Monday, September 11, 2017

Adopting Maritime Cryptocurrency Requires Due Diligence and Caution

The New “maritime cryptocurrency” – the TEU (the maritime Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) tokens on Ethereum, were recently announced. The promotors, ETH Smart Contract Tech Limited, started a fundraising token sale on 16 August 2017. It is issued by 300cubits; a startup out of Hong Kong, China. Blockchain is being tested in different fields, from financing to transportation. But this new technology poses many risks, to include: programming mistakes on many levels; backup requirements; built-in irreversibility and so-called 51% attacks that may reverse transactions; intentional fraudulent token fundraising and poorly designed business models; price volatility; legal complications and changes to laws; and hacking incidents. The TEU tokens specifically share many of these risks, some of which are mentioned in the TEU terms, and some which are not. Nevertheless, the TEU partial adoption cannot be completely ruled out as of this writing...READ MORE

Wapack Labs has cataloged and reported extensively on cryptocurrency and maritime security issues in the past. An archive of related reporting can be found in the Red Sky Alliance portal.