Much noise has been made about the untraceable qualities of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin "can be used to buy merchandise anonymously" said early primers on crypto, it offers users the kind of financial privacy that was previously available only from a "Swiss bank account," say more recent commentators. And given its ability to provide people with a layer of anonymity and privacy, it has been smeared by politicians, experts and mainstream journalists alike as a hiding place for almost any hacker, drug dealer, gang member, terrorist or despot you could possibly name (even if cash is still the preferred …

Brendan Eich, the CEO of decentralized browser Brave, has urged members of the U.S. senate to consider the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as a regulatory model, according to a statement published Oct. 2. In an open letter dated Sept. 29, Eich called on members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to look to the GDPR as a model for American data privacy regulations. First proposed by the European Commission in 2012, the GDPR legal framework for personal data protection became effective in the European Union (E.U.) on May 25. Its objective is to create a …

“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 …

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. On September 27, the EU Competitiveness Council met in Brussels to discuss how to support Europe’s digitization, particularly with regard to artificial intelligence — an area that has tremendous potential, but also faces extreme global competition. AI, of course, runs on data. The unfortunate reality is that U.S. tech companies control and exploit large amounts of European data, in turn monopolizing our digital economy. That’s why I, among 16 other executives, signed a letter to the council’s ministers—who engaged …

XMRWallet.com, an open-source, client-side Monero wallet provider, has released a new web-based wallet for the Tor web browser, the company announced in a Reddit post on Aug. 28. The post notes that there had been a high demand for such a wallet from XMR users. Now they can send and receive the private and untraceable cryptocurrency through what claims to be the first Monero web wallet for the distributed and anonymous Tor network. Within the Tor network, Monero (XMR) is the cryptocurrency of choice among many users. For the advocates of a truly decentralized future and financial anonymity, the pairing …

A major cryptocurrency exchange says the world is on the brink of a data crisis, and is launching a digital cooperative designed to give users total control over their personal information. CoinBene has announced it is listing the Internet of People (IoP) — a digital cooperative community which aims to allow users to build “a new generation of DApps” with full control of personal information, eliminating censorship and obstruction by governments and large companies. IoP says its protocols and “people first” principle are essential in a world where data breaches occur daily, with large corporations harvesting far more information than …

Forex exchange (FX) settlement giant CLS is in the final stages of testing its blockchain payment service for banks, Financial News reported July 27. The service is reportedly set to be launched later this summer, with at least seven banks expected to sign on to the system in the early months. CLS, the New York-based global multi-currency cash settlement system, has been working with tech company IBM to introduce the blockchain-powered payment netting service. The system is set to be incorporated in banking IT systems to boost the level of standardization in the global FX markets, as well as reduce …

Research into the top ten crypto deals in 2017 based on their investment returns (ROI) has revealed that on average each returned over 136,000 percent, according to data shared with Cointelegraph by Crypto Finance Conference (CFC) analysts July 27. Out of all the crypto projects that raised a minimum of $1 million in 2017, IOTA (MIOTA) clinched a staggering 614,934 percent return for investors, sealing the top spot in the researchers’ rankings. IOTA is an Internet of Things (IoT)-focused crypto platform that uses a so-called Tangle system. The protocol is different from blockchain, in that it does not use “blocks” …

A new study has found that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have the potential to become a mainstream means of payment and already meet one of the three main criteria of money, according to an eToro press release July 9. The study mentioned in the press release was a joint effort by Imperial College and U.K. trading platform eToro. The report dubbed “Cryptocurrencies: Overcoming Barriers to Trust and Adoption,” written by professor William Knottenbelt from Imperial College London and Dr. Zeynep Gurguc from Imperial College Business School, states that cryptocurrencies are the “natural next step” for money and can become a …

Decentralized application (DApp) platform Enigma will partner with Intel on privacy research as it prepares to launch its blockchain testnet, the two companies confirmed June 20. Enigma, which completed a $45 mln Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in September of last year, said the collaboration would focus on “research and development efforts to advance development of privacy preserving computation technologies.” The platform aims to provide the first environment for scalable end-to-end DApps using bespoke privacy technology to protect data “while still allowing computation” on top of it. “Enigma is excited to continue collaborating with Intel to advance our protocol and privacy …

Research from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) has reported that about $1.2 bln in cryptocurrencies have been stolen since the start of 2017, Reuters reported Thursday, May 24. The $1.2 bln figure is a combination of both reported and unreported thefts, with about 20 percent or less estimated to have been recovered. Dave Jevans, the CEO of cryptocurrency security firm CipherTrace and chairman of the APWG, told Reuters that the new General Data Protection Regulation from the European Union - which comes into effect May 25 - will negatively affect global law enforcement agencies ability to find criminals stealing cryptocurrency: …

US whistleblower Edward Snowden voiced concerns over Bitcoin’s long-term prospects in an interview on March 22, saying the cryptocurrency’s public Blockchain made it susceptible to abuse. Speaking via webcam in an interview with Coin Center director of research Peter Van Valkenburgh at the Blockstack Berlin 2018 conference, Snowden agreed Bitcoin’s ledger was “devastatingly public.” “The much larger structural flaw, the long-lasting flaw, is its public ledger,” he said of Bitcoin, adding that he nonetheless “may” have used it to buy server infrastructure in 2013. Bitcoin’s future remains a hot topic of debate this year as technical improvements to its network …