China’s President officially supports blockchain implementation

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the country to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technologies as a hub for innovation. He emphasized that the implementation of integrated blockchain technologies is essential for promoting technological innovation and transforming industries.

“We need to take the blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies, clarify key directions, increase investments, focus on a number of key technologies, and accelerate blockchain development and industrial innovation.”

Xi made the comments at a Politburo Committee session on blockchain technology trends on October 24.

The World Economic Forum launches blockchain initiative for the exploitation of metals

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched a blockchain initiative aimed at responsible sourcing of metals. The project will experiment, design and implement blockchain solutions that will support responsible sourcing, WEF announced on Friday.

The Blockchain Initiative for Mines and Metals includes seven international mining companies – Antofagasta Minerals (Chile), Eurasian Resources Group Sàrl (Luxembourg), Glencore (Switzerland), Klöckner & Co (Germany), Minsur SA (Peru), Tata Steel (India) and Anglo American / De Beers / Tracr (United Kingdom).

“The group will seek to jointly develop proofs of concept for an inclusive blockchain platform. Over time, this could help the industry to collectively increase transparency, efficiency and improve carbon emissions reporting. ”

said WEF.

IRS extends surveillance on cryptocurrency holders

The US Tax and Tax Agency (IRS) has implemented changes to the reporting forms for cryptocurrency holders. A new section of Form 1040 now requires taxpayers to declare whether they “received, sold, sent, changed or acquired in any method in any virtual currency” during 2019.

Unlike the voluntary declaration, the lack of an answer to this question can lead to civil and criminal consequences. Also, it appears that the formulation of the question mimics the strategy previously used by the IRS for tracking offshore accounts. This may be a sign that the agency wants to implement stricter policies and regulations.

At the end of July, the IRS sent more than 10,000 warning letters to people who did not properly report cryptocurrency transactions.

Site of Johannesburg, victim of ransomware in Bitcoin

The official site of Johannesburg is currently the victim of a ransomware attack, in which hackers demanded redemption in Bitcoin. The attackers managed to compromise the internal network as well, so that the local authorities blocked the billing systems.

“As a result of the attack, several systems used in customer relations – including the city’s website, electronic services, billing system … were closed as a precautionary measure”

authorities announced.

The group of hackers, identified as “Shadow Kill Hackers” requested a redemption of 4 BTC until October 28th. Otherwise, unlawful access to confidential information will be published.

Currently, security experts are analyzing the situation to determine what protective measures can be taken.