Cryptocurrency exchange ErisX announced that it has raised $27.5 million from investors, including Fidelity Investments and Nasdaq Ventures. The exchange is set to launch next year, pending regulatory approval. The funding will be used to hire staff, “build out our infrastructure and secure the appropriate steps are taken to develop a regulated market for digital assets,” said ErisX Chief Executive Officer Thomas Chippas, according to Reuters.
A new document shows that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants to develop forensic analysis techniques for cryptocurrencies like Zcash and Monero. According to The Next Web, a pre-solicitation document — published by the DHS’ Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) — shared a proposal for small businesses (SMBs) to develop research, process, products and technologies that can be used to detect crypto-related crimes. The first phase of the three-stage process would include designing a blockchain analysis system that “enables forensic analysis for homeland security and law enforcement applications for cryptocurrencies, such as Zcash and Monero.”
In other news, Overstock subsidiary Medici Ventures announced that it is purchasing $2.5 million of equity stake in GrainChain, which develops software tools for farmers and purchasers in the grain industry. Medici now has a 10 percent ownership stake in the company, with the option to purchase another 10 percent in the future. “What it’s doing is not only leveling the playing field for the farmer, but … giving a more accurate vision of where that grain is coming from, how it’s being paid [for] and how it’s moving through the market. It’s eliminating the need for multiple-tier middlemen in the industry,” GrainChain’s CEO Luis Macias told CoinDesk.
A research group has discovered that blockchain technology is not as transformative as crypto experts would like to believe. A report from Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Technology found that many blockchain-based projects under-delivered. “We documented 43 blockchain use cases through internet searches, most of which were described with glowing claims like ‘operational costs … reduced up to 90 percent,’ or with the assurance of ‘accurate and secure data capture and storage,’” wrote the researchers. “We found a proliferation of press releases, white papers and persuasively written articles. However, we found no documentation or evidence of the results blockchain was purported to have achieved in these claims.”
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