Dutch Company Fights Child Labor in Chocolate Industry with Blockchain

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Bitcoin Hits 5-Week High as SEC Postpones ETF (1)

An Amsterdam-based chocolate company has been mounting its own campaign to tackle modern slavery in the chocolate industry by using blockchain.

The company, Tony’s Chocolonely, might be a lone campaigner, but it has been setting the right tone in addressing a problem which has become common in parts of Africa such as Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire, where cocoa beans are produced.

It’s been noted and acknowledged by the companies themselves, that even major players in the industry such as Nestlé, Hershey, and Mars contribute to the 2.3 million working in cocoa production in Ghana. Although many companies are yet to source products made under these conditions, Tony’s Chocolonely have a 13-year history in fighting against the industry’s status quo over labor conditions.

Due to competitive pricing from the end product down to the farmer who produces the beans many on the ground have taken to sourcing their labour through less than ethical means, including slavery and underaged labour, although this is not limited to this particular industry.

Four years ago, it decided that traceability could solve this problem and created Beantracker, a bean to bar blockchain tracking system which logs every facet of the end product’s manufacture and locates the processes in real time. The company’s major success has been persuading the world’s largest cocoa processor, Barry Callebaut, to develop a supply chain model based on Beantracker, which hopefully could have a knock-on effect with smaller manufacturers of chocolate products. To date, Barry Callebaut has been involved in inputting data on to the Beantracker platform.

Frans Pannekoek, working with Tony’s Chocolonely, said that the use of tech such as Accenture and blockchain was essential to make these vital changes to the industry, but having a closer relationship with bean producers could be the key to change, commenting:

“We believe that having a direct relationship with farmers through traceability is key in taking responsibility. When you [are] buying of a big pile of beans you might turn a blind eye to what is happening ‘on the other side’ of the pile.”

 

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Bitcoin Hits 5-Week High as SEC Postpones ETF

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Bitcoin Hits 5-Week High as SEC Postpones ETF

Despite the US SEC postponing yet again its decision on several Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Bitcoin price continued to climb defiantly over the weekend, recording fresh highs as it traded over $4,100 in a 24-hour period.

According to its official statement, the decision on Bitwise will not be earlier than 16 May 2019, and for the VanEck proposal, five days later on 21 May 2019:

“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change.”

Jake Chervinsky, a member of the securities litigation team at Kobre & Kim, who has been commentating on the SEC’s stance regarding the ETF applications, warns that the delays are likely to be until their maximum possible terms, as has been the case up to now.

Market commentators were largely surprised by the move, as technicals had suggested another pullback, after several tests of $4,000 fail in the past few weeks. Nevertheless, there was a slight downside to the positivism, as Bitcoin dominance dipped just below 50%, with alternative cryptocurrencies showing even more strong gains, with Ethereum, Dash, Monero and Tezos all moving well. Total market capitalization has hovered above $145 billion.

Bulls are fighting Bitcoin resistance once more in the new quarter and how the next few days unfolds will be telling in these critical levels, with a pivotal point at USD 4,400.

 

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Africa and the Middle East: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup 24th to 30th March, 2019

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Africa

Africa and the Middle East

Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news continent by continent and country by country.

African Union

Crypto in Africa: Adoption in Medical, Education, Trading Industries: Africa has been making considerable strides in adopting crypto technology and implementing innovations in the financial markets. Prime examples of the intent would be Zimbabwe’s crypto school that will be launched by SUNFund, a local incubator.

In that same vein of thought, IBM announced that it is working in its lab in Haifa to utilise blockchain system and stem the flow of counterfeit medicines. South Africa is also not going to be left behind, as a SA based crypto exchange’s Hybrid Stock Exchange (HYBSE) platform went live last week. The platform is part of the Data Interchange Module (DIM) and will offer an online marketplace for global issuers and users to provide tradable tokenised equity.

Community-Led Pan-African Blockchain Standards Org Publishes Draft ICO Guidelines: The African Digital Asset Framework (ADAF) has just published its first version of guidance for initial coin offerings (ICO) on 25 March.  

ADAF is a project that looks to establish compliance-focused, cross-border blockchain standards for Africa, and it just has revealed its first guideline in an official blog post titled “Consumer Protection Guidelines on Token Generation Events, version 0.1.” The document was created by an open source community comprising of 17 companies and aims to generate set of standards for consumers, business owners, and policymakers to regulate evaluation or participation in token generation events for utility-token based ecosystems.

Israel

Malware Affects an Israeli Cryptocurrency Company: The cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Network’s research division, Unit 42, has recently published a report stating how it has detected a serious malware that has been targeting two Israeli cryptocurrency trading companies. Known as “Cardinal RAT malware” or Remote Access Trojan, it was first discovered in 2017 which allows full remote control of the device, collects the target data and then wipes itself from the device.

Palo Alto also revealed that this Trojan had repeatedly targeted Israel’s fintech and cryptocurrency trading firms since 2017 which includes at least two large scale attacks. The report also adds that the attacker can access the victim’s personal data, clean cookies capture screenshots, execute commands, retrieve passwords, and even update settings.

