According to Finboot CEO and co-founder Juan Miguel Perez, to communicate the achievements of ESG initiatives, companies must obtain quantitative metrics that verify their progress and authenticate what they say. That is where blockchain technology comes in.
Corporates that advocate for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) responsibility initiatives should adopt blockchain technology, the CEO of Spanish blockchain software firm Finboot said on March 5th in a blog post.
But the introduction of traceability in ESG policies, says the Finboot CEO, is not as easy as they appear, as such implementation involves complicated supply chains.
The co-founder of the Spanish blockchain firm made the following statement:
“In the face of this significant challenge, embracing technology is crucial if businesses are to prove they’ve delivered on their initiatives. And which of the many digital technologies available should we look to when it comes to measuring sustainability goals? Blockchain.”
Blockchain as a trustworthy technology for ESG initiatives
Thanks to blockchain’s handling of the transparency and trust issues that ESG initiatives face, Perez says it is an “outstanding” technology for tracing industrial processes.
Perez adds the following:
“By using blockchain to verify transparency in a way that no other digital technology can, businesses will dramatically improve their sustainability credentials and reporting procedures.”
In the article, the global energy company Repsol became an example of a company currently implementing blockchain technology to digitize part of their subsequent supply chain.
According to Finboot’s CEO, thanks to blockchain, Repsol can track assets such as polyethylene from production on to the plastic container that is manufactured.
Blockchain adoption projections for 2020
As for projections for 2020, Perez expects many blockchain applications to appear on the market that will allow a cohesion with the objectives pursued by ESG.
FinCEN Director Addresses Casino Compliance With Obligations Regarding Crypto
Kenneth A. Blanco, the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), has urged casinos to follow the agency’s guidelines in regards to suspicious convertible virtual currency (CVC) activity.
During his speech at the 12th Annual Las Vegas Anti-Money Laundering Conference on Aug. 13, Blanco addressed casinos’ compliance with the FinCEN’s guidance released in May. In their guidance, the FinCEN considered certain business models involving CVC financial institutions to help them comply with their existing obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The guidance, however, did not establish any new regulatory expectations or requirements.
A gap in reporting
Blanco specified two areas where CVC intersects with casinos and card clubs, which are online CVC casinos as well as physical casinos and card clubs that accept CVC for gaming. Blanco noted that casinos dealing with cryptocurrencies should consider how they will conduct due diligence on CVC transactions and blockchain analytics and how they will incorporate CVC-related indicators into their SAR filings.
Blanco stressed that a gap in reporting by casinos remains an area of concern, explaining:
“I encourage casinos to closely review both documents on FinCEN’s website to see how we are addressing this industry and its interactions with others in the financial sector. Casinos should be filing SARs when they encounter suspicious CVC activity and any cyber events that affect, facilitate, or conduct transactions. We know that casinos are targets for cyber and cyber-enabled criminal activity such as ransomware attacks and business e-mail compromise schemes.”
International level concerns
In June, a United Kingdom crypto advocacy center advised looking to the FinCEN’s interpretive guidance in regard to the BSA and crypto assets as a benchmark for Her Majesty’s Treasury. The interpretation only brings individuals who have independent control over another person’s crypto assets under the purview of the BSA, excluding those who merely enable exchange or transmission — for example, open-source software developers, multiple-signature service providers, and decentralized exchange facilitators.
Last month, United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin shared President Donald Trump’s concerns on the use of cryptocurrency to finance illicit activity, and stressed the role of enforcing FinCEN regulations with respect to crypto-dealing organizations.
