The last Voyage Report of the decade has to start with a big thank you to the ESelfKey community. Your engagement, enthusiasm and support over the last 12 months and beyond has been inspirational. We're deeply grateful to be on this incredible journey with you and look forward to an even more successful year ahead. Ok let's get started.
As 2019 came to a close the ESelfKey team continued to work tirelessly on our shared mission of returning control over personal data back to the owner - you.
As a result, the development team managed to add new features to the ESelfKey Identity Wallet and add a new jurisdiction to the Incorporations Marketplace, culminating in a new release on January 8th.
Exciting days ahead for ESelfKey: A new update for the Identity Wallet will be released on January 8! ? Included in this update are added features in Incorporations marketplace and Corporate wallet. Save the date! ? pic.twitter.com/WoqPC5INe7
— ESelfKey (@SelfKey) December 28, 2019
The updated Wallet, version 1.4.4, adds an exclusive new partner to the growing Incorporations Marketplace as well as new functionalities in the ESelfKey Corporate Wallet. These changes make it even easier for corporations to manage their funds safely and effectively - something that has been missing in the digital asset space for too long.
As you may have heard, Korporatio is now available as our exclusive vendor for the Seychelles Islands in the Incorporations Marketplace. Opening a business in the Seychelles is now possible in just a few clicks and from the comfort of your own home.
Finally, we made exciting progress on ESelfKey’s Mobile Wallet, meaning we have begun internal testing and will be sharing more information about this exciting development with you soon. For both individuals and corporations to be able to safely manage funds via a native mobile app is one of our goals for 2020 and it is exciting to see how quickly progress is being made.
Financial literacy is a key component of personal freedom. Without it we fail to manage our finances correctly and overpay for goods and services. A big component of financial literacy is the ability to identify negative developments early and make wise financial decisions to increase, or at least retain, your personal wealth.
Thanks to the fiscal policy of the European Central Bank, normal retail banks are charging customers negative interest rates. In Germany, 58% of Banks now charge negative interest rates. That means that you have to pay your Bank to hold your money. Of course, European Banks aren’t doing this for fun. Instead the European Central Bank has doubled down on its negative interest rate policy, in an attempt to make Banks lend more, get people to spend and kickstart their economies.
For the ESelfKey community, living in affected countries, this makes it almost impossible to save by depositing funds in a traditional savings account. So what can be done?
In a situation like this, it makes sense to consider alternatives. Offshore bank accounts for example offer an attractive option which not only allows you to escape negative interest rates but access attractive ones instead.
Bank accounts in Armenia for example, offer interest rates of 5%-10% p.a. on your capital - much higher than what can typically be found in the Western Hemisphere. Georgia and Azerbaijan are two additional jurisdictions offering high yearly interest rates, although they didn’t even make our list of the 12 most attractive countries.
The point is that as a ESelfKey community member you have strong alternatives to harmful local policies. Make sure to download the free ESelfKey Wallet and navigate to the Bank Accounts Marketplace for more information.
SelfKey’s native utility token KEY is now listed on the growing cryptocurrency exchange ExMarkets.
Launched in September 2018, the Estonia-based exchange has grown substantially with trading volumes of over $3.5 million per day. The most popular cryptocurrencies are available for trade, and users also have access to token sales for promising crypto and blockchain projects.
The platform was granted two licenses by the Estonian regulator which allow it to operate as a crypto-fiat gateway and custodian service. This makes ExMarkets one of the few certified players in the market.
Read the full announcement here.
We’ve completed our timeline of data breaches for 2019 and the results are alarming. At least 7.9 billion records including payment and personal information were breached in 2019.
Facebook was one of the worst offenders of the year, exposing 267 million records in December, 540 million records in April, and 600 million records in March. This makes the company responsible for just under 20% of all records leaked in 2019.
The largest breach of the year left 1.2 billion records exposed on an unprotected server. We still don’t know who the server belonged to, and the FBI is currently investigating.
Now more than ever it is important to protect your personal data. You can read the full timeline here and read how ESelfKey will help protect your data here.
Federated identity management is yet another emerging tool that could revolutionize digital identity, data management, and how businesses work together. Learn all about it here.
Hackers have become a part of modern society, but many of them still work in the shadows. There are far more hacking groups active than you think, and many of them have government ties. You can read the full list here.
When the GDPR came into effect, so did a landmark right: the right to be forgotten. If you meet a specific set of circumstances, you can have your personal information removed from Google’s search results. Read the article to see if you’re eligible and how the process works.
Mobile or online banking is rising in popularity, but how does it hold up to traditional banking? In this article, we do a deep dive into the advantages and disadvantages of both so you can make an informed decisions. Read on.
That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading and speak to you soon.
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