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iComply to Power Global Compliance for Digital Assets on Hedera Hashgraph Public Distributed Ledger

iComply to Power Global Compliance for Digital Assets on Hedera Hashgraph Public Distributed Ledger

by | Feb 26, 2019 | Blog, In The News, Press Releases, Web3

Vancouver, B.C. – February 26, 2019 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a regulatory technology firm offering software that automates global compliance requirements for digital assets, is announcing that it will be releasing integrations for Hedera Hashgraph, a public, distributed ledger platform.

This will include integrations for both iComply’s Prefacto trade management protocol and iComplyKYC product. These integrations will make it easy for developers to implement banking-grade governance, risk, and compliance programs globally. This will also enable financial institutions to adopt and benefit from decentralization.

“For Hedera developers, this means that investors, both corporations and individuals, can be quickly screened and onboarded,” said iComply CEO, Matthew Unger. “Further, globally compliant digital assets such as equity, debt, derivatives, or utility tokens can be created and issued in minutes and have their compliance automatically managed throughout the life of the asset.”

Hedera Hashgraph is a public distributed ledger for building decentralized applications that is recognized for being fast and secure.

“Hedera’s speed and security make it a powerful tool for use in global capital markets. Even with scaling layers, Ethereum’s current speed of 15 transactions per second cannot handle public market transaction volumes,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply.

According to 2017 World Bank data, the U.S. capital markets alone perform 40 billion daily transactions, requiring over 230 billion compliance recordings each day.

Anyone issuing digital securities – including hedge funds, securities exchanges, and financial institutions – using Hedera Hashgraph and iComply will benefit from iComply’s banking-grade compliance, risk, and intelligence tools paired with Hedera’s security and speed.

“We are excited that iComply has chosen to integrate their services with Hedera and give our community access to banking-grade compliance, risk, and financial intelligence data,” said Jordan Fried, VP of Global Business Development at Hedera Hashgraph. “Further, this will allow us to better serve financial institutions, and enable a broader range of institutional grade applications to be built, to streamline and reduce operating costs in financial services.”

iComply’s award-winning products enable investor onboarding in seconds, while ensuring adherence to local regulatory standards with its robust, global KYC and BSA solution. Securities issuers, dealers, and fund managers can automatically populate, track, and account for every investor, document, and transaction for the life of a client, reducing human error and costs by up to 98%.

iComply is the trusted compliance partner for asset tokenization and securitization to 64 leading legal, accounting, and advisory firms spanning 84 countries.

“From an enterprise financial services perspective, Hedera Hashgraph and iComply are a powerful combination of high performance, secure, and autonomous record keeping and reporting for public markets,” added Unger. “As the race to institutionalize blockchain continues, this integration will enable iComply to meet the cybersecurity and performance demands of even the highest volume securities exchanges and tier-one financial institutions.”

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About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (iComply) is an award-winning software company focused on reducing regulatory friction in the capital markets. With powerful data, verification, tokenization solutions, iComply helps companies overcome the cost and complexity of multi-jurisdictional compliance to effectively access new markets. Learn more: iComplyIS.com

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iComply MasterClass: Understanding and Mitigating Risks in Crypto

iComply MasterClass: Understanding and Mitigating Risks in Crypto

by | Jan 23, 2019 | AML - Anti-Money Laundering, Blog, Crypto, Events, iComply Insights, Knowledge Base, Prefacto, Web3

In this upcoming MasterClass hosted by iComply, BitAML’s Founder Joe Ciccolo and Coinstructive’s CEO Chris Groshong join iComply’s Head of Product Strategy Greg Pinn to discuss the importance of understanding and mitigating your company’s risk in crypto compliance and AML screening.

Compliance tends to be one of the larger knowledge gaps for modern business management; closing this gap is not only essential to the success of your business, it’s also the law. Our expert panel will discuss the areas of risk that your business could be subject to and the challenges associated with non-face-to-face transactions. Find out what can be done to mitigate these risks, and learn why regulators will no longer buy ignorance as an excuse for non-compliance.

