SEC seeking a blockchain data provider to improve compliance

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The U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) is seeking a blockchain data provider in a bid to improve compliance. According to a recent notice on FedBizOpps, the regulator requires a subscription data source for blockchain ledger data to support its efforts “to monitor risk, improve compliance, and inform Commission policy with respect to digital assets.”

The financial watchdog has been an instrumental player in the crypto industry, dictating the pace that some of the world’s largest crypto players use. It has also cracked down on a number of crypto startups that it believed didn’t adhere to the set guidelines. And now, it wants to hone its skills in the blockchain field.

According to the notice, the subscription must include the SegWitCoin (BTC) and Ethereum blockchains. “In addition, the subscription shall include as many as possible of the following blockchains: Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Zcash, EOS, NEO, and XRP Ledger.”

It must also support the addition of new blockchains, the notice points out. It shall source all blockchain data from hosted nodes and not from secondary sources such as blockchain explorers. Additionally, it must include the full blockchain ledgers since the genesis block for all provided blockchains.

Some of the fields that the SEC requires from the subscription include the ticker symbol, the addresses, transaction hashes, the transaction timestamps, the transaction amounts, the unspent balances, the fees, the confirmations, the block hash and the block height.

As an additional perk, the regulator requires the data provider to provide overview data for the supported blockchains including hashing algorithms, hashing power, coin supply and mining difficulty and rewards.

The selected vendor must run their own nodes for each supported blockchain, with each node expected to be synchronized with the network and all the processes run in a secure and controlled environment.

The contract will run for one year, with four additional four 12-month option periods. The deadline for submission by prospective blockchain data solutions vendors is July 12.

This is the latest effort by the regulator to keep up with the advancements in the blockchain and crypto industry. The SEC has been the de facto regulator in the crypto industry, with the CFTC also participating actively. As reported in February, the two have hinted at possible collaboration so as to provide better guidance to the crypto industry.