Roland Guirdonan
Roland is a Public Relations & Communications guru with an immense passion for the blockchain and crypto industry. A fusion of his expertise and passion led to the dawn of Optimisus in 2020.
Articles by Roland Guirdonan
1 year ago
5 mins read
Position paper ahead of GISEC Global encourages proactive action, adopting a GISEC-first strategy where ‘attack is the best form of defence’ to fight cybercrime GISEC CISO Circle on 15th March to create a ‘community of action’ for the cybersecurity industry by building a united cyber front against digital adversaries Dubai, UAE, 9 March 2023: The UAE Cybersecurity Council and GISEC Global 2023, the Middle East’s largest and most impactful cybersecurity event, today released a special position paper for global CISOs and cybersecurity professionals titled “A GISEC-first Strategy: Attack is the best form of Defence”. Co-authored by H.E. Dr. Mohamed Hamad
1 year ago
1 min read
Nishad Singh, FTX’s former Lead Engineer, recently made headlines after his $3.7 million vacation home in the San Juan Islands was seized by the U.S. government. Singh purchased the property just two weeks before FTX filed for bankruptcy. Now, after pleading guilty to multiple charges related to his role at FTX, including wire fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance violations, he has been forced to forfeit the home. Located on a wooded hill, the six-bedroom home boasts a lap pool and a hot tub, making it the perfect getaway spot. However, Singh’s luxury lifestyle was funded by money from his
1 year ago
1 min read
Attorneys representing Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX, have suggested that a delay of his October 2 criminal trial may be necessary. The lawyers argued that additional time may be required to thoroughly review the evidence and prepare a defense for the upcoming trial. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said that they were still waiting for a “substantial portion” of evidence to be turned over to them and that additional charges had been filed against their client in late February. They noted that, depending on the volume of the additional discovery and
1 year ago
1 min read
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany (BaFin) recently published an explanatory note addressing the legal classification of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The note revealed that BaFin is not prepared to categorize NFTs as securities, and instead suggests that NFTs should be classified on a case-by-case basis. BaFin has stated that, at present, it doesn’t see how NFTs meet the criteria to be classified as securities. However, the regulatory authority has not ruled out the possibility that NFTs could be considered securities in the future. For instance, if 1,000 NFTs carry the same repayment and interest claims, they could be considered
1 year ago
1 min read
As technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented rate, regulators are struggling to keep up. Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice president of the European Commission for a Europe fit for the digital age, and commissioner for competition since 2014, has urged businesses and lawmakers to consider the implications of emerging technologies like the metaverse and ChatGPT. Speaking at the Keystone Conference, Vestager emphasized how the shift to a digital economy has brought both risks and opportunities for everyone. However, she also warned that legislation lags behind technological advancements and called on regulators to anticipate and plan for changes. For example,
1 year ago
2 mins read
Blockchain technology is a revolutionary invention that is transforming various industries across the world. It is a distributed ledger technology that allows data to be stored in a decentralized manner, making it more secure, transparent, and immutable. Blockchain is used in various applications, including finance, supply chain management, healthcare, and voting systems. There are two types of blockchains: permissioned and permissionless. In this blog, we will discuss the differences between permissioned and permissionless blockchains. Permissioned Blockchain A permissioned blockchain is a private blockchain where only authorized users can access and validate transactions. It is also known as a private blockchain.
1 year ago
1 min read
CoinGate has announced that it has integrated Binance Pay on its payment processing platform, allowing companies to accept payments from users of the Binance Pay app. The new partnership will provide customers of CoinGate-powered stores with more payment options and convenience when Binance Pay feature is activated, enabling them to use their choice of cryptocurrency directly from their Binance wallets. According to CoinGate’s CEO, Justas Paulius, this collaboration is a significant step towards pushing for crypto adoption in all possible ways. The integration is enabled by default and accessible using the standard integration channels. Binance Pay integration with CoinGate is
1 year ago
1 min read
Publicly-listed Bitcoin mining firm Argo Blockchain has defied the odds by increasing its daily BTC production in February despite a significant spike in network difficulty. Despite a 10% increase in average network difficulty, Argo was able to mine 162 Bitcoin or BTC equivalents in February, which translates to 5.7 BTC per day. This is a 7% increase from the 5.4 BTC per day produced in January. Bitcoin mining difficulty measures how difficult it is to mine a BTC block, with a higher difficulty requiring more hash rate or additional computing power to verify transactions and mine new coins. In February,
1 year ago
1 min read
Despite recent fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market, Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson remains positive about the progress of his ecosystem, particularly in regards to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) issued on Cardano. In a recent podcast, Hoskinson stated that NFTs were “the most vibrant part of Cardano at the moment,” with 8 million assets already issued and more than half of the projects in some way NFT-related. Among the top Cardano projects with high engagement last week were Satellite CNFT, The Piggy Banking Barn, and JPG Store, alongside SingularityNET (AGIX), Eternl, and Minswap Labs. Hoskinson also updated listeners on planned innovations in
1 year ago
1 min read
Snoop Dogg’s Web3 partnership has been making waves in the creator economy movement, and the latest venture is no exception. The rap star has been revealed as a co-founder of the Web3-powered live streaming app, Shiller, which is set to launch in April. Shiller is a live broadcast platform that combines Web3 technology with real-time live-streaming content. Along with technology entrepreneur Sam Jones, Snoop Dogg plans to revolutionize the way content creators monetize their work. The app will heavily feature blockchain technology, allowing content creators to “token-gate” their streams and promote non-fungible tokens or other products from e-commerce websites. They
1 year ago
1 min read
The United States Department of Justice has proposed new bail conditions for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), requesting he is restricted from using smartphones, tablets, computers, and other devices that allow chat and voice communication. The proposal restricts his communication to a flip phone or other non-smartphone with either no internet capabilities or internet capabilities disabled. The proposal was submitted to District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, requesting to make the temporary bail conditions recently imposed permanent. The temporary terms include no contact or communication with current or former employees of FTX or Alameda
1 year ago
1 min read
Uphold, a major cryptocurrency trading platform that allows its users to buy, sell, and hold various assets including cryptocurrencies and tokenized stocks, has reaffirmed its support for $XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger. Despite XRP being delisted from several exchanges after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple Labs over the sale of XRP, alleging its unregistered security, Uphold has stood firm. In response to a trend on Twitter where users were asking for trading platforms to relist XRP, Uphold pointed out that XRP is listed on its platform and affirmed that it was never delisted.
