Samsung is Not the Only Mega-Company to Exploit Crypto Progress

Samsung is not the only one South Korean giant that has blockchain-related news to share. Increasingly blockchain and crypto-keen South Korean conglomerates are striking partnership deals with domestic fintech companies as they look to fast-track their moves into the sector.

As reported, perhaps the biggest South Korean conglomerate of them all, Samsung, just confirmed that Samsung Electronics’ new flagship smartphone will indeed feature a crypto wallet.

The move comes as a major business model development for Samsung, which had thus far channeled its blockchain-related operations almost exclusively through its IT services arm, Samsung SDS.

The South Korean economy is dominated by chaebol companies, family-run business groups with billion-dollar assets and numerous affiliate companies. Despite the government’s apparently standoffish stance toward cryptocurrency businesses (contrasting starkly with its perceived fervor for all things blockchain-related), chaebol companies are growing increasingly keen to join the fintech fray, with the likes of Hyundai, KT and LG already firmly committed to developing blockchain and/or cryptocurrency business units.

In recent weeks, yet more mega-companies have signaled their intent to join in.

And per Fn News, companies like Kolon, Hanwha and SK are teaming up with existing blockchain startups as part of a strategy aimed at boosting their IT capabilities quickly so they can commercialize products faster.

Telecoms giant SK is working with Haechi Labs on “a smart contract platform based on blockchain technology.” SK wants to commercialize its new product by the end of June this year. The company last year revealed plans for an initial coin offering consultancy and other blockchain-related businesses.

Hanwha is keen to tie in its Galleria shopping and e-commerce franchise with Terra, a blockchain startup that specializes in online banking solutions – potentially allowing customers the ability to make blockchain-powered electronic transactions. The company last year announced its plans to create blockchain-powered insurance solutions.

And blockchain’s newest South Korean player, Kolon, says its residential property subsidiary is working with a company named Coinduck on a project that could enable it to allow tenants to pay rental fees in digital tokens such as cryptocurrencies – with results of a joint pilot expected “by the end of February.”

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Something New for the Cryptoverse Coming from MEW

Crypto wallet, MyEtherWallet (MEW) users can now exchange up to USD 5,000 worth of crypto with fiat currencies, without the need to go through annoying KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures, the developers announced.

The new feature, which comes with the latest version of MEW, V5, has been developed and pushed in partnership with Bity, a Swiss crypto finance service provider.

Calling it the 'exit-to-fiat gateway', the new feature allows users to exchange Bitcoin or Ether with Euros or Swiss Francs.
According to the press release, this feature was made possible due to the fact that Bity is compliant with Swiss Anti Money Laundering Ordinance (AMLA), as well as the fact that it is a regulated and audited financial intermediary in Switzerland.

“This Exit-to-Fiat gateway is a game changer for cryptocurrency users around the world, because it allows people to exchange crypto to fiat without needing to be KYC verified,” said Kosala Hemachandra, CEO and Founder of MEW.

KYC is a process which many cryptocurrency exchanges and similar companies need to impose on their users for legal, regulatory and security reasons. For the user, it means submitting a bunch of documents, proving their identity, like ID cards, passports, as well as (sometimes ridiculous) selfies holding various objects, or papers with specific writing on it.

It is a practice that was taken from traditional banks, and which is generally perceived as less than ideal.

John Turesson, who manages the Norwegian operations of Swedish financial group SEB AB, recently told Bloomberg that the KYC procedure is “extremely time-consuming and even annoying for our clients.”

But it's not just the banks – other fintech startups and businesses enforce KYC without thinking much of onboarding and user experience. Edmund Lowell, co-founder and CEO of KYC-Chain, which manages the SelfKey Foundation, also believes the KYC process is annoying.

Also, as reported last September, ShapeShift, one of the best known platforms offering peer-to-peer trading of digital assets, faced negative reactions after it announced that they will introduce the KYC procedure.

The KYC-less approach to exchanging crypto is just one of new features coming with MEW V5. Other changes include a revamp of the wallet, with a new interface. There's also a new exchange feature where MEW users can shop for the best rates when purchasing cryptocurrencies. Called the 'swap page', it was designed jointly with Changelly, a crypto exchange, and operates alongside Bity and Kyber Network swap functions.

