Key management providers, examples While many exchanges or custodians still operate a multisig cold wallet approach, there are now several key management providers on the market. Unbound Tech is the first to offer a virtual HSM, called Crypto Asset Security Platform, or CASP, using secure MPC. It distributes private keys and transaction approval, validation and signing, among multiple approvers — including offline participation and bots. The company is backed by investors including Citi and Goldman Sachs. CASP is also the first MPC-based virtual HSM to receive FIPS 140-2 Level 2 accreditation, the benchmark for validating the effectiveness of cryptographic hardware. …

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of major encrypted messenger Telegram, argues that Apple’s cloud service iCloud is “now officially a surveillance tool.” Citing a Jan. 21 Reuters report, Durov claimed that applications like WhatsApp — which rely on iCloud to store private messages — are “part of the problem.” Telegram CEO delivered his verdict in a post on his official Telegram channel on Jan. 21: “iCloud is now officially a surveillance tool. Apps that are relying on it to store your private messages (such as WhatsApp) are part of the problem.” Apple dropped its end-to-end encryption plans for iCloud two …

A team of researchers claims that the prototype silicon chip that they developed enables encryption that is impossible to break. According to an article published on Dec. 20 by scientific paper publication outlet Nature, the system uses chaotic wavepackets in conventional Silicon-based semiconductors. The chip was developed by scientists from the U.K.-based School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, and the Center for Unconventional Processes of Sciences in California. The paper explains that conventional encryption standards — that cryptocurrencies rely on — could soon become obsolete …

A bit of historical research was making the rounds on social media recently, a monograph that compares the 21st century emergence of Bitcoin, encryption, the internet and millennials with the Protestant Reformation that shook Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The two events have similar dynamics, argues Tuur Demeester, whose white paper, “The Bitcoin Reformation,” is packed with bold predictions about the crypto and blockchain future, such as, “Bitcoin savers could accelerate a revolution in the history of thought.” The report had 7,000 visits and was downloaded 2,800 times in the first 24 hours of its publishing, announced the …

London-based decentralized communication startup New Vector has raised $8.5 million to drive adoption for Matrix, a major alternative messaging protocol. Slack rival Riot.IM The Matrix protocol, which enables secure communication via end-to-end encrypted messaging applications such as Riot.IM, an alternative to WhatsApp, Telegram or Slack, will continue scaling and growing its network with the newly raised funds, New Vector announced on Oct. 10. Investors of the New Vector’s Series A funding round included London-based European seed fund Firstminute Capital, cloud computing and Software as a service (SaaS)-focused Notion Capital and enterprise software venture firm Dawn Capital, the firm said. As …

American retail giant Walmart has submitted a patent application for a drone communication system that is based on blockchain technology. Walmart filed its patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Aug. 1. The filing describes a system on a drone that encrypts and stores that drone’s operational parameters. That information is subsequently passed to another drone, which decrypts, reads and then configures to those parameters. In essence, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication system between unmanned drones would relay messages, mesh communications networks and allow machines to be aware of each others’ location and bearing. Walmart’s venture into blockchain …

This sponsored article has been removed due to noncompliance with Cointelegraph’s internal policies. We apologize for the following situation.

A new “feature-rich ecosystem” has been created for privacy-conscious individuals who want to keep their communications confidential and their data secure. The team of networking technology enthusiasts behind Utopia say it wants to create an antidote to a world of total surveillance — delivering a platform that offers freedom, anonymity and no censorship. Utopia has been in development for six years, all with the motivation of building an environment in which “Big Brother” isn’t watching the public’s every move. The team says its decentralized peer-to-peer network enables users to communicate with whomever they want, whenever they want — all while …

South Korea’s Gram Asia is selling rights to its Gram holdings at $4.00 per token starting July 10, according to a report by Bloomberg on July 3. The proposed sale price is triple the original $1.33 sale price at Gram’s second initial coin offering (ICO) round in March 2018. The sale on July 10 is apparently happening exclusively through Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid, as per its website. Liquid also hosted the Gram ICO in March, at which time Telegram raised $850 million, bringing its total valuation up to $1.7 billion. Citing an email from the exchange, Bloomberg reports that users …

Medici Ventures, the blockchain-based subsidiary of Overstock.com, has led a $7 million funding round for a blockchain-based voting platform, according to a press release on June 6. The blockchain-based voting platform, Voatz, is reportedly designed to allow citizens to participate in official elections and similar events via mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablet computers. The platform is reportedly based on blockchain tech, encryption, and biometrics, and purports to provide better convenience, security, and auditability for voters and vote collectors. Voatz says that the proceeds of their $7 million Series A funding round will go toward improving accessibility and usability …

Korea’s oldest bank, Shinhan Bank, has launched a blockchain-enabled lending platform to speed up the loan process, South Korean news agency Yonhap reports on May 27. Shinhan Bank’s blockchain-powered loan system intends to boost cost and time efficiencies in the lending process, reportedly enabling the public to apply for loans online and get their credits without face-to-face interaction. According to the report, the new system is the first initiative of its kind introduced in South Korea. Specifically, Shinhan Bank’s new lending system applies blockchain technology in the verification and confirmation processes within the network of affiliated institutions and banks. The …

South Korea’s largest car manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Group, will use blockchain in its new tech for pairing electric vehicles (EVs) with smartphones. Sustainable mobility-focused news agency Green Car Congress reported on the development on April 22. Hyundai reportedly announced development of smartphone-EV pairing based performance adjustment technology that allows users to customize primary functions via a smartphone application. In the claimed industry-first, Hyundai will reportedly implement blockchain technology to prevent security issues while users upload and share their custom settings on the server. As such, the upcoming system is set to encrypt major performance parameters on a blockchain network by …