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After Mary Hard Fork, Cardano Is Now A Multi-Asset Blockchain

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Cardano has tremendous development over the past several months and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Input Output Hong Kong [IOHK], the developer company behind the Cardano blockchain revealed that the long-anticipated Mary protocol update was successfully applied to the mainnet via a managed hard fork combinator event.

A key milestone in its ongoing rollout as revealed by IOHK is that introduces core Goguen features. This involves native token functionality and multi-asset support.

Moreover, the latest update is touted as a crucial “building block” and the foundations for several new use cases for the blockchain.

Cardano’s Mary Update

Mary hard fork is a milestone or the ecosystem primarily because it opens a wide array of possibilities to developers and businesses looking to build on or migrate to the blockchain.

Most importantly, Cardano’s decentralized blockchain has now transformed into a multi-asset blockchain. Following this, the network will now be able to host services and solutions such as decentralized finance [DeFi], non-fungible tokens [NFT], stablecoins, and others, and paves the way for a flourishing decentralized crypto economy

How Does This Impact ADA?

Currently, Ethereum is home to a vast majority of DeFi and DApp platforms. The high transaction fees needs no introduction. As for alternatives, there are handful which have gained prominence.

Hence, Cardano has emerged as yet another promising alternative that with low transaction fees and massively secured smart contracts.

According to a blog post by Emurgo, Cardano was designed to be of low cost, and that will not change with tokens launched on the network.

The Mary hard fork and the Goguen era’s imminent full deployment is expected to onboard more third-party developers to the ecosystem. This, in turn, is likely to increase its overall network effects. And finally, it is this migration to the network that would essentially generate increased self-sustaining demand for its native token, ADA.

Emurgo also revealed,

“ADA will be fully tradable with native tokens from the start, unlocking the power and huge interest worldwide in DeFi applications. In Cardano, transactions between native tokens do not generate high fees, making DeFi applications even more affordable.”

Here’s How XSL Labs Aims To Revolutionize Digital Identity

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Personal data has been a subject of manipulation for years. In the last three decades, specifically, one of the major concerns that have driven users up the wall was the loss of control. In this day and age, data gathering and privacy protection in the online realm are ubiquitous and none of the two can be compromised. 

Corporate giants and free apps have taken over individual identities. The main concern that has given these entities the power over an individual’s personal data is the lack of awareness about the use of the information in question.

Enter, the ambitious French blockchain project called ‘XSL Labs’

In a bid to hand the ownership of personal data back to the people, XSL Labs has pioneered to create an ecosystem that guarantees online trust through the means of a decentralized solution called SDI (Secure Digital Identity) that leverages blockchain technology.

Headed by CEO George Tresignies aka “Slash Coin”, the team of XSL Labs essentially consists of 16 people working on the development of the project. The French startup has come a long way since its official launch.  

The two things that XSL Labs plans to tackle are:

  • Low security 
  • Dispersion of personal data online

Secure Digital Identity (SDI) solution

The Secure Digital Identity (SDI) solution is a set of data managed exclusively by each user to permit digital identification that is being developed by the XSL Labs team. Based on blockchain technology, SDI will be able to act as a trusted digital passport in the days to come.

It is constructed in a way so that it contains a private and a public key and the combination of these two keys is what guarantees its holder to remain in full control of his/her identity. Furthermore, all the personal data that is integrated into the SDI solution is secured by a cryptographic encryption which is then stored in a distributed decentralized blockchain-type ledger. 

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SDI also enables the user to decide at any time to close his/her SDI making the data inoperative and inaccessible unless a third party has an unrestricted right of access to the data contained therein.

The solution is generated by “smart contracts” that shape the entire life cycle of each SDI, from Creation, Modification to user rights agreements. In other words, smart contracts will basically guarantee the non-use of personal data without the user’s consent. In addition to that, it will

allow the SDI holder to prohibit or authorize the reading of the data making up his/her identity.

With this, the third party entities will not be able to edit the SDI and will only have temporary reading rights of the data it contains. Furthermore, they will only be able to read the data specifically authorized by the user. 

SYL Token:

This is where the SYL token comes into the picture. The SYL will be used as gas, which will be isolated at the moment of creation or modification of the smart contract. 

The first phase of the ICO for the token was a success which made it possible for the platform to distribute 1 billion SYL. As it finalizes its ICO phase that began last year, the SYL token is set to be issued by the first quarter of 2021.

