Galaxy Digital Announces Investment in the Digital Asset Lending Firm DrawBridge

Maria Rodríguez
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Galaxy Digital Announces Investment in the Digital Asset Lending Firm DrawBridge

Galaxy Digital has spotted growing potential in several crypto-related projects in its existence. The crypto commercial bank’s latest beneficiary is DrawBridge Lending (known as DBL,) a digital asset lender that announced this week that it was on the receiving end of funds that came from the previously mentioned company.

The information came to prominence in recent hours thanks to a press release, published by DBL. The funds received, according to the company, go a long way into making sure that DrawBridge has excellent fiat-crypto lending prowess, as well as the ability to invest.

A Special Purpose Loan Funding Vehicle

The two enterprises have the intention of coming up, together, with a special purpose loan funding vehicle that is co-owned. Such a product would offer structured financing against digital assets held by institutions.

Galaxy Digital’s CEO Mike Novogratz offered his comments after the alliance was made official: “The institutionalization of digital assets is still relatively nascent despite increasing momentum and interest from a number of respected firms and industry players. […] As we look to the future, we recognize the benefit of aligning ourselves with smart and innovative strategic partners who know how to effectively execute in the institutional space. The team at DBL fits the bill in this regard.”

A Little Bit More about DBL

DBL is an American company, and according to reports, it is fully licensed to function as a lender in the United States. It offers commercial loans to 49 states and the District of Columbia, and it is also registered as both a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) and Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) with the National Futures Association (NFA).

Basically, DrawBridge Lending’s contributions to the field are using a qualified and insured custodian and advanced risk management strategies to come up with the most appropriate ways to protect borrower assets and lender capital. The report states that DBL offers “financial flexibility to institutional clients looking to remain long on their crypto investments,” whilst providing the opportunity to reinvest and earn yield on an efficient, after-tax basis.

“Two core principles have guided our business since day one: risk management and compliance. In Galaxy Digital, we’ve found a partner who fully embraces this approach and will enable us to meet the steadily increasing institutional demand for many years to come,” were the words of DBL CEO and Co-Founder Jason Urban.

A New Asset Class is Being Formed

The announcement also has Christopher Ferraro, the President of Galaxy Digital, quoted as saying that “investors are absolutely opening up to the idea that a new asset class is being formed. Our partnership with DBL will allow more companies to realize benefits from their crypto holdings as the traditional ways of thinking about corporate and structured finance are being re-imagined.”

In related news, it was reported by a prominent crypto news site that Dharma, which happens to be one of DrawBridge Lending’s top rivals in the field, opted to take a pause in new deposits and loans on its system.

By Andres Chavez

Avast Warns about Malware that Steals Bitcoins and Replaces Credentials

Maria Rodríguez
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Avast Warns about Malware that Steals Bitcoins and Replaces Credentials

The malicious file can recover data such as victim’s wallets, WordPress credentials or install a miner to infect the computer.

Avast.io’s group of researchers, decoded, discovered and denounced a new malicious file that threatens the mining community. The name of this malware is Clipsa, which seeks to replace Bitcoin addresses and install undercover miners on computers to take advantage of these equipment.

Recently, experts in the field provided information so that cryptocurrency users can recognize Clipsa. According to experts in the field, Clipsa is a malware that executes multiple negative operations simultaneously, such as stealing or undermining cryptocurrencies with the purpose of generating as much damage as possible.

According to their explanations, Clipsa executes several processes separately after downloading. In this way, hackers can recover data from the clipboard related to the victim’s wallets, WordPress credentials or even install an XMRig miner, infesting the computer of the user.

The procedure followed by hackers is to install the malware on computers as a package of Codec filters for media players. This is how victims download the file without even suspecting that it is a virus, the researchers explain.

Avast.io has blocked more than 70,000 Clipsa attacks on computers in India, Brazil and the Philippines, so these three countries have been, until now, the most exposed ones to malware attacks. In total, the researchers estimate that Avast blocked 360,000 infection attempts. Argentina and Mexico are the other countries in Latin America that have faced more attempts at attacks of this kind.

