LG Corporation’s IT services subsidiary is now testing artificial intelligence-based facial recognition technology which allows users to conduct payments using digital currency. LG CNS used its employees to test the new facial recognition service, IT Times reported on April 23. The platform includes AI, blockchain, and cloud technologies. After identifying an employee, the system enables them to automatically pay for services and products at the corporate restaurant with a pre-registered blockchain-based community currency. Lee Joon-won, solution business development manager at LG CNS, said: "It is expected that blockchain-based community currency will be used by a lot more people as it …

As more and more countries seek to ease strict lockdown restrictions, challenges lie ahead managing social distancing in public places to mitigate the risks of a second wave of infections. GUTS, a Dutch blockchain ticketing company, revealed on April 22 that it has devised a digital access system to regulate crowds and demographics in public spaces. The system is a modification of its existing system and app, which has been in use since 2016. The company said it can be up and running at new sites in as little as one week. How does it work? The system works by …

After years of unsuccessful efforts to block Telegram in Russia, the country’s government is now considering lifting the ban due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to an April 22 report by Russian news agency Kommersant, two deputies at the State Duma have prepared a draft bill on terminating the ban of Telegram’s encrypted messenger app in Russia. If you can’t beat it, join it In the bill, the State Duma deputies reportedly argued that Telegram has become an “official service” used by state authorities to raise awareness about the measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The officials elaborated that local …

Privacy-focused altcoin, Beam (BEAM), will soon execute its second hard fork. This fork will upgrade its Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm and activate new network features. According to an April 22 blog post, Beam’s second fork will occur at block 777,777, shifting the network’s PoW algorithm from BeamHash II to BeamHash III. The new PoW algorithm is expected to be a major improvement to the Beam mining network, and will enable fuller GPU card capabilities. Additionally, the firm said that the hard fork is designed to unlock some new features like confidential assets, one-sided payments, and the support of privacy protocol, Lelantus …

The headlines are scary. Millions of infections — over 170,000 deaths. Nothing will ever replace the lives lost or bring back pre-COVID-19 “normal” again. While our hearts and deepest sympathies go out to everyone whose life has changed due to this pandemic, there are long-term implications that, for those of us in the business of privacy, are just as scary as the pandemic itself. Apple and Google are collaborating on contact tracing solutions, and governments are tracking the movement and even biometrics of citizens through their personal devices. Once the threat of COVID-19 is dealt with via social distancing, medical …

The developers behind major payment-focused cryptocurrency Dash (DASH) announced that they expect to update the project’s “Evonet” test network every roughly six weeks. According to an April 17 announcement, the Dash Core Group plans to release the first update that follows the new schedule between April 22 and May 5. The Dash Core Group expects that frequent updates will allow feedback on whether the design choices are appreciated. As a consequence, the developers will be able to change design direction quickly if feedback reveals that it is necessary. The announcement explains: “Frequent software releases are encouraged as a way of …

Developers working on Baseline, an enterprise smart contract and tokenization platform developed by Microsoft, Ernst & Young, and ConsenSys, are working to solve several flaws identified with Apple and Google’s proposal for coronavirus tracking initiatives. Google and Apple propose a contact tracing solution that would add cross-platform APIs that allow health authorities to monitor users. Both brands have discussed rolling out related software updates next month. The plan suggests using a phone’s Bluetooth Low Energy to detect other devices within 30 feet of each other. This would allow infected individuals to be identified through proximity detection. For people who come …

An Internet of Things (IoT) blockchain specialist and a healthcare data firm have teamed up to devise a solution for fighting the pandemic that complies with European data privacy laws. On April 17, IoT blockchain startup Ubirch and Nasdaq-listed Centogene announced their partnership on a solution for securely handling the results of COVID-19 mass testing. Volkmar Weckesser, CIO for Centogene — which has collected epidemiologic, phenotypic and genetic data for 500,000 patients worldwide to date — said that when combined with Uirch’s blockchain portal: “[SARS-CoV-2] test results can be accessed everywhere in a forgery-proof manner ─ spearheading a return to …

Researchers from the Norwegian University and the University of Luxembourg have published a research paper detailing an attack that can deanonymize transactions broadcast across Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. The Lightning Network emerged as a controversial compromise from the Bitcoin (BTC) block limit and scalability debate. It’s a second layer solution that facilitates near-instant, low-cost Bitcoin transactions. Proponents claim it offers privacy by implementing segregated witness (SegWit). University students crack Lightning channel balances Four researchers from universities in Norway and Luxembourg including Bitcoin, along with Lightning community developer Ren Pickhardt, contributed to the research. The academics claim to have used transfer routing …

According to a new report, privacy-focused digital assets like Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR) surged in price in 2019. Those with a higher market cap, like Litecoin (LTC), may be hoping to compete with new privacy features. The report is by social trading and investing platform eToro in partnership with analytics and finance management startup The Tie. It indicates that ZEC has risen 26.97% against Bitcoin (BTC) in Q1 2020, with Monero up a more modest 4.61%. Meanwhile, LTC — currently adding Mimblewimble transactions for enhanced privacy — has been outperforming BTC by 8.97%. Investor focus on privacy drives profits? …

A kind of ransomware — a malware that encrypts user data and asks for a ransom to restore access to it — switched from Bitcoin (BTC) to Monero (XMR) to better protect the hackers’ identities. According to an April 11 report by cybersecurity news outlet BleepingComputer, using Monero will make it harder for law enforcement to track ransom payments to the hackers behind Sodinokibi. As the article mentions, Europol strategy analyst Jerek Jakubcek explained during a February webinar how anoncoins influence legal investigations: “Since the suspect used a combination of TOR and privacy coins, we could not trace the funds. …

As much as I believe that blockchain technology has the potential to solve many of the problems humanity faces today, I also fear what can happen if blockchain technology is used to take away the privacy and rights of individuals. Do you want to live in a world where every purchase you make and every interaction you have with others is recorded, documented and unchangeable? What about a world where everyone is manipulated into rating each other in some kind of evil social rating system on a daily basis? Your every move is recorded and every website you visit is …