The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine has initiated a “state policy” for the classification and legalization of crypto-related activities, Ukrainian state information and news agency Ukrinform reported Oct. 26. The Ministry has reportedly issued an official press release stating that its purpose is to “create understandable conditions for conducting activities in the field of virtual assets and virtual currencies," and to usher in “adoption of the concept of a state policy” for crypto. To this end, it has proposed establishing legal definitions for key terms, including “virtual currency” (“cryptocurrency,”) “virtual assets,” Initial Coin (or Token) Offerings (ICOs or …

The world’s second largest stock exchange by market cap, Nasdaq, revealed a new blockchain patent award Tuesday, October 23, in a bid to tackle the release of information for the media industry. The application, originally filed in January of last year, makes reference to “an information computer system [...] provided for securely releasing time-sensitive information to recipients via a blockchain.” The issue at hand, Nasdaq states, is the often convoluted process of releasing timely information to the media while keeping it secure and watertight from a legal standpoint. Blockchain technology, or more specifically smart contracts, could be used to automate …

A major Canadian commercial bank will use blockchain to simplify the process banks use to issue transactions, a press release confirmed Oct. 21. In partnership with IT and business consulting services firm CGI and blockchain startup Skuchain, the National Bank of Canada (NBC) plans to leverage smart contracts in order to replace current email-based procedures. Its solution consists of a combination of CGI’s Trade360 trade finance platform and Skuchain’s smart contract creation software, based on the latter’s blockchain platform Brackets. Together, it will “improve processing times, reduce risks and help strengthen the bank's customer relationships,” the release claims. “This pilot …

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s Brian Quintenz has addressed the question of accountability in an era of disintermediated finance and smart contracts. The commissioner made his remarks at the 38th Annual GITEX Technology Week Conference in Dubai Tuesday, Oct. 16. Broadly, the commissioner proposed that when it comes enforcement actions, not only users, but the coders themselves may be held to account. Quintez explained: “The appropriate question is whether these code developers could reasonably foresee, at the time they created the code, that it would likely be used by U.S. persons in a manner violative of CFTC regulations." …

Ethereum-based adult entertainment platform SpankChain confirmed that it had recovered all the funds lost during a security breach October 6. In a series of tweets Friday, Oct. 12, officials said that after speaking by telephone with the hacker who stole 165 ETH ($32,000) from the project’s smart contract, he had agreed to return the amount in full. SpankChain had notified users about the breach a day after it occurred, promising to instigate reimbursements of lost money to affected investors. Of the total losses, only around $9,000 consisted of customer funds, it said. Linking to a transaction confirming the transfer, SpankChain …

Ethereum-based adult entertainment platform SpankChain has suffered a smart contract security breach that led to loss of around $38,000, the firm reported on its Medium page Oct. 9. The hack, which purportedly took place Oct. 6, was detected by SpankChain a day after, and was announced today in a post entitled “We Got Spanked: What We Know So Far.” Anonymous attackers managed to steal 165.38 Ethereum (ETH) or around $38,000 from the platform’s payment channel smart contract. Additionally, the security breach caused the immobilization of $4,000 worth of the SpankChain’s internal token called BOOTY. While most of lost or immobilized …

The Thai Ministry of Commerce has begun to conduct feasibility studies on the use of blockchain in copyright, agriculture, and trade finance, English-language Thai newspaper Bangkok Post reports Tuesday, Oct. 9. A Thai official from Thailand’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO), Pimchanok Vonkorpon, told the Bangkok Post that the study is being conducted with the help of the British embassy in Bangkok. As per the article, the ministry wants to find out whether decentralized solutions can boost the country’s competitiveness and credibility, especially in relation to small business. Vonkorpon added that blockchain feasibility studies will also refer to processing …

“Decentralized internet” protocol TRON’s TRX token surged almost 8 percent Monday, October 8, after CEO Justin Sun claimed its forthcoming update would see it beat Ethereum on speed and EOS on cost. Odyssey 3.1, the latest version of TRON, will go live at 8pm SGT, Sun confirmed on Twitter as a result of “community consensus.” The changes include the launch of the TRON Virtual Machine, which will allow developers to test smart contracts before they transfer to the TRON mainnet. “The TRON Committee function & (Tron Virtual Machine) will go live, marking the start of the Smart Contract Era,” Sun …

Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a blockchain-based system that allows a third-party administrator to intervene in a smart contract in case of illegal activities. The USPTO published the patent application on Oct. 4. A smart contract is a computer protocol designed to digitally verify or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. Smart contracts are self-executing, with the terms of the agreement between the parties being directly written into lines of code. The patent document, which was initially filed in March, describes a blockchain-powered transaction method …

Last week, Austria became the latest government to successfully trial blockchain platforms to issue government bonds. The trial follows in the footsteps of the Australian and Thai governments, both of whom developed blockchain bond issuing platforms earlier this year. Government bonds are debt securities which represent an important way to support government spending and are widely considered to be one of the most risk-free investments available. Government bonds also make up a large proportion of the secondary market, with a total value of $22.116 trillion across the world as of September 2018. In spite of their importance, the process of …

The Italian Banking Association (ABI) has revealed they successfully passed the initial phase of testing their blockchain-powered interbank system, Italian financial media outlet Ansa reported September 29. By applying distributed ledger technology (DLT), the group of 14 Italian banks is planning to improve interbanking processes. Specifically, the association intends to boost the processing time of operations, increase the transparency of banking information, and enable the verification and exchange of information directly within the application. According to local Italian source Corriere Nazionale, the application of blockchain technology will also assist in specific aspects of banking operations that usually involve a number …

“Big Four” audit and consulting firm Deloitte has outlined five basic areas of development for blockchain technology in order achieve widespread adoption, according to a study published September 28. According to Deloitte, in order to be adopted by enterprises on a mass scale, blockchain technology should overcome five major obstacles – the possibility of time-consuming operations, lack of standardization, high costs and complexity blockchain applications, regulatory uncertainty, as well as the absence of collaboration between blockchain-related firms. Identifying the area that needs the most development, Deloitte singled out the problem of possible operational delays on a distributed ledger network. The …