Russia gets linked to a $450 million exchange collapse as the investigations show that we are reading further in the latest cryptocurrency news today.As per the BBC, investigation revealed links between Russia’s FSB intelligence agency (Federal Security Service) and the collapse of the WEX cryptocurrency exchange back in 2018. One of the co-founders of the platform claimed that he was forced to hand over the customers’ wallet data and told the money will go to the FSB funds.The BBC obtained audio recordings and telephone conversations in which it is claimed that Konstantin Malofeev discusses the importance of getting the WEX platform under FSB control. Malofeev is a Russian billionaire who is currently under the US sanctions for bankrolling the Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine and the Donetsk People’s Republic.Following the phone calls in April 2018, the founder of the WEX founder, Alexey Bilychenko, claims that he was taken to the FSB offices in Moscow and he handed multiple flash-disks over there with multiple instructions on how to access the customer’s online wallets with more than $450 million worth of Bitcoin and other cryptos. Soon after, the Bitcoin price spiked on the exchange and the customer withdrawals were frozen.Wex was launched in 2017 and followed the closure of the BTC exchange by the FBI and the arrest of Alexander Vinnik. It seems like Russia gets linked indeed since the exchange also founded by Bilyuchenko was investigated for money laundering and enabling the movement of about $4 billion illicit funds and was later used by the Russian hacking group Fancy Bear that also had connections with the US democratic party. If Bilyuchenko launches another crypto exchange, it is probably the best idea to stay clear. While the allegations by the BBC investigations seem to suggest that Russia’s intelligence agencies have not relations with Bitcoin and crypto, there is still no movement on the legal status in the country.Later in July, the officials stated that it would not get a monetary status any time soon and in September there were suggestions that mined Bitcoin might be taxed in the same manner as a treasure. The BBC investigation seems to be reliable but there are still multiple things needed to be re-checked.

ConsenSys chief strategy officer Sam Cassatt announced he will be stepping down from his function to launch a new venture fund with the help of the founder of the company Joe Lubin. Consensys said that Cassatt will stay on the Ethereum venture studio in its advisory capacity so let’s find out more in the blockchain news today.During the TransTech conference in San Francisco, Cassatt explained that his fund aims to raise up to $50 million for its first round and aligned with the focus on emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, healthcare, and blockchain according to his statements. In a blog post that was published on Friday, Cassatt explained that the fund is designed to ‘’anticipate civilization-scale evolutionary changes in human behavior.’’Backing Aligned will be DARMA Capital managing partner Andrew Keys which is a former Consensys executive. The amount of Lubin and Key’s capital participation is yet unknown to the public. On the other hand, totally different from the company, the ConsenSys chief strategy officer Cassatt is looking to apply some similar principles that were employed by his former company as Cassatt stated. While Aligned is still in its early days, Cassatt explained that he is looking to tackle societal issues such as safe AI (artificial intelligence) and the digital age:

 “Not only [are we] looking for that societal change, but [we are] noticing that institutions … are no longer serving their purpose,” Cassatt said. “I think we are at a crisis point.”

Joining Aligned Capital will be Nichol Bradford who is the executive behind the Transformative Tech Lab that organized the event in San Francisco. Nicholas Paul Brysieweics who is the director of the development at the long now foundation is also listed as an advisor from a company that is best known for its entity building the 10,000-year clock inside a mountain in Texas. Cassatt later gave his opinion on the partnerships and the future of the project by saying:

 “You can come up with a lot of things as to why something would make some money. We are looking at where there are these momentous stepwise changes.”

One executive at the Ethereum blockchain firm ConsenSys is apparently launching a new blockchain focused investment firm named Aligned Capital. We are talking about the CSO of ConsenSys, Sam Cassatt, who recently announced that the company wants to raise $50 million for its first fund in an official announcement on November 15.The chief strategy officer has been at the firm for more than five years. He will continue to serve as an advisor to ConsenSys while working as a founding managing partner at Aligned Capital.As per the official announcement, an investment from Aligned Capital is underway in three major areas including blockchain and crypto, safe artificial intelligence and innovative healthcare. The CSO of ConsenSys, Cassatt, says that he is planning to use the software of the company and collaborate with the startup incubator.Meanwhile, Aligned Capital is viral in the blockchain latest news because of the high-profile figures backing it such as the founder of ConsenSys and the co-founder of Ethereum, Joseph Lubin, who will serve as an advisor to the firm. An early ConsenSys exec and the managing partner at DARMA Capital, Andrew Keys, is also among the backers. There are other advisors in the likes of Stanford lecturers, co-founders and directors of development, as well as venture partners.The CSO of ConsenSys and his new blockchain-focused fund is an obvious proof of the overall steady growth of investments in the field of blockchain technology. This was confirmed with a study before, carried out by the identity management firm Okta, which found that as much as 61% of the high-profile digital companies around the world are investing in blockchain.Cryptocurrency managed to capture the imagination of tons of investors from every corner of the world. The underlying technology, blockchain, is a growing list of records (blocks) which are linked using cryptography. As a futuristic version of money and asset creation, many people believe that cryptocurrency and the underlying blockchain tech will reshape the financial system as we know it.The news that the CSO of ConsenSys wants to raise $50 million for their newest project is another proof that blockchain is about to get even bigger.

The safety of the infant is among the priorities for new parents. Big companies know this and food giants such as Nestle and Carrefour are now aiming to use blockchain and help appeasing this instinct.In a new initiative which follows from a previous food tracking effort by the two companies and a project that is based on IBM's Food Trust platform, Nestle and Carrefour will track baby milk products and provide consumers with data on their origins and movements "from dairy to shell" as they said.The blockchain latest news today also show that the GUIGOZ Bio 2 and 3 infant milk range is going to be in the focus - traced on the blockchain platform as a means to provide consumers with more information on the milk and its origins and transparency on the product checks. This is what Nestle and Carrefour will track, as Carrefour said in an official announcement on Thursday.The customers will also be able to scan a QR code on the milk's package in order to access a range of information. The official statement by the firm went on to describe the perks of blockchain technology:

“Blockchain technology enhances transparency and advances the food transition for extremely high-quality products, which parents expect for infant nutrition. For Nestle and Laboratoires Guigoz, this innovative blockchain technology creates a new benchmark for transparency and the high standards of care required to ensure the quality of their products."

Nestle and Carrefour's initiative definitely has an element of marketing. However, it is the blockchain technology under the umbrella of IBM which helps the food safety - especially in times of multiple scandals such as the China melamine-adulterated milk scandal and the Polish distribution of diseased meat. All of these issues raised concerns over what we are consuming.Besides Nestle and Carrefour, there are many other big players in the industry which moved to utilize blockchain technology. For instance, Cargill and Walmart have been providing consumers with proof that their food comes from where it is supposed to (and has not been adulterated along the way).Back in February this year, the French President Emmanuel Macron called for increased use of data technologies such as blockchain in the EU in order to address the concerns over food traceability.