EU Passes Landmark AI Act, Bitcoin Fog Founder Convicted, and Major Banks Test Blockchain
Summary:
The European Parliament has approved the EU AI Act, a first-of-its-kind legislation overseeing the use of artificial intelligence. Furthermore, Bitcoin Fog founder, Roman Sterlingov, was found guilty of money laundering, and sentencing is due in July. Meanwhile, a successful pilot test was conducted on the Canton Network blockchain with participants from 45 major finance institutions.
Groundbreaking legislation has been passed by the European Union focussed on overseeing artificial intelligence (AI), a first in worldwide lawmaking. Roman Sterlingov, founder of Bitcoin Fog, was found guilty of money laundering. Concurrently, a pilot test on the Canton Network blockchain was successfully carried out by top-tier finance institutions.
The European Parliament gave its ultimate authorization to the European Union’s AI regulation – the EU AI Act – on March 14. The groundbreaking legislation marks one of the foremost sets of comprehensive laws for AI globally. The Act will delegate governance to the consortium of 27 member countries, enforcing compliance with EU fundamental rights, while fostering innovation, as stated on the official European Parliament website.
The new law classifies machine learning applications into four categories based on the societal risk they pose, with stringent rules applied to high-risk models. The European Union's website defines the heaviest segment, 'unacceptable risk,' as encompassing all AI systems posing a serious threat to individuals' safety, livelihoods, and rights will be prohibited, from governmental social scoring systems to hazardous behavior promoting voice-assisted toys.
The U.S trial found Roman Sterlingov, Bitcoin Fog's founder, guilty of money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, running an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise, and violations of the D.C. Money Transmitters Act. The offenses have a potential maximum jail time of 50 years, with sentencing slated for July 15. Sterlingov's defense counsel, Tok Ekeland, declared that they plan to challenge the verdict in a March 12 X posting.
Trail evidence revealed that Sterlingov managed Bitcoin Fog from October 2011 to April 2021, a service aiding criminals to conceal their illegal earnings from authorities, says the Department of Justice (DOJ). Bitcoin Fog processed over 1.2 million bitcoins during this time, totaling $400 million at the time of the transactions. The bulk of the crypto was traced back to the darknet marketplaces linked with narcotics, computer fraud, and identity theft. Sterlingov countered that he was a Bitcoin Fog user, not the administrator, but the DOJ found most of the deposited crypto to his accounts came from 'Bitcoin clusters' linked to Bitcoin Fog.
Furthermore, authorities are confiscating seized Bitcoin Fog funds, including 1,354 bitcoins in a Bitcoin Fog wallet, and nearly $350,000 in a variety of cryptocurrencies held in a seized Kraken account.
Traditional financial sectors seem to be more receptive to blockchain technology. A total of 155 participants from 45 significant organizations took part in a Canton Network pilot project. Participants included industry giants such as Cboe Global Markets, Goldman Sachs, and BNY Mellon.
As reported by Bloomberg, institutional investors carried out over 350 simulated transactions on the Canton blockchain, involving tokenized assets, fund registries, digital cash, securities lending, and margin management. More financial institutions are exploring blockchain and crypto technology, as demonstrated in February by the Hong Kong branch of Swiss bank UBS, which tokenized an options call warrant of Xiaomi's stock on Ethereum.
Investors should note that this article does not include any investment advice or recommendations and should always conduct independent research due to risk factors.
Credits go to Geraint Price, Sam Bourgi, and Felix Ng for the additional reporting.
Published At
3/13/2024 3:52:18 PM
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