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IOHK, which Supports Cardano (ADA) Development, has Announced 11 Winning Proposals to Receive Funding, as part of Project Catalyst

IOHK (or Input Output Hong Kong), an organization focused on supporting open-source projects such as Cardano (ADA), a major platform for building decentralized applications (dApps), has announced the first winning proposals for Project Catalyst.

The community has spoken and 11 initiatives are now expected to acquire funding in order to further enhance the Cardano ecosystem.

As explained by IOHK, Project Catalyst is “an ongoing experiment” in exploring or looking into different ways that “decentralized” innovation and collaboration can be carried out “at its highest level.” As the initial stage in the Voltaire roadmap, it aims to challenge ecosystem participants to “pool their ingenuity, creativity and passion to identify ground-breaking projects that support Cardano’s growth,” the IOHK team noted.

Fund2 was reportedly the first time that Project Catalyst participants had the opportunity to pitch, debate, refine, and vote on various proposals using “real” ADA, which is the native cryptocurrency for Cardano’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) network. As confirmed by IOHK, this was “aimed at enhancing and bringing new value to Cardano.”

As mentioned in blog post published by IOHK:

“We challenged Fund2 participants to come up with ways to encourage Cardano ecosystem development in the next six months. With an available initial ADA fund worth $250,000, we are able to fund 11 proposals.”

The IOHK team confirmed the following funded proposals as part of Fund2:

PoolTool platform upgrade: This project aims to open up “avenues to build businesses and applications on Cardano that differentiate between stake pool operators by offering additional products.” This update is aimed at promoting infrastructure “diversity” across the Cardano ecosystem.

Ouroboros over RINA: Deploying a proof of concept (PoC) stake pool and relay solution of Ouroboros over RINA by using “Ethernet/WDM at two sites in Tokyo, Japan.”

Haskell/Plutus/Marlowe education: Developing educational material or content that aims to convey complex ideas and information in a structured manner, “supplemented with examples that inspire ideas.” This proposal aims to “make it easier for new developers and entrepreneurs.”

Create a message-signing standard: “Generating a message-signing standard to prove reserves, identity, and stake pool delegation. “

Liqwid: Cardano lending markets for decentralized finance or DeFi: Developing an open-source, non-custodial liquidity protocol to “earn interest on deposits and borrow assets on Cardano.”

Cardano for mobile (decentralized application) dApp developers: “Turning mobile platforms into the first-class citizens of the DApp world with mobile SDKs, mobile-first DApp experience and app store compatibility.”

GimbaLabs – starter kits and tools: GimbaLabs is a startup platform “providing free and open source APIs, lessons, and project-based learning resources to help people bring their ideas to life on Cardano and so drive adoption of the blockchain.”

Lovelace Academy for Marlowe and Plutus: Establishing an online academy “to attract, inspire and educate individuals and companies to create applications on Cardano’s smart contract and native assets platform.”

Sign Tx Arduino: Starting a library for code written in the C programming language that is “compatible with the Arduino development environment.” Sign local Cardano transactions in advance of smart contracts “being available to enable applications for the internet of things (IoT).”

Pet Registry DApp with ₳Pay: Helping developers “accept ADA payments on websites.” The Pet Registry DApp, built on ₳Pay, will “service a global audience in a cheaper, better way.” Devs are “inspired by successful apps and the tools needed to build them, By creating both, we can inspire and accelerate devs and their solutions.”

Japan Cardano Governance Association: Meetings & Communities & Podcasts: “supporting online/offline meetups, governance podcasts etc. for our Japanese community.”

As confirmed by IOHK, each funded team will get their ADA tokens by the end of this month, so that they’re able to start on their projects and hopefully bring them to life in the foreseeable future. IOHK also mentioned that they’re now looking forward to seeing the impact of these initiatives on the evolving Cardano ecosystem.

While 11 ideas or projects have acquired funding for now, there are several other legitimate contenders that managed to meet the community voting threshold. However, these initiatives still missed out on funding this time around. As noted by IOHK, certain projects were able to secure “community funding.” There were also some initiatives that had been approved for funding by the community, however, the treasury didn’t have enough funding needed to support their proposals for the time being.

