The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has developed a proof-of-concept (PoC) for a system tracking on-chain and off-chain transactions from cryptocurrency exchanges and public blockchains, including Bitcoin.
Working with the Deutsche Bundesbank, De Nederlandsche Bank, the European Central Bank and the Bank of France, the BIS has announced a successful PoC called Project Atlas to gauge the macroeconomic relevance of cryptocurrency markets and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
The BIS Innovation Hub published details of the concept, which aims to provide insights, information and economic implications of the sector, citing a lack of transparency and potential risks to financial stability characterized by high-profile failings in the crypto-space like the Terra ecosystem collapse in 2022.
Project Atlas’s first proof-of-concept aims to track on-chain and off-chain data from public blockchains and cryptocurrency exchanges. Source: BIS Project Atlas
The project combines off-chain data from cryptocurrency exchanges with on-chain data from public blockchains gathered by nodes. The first iteration of the proof-of-concept saw Project Atlas tracking cryptocurrency flows across geographical locations.
The initial approach uses transactions attributed to centralized exchanges in the Bitcoin network, along with the location of those exchanges, as a proxy for cross-border capital flows.
The methodology notes that flows are likely lower-bound estimates of actual transaction volumes, given that the country location of exchanges is not easily discernible. Nevertheless, Project Atlas’s initial pilot indicates that inter-exchange is “significant and substantial economically.”
The Project Atlas dashboard shows on-chain transfers on the Bitcoin network and cross-exchange transactions. Source: BIS Project Atlas
In its current iteration, Project Atlas features a front end showcasing dashboards that visualize the results of data aggregation and analysis, including on-chain transfers and the global movement of funds.
The PoC is set to provide an overview of cross-border flows and will provide a means for central banks to evaluate the relative economic significance of the cryptocurrency ecosystem across different jurisdictions:
“The data will allow flows to be analyzed structurally and the influence of price shocks, financial market developments and country characteristics on crypto flows to be investigated.”
The project will continue incorporating more data sources to move into the next development phase, and extracting and analyzing data from Ethereum network nodes and DeFi protocols is also in the pipeline.
Responding to a report about crypto ATM fraud in Wyoming, Senator Cynthia Lummis said the chamber’s market structure bill could address specific risks.
According to the lawsuit, Justin Sun’s crypto holdings included about 60 billion Tron, 17,000 Bitcoin, 224,000 Ether and 700 million Tether as of February.
The Home Office has lost a Court of Appeal bid to challenge a High Court ruling granting an Eritrean man a temporary block on being deported to France.
The ruling will be a blow to ministers, who had been hoping to make headway with their “one in, one out” migrant returns deal with France.
Under the deal, the UK can send back any migrant who crosses the Channel illegally in return for accepting the same number of migrants in France who have a valid asylum claim here.
However, only four people have been deported under the scheme so far, including one Afghan individual who was deported to France this afternoon.
The Eritrean man was granted a temporary block on his removal after he claimed he had been a victim of modern slavery.
The government has said up to 50 people a week could be deported under the scheme initially, but it believes numbers would grow and eventually act as a deterrent to those considering making the dangerous journey across the Channel.
The latest Home Office figures show 1,072 people made the journey in 13 boats – averaging more than 82 people per boat. It means the number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel has topped 30,000 for the year so far.
She has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to end crossings – but the Conservatives have branded the “one in, one out” deal with France “meagre” and have called for their Rwanda policy to be reinstated.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Yet again the courts have stepped in to block a deportation, proving what we warned from the start, unless you tackle the lawfare strangling Britain’s borders, nothing will change.
“This is nothing but a gimmick. Even if by some miracle it worked, it would still be no deterrent, as 94 per cent of arrivals would still stay.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK has promised to crack down on both legal and illegal migration.
On Monday, he announced fresh policies to reduce legal migration, saying his party would ban access to benefits to migrants and get rid of indefinite leave to remain – the term used to describe the right to settle in the UK, with access to benefits, after five years.