Identity Theft

One of the most notable features of the way this malware operates is that it is capable of replacing the Bitcoin wallet address of the affected computer with an address of the attacker or hacker.

The malware compares the original address of the bitcoins with a file of more than 9,412 addresses and selects the most similar one. In this way, the transfers that the victim should receive fall into the hands of hackers.

In the case of WordPress, if a user has an account of this type on a website, the malware will use programs to find the password and access the page. Once attackers have access, they can use the portal to store information about their attacks and addresses.

Although not all versions of Clipsa have an undercover miner, some hackers have perfected the virus to gain even more cryptocurrencies with the infested computer. Avast makes the alert, so that cryptocurrency users take care of malware, even though it has not been the most successful of all, since in the course of a year Clipsa has only managed to steal 3 BTCs, sent to about 117 addresses.

In 2017, another malware raised USD 63,000 by mining Monero on Windows servers. Similarly, Petya and WannaCry malware generated millionaire losses in Europe two years ago.

Beyond the damage that these harmful applications can cause, security experts advise users to be sure of what they are downloading to their computers, because these malwares are proliferating more strongly on the Internet. In the same vein, said malwares became the biggest threats to the ecosystem last April, according to the Check Point Software Technologies firm.

By María Rodríguez

FATF Proposes Crypto-Transaction Tracking System to Avoid Money Laundering

Maria Rodríguez
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FATF Proposes Crypto-Transaction Tracking System to Avoid Money Laundering

The new system will collect personal data about those who conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies, in order to know where the funds of the users would be sent.

About 15 countries, including those belonging to the G7, seek to develop a system that allows tracking transactions with cryptocurrencies; the purpose is to prevent the illicit use of these digital assets and the execution of crimes with them, such as money laundering.

As it was reported last June, the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plans to prepare by 2020 measures to help prevent these crimes, according to what the agency informed.

The new system seeks to collect personal data about those who conduct this type of transactions, with the aim of preventing the funds from being used for illegal activities such as, for instance, terrorist financing, among others.

According to a report published in different media in Tokyo, these countries would apply the system of measures after having the rules introduced in 2020. Once these rules are adopted, the private sector would administer the tracking system to manage a better control.

A Guide to Avoid Risks

Last June, the FATF issued a kind of guide to explain companies and all types of cryptocurrency users how to avoid risks related to digital assets. Likewise, in that document the FATF recommended to its 37 member countries to apply regulatory measures related to the world of cryptocurrencies.

Among other recommendations of the FATF to its 37 member countries is to monitor and report suspicious transactions executed by local cryptocurrency service providers, so that the security authorities of those countries know where the funds expressed in cryptocurrencies are sent.

One of the most notable results after the publication of this guide was that four cryptocurrency exchange houses located in South Korea, which are Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone and Korbit, allegedly faced a more stringent regulation process when they revealed their bank accounts.

In this way, South Korean authorities could be starting to monitor these type of cryptocurrency companies to make sure that economic crimes are not committed or that vulnerable users are not affected.

Discussions about Crypto-Regulations

Since the social media giant Facebook announced that in 2020 it will launch its own currency for digital payments, this is, Libra, more countries and citizens have opined or begun to investigate the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Since July 18th, G7 finance ministers said they are preoccupied about the role that cryptocurrencies may play in the future as a means of payment. Ministers fear that these digital assets will alter the manner of how the global financial system has been managed until now if they are not strictly regulated.

Although several global jurisdictions have not yet established regulatory frameworks related to the crypto-space, the crypto-mining community hopes that the new FATF’s international initiative will contribute to the development of successful global measures that, as university researchers have recently expressed in Argentina, do not violate the security of users or close the path to technological innovation.

By María Rodríguez

Standard Chartered Completes First International Letter of Credit on Oil Blockchain Platform

Andres Chavez
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Standard Chartered Completes First International Letter of Credit on Oil Blockchain Platform

Prominent financial institutions keep taking advantage of the blockchain industry in several ways. The latest case involves the Standard Chartered bank, which announced this week that it successfully completed its first international letter of credit (LC) transaction on Voltron.