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New Samsung Galaxy S10 Includes Cryptocurrency Key Storage

The new Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy S10, will include storage for private cryptocurrency keys, according to an official press release on Feb. 20.
Samsung announced the launch of its new phone today in Seoul, San Francisco and London, which includes the Samsung Knox function. Per the press release:

“Galaxy S10 is built with defense-grade Samsung Knox, as well as a secure storage backed by hardware, which houses your private keys for blockchain-enabled mobile services.”

Ahead of the S10’s release, rumors abounded regarding the phone’s possible configuration and support for cryptocurrency wallets and DApps. Last month, images surfaced that allegedly portrayed a “Samsung Blockchain Keystore” on the Galaxy S10. The reportedly leaked photos featured an Ethereum (ETH) wallet option in the “supported cryptocurrencies” list. No such wallet was mentioned in today’s press release.

Samsung is not the only major smartphone producer to have implemented crypto-related capabilities into smartphones. In May last year, Consumer electronics corporation HTC has unveiled “the first native blockchain phone,” HTC Exodus, which will launch with support for multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum networks and features Brave as its default browser.

In December 2018, Sirin Labs launched Finney, the 'world's first' blockchain smartphone.
Additional reporting by Adrian Zmudzinski
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Mark Zuckerberg Considers Blockchain Authorization of Data in Recent Interview

Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg considered the ramifications of blockchain-based authorization of user data during an interview with Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain on Feb. 20.

During a discussion covering such topics as the future of technology and society, Zuckerberg noted that he “think[s] about the work we [Facebook] are a decentralizing force in the world.” Zuckerberg said that people of his generation got into technology because “it gives individuals power, and is not massively centralizing.”

Zuckerberg mentioned that he was considering a potential blockchain use case by which users could have control over their data, adding “Basically, you take your information, you store it on some decentralized system and you have the choice to log into places without going through an intermediary.”

He noted that while the “relatively computationally intense” processes of decentralized technology could eventually be overcome, there are also moral implications.

“I think the more interesting questions there are not feasibility in the near term, but are the philosophical questions of the goodness of a system like that one,” Zuckerberg said. He stated that a decentralized system may give users more control over their data, but could also lead to more abuse, and any recourse would be far more difficult than on a centralized system.

Zuckerberg said that one example of how the company is moving toward a more decentralized structure is through offering encryption in its messaging services. Zuckerberg outlined the benefits of encryption like privacy and security, but further stressed the importance of safety given that “people rightfully have an expectation of us [Facebook], that we are going to do everything we can to stop terrorists from recruiting people or people from exploiting children.”

Earlier this month, Facebook reportedly acquired Chainspace in its first apparent blockchain-related acquisition. The startup was reportedly working on blockchain scalability problems, notably by applying sharding to smart contracts. Facebook, however, reportedly acquired the startup primarily for the skills or expertise of its staff, rather than the service or products the company provides.

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Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Discloses Non-ETH Crypto Holdings and Other Revenue Sources

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has disclosed that his crypto investments are virtually exclusively devoted to the Ethereum network, in a post published to an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) Reddit thread on Feb. 18.

The AMA post is dedicated the Ethereum leadership and accountability, asking those in leadership positions in the ETH community to share their possible conflicts of interest.

In Buterin’s summary, his total holdings of non-Ethereum ecosystem tokens — comprising Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Zcash (ZEC) — account for less than 10 percent of the value of his Ethereum holdings.

A further set of non-ETH Ethereum ecosystem tokens — comprised of Kyber (KNC), OmiseGo (OMG), Maker (MKR), (OMG) and Augur (REP) — are similarly reportedly collectively worth less than 10 percent of Buterin’s Ethereum (ETH) holdings.

Buterin also disclosed on the AMA that he has “significant corporate shareholdings” in blockchain research and development firm Clearmatics, as well as in scalability- and privacy-focused blockchain startup Starkware. The latter notably develops cryptographic technology such as zero-knowledge proofs, of which Buterin is a vocal proponent.

Aside from this, Buterin revealed his external revenue over the past 12 months — aside from the Ethereum Foundation — was accounted for by his advisory role for the tokens disclosed in his holdings.

Vitalik also discussed his non-financial involvement in other blockchain projects — including the ecosystems for the aforementioned tokens — as well as several non-token-based Ethereum-related organizations; such as L4, Plasma Group, EthGlobal and EDCON.