IOHK added:

“We’ll be encouraging these proposers to resubmit their ideas for the just-launched Fund3 where relevant (with its focus on the DApp ecosystem) and we hope to see the best of these funded by the community next time. We have bold and ambitious plans for Project Catalyst in 2021, with ADA worth millions of dollars being made available to fund innovation on Cardano. Submission for proposals for Fund3 [reportedly opened on January 13, 2021].”

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Blockchain Security Firm CipherTrace Clarifies how Virtual Asset Service Providers, Money Service Businesses are Categorized by Regulators

Blockchain security firm CipherTrace recently explained and discussed the differences between virtual asset service providers (VASPs), money service businesses (MSB), money transmitters, digital asset customers, and how they impact crypto-related compliance measures.

CipherTrace noted that cryptocurrency, digital assets, convertible virtual currency, and other terms seem to all describe the same or similar concepts. The blockchain firm pointed out that a cryptocurrency exchange may also be called a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), Virtual Asset Entity, Digital Asset Customer (DACs), Money Service Business (MSB), or other names “depending on the context.”

Although some industry professionals might be inclined or prefer to refer to all these entities related to digital assets as VASPs—the same way they refer to all virtual assets as “crypto”—there are certain “differentiators between the different Digital Asset Entity typologies that affect how that entity is regulated,” CipherTrace explained.

As noted by CipherTrace:

“A Digital Asset Entity is an umbrella term for a range of businesses built on cryptocurrency transactions.” 

Digital Asset Entities may include Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) like digital currency exchanges and ATMs, which are considered financial institutions or service providers “in their own right, in addition to gambling sites, incubators, and other entities that use crypto but are not always classed as financial institutions,” CipherTrace clarified. The blockchain company also mentioned that alternative names might include Virtual Asset Entity and Crypto Asset Entity.

CipherTrace further noted:

“A Digital Asset Customer is any Digital Asset Entity that uses the services of a bank or other formal financial institution. DAC was first used to describe a broad grouping of cryptocurrency-based customers in the US Department of the Treasury’s OCC enforcement action against M.Y. Safra Bank in early 2020.”

On January 30, 2020 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reportedly issued the very first crypto-related enforcement action against a US-based bank—M.Y. Safra Bank (MYSB), which is located in New York City. As confirmed by CipherTrace, the enforcement action involved a cease and desist order that was focused on deficient or inadequate anti-money laundering (AML) measures for compliance and monitoring of the institution’s digital asset customers (DAC). As explained by CipherTrace, these entities included virtual currency exchanges, Bitcoin ATM operators, and virtual (over-the-counter) OTCs, along with other crypto-related companies

CipherTrace also mentioned that when a crypto-asset entity engages in various financial activities with digital assets, AML/CFT and other requirements might apply to it “for the entity’s role as a money transmitter.” These crypto-asset entities may be called Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) or money transmitters “engaged in convertible virtual currency, depending on the regulatory or policy making body.”

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) notes that VASPs are companies or businesses which carry out at least one of following functions or actions on behalf of their customers:

  • exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies;
  • exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets;
  • transfer of virtual assets;
  • safekeeping and/or administration or virtual assets or instruments enabling control over virtual assets;
  • participating in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer and/or sale of a virtual asset;

This definition “encompasses a range of crypto businesses, including exchanges, ATM operators, wallet custodians, and hedge funds,” CipherTrace confirmed. It added that the FATF suggests that VASPs be “subject to the same stringent AML/CTF and KYC requirements as traditional financial institutions.”

(Note: for more details on these concepts and terminology, check here.)

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Telos, One of the Most Active Blockchain or DLT Networks, Introduces its Uniswap Liquidity Implementation Plan

Telos, which is one of the most active public blockchain networks according to Blocktivity data,  with over 500,000 accounts, has introduced an innovative plan in order to bring liquidity and added value to the TLOS DLT ecosystem: The Telos Uniswap Liquidity Implementation Plan (TULIP).

