The Digital Financial Services Observatory (DFSO) Partners with BlockCerts Blockchain to Secure Financial Future

Columbia University’s Institute for Tele-Information

“The concept of making the DFSO’s content interactive and available via the BlockCerts platform to a wide audience is an incredibly exciting prospect,” stated Jason Buckweitz, Executive Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information.

The DFSO, a project of the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information at the Columbia Business School, today announced a strategic partnership with BlockCerts Blockchain to advance its financial inclusion initiatives. The two technology leaders will merge their collective expertise to bring secure, low-cost financial resources to unbanked and underbanked communities.

Supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Observatory pioneers DFS research at the intersection of policy and technology to disrupt the vicious cycle of poverty. Since its official inception in 2016, the project has led analysis and training to implement security standards and DFS applications. Through the development of a Cybersecurity Actionable Risk Management Framework (A-RMF), the DFSO works to safeguard financial platforms and drive DFS at scale in developing populations.

As the creator of the first blockchain-based decentralized SaaS Cloud Platform, BlockCerts Blockchain provides the secure framework to implement the DFSO’s global standards. Combining distributed ledger technology with KYC authentication, the DFSO BlockCerts implementation will secure data integrity and limit access to authorized participants. Made operable on BlockCerts, DFSO Nodes and Containers will open to the community in Q1 of 2021 and help support the 1.7 billion people worldwide who are excluded from formal financial services.

The DFSO is now receiving applications for founding sponsors. Founders will become the backbone of the global financial standards model created by the DFSO. As the ecosystems evolve, the DFSO Founders Network will be an integral part of the evolution of the ecosystem for DFS globally. Companies and individuals can learn more and apply for founding sponsorship of the DFSO through the new DFSO information website.

“The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information is very pleased to be able to partner with BlockCerts Blockchain in the next phase of the DFSO journey. The concept of making the DFSO’s content interactive and available via the BlockCerts platform to a wide audience is an incredibly exciting prospect. This will be of great benefit to DFS participants and regulatory bodies alike,” stated Jason Buckweitz, Executive Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information.

“We are enthused to be able to collaborate with the DFSO and to provide our blockchain platform, patented secure virtual space technology and DApp solutions to support such an important global initiative for businesses, governments and end-users,” stated Tim Vasko, CEO BlockCerts Blockchain.

BlockCerts Blockchain is transforming business through a patented secure virtual space technology – accessed through private keys. BlockCerts is the first platform company providing decentralized software, the next generation of software tools, which work seamlessly in one place, to accelerate productivity, secure business and eliminate monthly costs. BlockCerts Blockchain is uniquely owned by the BCERT token holder community.

The DFS Observatory began operations in March 2016. It is housed within the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) at the Columbia Business School in New York. CITI is a university-based research center focusing on strategy, management, and policy issues in telecommunications, computing, and electronic mass media.

Founded in 1983 at Columbia University, CITI is the first research center for communications economics, management, and policy established at a US management school. Its location in New York City provides a unique foundation for these activities. Research collaboration among academic, corporate, and public sectors is vital in analyzing the complex problems associated with managing communications enterprises, systems, and policy in environments of rapidly changing technology and regulation.

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