The United Nations has warned that attending a North Korean cryptocurrency conference in February is likely to constitute a sanctions violation, according to a report by Reuters on Jan. 15. The report follows last week’s indictment of Ethereum Foundation researcher Virgil Griffith on charges of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Griffith traveled to North Korea for its first blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in April last year. While there, he and other conference attendees allegedly discussed cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. The United States government contends that Griffith’s presence could have aided North Korea in skirting international sanctions. …

United Nations (UN) secretary-general António Guterres said the organization must embrace blockchain technology. According to a Dec. 28 Forbes report, Guterres believes that blockchain should be among the technologies used by the UN. “For the United Nations to deliver better on our mandate in the digital age, we need to embrace technologies like blockchain that can help accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals,” he said. This is not the first time that Guterres spoke highly of the potential of blockchain technology. As Cointelegraph reported in July last year, at the time he created a “High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation,” …

Blockchain financial services firm Diginex and the United Nations-led International Organization for Migration (IOM) jointly launched a blockchain tool aiming to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers in Hong Kong. According to a Diginex press release published on Dec. 16, the tool was designed to be used by about 1,500 Hong Kong-based migrant domestic worker recruitment agencies and some associated agencies in worker-sending countries. The system’s name is called International Recruitment Integrity System Self-Assessment for Ethical Recruitment (IRIS-SAFER). Blockchain for the good Blockchain is being employed in the project to ensure that data records are safe and immutable, resulting in …

The United Nations Security Council's Sanctions Committee on North Korea has accused the country of using a Hong Kong-based blockchain firm as a front to launder money. As South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported on Nov. 6, the committee conducted an investigation into the various strategies allegedly employed by the North to evade sanctions using cryptocurrencies and other means. The Committee’s allegations The Committee alleges that “Marine China” — a blockchain-focused shipping and logistics firm registered in Hong Kong — was created by North Korean actors; its owner and sole investor is purportedly an individual named Julian Kim, who also …

The government of Sierra Leone plans to fully adopt a blockchain-enabled national identity system by the end of 2019. United Nations involved President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio reportedly claimed that the new infrastructure will allow financial institutions to verify identities and build credit histories, tech publication NFCW reported on Sept. 2. The new project, called the National Digital Identity Platform (NDIP), is a collaboration between the United Nations and San Francisco-based nonprofit Kiva, a key technology partner of Sierra Leone since September 2018. According to the report, the NDIP is being deployed in two major stages. The first …

Neil Wals, chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Cybercrime Program, warned that cryptocurrencies have made combating money laundering significantly harder. Australian news outlet ABC reported on Aug. 29 that Wals said cryptocurrencies make fighting cybercrime, money laundering and financing of terrorism harder. Wals expressed the idea that criminals using crypto assets include global child sexual exploitation networks, which he says are more widespread than much of the public understands. Crypto adds a layer of secrecy He believes that cryptocurrencies add a layer of secrecy, which can facilitate crime. The news comes after Treasury Secretary Steven …

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 …

North Korea has netted around $2 billion by hacking banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, according to the United Nations. UN: Hacked crypto funds weapons of mass destruction In a confidential report acquired by mainstream media outlets including Reuters on Aug. 5, the U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions committee said that hackers formed an essential part of government funding. “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cyber actors, many operating under the direction of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, raise money for its WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programs, with total proceeds to date estimated at up to two billion US dollars,” Reuters quoted …

For the entirety of cryptocurrency’s short history, Venezuela has been seen to be among the most striking example of the need for the utility. The South American country has hosted escalating political tension for years, as skyrocketing hyperinflation, electricity blackouts and shortages of vital food and medicine intensified popular discontent. Venezuelan trade volume dominates P2P markets Venezuelan peer-to-peer (P2P) markets have long been a leader in terms of volume, in part owing to widespread geo-blocking that targets Venezuelan citizens on the part of cryptocurrency exchanges. Recently, Binance announced that as of July 1, 2019, the residents of Venezuela and 28 …

The United Nations is working on blockchain solutions for sustainable urban development in Afghanistan, according to a report from tech news site The Sociable, published on July 2. Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General reportedly told The Sociable that the United Nations Office of Communication and Information Technologies (UN-OICT) is developing blockchain solutions for land records and services transparency as part of the UN’s “City for All” initiative. The UN’s “City for All” program began in 2016 with a charter set to continue through 2020 and aims to advance 12 of Afghanistan’s cities, including the capital, Kabul. The initiative …

The president of the United Nation’s specialized agency for aviation has said that blockchain technology could offer tremendous benefits across aviation systems globally, industry news source AirTrafficManagement.net reported on April 4. The president, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, made his remarks to an international audience of government officials, aviation and tech experts during the inaugural Council for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Blockchain Summit and Exhibition in Abu Dhabi. Dr. Aliu noted that with global air traffic volumes anticipated to double over the next 15 years, blockchain technologies have a major potential to reduce pressure on current resources, while sustaining …

Last week, Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science introduced a blockchain-enabled platform for tracking diamonds. Indeed, blockchain has been bringing transparency into the diamond industry — a complex ecosystem where corruption and irresponsible mining appear to be largely present. Self-regulation in the diamond industry — and how Everledger’s arrival pivoted it from a dead end The history of blockchain in the diamond industry can be traced back to May 2015, when Australian entrepreneur Leanne Kemp founded Everledger — a global digital registry for diamonds powered by the IBM Blockchain Platform. One of its main goals was to solve the “blood …