Register Now

Save Your Spot: Registration Limited to the First 100 People
Date: Tuesday, February 5th
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Pacific Standard Time)

Key Learnings:
In this MasterClass, the panel will break down the existing risks surrounding digital transactions and what steps you can take to mitigate these risks in order to protect your company and your investors.

About Greg Pinn — Head of Product Strategy, iComply
Formerly the head of World-Check (Thomson Reuters’ most profitable company), Greg Pinn led product strategy for almost ten years—both before and after its $560-million acquisition by Thomson Reuters. World-Check is described as the “cornerstone of the Thomson Reuters risk business” and is the #1 compliance software for KYC, AML, ATF at Tier 1 and central banks globally. Greg’s experience in risk, governance and compliance analysis, product strategy, and leadership of large global development and sales teams were critical to World-Check’s success and now support him in his role to ensure iComply’s brand delivers confidence, trust, and security to all stakeholders.

About Joe Ciccolo — Founder, BitAML
Before founding BitAML, Joe Ciccolo spent over a decade in high-impact roles with leading institutions such as State Farm and Citizens Financial Group. He was a founding member and architect of a Bank Secrecy Act / Anti-Money Laundering program for one of the top 100 online financial institutions in the U.S., and worked as a project manager for a top-20 international bank, managing regulatory and AML audit remediation projects. His additional leadership experience includes risk management, vendor due diligence, fraud prevention, and corporate investigations. Joe regularly consults with bankers regarding the onboarding of Bitcoin customers, as well as complex cryptocurrency-related investigations involving federal and local law enforcement. He is a frequent speaker at cryptocurrency, payments, and compliance industry events and volunteers his time at the non-profit organization Blockchain Education Network.

About Chris Groshong — President & CEO, CoinStructive
As President of CoinStructive, a Bitcoin & Blockchain consulting firm in San Diego, Chris Groshong has developed a nationwide team that is furthering the development of cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption. With a focus on clarity, CoinStructive provides an obstacle-free transition for businesses and enterprises who are interested in using cryptocurrencies or blockchain tech as part of their business strategy. They are solutions architects and problem solvers and help fill the gaps in your business model. CoinStructive’s fundamental goal is not only to help organizations reach theirs but also to do so in a way that empowers founders, boards and entrepreneurs to make educated, well-informed, and confident business decisions.

Register Now

About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (iComply) is an award-winning software company focused on reducing regulatory friction in the capital markets. With powerful data, verification, tokenization solutions, iComply helps companies overcome the cost and complexity of multi-jurisdictional compliance to effectively access new markets. Learn more: iComplyIS.com

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New University Research: The Compliance Trilemma

New University Research: The Compliance Trilemma

by | Nov 19, 2018 | Blog, Crypto, iComply Insights, Prefacto, Press Releases, Web3

A research team from the University of British Columbia (UBC) conducted more than 45 interviews and dozens of observations from industry experts to explore the past, present, and expectations for the future of token issuers from diverse perspectives.

iComply Investor Services commissioned a study to better understand the challenges that token issuers face to meet the regulatory standards for issuing and tracking digital assets. Currently, these projects face significant barriers that result in trade-offs that hinder the true potential of blockchain managed assets. The research collaboration was supported by Mitacs’s Accelerate Program.

The Findings:

The use of blockchain technology allows token issuers to efficiently gain access to global customers, partners, and capital.

Key Challenge: The burden of the cost of regulation

Challenges broadly stem from the cost of complying with regulation. In 2017 there was significant ambiguity surrounding whether and how digital assets were regulated, and many issuers neglected this dimension altogether. While a large number of issuers were well-intentioned, others could not resist exploiting the prospect of unlimited access to global investors. Early offerings could often raise more with savvy marketing than a well-reasoned project plan, and a large number of early token offerings were little more than Ponzi schemes. Today, regulatory clarity and enforcement are essential if tokenized securities are to become a safe and legitimate fundraising mechanism.

