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BMW, Ford Help Advance Standard for 'Tamper-Proof' Blockchain Identities for Vehicles

A new standard developed in a MOBI working group is aimed at tackling used car fraud with verified car histories.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 10:58 a.m. Published Jan 20, 2021, 10:07 a.m.
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Automotive giants BMW and Ford have taken another step in developing a means to tackle used car fraud by recording the provenance and history of vehicles using blockchain technology.

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  • Announced Tuesday, a working group formed under the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) and co-chaired by the two car giants, has released the second installment of a standard for how to record the "true" identity of vehicles on a blockchain platform.
  • Dubbed vehicle "birth certificates," the Vehicle Identity Standards I and II focus on vehicle registration and maintenance traceability in order to provide a "tamper-proof" history of the vehicle to buyers, regulators and insurers.
  • “Vehicle registration on blockchain allows formerly disconnected vehicle registration systems between states and countries to connect using a secure, shared, and trusted ledger," said the working group.
  • MOBI COO and co-founder Tram Vo said a network based on the standards could "open up trillions of dollars of new opportunities to monetize vehicles, services, data and infrastructure."
  • The work is supported by a number of other major firms including Accenture, AWS, Bosch, Hitachi America, Honda and IBM.

Read more: Ford Test Driving Blockchain for Energy-Efficient Vehicles

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KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.

What to know:

  • KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
  • This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
  • Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
  • Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
  • Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.

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Solana’s new phase is ‘much more about finance,’ says Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante

Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante (CoinDesk)

The Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a financial infrastructure, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk.

What to know:

  • Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-fueled highs, and that may be the goal.
  • Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. A
  • fter years of experimentation as the wider crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back toward decentralized finance, trading and payments.