WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey “) (SIX: WIHN), a leading global cybersecurity, Blockchain and IoT company, announced today the opening of its Geneva Blockchain Center of Excellence. As announced at the Geneva Blockchain Congress in January, this new center is part of the partnership, with Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) for the creation of a number of interconnected Blockchain Centers of Excellence around the world.
In addition to the Blockchain Centers of Excellence already being established by WISeKey in India, Mauritius and Rwanda, the agreement foresees the creation of additional centers, including Buenos Aires, Argentina. All of these centers will be interconnected via 3 Hubs: Geneva, Toronto and Beijing, a Trust Triangle operating under a Common Trust Protocol, using WISeKey’s PKI hardened Blockchain technology, bringing trust and security, while maintaining the core Blockchain values of transparency, auditability, and traceability. WISeKey’s implemented and integrated PKI solution is complementary to any Blockchain platform, where it can assist with developing a better trust model for use within a distributed system and create a universal Trust Protocol for the Internet 2.
The business model of the Geneva Blockchain Center of Excellence is to assist Blockchain startups and research to promote their technologies internationally, facilitate the rapid adaptation and on-boarding of Blockchain-based solutions, foster stronger collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors and cooperate to ensure that the latest technological standards are made available in a safe and trusted manner.
The Geneva Blockchain Center of Excellence will coordinate with other centers and Blockchain ecosystems around the world, allowing all partners to fully benefit from shared experiences and resources. Each Blockchain Center of Excellence is expected to develop a particular expertise that can be shared among all centers. For example, the Blockchain Center of Excellence in Buenos Aires will spearhead the development of particular platforms and applications to fight counterfeiting, illicit trade and corruption, while the Geneva Blockchain Center of Excellence will focus on Fintech, particularly digital private banking and commodity trading applications.
One of the ongoing projects of the Geneva Blockchain Center of Excellence is the Security Token Offering (STO) of WISeCoin AG, a Special Purpose Vehicle created by WISeKey to build the infrastructure for secure intra-object interactions for which WISeKey received a “non-Action Letter” from The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). WISeCoin will pursue the (STO) in Q2 2019. WISeCoin AG was formally established in August 2018 to secure the Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) world, which due to its continuously increasing size and complexity, is constantly vulnerable to cyber threats. WISeCoin AG benefits from the WISeKey architecture as the first and only vertically integrated platform combining proprietary cybersecurity software and secure microcontrollers designed to protect connected devices against evolving cyber threats.