The study found that issuers currently face a compliance trilemma, whereby they can realize only two of the following three goals in their token offerings:

  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Widely distributed investors
  • Regulatory compliance

While we focus here on ICOs, the compliance trilemma also holds more generally for other decentralized finance practices involving cryptoassets including ICOs, STOs, TGEs, and IEOs.

To date, issuers have adopted various approaches to address the trilemma:

  • Sacrificing compliance by directly defying regulators and hoping to fly under the radar
  • sacrificing the scope of investment by restricting token sales to a limited group of investors
  • Compromising on all three dimensions in a hybrid approach
  • Forgoing a token offering entirely until this becomes more cost-effective

However, each of these current approaches is sub-optimal, and a solution is needed to the compliance trilemma.

The study also explored how industry experts expected the compliance trilemma to be resolved and found that the majority tended to advocate new regulatory rules and definitions that could relax what they see as the “burden” of compliance on issuers. Such an approach places the onus squarely on regulators, who would need to coordinate within and across jurisdictions to reach a coherent regulatory framework that appeases the challenges and costs of compliance for issuers. However, we argue that holding regulators solely accountable for the compliance trilemma is incomplete and misguided, and that other approaches are needed to reduce the costs and uncertainties of regulatory compliance.

 

Read the research by downloading the report here

 

About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (iComply) is an award-winning software company focused on reducing regulatory friction in the capital markets. With powerful data, verification, tokenization solutions, iComply helps companies overcome the cost and complexity of multi-jurisdictional compliance to effectively access new markets. Learn more: iComplyIS.com

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Eliminating Security Vulnerabilities in Virtual Markets and Decentralized Exchanges

Eliminating Security Vulnerabilities in Virtual Markets and Decentralized Exchanges

by | Oct 1, 2018 | Blog, Crypto, Events, iComply Insights, Web3

Following the release of the New York Attorney General’s report on Virtual Markets, iCompy and Hosho will co-present a blockchain security and auditing MasterClass for exchanges, protocols, and ICOs on October 4 as an online teaser leading up to HoshoCon

Las Vegas, Nevada – October 1, 2018 – iComply Investor Services (“iComply”), a leading global RegTech platform for digital finance and cryptocurrencies is announcing that it has partnered with Hosho Group LLC. (“Hosho”). Hosho provides smart contract auditing, penetration testing, and cybersecurity maintenance services focused on the blockchain industry.

This month, the New York State Office of the Attorney General launched the Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative, which issued a report that analyzed how virtual currencies (cryptocurrencies) are traded.

According to the report: “Few issues are of greater importance to customers of virtual asset trading platforms than the security of the funds … sophisticated criminals attempt to infiltrate these platforms constantly, and have reportedly stolen billions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency. Once an unauthorized third-party gains access to a customer account, those funds can be quickly transferred beyond the reach of law enforcement.”

An average of $23 Million USD of cryptocurrency hacked or stolen each day because of security vulnerabilities.

“Most virtual asset exchanges currently use an inefficient patchwork of products and services in an attempt to enable effective multi-jurisdictional compliance. These disjointed systems create hacker vulnerabilities that risk investor funds, data, and the platform’s reputation,” said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply. “When we met with the product and engineering teams of these same exchanges we were shocked by the vulnerabilities we saw – specifically from their KYC, facial recognition, and AML providers. Investors’ personal data is being stored on local drives, in email inboxes, and often is neither transmitted nor stored with encryption.”

iComply offers end-to-end compliance solutions for digital finance. Through a single REST API companies – and specifically digital finance platforms – are able to achieve 100% coverage of every issue outlined in the Attorney General’s report in addition to the standards required by FINRA proof of ownership and source of funds reporting.

Hosho reported that on average, 82% of the smart contracts that the team has audited have some sort of vulnerability, 27% of which are critical and contract breaking, which means that funds could have been lost or stolen.