Some of the SYL use cases are: The monetization of personal data. Given the intrinsic properties of data as economic goods, and with the ever-mounting scrutiny on data privacy, monetization seems like a distant dream. But monetization of personal data is one of the main use cases of the SYL token which will act as the vehicle of exchange, purchase of services, and execution of smart contracts in the SYL Ecosystem. 

Apart from being a means of transfer of value, ie., a utility token, SYL will enable the purchases of services from the XSL Labs ecosystem and of DApps available on the SYL Library. It will allow the purchases of services on the XSL Labs ecosystem, and in the creation and management of smart contracts as well as the remuneration of the verifiable credential emitters.

0.25 SYL (250,000 syloshis) per creation of SDI (these SYL will come from the escrow of XSL Labs)

Zooming out, SDI solution aims to limit the dispersion of a person’s online data while simultaneously increasing the security aspects. All this while also allowing individuals to regain control over their personal data.

SDI – A decentralized identifier 

To dive deeper, it is imperative to understand that DID (Decentralized IDentifier) is a unique address that allows access to a document, called the “DID Document”. The DID used in the XSL Labs project is the Secure Digital Identity (SDI). In short, the SDI is a decentralized identifier used to obtain a “DID Document”.

FinCEN’s Rule Can Spell The End of Financial Privacy for Users; Argues Advocacy Group

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The crypto wallet proposal by the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network [FinCEN] has received severe backlash from the community. The Chamber of Digital Commerce advocacy group became the latest to respond to the controversial notice.

The proposed rule in question essentially requires crypto exchanges to collect personal information, including names and home addresses, from users seeking to transfer cryptocurrencies into their own wallets. Many industry players have deemed this proposal as poorly defined which could have widespread repercussions.

Chamber of Digital Commerce, for one, said that giving the government the ability to track every financial transaction made by users make was a “shocking invasion of privacy”. While acknowledging there are good reasons to report certain transactions, especially if suspicious or illegal activity is detected. Enabling such “granular tracking” of individuals’ transactions could be considered lawful, however, monitoring daily financial activities are beyond common principles of government oversight, stated the blockchain trade association.

The Chamber further stressed that FinCEN’s proposed rule could also enable a counterparty to a transaction, who never had an account relationship with the bank or MSB, will have users’ entire wallet history and future transactions exposed to both that financial institution and the government.

“The proposed rule could spell the end of financial privacy for CVC and LTDA users (including CBDCs) [..] Quite simply, this action would open the door to unprecedented personal data collection, individual monitoring, and a tremendous loss of privacy for millions of investors, businesses, and consumers.”

Apart from emphasizing the extraordinary expansion of information provided to third parties about non-customers, the advocacy group also questioned the rushed affair by FinCEN for the comment period. Considering the significant impact of the proposed rule, the Chamber also stated that the NPRM’s 12-day/6 business day comment period was “wholly inadequate” and that it raises serious process concerns under the APA.

Furthermore, it requested a 90-day extension of the comment period to permit the ecosystem to fully address the concerns by FinCEN. SF-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase had previously questioned FinCEN’s expedited timeline and urged for an extension of the comment period.

Besides, Jerry Brito, the executive director of the non-profit crypto policy advocate group Coin Center, had also urged the community members to comment against the agencies’ proposed crypto regulations.

Stablecoin Can Now Be Used For Bank Payments, Says US Treasury

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2021 has already been touted as the year for Bitcoin. But on a more positive note for the collective industry, in an interpretive letter, a federal banking regulator on Monday stated that the U.S. financial institutions are allowed to use stablecoins for payment activities, and can also participate as nodes in a blockchain.

According to the official release, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency [OCC] which happens to be the US Treasury’s independent bureau, published a letter in which it clarified that the banks will be able to use stablecoins to execute transactions given that it conforms with the law and sound banking practices.

While acknowledging that if independent node verification networks [INVNs] and related stablecoins represent new technological means of performing bank-permissible payment activities., the interpretive letter issued by the OCC concluded,

“..that a bank may validate, store, and record payments transactions by serving as a node on an INVN. Likewise, a bank may use INVNs and related stablecoins to carry out other permissible payment activities. A bank must conduct these activities consistent with applicable law and safe and sound banking practices.”

The latest news comes nearly two weeks after top U.S. financial regulators reportedly warned firms behind the stablecoin market to tighten protections against money laundering.

