French hardware wallet producer Ledger will provide its asset management system to Estonia-based crypto exchange Rokkex. Cybersecurity-focused exchange Built by Lithuanian cybersecurity and fintech professionals, Rokkex will integrate its trading platform with Ledger’s enterprise wallet management solution Ledger Vault to secure its crypto assets, according to a news release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 20. Lukas Krikstaponis, Rokkex’s co-founder and CEO, said that the platform has successfully tested Ledger’s technology on its platform to date. Demetrios Skalkotos, global head of Ledger Vault, explained: “Rokkex’s customers expect full transparency and protection from crypto hacks. [...] By leveraging Ledger Vault, Rokkex will …

Cybersecurity company Varonis has discovered a new cryptojacking virus, dubbed “Norman,” that aims to mine the cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) and evade detection. Varonis published a report about Norman on Aug.14. According to the report, Varonis found Norman as one of many cryptojacking viruses deployed in an attack that infected machines at a mid-size company. Hackers and cybercriminals deploy cryptojacking hardware to use the computing power of unsuspecting users’ machines to mine cryptocurrencies like the privacy oriented coin Monero. Norman in particular is a crypto miner based on XMRig, which is described in the report as a high-performance miner for Monero …

On July 25, 2019, United States prosecutors filed a complaint against the defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e and its alleged former operator, Alexander Vinnik. The indictment was filed nearly 24 months after Vinnik was arrested in Greece while on holiday with his family and has followed numerous extradition requests from the U.S., France and Russia that have seen Vinnik’s case appear to morph from an investigation into alleged money laundering to a tug-of-war over a strategic intelligence asset between the U.S. and Russia. Vinnik’s arrest in July 2017 On July 26, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Vinnik …

France is poised to approve initial coin offerings (ICO) operators and other crypto businesses with its new regulatory approach to the sector. ‘France is a Precursor’ As Reuters reported on July 16, the new rules — expected to take effect later this month — will enable crypto-related businesses to voluntarily submit themselves to national standards on capital requirements, consumer protection and taxation in return for the regulator’s green light. Anne Marechal — executive director for legal affairs at the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) — told reporters that the bold crypto regulatory agenda from the G7 presidency holder should make France …

French financial regulators have observed an increase in complaints regarding cryptocurrencies this year. Investors in the country are increasingly filing complaints about digital currencies with France’s Financial Markets Authority (AMF) since January 2019, according to the AMF’s 2019 Risk Map report published on July 2. Percentage of claims to AMF regarding crypto assets. Source: AMF The Risk Map analyzes the major factors that have an impact on the country's financial markets along with associated risks. At the same time, 2019 has reportedly seen a drop in the number of enquiries received by the AMF’s consumer contact center in regard to …

Goldman Sachs is performing “extensive research” on tokenization, the group’s chief executive told France’s Les Echos newspaper on June 27. David Solomon said he believes global payment systems are heading in the direction of stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat assets such as the U.S. dollar. Although he stopped short of confirming whether Goldman Sachs has had discussions with Facebook about its upcoming libra cryptocurrency and Calibra wallet, Solomon said his corporation finds the concept “interesting.” When asked whether Goldman Sachs will follow JPMorgan Chase in launching its own virtual currency, Solomon said: “Assume that all major financial institutions around …

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that Facebook’s Libra stablecoin must comply with anti-money laundering regulation and seek banking licenses if it offers banking services, Reuters reports on June 25. Per the report, while Villeroy admitted during an interview with French magazine l’Obs that there was room to improve cross-border money transfers. He also pointed out that Facebook’s libra project has to comply existing banking regulation because “the risks are increased by the anonymity that Libra users would have.” Villeroy also touched on possible requirements for a banking license: “If the project seeks to go beyond payments …

French Minister of the Economy and Finance intends to “ask for guarantees” from Facebook in regards to its forthcoming digital currency Libra, media outlet Europe 1 reported on June 18. The Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire told Europe 1 that Facebook’s long-awaited stablecoin Libra is an “attribute of the sovereignty of the States” and should “remain in the hands of the States and not of the private companies which answer to private interests". Le Maire stated that he will “ask for guarantees” from the social media giant such as "the guarantee that this instrument of transaction …

Members of the community around decentralized platform Tezos have raised concerns about an alleged upcoming hard fork of its blockchain. The issue appeared in a blog post by Tezos Commons executive director Shaun Belcher on June 17. Discussing what he described as evidence of collusion between two third-party entities, Belcher warned that the hard fork, planned for September, was an attempt to split Tezos user sentiment. The parties involved are the management team of OCamlPro, a French programming language, and blockchain fund Starchain Capital, which Belcher intimates as mysterious. “It’s worth remembering that anyone can fork the Tezos software, which …

French video gaming giant Ubisoft is allegedly exploring potential blockchain applications in gaming as a strategy to gain a more competitive edge in the industry. The news was reported by daily French financial newspaper Les Échos on June 11. Per Les Échos, Ubisoft has been quietly exploring blockchain applications for several months, and has allegedly already identified one in particular for implementation. The paper write that Ubisoft reportedly plans to put intra-game virtual objects or accessories onto the blockchain and monetize them. As the report notes, the model bears some similarity to that of the overwhelmingly successful video game Fortnite …

French retail giant Carrefour has seen an increase in sales after the implementation of a blockchain-based tracking system, Reuters reported on June 3. Carrefour’s blockchain tracking system enables customers to track the supply chain of 20 items, including meat, milk, and fruit from farms to stores, thus avoiding products with genetically modified organisms, antibiotics, and pesticides. This year, the company reportedly plans to add 100 more products, including non-food lines, to the system. Emmanuel Delerm, Carrefour’s blockchain project manager, told Reuters that “the pomelo sold faster than the year before due to blockchain. We had a positive impact on the …

Two leading global shipping firms, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and CMA CGM, have joined blockchain shipping platform TradeLens, Reuters reports on May 28. Switzerland-based MSC, the world's second-largest shipping company, and French CMA CGM, reportedly the fourth-largest container shipping firm, have joined the blockchain platform developed by the world’s largest logistics company Maersk and tech giant IBM. As previously reported, blockchain-powered shipping solution TradeLens intends to reduce paperwork and associated costs and time in the logistics industry — which reportedly accounts for $4 trillion — with over 80% of the goods carried by the ocean shipping sector. According to Reuters, …