin Swede, confirmed on Twitter the morning of August 27 the breakdown of the decentralized consensus on the network.

“A fork of the chain happened on the main Ethereum network. The incident got solved in the previously announced v1.10.8. Please update the node, if you haven’t already! ”they said this morning.

The developer further stated that luckily most Ethereum miners would have updated the software promptly so that the new blockchain is still the longest chain. This rule is a principle that often applies to confirm the validity of a blockchain.

Tim Beiko, one of the leading developers of Ethereum, clarified that the mining pools BTC.com, FlexPool, and Binance Pool, were still mining the old chain. Beiko highlighted that they would be contacting the operators of this pool to notify them about the software update.

If you Have an Ethereum Node, Update it as Soon as Possible

Geth used the official Twitter account to make the statement. From there they urged to launch the new update for this client. But not all nodes have received synchronicity to this version, released on August 24 on GitHub.

The new version, Geth v1.10.8, deprecated v1.10.7, which would present a serious flaw in its operation; it did not face disclosure to avoid security incidents. The bug appeared and got found by the Telos project on August 18, who notified the Ethereum team, according to a press release.

According to the Ethernodes.org website, at least 74.6% of the nodes on the Ethereum network run the Geth client. Only 28% have received an update to the new version.

Of the 5,300 Ethereum nodes, at least 3,955 nodes come from the Geth client, but only 1,123 work with v1.10.8, a secure version of the software. This situation met its origin from the fact that only 21% of Ethereum nodes are in operation with updated software (Geth v1.10.8).

Strong forks might be dangerous, as users could end up spending their coins on both chains when sealing a transaction. This situation poses timing and performance issues that can place users in a context filled with heavy monetary losses, including the entire industry and platforms that run on Ethereum smart contracts.

This problem happened during the same month that the London hard fork came to take effect, which was controlled and planned. Commission rates have not crumbled down so far, as many users expected with the new monetary scheme introduced, which could attract positive effects on rates, but in the long term.

By: Jenson Nuñez