Prediction market Polymarket has partnered with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to track and reveal insider trading. There is growing concern about insider trading in prediction markets, in which users bet on the outcome of everything from sporting matches to elections. In April, an Army Green Beret was charged with using classified knowledge of the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro to win $400,000. He has pled not guilty. Chanalysis will provide data analytics and monitoring systems, investigative tools to provide information for law enforcement and regulators, and onchain security capabilities to assist Polymarket in identifying and eliminating insider trading. The goal is to flag suspicious trading patterns indicating a…
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Back to the Future with Misinformation About Crypto
Wall Street Journal sets off a firestorm regarding Hamas fundraising then fails to correct the record
On October 10th, the Wall Street Journal ran a story with the headline, “Hamas Militants Behind Israel Attack Raised Millions in Crypto. Digital currency transactions highlight how U.S. and Israel have struggled to sever the access of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah to foreign funding.” The story stated: “Digital-currency wallets that Israeli authorities linked to the PIJ received as much as $93 million in crypto between August 2021 and June this year, analysis by leading crypto researcher Elliptic showed.” It also cited research by crypto analytics firm BitOK suggesting that Hamas received $41 million. Ten days later the paper followed up with “Why Hamas Uses Crypto to Raise Money”,…
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Crypto & AI: Competition, Convergence or Both?
Part two: Smart Contracts, Fraud Detection & Portfolio Management
Blockchain is increasingly presenting new opportunities for applications in combination with AI. In fact, Future Market Insights estimates that the global market for blockchain AI will skyrocket to $3.5 billion by 2032, with a 23% CAGR from 2023 to 2033 driven in part by small and medium enterprises adopting AI-based blockchain platforms to enhance smart contracts, payment systems and more. “Reaching consensus on reality” Paul Brody, Global Blockchain Leader at consulting powerhouse Ernst & Young (which has also become a blockchain powerhouse owing in large part to Paul’s thought leadership the last 7 years—including his early advocacy of Ethereum as the platform of choice for enterprise), has a characteristically nuanced…
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As ransomware take explodes to $350M, UK expert says criminalize paying
Former U.K. National Cyber Security Centre head Ciaran Martin calls for a payment ban as Chainalysis reveals 2020 was ransomware’s best year ever, up 311%
Martin said that insurers have effectively funded organized crime by paying out claims to clients who paid ransoms to regain access to their data after being locked out by the hacker gangs.
