Category: Blockchain

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Australia Blockchain

Aussie RMIT University Joins VeChain to Address Blockchain Governance Issues

Aussie RMIT University Joins VeChain to Address Blockchain Governance Issues

RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, the blockchain department of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia, has become the latest member of VeChain Foundation. The organization is focused on extending blockchain technology – perhaps the VeChain blockchain – to the real world. VeChain announced the collaboration in a publication on Monday.

By joining the organization, the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub will work to address issues with blockchain governance, while still pushing towards the mainstream adoption of the technology across different sectors.

VeChain, RMIT University to Address Hurdles With Blockchain

The collaboration is aimed at driving more research on blockchain governance models, and also speed up the standardization of blockchain governance consensus. For a start, the group will focus on creating a framework that will enable a streamlined medium for evaluating and comparing the governance systems of public blockchains. 

Afterward, the group will come up with a better incentivize model to encourage participation in the blockchain governance process. 

The Chief Scientist at VeResearch, Dr. Peter Zhou, commented:

“Blockchain governance plays a vital role in growing a healthy and sustainable blockchain ecosystem. This research collaboration is going to answer some of the most important and fundamental questions about blockchain governance and will contribute to the long-term growth of VeChain’s ecosystem and to achieving our goal of mass adoption.”

Blockchain Adoption by Enterprise, Government

In compliance with regulations, the group will continue to research the governance models that are suitable for enterprises as a long-term goal. In this way, they prepare for mainstream adoption of VeChain and blockchain technology in general, among the enterprises, governments, and educational research facilities. 

“With this important research, we are hoping to build towards a general theory of blockchain governance contributing to VeChain’s ecosystem and providing benefit to the broader blockchain community,” said Dr. Chris Berg, from RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub.

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Bitcoin Blockchain Crypto News Hackers

Bitcoin.org Hit By DDoS Attack

Although the Bitcoin blockchain itself was not affected, the official website that hosts a copy of Bitcoin Core open-source code for developers and any other interested party was. So far, an attack against a blockchain itself has never been executed.

DDoS Attacks Common In Similar Circumstances

According to Cobra – an anonymous dev who helps keep the website up and running – this sort of attack is not uncommon when Bitcoin is spiking high and markets are bullish. He also warned that this particular attack was probably not over just yet. Although the official Bitcoin site is up and running again, DDoS attacks happen in waves through coordinated botnets quite often.

“Basically, we got hit with a large DDoS, which is quite common around ATHs (all-time highs) and bull markets. It took us down for a while but for now, we’re back up, but  we might go down on and off periodically depending on how long the attackers want to continue attacking.”

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an attack in which many devices infected by malware are coordinated by a bad actor in order to overwhelm an IP address with web traffic, slowing down traffic for normal users – and often taking the site offline completely for certain periods of time.

For those eager to help host the source code until the DDoS attacks cease, crypto enthusiasts have set up a torrent where the code can be downloaded from and hosted.

The attack is being led by mostly Russian IPs – although this does not necessarily mean the attack is coming from there, as bad actors nearly always use VPNs, allowing them to pretend to be from somewhere else.

In addition, infected devices carrying out the attack can belong to anyone, anywhere – and the owner of the device will almost certainly be unaware that their device is being used for nefarious purposes.

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Blockchain Cryptocurrencies Institutions

Banca Generali To Introduce Cryptocurrency Services In 2021 As More Financial institutions Embrace Cryptocurrencies

State and private financial institutions are embracing Bitcoin instead of gold, as traditional fiat devalues and cryptocurrencies are becoming better stores of value. Just recently, Banca Generali, a major private bank in Italy, announced its plans to introduce cryptocurrency services in 2021, by providing their customers cryptocurrency custody.

Generali announced on December 15 a new corporate and commercial partnership agreement with Conio, a fintech firm that serves over 150,000 cryptocurrency portfolios for its customers. The bank is injecting $14 million into Conio’s capital as well.

We predict that the future structure of financial markets will be influenced by blockchain technology, which continues to enable innovation in cryptocurrencies and many other areas of the financial ecosystem.

Stated Generali CEO, Gian Maria Mossa.