According to a release shared with Crowdfund Insider, the initiative is aimed at bridging the gap between the Telos and Ethereum (ETH) blockchain communities while “doubling down” on its decentralized finance (DeFi) capabilities.

Telos will be issuing an ERC-20 compliant TLOS token which will be available for presale in early January 2021 with the exact date to be confirmed on the official Telos website “48 hours before the sale commences.”

The announcement noted that this will help with securing funds for Telos in order to list on Uniswap with “a strong, low-slippage pool of TLOS (ERC-20) and ETH.” The remaining funds will aim to support liquidity on other digital asset exchanges and also to pay for listing fees on various centralized crypto exchanges.

As noted in the release:

“Telos has grown [considerably] since its mainnet launch two years ago, but liquidity of the TLOS token markets remains low, impeding the growth of the network. This is the direct result of the project’s successful grassroots launch, which raised no outside funding.” 

Telos planned to find the “best” exchange deals it could afford, however, the result is “simply low liquidity on small exchanges.” Potential buyers come to Telos following its real-world use cases, however, the “friction of buying TLOS on limited exchanges has inhibited many,” the developer claims.

Douglas Horn, Telos Chief Architect, stated:

“Telos has been a hotbed of activity since launching in 2018, now welcoming 30,000 new accounts per month and countless developers to its network. We are proud to have accomplished this all as a fully decentralized ecosystem with no outside funding and no whale accounts.”

Horn added that Telos recognizes the potential that the Ethereum and DeFi investor ecosystem might have, and also realizes the need to “go where the buyers are as well as support Ethereum users who are drawn to Telos for its fast, feeless transactions and features like Telos (Ethereum Virtual Machine) EVM or Telos Decide.”

Horn also mentioned that their TULIP plan is consistent with the Telos philosophy or goal of making regular contributions to the larger blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT) sector.

DeFi platforms and Automated Market Makers such as Uniswap offer a good opportunity to help with overcoming liquidity issues such as those experienced by Telos, the release noted. They require “no (or very low) listing fees, yet their trading volumes can be as high as top exchanges,” the announcement confirmed.

Before listing on Uniswap, Telos intends to provide its ERC-20 TLOS token with “multiple pre-sale purchasing pools of limited numbers of tokens sold at increasing prices, with a higher initial trading price anticipated once the ETH/TLOS Uniswap pool goes live.”

This will provide an opportunity for longtime Telos supporters and Ethereum traders or investors to “get in on the ground level of Telos’ next phase of growth,” the announcement noted. It added that there’ll be “a 1-3 day period before the bridge opens for Telos users to transfer their existing TLOS to the 1:1 pegged ERC-20 TLOS.”

Telos intends to sell 50-80 million TLOS tokens from “the ‘tlosrecovery’ account (recovered from 2018 airdrop accounts that remained unused after a year), resulting in a target of $2.5-$5 million in funds raised,” the release confirmed. It also mentioned that after the TLOS token presale is finalized, most of the Ethereum proceeds will be used to “create a large permanent ETH-TLOS liquidity pool on Uniswap.” Additionally, the tokens offered by Telos will be “locked with a smart contract and multisig control to ensure long-term liquidity.”

Horn added:

“With sufficient liquidity, real price discovery for TLOS can finally occur, and Telos can become a major player in the booming DeFi ecosystem. We hope that through this effort, Telos continues to foster a network where all are welcome to realize blockchain technology’s enormous potential.” 

Have a crowdfunding offering you’d like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!

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European Commission Agrees on €7.5 Billion Budget for Digital Europe: Goal is to improve Europe’s Competitiveness in the Global Digital Economy

The European Commission (EC) has come to an agreement on the €7.5 billion budget for the Digital Europe program. The goal is to “improve Europe’s competitiveness in the global digital economy and achieve technological sovereignty.” The EC said it seeks to support the digital transformation that will “guarantee high-quality public services benefiting citizens and businesses.”

The political agreement was reached today (December 14, 2020) with formal approval by the European Parliament and Council anticipated to take place soon with the program starting in January 2021. The budget will span a time period from 2021 to 2o27.