Stablecoins have been mired in controversy ever since social media giant, Facebook’s Libra came into the picture.

Hence, the latest move was crucial to the ecosystem as aims to offer blockchain networks a level playing with traditional counterparts such as SWIFT, ACH, and FedWire. This step was further crucial because it can potentially the lobbyist group The Blockchain Association said in a tweet, calling it “a giant advance for crypto because it lay the foundation for these networks to be a formal part of the country’s financial infrastructure.

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle went on to say that this was a huge win for the stablecoin sector. The exec also stated that this was a crucial step that could essentially set the stage for the use of leading dollar digital currencies such as USDC as a mainstream payment medium for all forms of payments and settlement. He went on to add,

“.. [The move] helps put the US in a leadership position in embracing the power of public blockchains. Beyond payments and settlement, and unlike legacy settlement mediums, public chains combine transactions and compute, enabling radically new modes of financial and commerce apps to be built.”

Japan geared up to launch native CBDC as it takes cues from steps taken by China

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The concept of cryptocurrencies started as a nascent idea but has now spread into a global phenomenon. It is not just the mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereuym that are doing the rounds but rather centralized cryptocurrencies launched by state governments.

China was the first country to take centrally backed cryptocurrencies seriously, especially with the creation of the digital renminbi. Looking at the steps taken by the red dragon, other countries such as Japan were coming to the forefront to voice their contributions using Central Bank Digital Currencies [CBDCs].  

CDBCs are generally used for cashless payments through a smart device such as a mobile phone or tablet. The main intention of a digital currency is to eliminate the overheads and wastage related to physical fiat currency. Former Bank of Japan officials stated that China’s efforts in the ecosystem inspired other regions to follow suit.

The People’s Bank of China has been the pioneer in terms of building a digital trading ecosystem with officials also responsible for releasing coherent updates. Hiromi Yamaoka, an ex-official at the Bank of Japan commented:

“China has prompted moves toward digital currency (around the world). t (has done so at) surprising speed, as central banks tend to take a cautious stance. The design of a CBDC is very tricky and delicate. In advanced countries, a CBDC could conflict with existing payment and banking systems.”

Banking officials in Japan were confident that introducing native digital currencies in a major way would only uplift the financial situation of the country. The proposed method is to give the Japanese population a trading limit access of 50,000 yen per person. This would result in a total trading volume of 5 trillion yen, a figure that would account for just 5 percent of the total Japanese capital circulation.

Digital Currency Forum, a popular advocate of digital currencies in Japan revealed that there were plans to create “some form” of digital currency by 2023. Banking officials were of the opinion that if Japan does not launch a CBDC soon, it may lag behind other major countries in the race towards a streamlined digital economy.

Grayscale Now Has $19 Billion in Crypto AUM; Figures Triple

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It is, without a doubt, that Grayscale has effectively cornered the cryptocurrency industry. Bitcoin’s prices have unfolded tremendously over the holiday week, thanks to the growing institutional investor interest as well as the retail FOMO.

Owing to this, the digital asset manager, Grayscale Investments has hit yet another milestone, after it touched $19 billion in assets under management [AUM] on the 28th of December, up from the $16.4 billion announced just last week. With this, the figures have tripled since the start of November.

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Notably, Grayscale’s trust for XRP witnessed a significant decline all the way from $13.7 million AUM a week ago to the current $11.2 million. This can be attributed to the recent SEC-Ripple fiasco which has prompted intense sell-off.

Nevertheless, Grayscale products have attracted massive capital inflows over the course of the year. According to the latest data by the NY-based platform showed that Bitcoin continued to be its largest holdings with a staunching $16.3 billion followed by Grayscale Ethereum Trust [ETHE] at $2.1 billion, Grayscale Litecoin Trust [LTCN] with $151.3 million.

The world’s leading crypto asset management firm had garnered a lot of traction recently due to its DropGold advertising campaign. To top that, the company reported a growing interest in Ethereum earlier this month.

Besides, Ki Young Ju, who happens to be the CEO of CryptoQuant, revealed that out of the total $186 billion Bitcoin realized market cap, 16% is owned by institutional investors. This comes after Grayscale’s third-quarter investment report disclosed that 80% of investments to its products came from institutional investors, which were dominated by hedge.