Banks Embracing Cryptocurrency

Globally, banks are turning their views towards cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, considering the tremendous growth that crypto has had in the finance realm these last months.

Even some central banks, like the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve, are considering integrating cryptocurrency services alongside traditional systems into their services — although to a more limited extend at first.

Recently in Switzerland, Sygnum, a major cryptocurrency bank, had successfully tokenized its shares — using a tokenization platform called Desygnate.

We are excited to be the first bank in the world to tokenize our shares. This is an important milestone towards fulfilling our mission of creating more direct and efficient access to ownership and value. This includes new engagement models with our clients and partners, and ultimately providing liquidity for our trusted shareholders.

Mathias Imbach, co-founder of Sygnum and CEO at Desygnate.

Even the CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, suggested that gold could “suffer for years” now that institutional investors are embracing Bitcoin as a replacement to their stores of funds.

And Morgan Stanley, one of the most relevant multinational banks, called bitcoin a hedge fund against fiat inflation, with the potential to replace the U.S Dollar.

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Australia Blockchain Industries

Australian Wool Trading On Blockchain

On the 16th of December, Indorama Ventures Public Company Ltd. created and executed a Letter-of-Credit transaction with Techwool Trading PTY Ltd.

The deal was carried out with Indorama’s subsidiary active in the wool business, Indorama Holding Ltd.

Credit Approved

A Letter of Credit is a document that guarantees payment from one company or financial institution to another – but only once the seller meets all the terms and conditions stipulated within the contract.

The Letter of Credit was executed on the Contour blockchain – and is the first transaction of its kind for both companies involved.

For this transaction, both companies did away with the multitude of secondary tools usually necessary for trades of this type. HSBC Thailand took care of the banking for both sides and acted as an advisor for the transaction.

According to Mr. Krisda Phatchoroen – the Head of Commercial Banking at HSBC Thailand – the HSBC fully believes in the power of blockchain to make commerce better for everyone.

“We are pleased to be able to support IVL’s endeavors in digitizing its trade finance processes. HSBC believes that the use of technologies like blockchain and the Contour platform in particular will serve businesses well, especially in this restrictive environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Digitization is the way forward and we are glad to support IVL to successfully adopt this technology for their business.”

Indeed,  2018 predictions from Bain & Company suggest that the use of blockchain technology in order to increase security could lead to an increase in global trading volumes of over $1 trillion by 2026.

The UN has also predicted that tossing out current trade practices in favor of digital ones could slash export SLAs in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region by 44% – as well as reducing costs by 31%.

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Australia Bitcoin Blockchain

Australian MetaStreme To Improve Blockchain Technology With RouterSV

MetaStreme, an Australian e-wallet and Bitcoin interface platform, recently proposed a new project prototype called “RouterSV” — a tool that will be designed to improve network security by publishing the traffic logs on the Bitcoin blockchain.

How Does It Work?

RouterSV uses the Syslog standard to send data logs collected in routers and other network devices to the Bitcoin SV ledger. According to MetaStreme’s director, Paul Chieri, by publishing the log files, the transaction records would become permanently auditable, and allow network administrators to share valuable data records with each other.

RouterSV takes logs collected by a router or other network devices and stores them to a syslog server which then writes that data to the BSV ledger. Syslog is a commonly used protocol by routers, servers, switches, and other network devices. It allows the collection of system and security logs of multiple devices to be collected into a single database.

Stated Paul Chieri to Coingeek

In a recent interview, Chieri stated that the company is already using its own system to publish the traffic logs to the BSV blockchain. The director added that RouterSV is under design, and it’s an open project if people experienced with Syslog records are interested in joining in its development.

MetaStreme is powered by Bitcoin SV (BSV) protocol – which enables other programs to interact with the BSV network through an API (Application Programming Interface) — a software intermediary that allows two applications to interact with each other.

Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision) originated from a hard fork from BTC Cash. The result is a cryptocurrency with its own separated blockchain. The BSV network has a number of advantages, such as scalability — with bigger blocks of 128MB, lower fees, and better network development.

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Blockchain Industries Institutions

MetaMask Is Making An Enterprise Version Of Its Services

MetaMask is looking to improve the multi-billion dollar DeFi environment with a new version of its wallet, aimed at crypto exchanges, financial institutions, and hedge fund management companies.