The plan is wide-ranging touching many different sectors of the European economy. A draft “Orientation” for 2021-2022 was previously published outlining potential goals:

  • Making Europe a top supercomputing region globally through the acquisition of at least one exascale supercomputer by the end of 2021, upgrading existing supercomputers and extending the use of advanced computing to industry, including SMEs;
  • Setting up and making accessible Europe-wide data spaces and testing and experimentation facilities for artificial intelligence in the areas of health, environment/climate, mobility, manufacturing and energy;
  • Enhancing cybersecurity by deploying a pan-European quantum communication infrastructure and supporting the set-up of a certification scheme for cybersecurity products;
  • Addressing the shortages of digital experts in the EU through dedicated Master’s programmes for artificial intelligence, advanced computing and cybersecurity;
  • Providing SMEs and public administrations access to the latest digital technologies by setting up a network of Digital Innovation Hubs;
  • Ensuring a successful digital transformation of health and care services with the EU-wide deployment of innovative and cost-effective data-driven tools and services based on technologies like AI and data analytics;
  • Making ICT products and services sustainable, by prioritising their energy efficiency as well as climate neutrality, reparability, lifespan and recycling;
  • Deploying open, interoperable, trustworthy urban digital platforms tailored to communities’ needs, offering easy standardised access to new datasets, and the large scale roll-out of AI- driven services in Smart Energy, Smart Mobility, waste and secondary resource management, industry and (re)manufacturing, healthcare and e-government.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts most sectors of industry including financial services. Other areas of focus overlap with the Fintech realm.

Blockchain is frequently mentioned in the draft. For example:

“Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) should be seen as a crosscutting enabling technology that can support the validation of transactions, the development of data spaces and empowerment of citizens, public services and businesses to control and share access to data in a trusted, distributed, secure, transparent and verifiable way.”

The allocation of the budget has been segregated as follows:

  • €2.2 billion – Super computing
  • €2.1 billion – Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • €1.7 billion – Cybersecurity
  • €580 million – Advanced Digital Skills
  • €1.1 billion – Ensuring wide use of digital tech.

The info sheet may be downloaded or viewed below.

Digital Europe Program factsheet 2020 12 14

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Curv Forms New Partnership With Solarisbank Subsidiary Solaris Digital Assets

Curv, a U.S.-based digital asset security infrastructure provider, announced on Tuesday it has formed a new partnership with Solarisbank subsidiary Solaris Digital Assets. Curv reported that the collaboration will extend its reach into Europe while supporting the delivery of Solarisbank’s new custody solution.

While sharing more details about the partnership, Curv Co-Founder and CEO, Itay Malinger, stated:

“Our companies are uniquely aligned to provide a flexible yet secure banking infrastructure that demonstrates the future of global finance,” said   “As a protocol-agnostic technology partner, we deliver a multi-party computation (MPC)-based security infrastructure that eliminates all single points of failure and affords institutions the option of a customized deployment to suit their specific needs for hot, warm, or cold wallet environments.”

Alexis Hamel, Managing Director of Solaris Digital Assets, added:

“As a crypto-custodian fulfilling all license requirements, we offer our partners a cutting-edge custody solution that is also fully compliant with anti-money laundering regulations in Europe. Turning to a segment leader like Curv gives us peace of mind that we can continue to accelerate the adoption of digital assets.”

Founded in 2018, Curv states it mitigates the blockchain’s irreversible single point of failure by eliminating the concept of private keys and providing an enterprise-grade policy engine.

“Curv’s keyless MPC technology and flexible tech stack enable the company to swiftly deliver customized digital asset security solutions required by crypto-native and traditional financial institutions to build world-class cryptofinance products. Curv’s highly scalable and adaptable platform can support hot, warm and cold wallet configurations as well as all tokens and protocols regardless of the underlying blockchain or DLT.”

The partnership with Solaris Digital Assets comes less than six months after Curv secured $23 million through its Series A funding round. Participates included CommerzVentures, Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Team8, and Digital Garage Lab Fund.

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