A new blockchain-based energy trading platform that encourages corporate energy consumers to trade power among themselves when the grid is strained by high demand led to a 40 percent improvement in efficiency in a simulation, Japanese multinational Fujitsu announced on Jan. 30.
Chinese Activists Are Using Blockchain to Document #MeToo Stories (Harvard Business Review) Censors in China cracked down on women sharing their experiences on social media of being sexually harassed. In response, some began putting their stories into a blockchain ledger. That raises some tough questions, however, because the stories become immutable. “What do libel suits look like when records can’t be deleted from the blockchain? What about the “right to be forgotten” that is built into privacy policy in some countries?” asks MIT’s Catherine Tucker and Harbin Institute of Technology’s Yudan Pang. EY Reveals Zero-Knowledge Proof Privacy Solution for Ethereum (CoinDesk) Accounting firm EY (what, they’re too cool to…
Bitcoin Suspect Could Shed Light on Russian Mueller Targets (Bloomberg) Remember the name Alexander Vinnik? He ran BTC-e, the cryptocurrency exchange that appeared all too willing to launder money for Bond villain-type characters. He was taken down by FinCEN, with the help of the IRS, and now sits in a Greek prison. Some of the bitcoins Vinnik allegedly helped launder belonged to a Russian hacking unit now under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. See? It’s all connected. The baroness, the ICO fiasco, and enter Steve Wozniak (Financial Times) Michelle Mone, aka Baroness Mone, of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, OBE, sits in the British House of Lords…
Cboe, the exchange group behind the first market for bitcoin futures, is telling market makers that ether futures will soon be live (Business Insider) A source has told Business Insider that the CBOE, which launched the first U.S. regulated futures on bitcoin, is looking to launch an ether-based futures contract as soon as December. As of last week, the total open interest in the CBOE’s bitcoin contract equaled only 4,069 BTC, or a little more than $28 million. Special Report: In Venezuela, new cryptocurrency is nowhere to be found (Reuters) The Venezuelan government’s much-hyped oil-backed cryptocurrency known as the petro is tough to find. It’s not in exchanges and…