“It is Hosho’s goal to push the blockchain industry towards maturation by improving the overall security awareness and standards across the board. Partnering with iComply is a no-brainer given their ethos and philosophy align perfectly with our own. We are both putting in place the infrastructure, services, and technologies necessary to the long-term development of a strong and secure ecosystem,” said Hartej Sawhney, President of Hosho.

The companies have partnered on a MasterClass taking place virtually on October 4, 2018, that will aim to educate participants on cybersecurity for blockchain and smart contracts.

Both companies will also present at HoshoCon which takes place October 9 -11 in Las Vegas. The conference is dedicated to cybersecurity and technology standards for blockchain and the decentralized financial market.

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About Hosho
Hosho is the global leader in blockchain security, specializing in enterprise-grade security services for Fortune 500 and early-stage companies alike. Entirely focused on the blockchain industry, Hosho is setting the standard for blockchain security, providing state-of-the-art smart contract auditing and penetration testing services. With blockchain, the repercussions of a security hack are much greater than in traditional technology, making cybersecurity-related services of the utmost importance. Hosho plays an important role in the nascent blockchain industry by resolving issues that often lead to funds being lost or stolen. For more information on Hosho and our comprehensive suite of services, please visit Hosho.io

Corporate Due Diligence: Best Practices for Risk Management
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iComply MasterClass: Smart Contract Auditing Expert Panel

iComply MasterClass: Smart Contract Auditing Expert Panel

by | Sep 26, 2018 | Blog, Events, iComply Insights, Prefacto, Web3

In this upcoming MasterClass, iComply hosts Hosho’s CTO Alex Blair as he joins iComply’s CTO Matt Masiar, to speak on the importance of smart contract auditing, especially for financial applications of smart contracts.

In 2017, a total of $400 million that was raised through initial coin offerings (ICOs) was lost or stolen. This year $23 million was lost to crypto scams every day, with 10% of all funds invested into ICOs also having been reported lost or stolen. The status quo of token fundraising is not sustainable, nor ready for institutional finance.

A single vulnerability once exploited can destroy an entire project. Code, if not audited may not function as intended but will work fine for a short period of time. Companies soft-launching on a blockchain network have a lot to lose from code vulnerabilities and it could end up being a costly decision to not have an audit prior to launch.

Register Now

Save Your Spot: Registration Limited to the First 100 People Date: Thursday, October 4 Time: 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM (Pacific) Who is this MasterClass for? Developers, Token Issuers, Exchanges, Cyber Security Consultants

Key Learnings:
In this MasterClass, the panel will break down what smart contract audits are, why they are essential and how they can protect you and your investors. 

About Alexander Blair
As CTO of Hosho, the global leader in blockchain technology, Alexander leads its technology teams. Every audit bearing the Hosho name or GPG signature is viewed by him. He participates in the audit of ERC-20 contracts, intensive gambling contracts, website penetration testing, and consulting work. With each project, Alexander works to help companies achieve proper security for their funds and the blockchain ecosystem. Alexander Blair possesses a depth of knowledge and experience in low-level system administration, high-level development in multiple languages, cybersecurity, and cryptocurrency mining. Within the healthcare and cybersecurity industries, Alexander has refined his extensive skills in software security protocols. His projects include the sole development of updated mining pool software for cryptocurrencies based on the Cryptonote protocol; co-running SupportXMR.com – a cryptocurrency pool that focused on providing high-quality, high-speed mining pool access worldwide; and the intensive growth of the largest Monero pool in the world to a peak position. Prior to serving as the Chief Technology Officer at Hosho, Alexander enhanced his knowledge of security at Yo Sub Kwon’s LaunchKey. Later acquired by Iovation, Kwon tapped Alexander to join his new venture, Hosho – a cybersecurity company focused on the specific needs of the blockchain industry.

About Matt Masiar
A pioneer of Web technology for almost two decades, Natt’s work has won numerous local and international web development awards. He has acted as a CTO, Tech Team Lead, and technical adviser on a number of projects. He has demonstrated experience with designing and implementing secure, high-performance, scalable applications; large-scale integration projects; native mobile and responsive web applications; and legacy client-server based applications. Skilled in software design patterns, agile methodology, architecture, ASP.net, C#, Mobile Applications, Web Design, Management, and relational database design. 

