This week, VAKT, a blockchain-based platform for processing energy commodity transactions, announced that it had closed a $5 million investment from a major Saudi Arabian venture capital firm. According to the press release, "The VAKT platform manages physical energy transactions from trade entry to final settlement, eliminating reconciliation and paper-based processes."

Another recent press release announced the launch of Tether Gold (XAU₮), an ERC20 token product where each token reportedly "represents ownership of one troy fine ounce of physical gold on a specific gold bar." XAU₮ is reportedly now available for trading on the Bitfinex exchange. In other exchange news, Binance.US recently announced that the exchange will soon offer "staking rewards" on two "proof of stake" cryptocurrencies, ALGO and ATOM. Staking allows owners to deposit their cryptocurrencies in addresses that enable the owner to receive cryptocurrency rewards in exchange for assistance verifying transactions on blockchains that utilize proof-of-stake consensus algorithms.

Late last week, major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced that it had completed an independent SOC 2 Type 2 examination. According to a press release, the exchange completed a SOC 2 Type 1 exam in January 2019. In a final notable development, a report this week provided details on a U.S. patent recently awarded to a major global technology firm for a "self-aware token." The token would reportedly collect and report data on its own transactions and provenance.

For more information, please refer to the following links:

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.