Revolution Populi, a social network led by David Gelernter — a futurist and a distributed computing pioneer — is integrating Chainlink data oracles. Revolution Populi is trying to displace Facebook by creating a social network where users can post and share information about their lives, “but advertisers pay them, not Facebook.” The network is just the first of many distributed apps that the company plans to release in the near future. A futurist who predicted social networks and became a Unabomber target The idea in itself does not sound novel, as there have been quite a few projects in the …

Binance will remove the ability to record audio from its Android app in the upcoming update scheduled for “mid-July”, cryptocurrency exchange CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, told Cointelegraph. Binance App will allegedly drop the microphone permission The company’s privacy-oriented move follows spyware concerns raised by crypto community members last week. Specifically, user @ShitcoinSherpa tweeted certificate issuer screenshots, showing that the permissions asked by Binance in its Android app include access to the camera and the ability to record audio. At the time, Binance’s chief security officer told Cointelegraph that “the camera is used during the KYC process,” stressing …

Coinbase defended the licensing of its analytics software saying if people really wanted privacy, privacy coins were around. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to Twitter to talk about Coinbase Analytics and the company’s practice of licensing out the platform, explaining why crypto exchanges must have some sort of analytics software to comply with banking regulations. “Exchanges that maintain connections into the existing financial system (i.e. ability to connect your bank account, do wires, etc so you can convert fiat to crypto) need to follow AML laws, and this often includes utilizing blockchain analytics software for transaction monitoring,” Armstrong tweeted. “There …

During a Unitize panel on Wednesday, Ali Loveys commented that the biggest challenge in the blockchain space is not the technology itself, but rather whether the business model or values make sense or not. Dr. Ali Loveys, the Chief Privacy Officer at ConsenSys Health, has over 30 years of experience in emerging technology strategy, adoption, and optimization in healthcare. The insight she drew from her work experience was that: “The challenges are always less about the technology than about the business value and the people who are interested in using it or resistant to using it. [...] I don’t come …

Ocean Protocol, a decentralized data exchange protocol focussed on data collation, sharing, and monetization, has announced a pilot project partnering with Mercedes-Benz’ manufacturer Daimler AG. Daimler’s South East Asia subsidiary will use blockchain-based solutions to gather and monetize the firm’s data. The pilot will demonstrate Ocean Protocol’s recently launched "Compute-to-Data" protocol to protect the privacy of Daimler’s data while allowing the information to be analyzed and aggregated by third parties. Mercedes trials DLT data pilot with Ocean Protocol Ocean is hoping that the pilot will attract further partnerships with major global firms, describing the pilot as a scalable blueprint for …

Gumi Cryptos Capital partner, Miko Matsumura, recently spoke with a scam artist pretending to be Justin Sun. The imposter was attempting to sell a supposed privacy-focused crypto asset pegged to the value of real Tron TRX coins. Upon initial inspection of the project and its token sale, Matsumura jumped on Skype for a call with someone who claimed to be Justin Sun. "The impostor was very realistic as you can see," Matsumura told Cointelegraph referring to a video he provided of his chat. The video looked highly suspicious The video of the web chat showed a person resembling Justin Sun …

Unstoppable Domains, a Tim Draper-backed startup focused on blockchain-based uncensorable websites, has launched a decentralized chat protocol. The so-called “Unstoppable Chat”, or simply “dChat” aims to promote confidentiality through a peer-to-peer network and end-to-end encryption. Opposed to mainstream messengers like Facebook, dChat enables users to own, encrypt, and store their messages themselves on their own servers. Users need an Ethereum wallet private key to sign in In order to allow users to fully control their messages, dChat integrates with a user’s cryptocurrency wallet and P2P networks. In order to sign in to the chat, users need to have an Ethereum …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note The U.S. is preparing for its Independence Day tomorrow. New spikes in positive COVID-19 tests will put a damper on some but not all of the traditional fireworks, cookouts and Martina McBride. On the same day, new changes to the Russian Constitution, including those that may allow Putin to stay in power for another 16 years, take effect. In more light-hearted news, pubs will also reopen in the U.K. The COVID-19 lockdowns have added new immediacy to the eternal …

The United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking information and tools to help it trace transactions using privacy coins, layer two protocols such as Lightning Network and side chains like Plasma and OmiseGo (OMG). A June 30 request for information published by the U.S. Department Of The Treasury reveals the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division is seeking submissions for “an interactive prototype” with a graphic user interface for analyzing distributed ledger-based transactions involving privacy coins and other privacy-enhancing blockchain technologies. IRS peeks into privacy The document explicitly names Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), Grin (GRIN), Komodo (KMD), Verge (XVG), …

Law enforcement authorities throughout Europe arrested over 800 individuals that allegedly were using an encrypted chat network to coordinate their illicit activities. 60,000 members EncroChat was using modified Android devices to provide its users “worry free secure communications”. BBC reports that EncoChat has about 60,000 users: “An estimated 60,000 people, among them up to 10,000 in Britain, subscribed to France-based EncroChat, which has now been taken down.” Authorities allege that the criminals were using the encrypted messaging service to coordinate illegal activities like the sale of drugs and weapons. However, it is not clear whether they allege that all the …

The Commons Foundation, a South Korean non-governmental organization, revealed its plans to develop a blockchain-based platform that aims to handle health epidemics in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. According to Digital Today, the NGO will rely on blockchain public services to create an epidemiological research system to suit the coming post-coronavirus era. The article quotes a statement from Choi Yong-gwan, chairman of the Commons Foundation, who expressed concerns regarding the ongoing violation of personal information due to the pandemic emergency. Such a situation motivated the NGO to develop a solution. Guaranteeing privacy through the platform Choi says that the …

A source close to Plaid — the company that serves as a “data plumber” to Coinbase, Robin Hood, Square’s Cash App and many others — denied all allegations of the class-action complaint that was recently filed. The entire complaint hinges on the allegation that Plaid sells user data to the “highest bidder.” A Plaid spokesperson called this allegation “baseless." A money-making operation? A source close to Plaid’s legal team, speaking to Cointelegraph on the condition of anonymity, reaffirmed that the company has never sold user data in any shape or form. They also opined that this is just a “money-making …