American e-commerce giant Amazon is developing a new service that will allow its customers to shop using digital currency, according to the company’s job postings. According to an official job application on Amazon, the company is now building a tech team to enable a new digital currency service. Currently known as a “Digital and Emerging Payments,” or DEP, project, the service will initially roll out in Mexico, allowing local people to buy crypto with cash to spend digital currency while shopping. The job posting reads: “We are looking for a leader to help us launch a new payment product starting …

BlackRock Financial Management Inc., the $7.8 trillion asset manager, appears poised to expand its presence in blockchain and digital assets. According to a new job posting, the company is recruiting for the position of vice president, blockchain lead for its New York office. The person hired for this role will be tasked with creating and implementing “strategies designed to drive demand for the firm’s offerings,” as well as “enhance the value proposition [...] of the firm’s investments and technology offerings.” The candidate must have at least one year of experience in blockchain business, including “cryptographic hash functions, distributed network consensus …

The United States Department of the Treasury is looking for expert advice on cryptocurrencies to tackle legal challenges associated with the industry. The U.S. Treasury’s bureau, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, has posted two job applications for crypto policy officers. The agency is seeking professional expertise on crimes related to digital assets. Posted on Dec. 12, the two full-time and permanent positions target experts specializing in crypto-related finance threats and risk in order to “assist in the development of policy responses to these challenges.” FinCEN expects that new policy officers will provide insights on a wide array of areas …

The cryptocurrency industry welcomes another high-profile executive from traditional finance. Filomena Ruffa, a former vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa’s Latin America division, has joined Crypto.com to expand the company’s Latin American market. According to an Oct. 28 blog post, Ruffa will now be responsible for managing all operations and driving strategic business partnerships for Crypto.com in Latin America. The former Visa executive brings extensive work experience in the region as well as expertise from her top positions at payment firms like CardinalCommerce and SafetyPay. Crypto.com’s hire comes as the company records major new milestones. As reported …

Blockchain developers can’t be accused of failing to keep up with the times. The unprecedented shake-up in the world’s labor markets during the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the underemployment trends of recent decades. Signs of a jobless recovery ahead is spurring citizens to turn to all kinds of digital piecework in the absence of social security and conventional employment benefits. To weather the sharp economic contraction and unpredictable pandemic lockdowns, 41% of businesses in a recent survey said they plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialized work. Even ahead of the current crisis, the global gig economy was …

The governor of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia signed a decree allowing for the construction of a 13.6 acre data center in Southeastern Siberia. The facility will become home to a number of hi-tech activities, including a Bitcoin (BTC) mining operation. The facility will be built by BitRiver and is expected to create up to 100 local jobs. It will be equipped with the latest generation of ASIC miners and will take about a year to complete. In addition to cryptocurrency mining, the facility will be used for Big Data and the Internet of Things. The required investment is estimated …

A high-profile gamer is joining SBI Holdings’ gaming arm, signing a contract to receive his salary in major cryptocurrency XRP. Kengo “Ken” Suzuki, a professional player of crossover action fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or SSBU, has signed a contract with SBI e-Sports, the gaming arm of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings. Ken is also considered to be the world’s best Sonic player. According to an official announcement posted by SBI on Oct. 15, Ken will now be part of SBI e-Sports’ newly established SSBU division. The player will receive his annual salary in XRP instead of Japanese yen …

Major American cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is expanding the company’s business in the Asia-Pacific region with a new high-profile hire. Andy Meehan, a former executive at major American investment bank Morgan Stanley, has joined Gemini as chief compliance officer of the APAC region. Announcing the news on Oct. 7, Gemini executives noted that Meehan will work with regulators to promote smart regulations that drive adoption. Formerly head of legal for Morgan Stanley’s global financial crimes division in the APAC, Meehan will now shape strategy, product and operations of Gemini in the region. The new Gemini CCO will be based in Singapore …

A crypto-enabled freelancing platform is taking on some of the world’s biggest brands — and says it treats hard-working talent far more fairly. AnyTask is the brainchild of the cryptocurrency project Electroneum, and it underwent a soft launch back in February. Already, the company says it has had a positive impact on the lives of several freelancers. According to AnyTask, a substantial number of talented individuals risk being frozen out of more established websites such as Fiverr, Freelancer.com and Upwork because they don’t have a bank account — and even if they do, they can end up paying punishing fees …

I thought we were the good guys when I worked in operations security for the Austrian government. After I learned how trivial it was for certain institutions or people in certain positions to fetch all the data related to citizens, I quickly began to understand how privacy had been under siege for probably 100 years. In a post-COVID-19 world, I fear those attacks are getting worse. When I took the job as an OpSec specialist for the government, I would have never thought about what I think today: I became skeptical of the system. I question everything now. Initially, however, …

Lazarus, a group of hackers who are allegedly backed by North Korea, is now reportedly attacking crypto and blockchain talent through major professional social network, LinkedIn. According to a report by the Finnish cyber security and privacy firm, F-Secure, the latest Lazarus attack was made through a crypto-related job advert on the site. Their investigation indicated that an individual working in the Blockchain space received a phishing message that mimicked a legitimate Blockchain job listing. The message included an MS Word document titled “BlockVerify Group Job Description,” which executed malicious macro code when opened. F-Secure found that the document shares …

Persol Group, one of the largest human resource companies in Japan, has partnered with major Japanese IT and electronics company, NEC Corporation, to build a new blockchain-powered recruiting platform. Persol Group is one of the largest staffing companies in the country, with 32,000 employees and a market cap of $5.7 billion as of 2017. According to the announcement, the two companies have begun working on a Proof-of-Concept to test a direct recruiting service that utilizes blockchain technology to securely manage personal data, prevent falsification of information, and ensure authenticity. This new platform is expected to target the shortage of IT …