Bitcoin Daily: Trustology Debuts iPhone-Controlled Crypto Vault; FINMA Says $90M ICO Illegal

Trustology has launched an iPhone-controlled crypto vault that is reportedly safe enough for financial institutions (FIs). TrustVault is now available in the Apple U.K. App Store, and can be used to store ether, with bitcoin and ERC-20 tokens to follow soon.

“It allows you the ease of a mobile phone, but really what we always talk about is a TrustVault account. If you mention the phone, people think it’s just a phone app. But that’s a bit like saying my bank account is just the mobile bank app. It looks like a simple app, but the real power is in the service behind that,” Alex Batlin, Trustology founder and CEO, told CoinDesk.

In other news, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has accused Envion AG of carrying out a $90 million initial coin offering (ICO) without a license. The company, which is now in liquidation, received the funds from at least 37,000 investors. FINMA, though, said the conditions for the issued tokens were not equal for all investors, and that the prospectuses did not meet minimum requirements. In addition, Envion AG did not have an internal audit arm, which is legally required.

However, Envion AG’s former Chief Executive Matthias Woestmann claimed that a FINMA report, which has not been released, shows that “there was no misappropriation of assets,” according to Reuters.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) is reportedly getting behind an initiative to track physical metals using blockchain. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that LME has backed a consortium initiative called Forcefield, led by commodity trading firm Mercuria, to build a blockchain-based system to make it easier for buyers to track the sources of their metals, as well as help metal traders prove ownership of their stock.

“[In a blockchain-based system,] you know where your metal is, you have proof of your metal, but nobody can see what your metal is and where your metal is,” said LME Chief Executive Matt Chamberlain.