In addition to the rising Bitcoin price, yet another factor that has made the US-based platform, realy popular among the experienced and the novice traders alike was the weakening dollar which has triggered institutional adoption. Furthermore, it is no news that certain major Wall Street firms have also integrated digital assets in their investment portfolio to hedge against dollar depreciation.

Confident about the massive figures, Barry Silbert, the Founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group which owns the digital asset manager, tweeted,

“You all clearly want Grayscale to hit $20 billion in AUM in 2020. I’ll take it”

Coinbase Drowns In Troubled Waters For Discriminative Pay Scale

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Oppression and disparity have been the primary reasons for protests and unrest. Coinbase seems to be overseeing the years of struggle women and people of color had to undergo in order to be treated fairly. Equal opportunities and equal pay mean nothing for some but for a few others both these factors have a huge impact on their lives. While people have believed that the 21st century has paved the way to an array of opportunities for all, cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase seems to be fending off the fight that women and black people have had to put up for years.

Coinbase Underpays Black and Woman Workers

In an elaborate report, the New York Times revealed that prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase was treating its Black employees as well as women of the company differently. The article pointed out that women workers at the San Fransisco-based company were paid 8 percent lesser than the men with similar ranks in the platform. Black workers were paid about 7 percent which is about $11,500 less than the other workers in the company with comparable roles. While Coinbase has argued this discriminative pay scale in the past, suggesting that only some of them had an issue with it. However, over nine employees of the crypto platform affirmed the credibility of the data.

Despite the onset of COVID-19, the entire globe joined hands to battle discrimination against black people. However, in many sectors of various industries discrimination against black people and women continues to prevail. It was further revealed that disparity in pay at Coinbase between black and white employees had surged up to 11 percent after the stock options of the exchange’s workers were factored.

Sadly, Coinbase isn’t the only company that has been following inequality in pay. Google as well as Oracle have reportedly been slapped with lawsuits with regard to the same. However, it was noted that the pay disparity at the crypto platform was far worse than other tech companies. James Finberg, the advocate preceding the case against pay discrimination against Google and Oracle commented about Coinbase and said,

“This certainly looks like a company with a problem.”

Coinbase

In response to this New York Times article, the Chief People Officer, L.J. Brock, wrote a blog post clarifying that the crypto company has a transparent compensation framework. Brock wrote,

“Since Q1 2019, we’ve put in significant work to ensure our pay-for-performance philosophy is transparent and fair. I’m proud of everyone on the Employee Experience Team who has driven this work, and I’m committed to ensuring our comp structure remains fair and transparent as we continue to grow.”

Additionally, he pointed out that during the market review process, that the platform hadn’t increase pay targets. However, with regard to the shift in roles, the company intends to surge the pay targets. Furthermore, all the “impacted employees will be notified of any base salary increases in mid-January”, he wrote.

SEC Charges Crypto Fund Manager With Fraud; Obtains Emergency Asset Freeze

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] revealed filing an emergency action as well as obtaining an order to impose an asset freeze and other emergency relief against quantitative trading firm Virgil Capital in Manhattan federal court.

Its affiliated companies were also included in connection with an alleged securities fraud relating to Virgil Capital’s flagship cryptocurrency trading fund, Virgil Sigma Fund LP.

According to the official release, Stefan Qin, the 23-year-old Australian hedge fund founder, Virgil Capital, has been accused by the SEC and his entities of defrauding investors in the Sigma Fund since at least 2018 by making material misrepresentations about the fund’s strategy, assets, and financial condition.

Kristina Littman, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit stated,

“This emergency action is an important step to protect investor assets and prevent further harm. Qin allegedly made false promises to lure investors and then continued his deception to conceal his misuse of investor funds.”

The SEC complaint also alleged that Qin and the entities “misled” investors to believe their money was being used only for cryptocurrency trading based on a proprietary algorithm, while the defendants, in fact, utilized the funds for investment proceeds for personal purposes or for other undisclosed high-risk investments.

Furthermore, SEC also stated in its complaint that Qin and Virgil Capital have told investors who requested redemptions from the Sigma Fund that their interests would be transferred instead to another fund under the ultimate control of Qin but with separate management and operations, the VQR Multistrategy Fund LP.

Despite the requests, the complaint claimed that no funds were transferred to the investors and the redemption requests remained outstanding and that Qin attempted to misappropriate assets from the VQR Fund and to secure new investments in the Sigma Fund.