The Ethereum wallet MetaMask is one of the most popular wallets around, with over 1 million monthly users. Following the launch of token swaps earlier this autumn, the company is now trying to advance the advent of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) by compensating for the current industry protocols – which some feel leave much to be desired.

Developers Consensys Looking To Expand The Scope Of The Wallet

Consensys – the dev team behind Metamask – feel that although DeFi may be all well and good for independent crypto traders and investors, the current protocols are too inefficient for heavy-hitting professional trading firms.

They also identified room for improvement in the figures department, citing a lack of efficient reporting capabilities when it comes to taxes and returns – as well as profit and loss statements.

The team at MetaMask has already found their first partner for the institutional decentralized finance protocol.

Curv, a leading digital asset security firm, will set up its DeFi customers with everything needed for a professional DeFi trading platform.

Although Curv may not sound familiar, their clients’ names may ring a bell – clients such as eToro, purveyors of stocks, bonds, and moderately humorous YouTube ads.

Itay Malinger – the CEO and co-founder of Curv – stated his belief in a need for DeFi solutions geared at financial institutions.

“Since there is no reliable and secure institutional solution for DeFi, organizations are reverting to retail-level use of MetaMask or custom integrations with individual apps as a workaround.”

As senator Andrew Bragg reminded panelists at the Future Of Financial Services 2020 Conference, staying competitive in the financial domain is a key objective for the Australian government – and the announcement of an industrial-grade DeFi service may prove very useful to Aussie investment firms.

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Blockchain Cryptocurrencies Industries

Steve Wozniak’s Cryptocurrency Is Still Steadily Climbing

Steve Wozniak – the co-founder of Apple – launched the sale of tokens for his 2nd blockchain related project on the 3rd of December.

An Eco-friendly Platform

The brand new company is named Efforce, and its token WOZX can be bought by investors interested in eco-friendly projects.

Revolving around energy-saving, Efforce calls itself the first blockchain-based energy-saving platform. The company was founded by Steve Wozniak, as well as Project Lead Jacopo Visetti and chief technical officer Jacopo Vanetti.

Co-founder Jacopo Visetti shared his hopes that the new platform will allow investors to connect with eco-friendly platforms in an easier way.

“Energy efficiency is a way to create a sustainable future, and this is a way to help counter climate change, reduce carbon — and make money while you do it.”

Although it was founded in 2019, the company’s token sale only took place in early December on the HBTC platform – with great results.

With a total token supply of 1 billion, a market cap of 950 million was reached within 13 minutes of launch. It will soon be followed by a 9th of December launch on the South Korean crypto exchange platform Bithumb, and the token price keeps climbing with no signs of stopping.

In fact, at the time this article was written, the token price increased by 2490% – all the way up to $2.59 from $0.10.

The company based in Malta aims to give investors keen on saving the environment a direct way to contribute using blockchain technology – much like the New South Wales blockchain initiative to power the town of Tyalgum with green energy.

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Blockchain Cryptocurrencies Payments

Visa To Integrate US Dollar Coin (USDC) System

The heavy-hitting financial institution has announced its plan to connect its global payments network to the U.S. Dollar Coin (USDC).

Taking Advantage Of An Already Large Network

Developed on the Ethereum blockchain by Circle Internet Financial, the cryptocurrency is currently worth about $2.9 billion. Once the system becomes available to Visa’s vast network of over 60 million merchants, the cryptocurrency will be able to be traded on the Visa network.

Although Visa is not planning to hold any USDC itself, the company will any interested parties on the Visa network to implement the software necessary to trade USDC into their system.

Circle Internet Financial will complete Visa’s Fast Track program itself – probably in the first half of 2021. Fast Track is a Visa program geared towards “cutting edge fintechs”, aiming to bring them into the Visa ecosystem.

According to Terry Angelos – Senior Vice President and global head of Fintech at Visa – Fast Track is designed to help small fintech companies unlock their true potential.

