Bitfury invests in Shyft Network to build a FATF compliant data sharing solution for crypto exchanges

Bitcoin mining turned blockchain solutions firm The Bitfury Group made a strategic acquisition of the Shyft Network, a data aggregation, and credential provider, to build a decentralized identity solution for governments and businesses. Among Shyft’s initial use cases is a Financial Action Task Force (FAFT) Travel Rule compliance solution, which aims to enable crypto exchanges to share customer information with other financial institutions according to FAFT’s new regulatory guidelines. Bitfury intends to play a key role in the development of this crypto exchange-focused product and hopes to launch it in Q1 ’20.

Why it matters:

• Bitfury congratulated itself by calling the investment “well-timed.” Despite patting its own back, the analysis is not misguided: FAFT released new recommendations in June 2019 that included a requirement for “virtual asset service providers” (VASPs), such as crypto exchanges, to share customer information “when transferring funds between firms.” The intergovernmental agency issued this standard to assuage the “serious and urgent…threat of criminal and terrorist misuse of virtual assets.” FAFT gave countries a year to adopt the guidelines, so by June 2020, the new regulations should be in full effect.
• The Bitfury Group continues to extend its breadth of products and services beyond mining equipment. Crypto mining firms are typically subject to the state of the cryptocurrency prices, which can lead to less than desirable returns in a prolonged bear market (see: Bitmain’s first attempt to IPO). By breaking into DID services and regulatory compliant data transfer solutions, Bitfury can better shield itself from steep drops in crypto market value and sentiment.