Turkey

Turkey Is Leading Europe in Cryptocurrency Possession: Although the Turkish Lira seems to be going downhill, the economy is apparently not entirely bust as the country appears to transition and focus on building crypto assets instead.  In a survey conducted by ING Bank, Turkey had the highest percentage of individuals who own cryptocurrencies, with a total of 18%.

The second country on the list was Romania with 12%, and then came Poland with 11% and Spain with 10% respectively. Apart from the impressive numbers by Turkey, the European continent also showed significant improvement as it recorded a 9% increase in total demand.

UAE

Crypto in the UAE Booms, Generates Over USD 210 Million in Investments in January and February ICOs: According to a recent report, the United Arab Emirates stands tall as the number one country in terms of total capital generated by Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Only in the first two months of 2019, UAE successfully raised a baffling sum of USD 210 million. The next in the list are the United Kingdom and Singapore, but they stand nowhere even close to UAE.  

In January 2019, UAE successfully raised USD 142 million, a whopping 41% of all funds raised worldwide for the month. Interestingly, UAE’S figure was raised by only one ICO, the Genesis Crypto Blockchain Investment Bank, that aims to establish a fully regulated bank that is also accommodative of cryptocurrencies. Other countries on the top 10 list include Canada, Netherlands, Latvia, Belize, Cayman Islands, and Australia.

Iran

Iran Turns to Crypto to Enable Easier Spending by Tourists: Amidst the latest wave of sanctions by the US, the Iranian rial has plummeted to a record low in several decades, losing about 60% of its total value. But while the Iranian economy grapples with the challenges, the government has been looking to alleviate the crisis with the help of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies and has launched many high profile projects.

For instance, the Iranian tourism sector led by the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (CHTO) has been encouraging tourists to use cryptocurrency when possible. Similarly, the Iranian Electronic Tourism Association has announced they are even discussing a proposal to create a state-run digital currency for the tourism sector.

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South America: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup 24th to 30th March, 2019

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South America

South America

Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news continent by continent and country by country.

Brazil

Central Bank of Brazil Looks for Blockchain System Upgrades With an Innovation Program: The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) has announced the launch of the second edition of the Laboratory of Financial and Technological Innovations (LIFT). The project looks to accelerate the development of technological innovation in the country’s financial system. Local authorities will select proposals for the innovations with the help of BCB and will collaborate with technology partner companies to create prototypes and solutions for the financial industry. The projects will also address some priority actions for the “BC+” Agenda, which aims at increasing banking efficiency, lowering credit, modernizing the financial system, and enhancing financial inclusion.

CoinBene Brasil Clarifies That It Was Not Hacked: Amidst the circulating rumours, CoinBene unit in Brazil clarified that there was no hacker attack on the platform on 26 March. The suspicions arose after the exchange suspended their operations without any prior notice. However, the company clarified that it was nothing more than a failure of communication with the users. Initially, the company’s Twitter handle announced that it was going through a maintenance period and said,

“In order to improve our users’ experience, CoinBene is updating its wallet platform on the 26th of March. During maintenance, portfolio-related operations will be affected, as will deposits and withdrawals. Trading will not be affected.”

But some members of the exchange claim that the ‘maintenance’ was initiated as a preemptive precaution to avoid any potential threats considering the recent attacks on three exchanges in Singapore.

Banco do Brasil Is Required to Keep Foxbit Accounts: Foxbit has finally won a milestone decision against Bradesco, Banco Inter, and Banco do Brasil, which are now required by law to keep Foxbit’s bank accounts open. It was reported that CAIXA closed the Foxbit account without following all steps recommended by the Central Bank, and the Brazilian court found this enough reason to rule in favour of Foxbit. Previously, Banco do Brasil closed Foxbit’s account citing unlawful company activities as the reason, and the lawsuit has been running since 2017. But this watershed moment will encourage more activity in the Brazilian financial markets, as it marks the first favourable decision for any Brazilian crypto company.

Educational Entities Launch the First Blockchain Course for Business in Brazil: The leading blockchain education institutions in Brazil, Mosaic University and Blockchain Academy, have announced their own one of a kind Blockchain Business course. The course will explain the blockchain landscape in Brazil and will go into in-depth concepts like smart contracts, self-executing computer protocols, and tradeoffs for blockchain infrastructures. It also touches concepts like the nature of tokens, crowdfunding models via blockchain, decentralised applications, and Web 3.0. The course is 100% online with a workload of 42 hours and requires no prior blockchain knowledge.

Argentina

Argentina Wants to Surpass Brazil and Take the Lead in Latin America Blockchain: The government of Argentina has made its intentions clear as it tries to take over Brazil and become a leader in technological innovation in Latin America. For instance, the government held a meeting of Secretariat of Science and Technology with the representatives of the private sector, scientific, and academic community to draw up the policy guidelines for the National Artificial Intelligence Plan 2020-2030. The goal of the meeting was “to define a plan throughout 2019 and insert it into the government’s Digital Agenda to develop a digital intelligence lab.” The government has also enacted several other groundbreaking initiatives such as the development of Artificial Intelligence and blockchain applications, and the Ministry of Production and Labor announced a partnership in Latin America with Binance Labs to financially support the development of blockchain-based projects.

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