05-25-2018: American Express Researching Blockchain Technology For Fraud Protection

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In The News:

• Circle unveils new product for retail cryptocurrency investors (Bitcoinist).
• American Express could use blockchain to protect client’s identities and combat fraud (Bitcoinist)
• Singapore proposes regulatory changes which could green-light blockchain related exchanges (Bitcoinist)
• Bitfinex reportedly tied to puerto rico’s noble bank international (ETH News).

Cryptocurrency startup company, Circle, has unveiled a new investment product. The launch was announced via a post on the company’s blog. The Goldman Sachs-backed firm recently completed a lucrative investment round while announcing plans for a stablecoin tied to the USD. According to a blog post by Senior Product Manager, Rachel Mayer, the latest addition to the catalog of crypto investment offerings at the firm is called “Buy the Market.” The new product allows users to invest in all seven listed cryptos simultaneously. Users also get to decide how much they wish to put up in their portfolio. Buy the Market uses a weighted allocation framework to distribute the funds among the seven cryptos using their market capitalization. The minimum investment sum is $1 while the maximum weekly limit is $10,000 (Bitcoinist).

US-based financial corporation American Express is researching how blockchain technology can provide solutions to fraud and identity protection. While at the Oktane18 conference in Las Vegas, the company’s VP of technology, Tereasa Kastel, chatted about the future blockchain plans of American Express stating “American Express is a very innovative company. They were working on blockchain specifically for financial transactions, but we were starting to explore what an identity wallet looks like, and if blockchain could be used to help serve as, both internal, and external card members and merchants” (Bitcoinist).

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has proposed changes to its current regulations which are expected to lower the market entry for blockchain related exchanges. According to reports, the Monetary Authority of Singapore MAS – which is Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator – has issued a consultation paper in which it is reviewing the current regulatory framework which has been in place since 2002. This is to accommodate the demands of a dynamic financial services landscape. All financial institutions and other interested parties have been invited to submit written comments to the paper by June 22nd (Bitcoinist).

According to a Thursday report, Noble Bank International has provided its banking services to Bitfinex since sometime in 2017. The cryptocurrency exchange seems to have cycled through a series of banking relationships after Wells Fargo abruptly ended its relationship with the company in April 2017. Bloomberg revealed that Noble Bank International assumed “banking duties” for Bitfinex last year, citing three anonymous sources. Noble claims offices in New York, NY , San Jose, and Puerto Rico – the latter of which has become a cryptocurrency hotbed, due in part to its minimal taxes. On its website, Noble bills itself as a “full-reserve bank providing real-time post-trade services to over-the-counter markets including foreign exchange and Digital Currencies.” Noble did not immediately reply to an inquiry about the company’s reported relationship with Bitfinex and Tether. Bloomberg further noted that Bitfinex appears to have utilized “a string of third-party accounts based in Panama City” while seeking a new banking partner. It seems that the company adopted this strategy after Wells Fargo ceased its support to the exchange in April 2017 (ETH News).

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