“Our goal is to bring cutting-edge Fintechs into the Visa ecosystem, to help them grow and scale their business in record time. Through programs like Fast Track, Visa is committed to helping Fintechs, many of which are small businesses, advance their potential and get into market quickly, so they are ready to provide innovations that move the world forward everyday – especially in current times.”

After the program is completed, Visa will begin issuing credit cards that will allow businesses to send and receive payments in USDC.

Cuy Sheffield – the head of the crypto department at Visa – stated that he foresees rapid adoption of crypto by businesses who opt in.

“This will be the first corporate card that will allow businesses to be able to spend a balance of USDC.  And so we think that this will significantly increase the utility that USDC can have for Circle’s business clients.”

Although there are already crypto cards on the Visa network – such as the Binance card – this will be the first time a crypto Visa card is issued that is not tied to any crypto trading platform.

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Blockchain Cryptocurrencies DeFi

Aave Rehashed – Aave’s Upgraded v2 Protocol Is Here

A Finnish word for “Ghost”, Aave is a decentralized finance project that seeks to increase the transparency of decentralized finance, and improve its infrastructure.

Less than a year after the launch of the popular DeFi project, the second iteration of the Aave network is here.

After hitting a market cap of over $1 billion within 6 months, Aave has now hit a new milestone – namely, reaching a total volume of $1 billion in flash loans.

Stani Kuchelov – the founder and CEO of Aave – stated that the upgrades to the Aave network are a reflection of the company’s ethos.

“The Aave Protocol took major steps toward becoming more decentralized with the handover of the Admin Keys to the community. The Aave ethos is that finance should be as you like it, and with a working governance and “Aavenomics”, the future of the protocol is in your hands.”

Upgrades to Decentralized Finance

It’s safe to say the past few weeks have not been easy for companies specializing in decentralized finance (DeFi).

Between savvy coders making millions (and even returning some) and DeFi crypto storage “jars” being cloned and emptied right under everyone’s noses, DeFi companies have proven to be less stable than otherwise hoped.

With a little luck, however, Aave v2 may be able to solve some of the issues plaguing the budding industry.

Among the many improvements to the first iteration of the Aave network are upgrades to the notorious flash loan tool – including the option to carry them out in batches, native credit delegations, the optimization of gas prices.

In order to mitigate the growing gas price for transactions taking place on the Ethereum blockchain, Aave is introducing new ways to optimize gas prices, in some cases even cutting them by half.

Another interesting feature is the tokenization of debt. On this version of Aave’s blockchain, debt is tokenized, and borrowers will receive tokens representing their debt. This feature is mainly aimed at those who use cold wallets, as it will allow them to calculate their debt positions even when far away from the internet.

However, these are only a few of the updates brought to you by Aave. You can check out the full list on the official Medium blog of the company, complete with technical details.

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Australia Blockchain Investing

Root Cause Of November ASX Crash Found

Last month, a glitch caused the ASX to go down for nearly half an hour – merely one of the many telltale signs that the ASX’s CHESS system is showing its age, and coming out worse for wear.

NASDAQ Takes Responsibility

Although the ASX and others are working hard to upgrade from the CHESS system to a blockchain-based one that can carry the weight of one of the leading securities exchanges worldwide, NASDAQ has identified the bug in their software – used by the ASX – that nearly wiped an entire trading session last month.

NASDAQ Chief Executive Officer Adena Friedman issued a statement regarding the November 16 glitch.

“We take our role as a provider of mission-critical technology seriously and apologize to ASX, its customers, and all those impacted.”

The responsibility for the crash lies with an incorrect functionality in the Tailor-Made Combinations (TMC) order book created by NASDAQ and used by ASX Ltd.

A tool used by many equity and equity derivative traders across both public and private sectors, TMC  allows multiple trades to be carried out in a single transaction. When the error occurred on November 16th, the ASX was forced to halt trading in order to avoid losses by stock traders.

Although the ASX plans to bring back some functionalities of the TMC system on the 21st of December, this seems to be a stop-gap measure until the ASX makes its planned move towards a blockchain-based trading system.

Whether the ASX will choose its own in-house solution after scaling up the size of their project or go for the DESS system that the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) has built is not yet clear – however, the planned switch to blockchain stock trading solutions will be a boost to the system’s reliability.