He is also reportedly involved in several non-token-based and non-Ethereum organizations — “mainly professional cryptography and economics circles” — which he didn’t specify.

As reported, Vitalik has recently been engaged in an Ethereum developers’ discussion in regard to a new smart contract creation feature set to be released in the forthcoming Constantinople hard fork.

Some community members had voiced their concerns that the feature could have negative security implications, which Buterin refuted, while emphasizing the need to evolve the feature in question with a longer roadmap in view.

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Elon Musk: Bitcoin Has ‘Quite Brilliant’ Structure, Paper Money is Going Away

Technology entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Bitcoin’s (BTC) structure is “quite brilliant” and that digital currency is “a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper.” Musk made his remarks during an interview on advisory services firm ARK Invest’s podcast on Feb. 19.

In response to a question about whether Bitcoin becomes the only native cryptocurrency of the Internet, Musk said that “the Bitcoin structure was quite brilliant,” and that he thinks that “one of the downsides of crypto is that computationally it is quite energy intensive. So there have to be some kind of constraints on the creation of crypto. But it's very energy intensive to create the incremental Bitcoin at this point.”

On this note, Musk stressed that “it would not be a good use of Tesla resources to get involved in crypto. We’re just really trying to accelerate the advance of sustainable energy.”

Musk continued saying that cryptocurrency “bypasses currency controls [...] paper money is going away, and crypto is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper, that's for sure."

Last February, Musk tweeted that he only owned 0.25 BTC. He noted in the same tweet that apart from the 0.25 BTC a friend had given to him “many years ago”, he "literally own[s] zero cryptocurrency."

Previously, major industry players also argued that Bitcoin occupies a unique place as a store of value or “digital gold.” Mike Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs partner and founder of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital, said that “Bitcoin is going to be digital gold, a place where you have sovereign money, it’s not U.S. money, it’s not Chinese money, it’s sovereign. Sovereignty costs a lot, it should.”

Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey — who is well known for his conviction that Bitcoin will become the “native currency of the Internet” — said earlier this month that “[Bitcoin] feels it’s the one that wants to be currency the most, versus others that are doing more general purpose things or distributed computing [...] I think [the altcoin space] has generated some really amazing ideas, but I’m focused on currency and the transactional aspect.”
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German Government Consults Industry About Blockchain Technology

The German government is consulting companies and industry groups that could become stakeholders in the country’s blockchain development, Reuters reports on Feb. 18.

The unnamed companies and groups have reportedly been invited to supply recommendations from this week onwards. Reuters also cites unspecified government sources saying that it is still unclear if those recommendations will translate into regulation in the near future, but concrete results are currently being sought.

According to the article, about 170 startups in Berlin are involved with blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT), and startups in the space “have said that without a legal framework, there are high entrance hurdles.”

As Cointelegraph reported in January, a major global securities marketplace in Germany, Deutsche Börse, has said that it is “making significant progress” on its blockchain-based securities lending platform. The platform is being developed in partnership with Luxembourg-based blockchain liquidity management platform HQLAx.

In December last year, news broke that German railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG, considered to be the largest in Europe, had partnered with blockchain integration platform Unibright to examine the possibility of tokenizing its ecosystem.

Also in December 2018, it was reported that Germany’s second-largest bank SolarisBank and Stuttgart Exchange Group are jointly developing infrastructure for a cryptocurrency exchange.

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Report: Bitcoin Unable to Solve Problems of Traditional Payment Systems

An official from Spain’s central bank, the Bank of Spain (BDE) believes that Bitcoin (BTC) is unable to resolve the problems faced by major payment systems. BDE’s Deputy General Director for financial innovations and market infrastructure, Carlos Colesa, gave his opinion on the leading cryptocurrency in a report published on Sunday, Feb. 17.

The study dubbed "Bitcoin: a solution for payment systems or a solution in search of a problem?," is marked as an “occasional paper,” according to Cointelegraph en Español. This means that the Bank of Spain does not necessarily share the stance of the author.

Colesa compared Bitcoin to traditional payment systems and financial intermediaries. First, he says that the Bitcoin blockchain processes only 250,000 transactions daily, which is a relatively small volume for a global system. For instance, major Spanish retail system, the Sistema Nacional de Compensación Electrónica (SNCE), reportedly handled around 7.2 million payments daily, as of 2017.