Register Now

About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (iComply) is an award-winning software company focused on reducing regulatory friction in the capital markets. With powerful data, verification, tokenization solutions, iComply helps companies overcome the cost and complexity of multi-jurisdictional compliance to effectively access new markets. Learn more: iComplyIS.com

Digital Securities: Benefits & Use Cases – Free Resource
Digital Securities: Benefits & Use Cases – Free Resource

Oct 18, 2019

Blockchain technology is becoming ubiquitous in today's world–including the world of traditional finance. Global personal wealth surpassed US$200 trillion in 2017, and it's expected to grow by 7% (CAGR) every year until 2022. In such a widening pool of available...

iComply MasterClass: Compliance in the Decentralized Financial Markets

iComply MasterClass: Compliance in the Decentralized Financial Markets

by | Jul 26, 2018 | Blog, Crypto, Events, iComply Insights, Prefacto, Web3

In this upcoming MasterClass, Greg Pinn, Head of Product Strategy for iComply and Former Head of World-Check for Thomson-Reuters, speaks on the role of compliance in the decentralized financial markets. He’ll walk through its best practices and the different approaches related to jurisdiction-based compliance.

Save Your Spot: Registration Limited to the First 500 Registrants
August 7: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
August 9: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM PDT / 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

Register Now
Key Learnings:
In this MasterClass, Greg breaks down why compliance matters and how the global market is in need of jurisdiction-based compliance for cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets in both centralized and decentralized models. Compliance is not a new need but a pressing one – events such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the more recent, Russian Laundromat scheme are prime examples of why the need for compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures exist.

Who is this MasterClass for?

  • ICO Issuers
  • Decentralized Exchanges
  • Compliance Leaders
  • ICO Consultants
Register Now
While many argue that regulation stifles innovation, Greg explains that compliance actually enables innovation by protecting individuals that choose to participate in emerging industries. This is not only good from a moral and ethical standpoint but also from a material one. The emerging crypto market has faced an abundance of scrutiny under the public eye due to the emergence of a handful of bad actors; however, this does not paint a complete picture. There must be a balance between the free movement of value and protection of all individuals.

The “fundamentals” of compliance and how they are impacted by jurisdiction: This portion of the webinar will introduce new investors to compliance. This consists of concepts such as anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) and Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). These concepts are of major importance in both the traditional and decentralized financial markets and their implications can vary widely by jurisdiction.

The future of compliance: The final portion of the webinar will touch on the future of compliance, Greg considers the industry to be in a “renaissance” period. Costs associated with compliance for financial institutions are high and run parallel to the cost of employee turnover. Constant training and retraining are costly and inefficient. Thus, Greg predicts that the future of compliance is shifting to focus on decreasing the human costs associated with processes by enhancing these processes with technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation.

About Greg Pinn
Greg Pinn has a decade of experience leading global best practices in anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) industry. Greg currently serves as head of product strategy for iComply and previously ran strategy for World-Check, the world leader in risk-based intelligence data.

Register Now

Looking for financial grade KYC and AML in an enterprise ready API?

iComply offers global screening for humans, corporations, and blockchain transactions in a single REST API.

Book a demo with one of our specialists to learn more.

About iComply Investor Services Inc.
iComply Investor Services Inc. (iComply) is an award-winning software company focused on reducing regulatory friction in the capital markets. With powerful data, verification, tokenization solutions, iComply helps companies overcome the cost and complexity of multi-jurisdictional compliance to effectively access new markets. Learn more: iComplyIS.com

Digital Securities: Benefits & Use Cases – Free Resource
Digital Securities: Benefits & Use Cases – Free Resource

Oct 18, 2019

Blockchain technology is becoming ubiquitous in today's world–including the world of traditional finance. Global personal wealth surpassed US$200 trillion in 2017, and it's expected to grow by 7% (CAGR) every year until 2022. In such a widening pool of available...