Voltron is a blockchain ecosystem that shifts its focus on the ever-important oil sector. According to the Standard Chartered announcement, an oil-related shipment from Thailand to Singapore was conducted as a pilot transaction on the platform, involving the PTT Group, PTT International Trading Pte Ltd and IRPC Public Company Limited.

Digitizing and Simplifying the Exchange of Information

The bank stated that it was “able to digitize and simplify the end to end exchange of information between all parties in the transaction on the Voltron platform, including the issuance, advising and negotiation of LC and presentation of documents.”

The development makes for a very positive step for the oil industry. Another Standard Chartered spokesperson, in this case the global Head of documentary trade product management, Samuel Mathew, “this pilot transaction marks the first of many that will follow from our participation with Voltron to digitise trade and enhance the client journey.”

He continued: “As our clients increasingly look to technology to address the challenges of today’s global trade environment, we are extremely optimistic and excited about the potential opportunities that Voltron brings to the industry with its demonstrated benefits in improved speed and reduced risks of settlement, as well as its flexibility in connecting banks, businesses and other third-party providers in its network.”

Watching Real-Time Data As the Transaction Occurs

Thanks to the addition of the blockchain technology to the equation, all parties were able to see real-time data as the transaction went through, including all the paperwork and documents that were sent via the digital platform.

That situation, according to the bank in question, helped to significantly reduce the amount of time that the network needed to complete the trading operation. It was, to be precise, less than 12 hours.

Letters of credits are resources that firms working in the oil industry often use to obtain trade finance in the short term. However, the process can take a lot of time if done the traditional way, because it implies lots of paper exchanging hands. It usually takes several days for the documents to be delivered, up to five.

Increasing Transparency and Cost Efficiency

But that is no longer the case thanks to the blockchain technology and, specifically, Voltron. It also helps keeping things more transparent and promotes cost efficiency in the whole supply chain, according to the enterprise.

Voltron is known around the industry for being a blockchain platform that companies use to “digitally create, exchange, approve and issue Letters of Credits.”

Standard Chartered’s global Head of digital transformation for trade product management, Jordane Rollin, explained that whilst Voltron keeps marching towards its launch at a commercial scale, “we are continuously getting feedback from our clients via pilots to enhance Voltron with new features. We have also started to ramp up on our contribution to this initiative to expand its offering beyond Letters of Credit and become a new industry standard for digitised traditional trade.”

By Andres Chavez

Cryptocurrency Launches Have Changed since Bitcoin’s Creation

Willmen Blanco
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Cryptocurrency Launches Have Changed since Bitcoin’s Creation

According to a Messari report, between 2009 and 2017 “fair launches” and ICOs predominated. The bearish market of 2018 stopped the dynamics of ICOs and new models were imposed.

According to a report by Messari, a cryptocurrency market monitoring and analysis portal, the launch models of new crypto assets have undergone important evolution since Bitcoin’s creation.

The document explains that a well-differentiated first stage predominates between 2009 and 2017, where the launches of new cryptocurrencies mostly adopted the Initial Currency Offering (ICO) model. To a lesser extent, “fair launches” occurred during this period, following Bitcoin’s pattern.

Since 2018, the dynamics of the ICOs stopped. Messari analysts note that “the scheme to become rich quickly vanished, and ICOs became decreasingly modern and frequent throughout the year.” There is an amazing pace of innovation, with the emergence of new experiments and dynamics in the styles of launching and financing cryptocurrency projects.

Bitcoin’s Fair Launch

Nic Carter, Bitcoin analyst and co-founder of Coin Metrics, explains that “fair launching” is limited to cryptocurrencies whose consensus mechanism is the Proof of Work (PoW), such as Bitcoin. Its main feature is that the launch is made public at the time that the network is activated. Besides, the cryptocurrency can be extracted from the beginning, with parameters that make it open to anyone.

Carter highlights that this type of “fair launches” is unusual, since the cryptocurrencies pre-mined by their creators are excluded. Under this heading, he includes projects such as Litecoin, Dogecoin and Monero, among others. In addition, he indicates Siacoin as a fair launch, since only 0.09% of its tokens were pre-mined by its founders, at the time of its creation.