According to reports, Sean Hecker and Shawn Crowley of Kaplan Hecker & Fink were representing Qin. In an official statement, the law firm went on to say that Qin intends to fully cooperate with the regulator to provide a “fulsome set of facts” and was “committed to ensuring that no investors are harmed.”

Stablecoin Platforms Asked To Bolster Money Laundering Processes

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Stablecoins were rolled out to steer away from the scrutiny imposed by the government following the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. However, now even stable coins have made their way under the purview of the government. Social media giant, Facebook’s interest in rolling out a stablecoin undoubtedly stirred up some heat in the world. While regulators across the globe have been stressing on platforms to spruce up their money laundering processes, stable coins seem to be the latest interest of these regulators.

Stablecoins Could Pose Money Laundering Risks

The Treasury Department along with several other agencies in the United States suggested that platforms hoarding stablecoin services had to bolster their rules and regulations against money laundering. A recent press release titled, “President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Releases Statement on Key Regulatory and Supervisory Issues Relevant to Certain Stablecoins”, by the United States Department of the Treasury, suggested that these crypto-assets were to be operated in a “responsible” way.

While suggesting that the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets [PWG] viewed stablecoins as an efficient means of digital payment as it entails the potentials to “enhance efficiency, increase competition, lower costs, and foster broader financial inclusion” Despite this, the PWG suggested that stablecoins should be designed and administered in a more productive manner.

The PWG expects the assets to function efficiently without disrupting the stability of the monetary system in the country as well as internationally while managing risks associated with it.

The Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Justin Muzinich elaborated on the same and stated,

“The statement reflects a commitment to both promote the important benefits of innovation and to achieve critical objectives related to national security and financial stability. Regulators will continue to look closely at stablecoin arrangements, and look forward to future dialogue on these issues.”

While the fate of Facebook’s Diem [Libra] is still uncertain, Tether, the largest stable coin, continues to surge in terms of market cap. The asset even took over XRP and now stands as the third-largest crypto asset with a market cap of $20 billion.

Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong To Challenge FinCEN’s Proposed Rules

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The long-anticipated [or rather dreaded] proposed Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s [FinCEN’s] rule is finally here. And there is hardly anyone in the community who is happy with it.

The proposal in question aims to extend AML regulations to non-custodial wallets. This ended months of speculations surrounding what the rule would entail that has created severe turmoil among the community members. As expected certain prominent crypto personalities are now planning to challenge it.

One such is Co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, Brian Armstrong who revealed this sentiment hours after the FinCEN released stifling wallet regulations for transactions involving cryptocurrency wallets. He further went on to claim that the rule does not follow the correct process.

FinCEN’s Rule: A quick primer

Under the new rule, the centralized exchange users, who seek to move their coins to their own private wallet, or to someone else’s, would now have to furnish detailed personal information for transactions more than $3,000. The centralized exchanges, on the other hand, would have to disclose any withdrawals and deposits in excess of $10,000 to the financial crimes watchdog in the form of a full-fledged currency transaction report.

In short, the community was left furious as the FinCEN’s rule undermined the very ethos of the space and the underlying technology as well as the early promise of privacy and self-sovereignty.

The General Counsel of Compound, Jake Chervinsky termed FinCEN’s rule as “awful” and went on to explain how the rule would impose new obligations on virtual asset service providers [VASPs]. While acknowledging that FinCEN does not propose an outright ban on self-custody, however, it does little to accomplish the main goals.

He asserted that if the major problem was illicit activity, the latest rules would not stop the flow of funds to bad actors or help law enforcement do its job. Furthermore, it also does not provide the state investigators with any new information since VASPs already KYC their customers as well as keep records of transactions. Chervinsky also said,

“Second, it infringes on US citizens’ financial privacy rights. Today, law enforcement has to subpoena VASPs to get information about customers. VASPs can, should, & often do challenge these. This rule would force VASPs to hand over that information automatically, every time.”

The lawyer also pointed out the recent FinCEN Files leak and hacks, said that the government has not yet taken appropriate steps to store public information effectively or safely.

“Now isn’t the time to expand the government’s warrantless mass surveillance & data collection operations.”

Calling FinCEN’s proposal as “vague and ambiguous” Chervinsky questioned how the VASPs will be able to collect credentials such as the name and physical address of the owner of a non-custodial wallet and price that they “own” a private key. He also revealed his plans to help the Blockchain Association to evaluate grounds to challenge the rule under the APA.