Month: September 2021

OWC worked with the Washington Post to cover CompoSecure on cryptocurrency

Whether it’s a ransom payment or stolen funds, all crypto transactions — illicit or not — are linked to a least one public crypto address, similar to a public bank account number. That number, a unique string of more than 25 characters, can lead agents to a host of information about the person behind it. It can flag other transactions the person made and identify which exchanges or wallets an account holder uses. If those exchanges or wallets are maintained by a third-party firm, the assets are considered “centralized” and subject to seizure, experts say.

Decentralized protocols, however, are not verified or maintained by a centralized authority. They’re maintained by code. As such, they can’t be frozen.

When shifting cryptocurrency around, criminals sometimes inadvertently turn decentralized assets such as bitcoin into other digital tokens that are controlled or supported by a company. If the cryptocurrency is “flipped” into a coin run by a single entity, then the “company can actually freeze that currency, burn those tokens or otherwise exert a lot of control over that,” said Adam Lowe, chief innovation officer at CompoSecure, a cryptocurrency wallet company.

Read the full article: Tracking stolen crypto is a booming business: How blockchain sleuths recover digital loot

What’s Your Reputation Score? Take This Assessment Test to Know | eNews from OWC

Even during uncertain times, anyone running a business knows their numbers cold. Be it monthly run rates, EBITDA, payroll or cash flow, managing a company means being on top of key metrics. But the one number that’s rarely calculated is the one that can predict survival and growth or potential annihilation: reputation risk.

That’s the most important number of all because 60 percent of a business’s market value is based on a brand’s reputation. This includes leadership: 44 percent of the reputation of a company depends on the CEO, and 95 percent of all financial and industry analysts say they recommend a stock based on CEO reputation alone. We’ve all seen how quickly a reputation can change — victim of a few tweets or a single unguarded remark. Fair or not, it’s every boss’s job to protect and manage reputation. Giving potential risks a number is important to the bottom line.

The 15-question reputation assessment tool here is a start: https://bit.ly/3lkQBml. When the management team and top employees buy into awareness, the entire workforce is enlightened. We’ve seen clients return reputation assessments where almost everyone is in agreement about areas of concern. But more often, the result of reputation analysis comes with some surprises. What the C-Suite believes and what the managers and key staff perceive are often considerably different. Candid assessment gets people talking and facing the hidden dragons. It also aligns people on the core values that keep companies out of trouble and guide them when under attack.

Reputation is the new critical number for leaders to know as employees adapt to new work models and as business quickens its pace. Have your entire team take the assessment to get visibility around issues you may not know exist and to engage in deeper discussions to improve operations and morale and avoid pitfalls.

 

IN THE NEWS

Get your Arculus today!

Our client CompoSecure, a leading provider of premium financial payment cards and emergent provider of cryptocurrency storage and security solutions, launched Arculus, the next-generation of cryptocurrency cold storage, providing air-gapped protection. You can be one of the first to get your hands on one at GetArculus.com.


Leonardo247 CEO among GlobeSt. Influencers

OWC client and award-winning PropTech software developer Leonardo247, announced that founder and CEO Daniel Cunningham was selected for the GlobeSt. 2021 Influencers in Multifamily in the Individual category. Cunningham is one of the 30 chosen as a talented and impactful industry leader. Read the full announcement here.


Follow along Christian Williams’ journey

Christian Williams, husband to our CEO Tracy, just returned from his third singlehanded sail to Hawaii, a journey of more than 5,000 miles and 45 days alone at sea. Here’s the link to his breadcrumb trail.  Click on the pins for daily log notes. Christian is a former television writer/producer and editor for The Washington Post.