The Messari report places the Sia project in a different category, due to the system that it uses to finance its development through a parent company that charges for the services that it provides.

ICO Reign

From 2009 to 2017, Carter identifies about 30 launches of cryptocurrencies that used ICO to give initial momentum and ensure the development of their projects, among which is Ethereum.

According to Carter, ICOs refer to an offer or sale of tokens, generally involving founders, who keep a stock of them to finance the development of their project.

However, he clarifies that, in the case of “instamines” and furtive mining, founders use asymmetric advantages. They extract large percentages of tokens at launch or they do not announce the activation of the currency, creating an unfair distribution.

Messari suggests that this model turned fundraising into a priority, leaving little room for innovations derived from entrepreneurship with few resources (Bootstrapping) and its possible “effects on network security or regulatory compliance”. However, this style began to decline along with the collapse of the cryptocurrency market, in early 2018.

New Models

Messari shows that, between 2018 and 2019, ICOs opened the way to new fundraising styles such as Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). This method, which consists of organizing the token sale of the projects through a cryptocurrency exchange house, has become popular so far in 2019.

He also notes that the projects began to use smart contract programming to promote active participation in the network of the different shareholders and interested parties. He mentions models such as Livepeer and NuCypher, focused on reaching new forms of fair distribution of tokens, such as the Worklock method.

By Willmen Blanco

Shrimp Companies in Ecuador Will Use Blockchain for the Traceability of their Products

Maria Rodríguez
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Shrimp Companies in Ecuador Will Use Blockchain for the Traceability of their Products

Through a QR code, users will be able to get information about the handling of shrimps in order to know the production process.

More companies are interested in using blockchain technology for the traceability of their products. In Ecuador, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) will make it possible to monitor the special care of food production process, such as shrimps.

With the aim to make this project a reality, the shrimp companies based in Ecuador Omarsa, Songa, Santa Priscila and Pro Mariscos announced the integration of their platforms and services with IBM. In this way, the operations of these companies will be supported with blockchain technology.

According to what these companies see, blockchain technology implements mechanisms in the shrimp industry that guarantee the proper handling of products for the consumer, allowing the certification of people working in this industry under the qualification of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), one of the most prestigious institutions in the world.

IBM Food Trust works in a simple and useful way. It allows using a QR code in the shrimp packaging. When scanning this code, users will receive the most important information about the management of the product in question.

In this sense, due to said benefits that blockchain technology offers, and according to reports published by local media, the use of blockchain technology manages to position the Ecuadorian shrimp industry as a leader in sustainability.

Guaranteeing Quality

Recently, these companies established a commercial alliance with IBM, in order to use the IBM Food Trust blockchain solution. The objective is to make traceability and follow-up to shrimp, as well as report the product information since it comes out of the seafront until it arrives to the supermarkets. In this way, the care can be guaranteed in the handling of the sea product.

About this commercial alliance, the President of the National Chamber of Aquaculture of Ecuador, José Antonio Camposano, commented: “This technology has managed to position the national shrimp industry as a leader in sustainability, just because that initiative demands that the worker is certified under the most demanding qualification in the world, which is theASC”.

In the other hand, the Director of the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP), Pamela Nath, said: “The Ecuadorian shrimp will have complete assurance that it has been cultivated under the highest social and environmental standards, without the use of antibiotics and certifying that it is a safe product”.

Camposano added that the incorporation of shrimp companies with the IBM Food Trust is a successful case for the marine industry. She said that this step demonstrates that Ecuador has the resources to lead the positive changes within this commercial ecosystem.

IBM Food Trust continues growing. This year, the project started working with companies such as Nestlé, with the aim to verify its traceability process. The Albert supermarket also announced an alliance with IBM, to track the products that the company markets.

Currently, IBM Food Trust already has more than 80 companies associated with it in the whole world. In this way, blockchain technology becomes increasingly present in the monitoring process of the food industry.

By María Rodríguez

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