Two Pro-Crypto Candidates take Gubernatorial Seats
California and Colorado have elected in new governors, both of whom support crypto. California Democrat Gavin Newsom was one of the first high-profile politicians to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin beginning in 2014. The Winklevoss twins, creators of the Gemini crypto exchange, are public supporters of Newsom. Though Cameron and Tyler made their campaign donations in fiat currency, Governor Newsom had a BitPay page setup to accept crypto campaign donations.
Colorado Democrat Jared Polis sealed his gubernatorial seat winning 51.6 percent of the vote. Polis also accepted Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash donations via a BitPay page. Polis is an avid public supporter of crypto and blockchain. His campaign website dedicates an entire page to Blockchain Policy, detailing five areas he aims to explore during his tenure. These areas include: voter protection, Regulatory Sandbox and Securities, Energy Load Balancing, Government Transparency, and the Council for the Advancement of Blockchain Technology Use.
More politicians are in support of crypto and further regulatory matters. Certainly their position helps pave the way for greater adoption of the new asset class.
U.S. CFTC Chairman: DLT Can Assist Regulators To Oversee Markets
Christopher Giancarlo, Chairman of the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, stated in a speech on November 7th that further advances in technology, including Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), can help to better regulate and oversee market trading.
Giancarlo envisions “the day where rulebooks are digitized, compliance is increasingly automated or built into business operations through smart contracts, and regulatory reporting is satisfied through real-time DLT networks.” The CFTC aims to take an active stance on regulation of the “digitization of modern markets” through their Technology Advisory Committee, market intelligence branch, and LabCFTC. The chairman addressed “big data” and the importance of running at a “harder pace” with respect to automated data analysis, machine learning and intelligence. Further, Giancarlo also addressed value of automation in emerging technological markets.
Big 4 Auditor Ernst & Young Rolls Out Zero Knowledge Proof
Ernst & Young, a multinational auditing and accounting firm announced the launch of their Ops Chain Public Edition (PE) prototype on October 30th. The system aims to enable private, secure transactions on the Ethereum public network.
Ops Chain PE will use zero-knowledge proof technology (ZKP). ZKP is an alternative algorithm used to authenticate distributed ledger entries. The proof is zero knowledge because the transacting parties can provide proof of validity. However, all other information, including their identities remains encrypted.
A common misconception is that Bitcoin is anonymous. The truth is that law enforcement can track Bitcoin transactions. These agencies often discover the identity of the transacting parties as well as their wallet holdings. Hackers correctly interpreting the goings on in the blockchain can discover your identity, and the amount of holdings in your crypto wallet.
Many developers believe zero-knowledge proofs will be the benchmark in privacy technology in crypto moving forward. Zero knowledge proofs are not a new concept in computer science. They were first defined in a 1988 paper by researchers at MIT. The technology is currently in prototype, but expected to go live in 2019.
Big 4 Auditor Deloitte Teams Up With Crypto Startup For Identity Management in Government
Deloitte has partnered with Attest Inc., an identity management company, to develop a blockchain-based digital identity system. According to their press release, the collaboration aims to offer government compliant digital identifiers. The Attest Wallet is a cryptographically secured identity storage device similar to a crypto wallet. The wallet reports it will allow users to store digital versions of government IDs. Further, the wallet will control access to the information stored therein.
Attest Enterprise is the second solution from the partnership, and consists of two programming interfaces. As a result, the user can verify his identity, authorize third parties and allow others to manage data on his behalf.
Deloitte is an avid supporter of blockchain, though they have been vocal about hindrances to faster adoption. In early October they released a report outlining five obstacles to mass adoption. It appears this partnership is one step forward in increasing crypto’s presence in the mainstream.
Leave a Reply