Given that the miners have to approve transactions, Bitcoin payments are slow, and the time required for a transactions is purportedly unpredictable. Thus, the Proof of Work (PoW) in fact limits the capacity of the whole system instead of yielding benefits, Colesa concludes. The report further states that the absence of governance and coordination impedes improvements to the system.

According to Colesa, the combination of private and public keys is a very unreliable system that is vulnerable to various types of fraud and scams. Moreover, the report states that loss of private keys means that users’ funds can never be restored.

The report echoes the stance of some Bitcoin sceptics, such as Nouriel Roubini, who believe that crypto is in fact very centralized. For instance, crypto has commissions for transactions, and the payment speed depends on its rate. The average rate is set by mining pools, which, according to the expert, have enough power to control the system in order to get more rewards. Colesa concludes:
“It is unlikely that Bitcoin in its current modification will have any significant impact on the finance sector as an alternative to traditional payment systems.”

Earlier this month the bank issued a reminder to citizens, warning of the risks related to cryptocurrencies. The document notes that they are not yet regulated in the country, while exchanges are not authorized by the central bank and thus the funds stored there cannot be protected by the government. Moreover, the BDE governor, Pablo Hernández de Cos, has determined that crypto “cannot replace money and is not a means of payment or common exchange.”
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Major Chinese University Launches Blockchain Research Center

One of the most selective universities in China, Fudan University, has opened a blockchain research center, according to an announcement published on Feb. 15.

Per the announcement, Fudan University established the Shanghai Blockchain Engineering Technology Research Center in collaboration with Zhongan Online Property Insurance Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Zhongren Information Technology Co., Ltd.

The center will purportedly carry out basic research on blockchain technology, demonstrate its application, as well as provide associated talent training. The establishment of the Shanghai Blockchain Engineering Technology Research Center will further promote the development and growth of the blockchain industry in Shanghai and purportedly facilitate the development of the Shanghai economy.

Other Chinese universities have also integrated blockchain into their scholarship programs. In January, in collaboration with blockchain payments firm Ripple, the Institute for Fintech Research at Beijing’s Tsinghua University (THUIFR) announced the Blockchain Technology Research Scholarship Program (BRSP). The program reportedly intends to bring together the best graduate students in China in 2019 to study global blockchain regulations and industry development.

Earlier this month, the Chinese Institute for Fintech Research at Tsinghua University joined Ripple’s global University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) — which was originally launched in June 2018 — that supports academic research, technical development and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrencies and digital payments.

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Alleged Bitcoin Mining Scam Reported in Thailand

Victims of an alleged cryptocurrency mining scam have filed claims against the suspected perpetrator with the Technology Crime Suppression Division in Thailand, the Bangkok Post reports on Feb. 18.

Per the report, 30 people have filed a complaint with police, stating that they were fooled into an alleged investment scam called “CryptoMining.Farm.” This purportedly led the loss of 42 million baht ($1.34 million). Local authorities reportedly suspect that a total of 140 individuals were affected by the scam.

CryptoMining.Farm, which has offices registered in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai, supposedly promised investors an annual return of 70 percent in addition to the option to withdraw their funds at any time with no conditions. The Bitcoin (BTC) mining contracts offered by the company reportedly ranged from three months to a lifetime.

One affected individual told the Bangkok Post “But from August the owner began imposing conditions for withdrawing the money. Then at the start of this month, the site announced it would start paying back investors in 84 instalments — which would take over seven years to complete.” The source, which reportedly preferred to remain anonymous, said that the payments would also be made in foreign currencies, which is illegal under Thai law.

The most recent allegations follow a well-publicized case from last year, in which a former soap opera actor Jiratpisit "Boom" Jaravijit and other suspects were accused of swindling $24 million worth of Bitcoin from 21-year-old Finnish investor Aamai Otava Saarimaa.

The suspects, who were charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, reportedly pleaded “not guilty” at a court in Bangkok in November 2018.

Last May, a 100-section royal decree published in the Thai Royal Gazette, defined cryptocurrencies as “digital assets and digital tokens.” In November, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam called for more regulations on cryptocurrencies. Krea-ngam said that new guidelines must be introduced in order to keep up with evolving tactics and threats to consumer security.
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