WENCES CASARES: It's hard to have a rigorous discussion about Bitcoin without understanding money. And the best way to understand money, is to understand the history of money. Anthropologists agree that there is no tribe, much less a civilization, that ever based its commerce on barter. There's no evidence, barter never happened. And that's counter intuitive to most of us, because we are taught in school, that we first bartered and then we made money because barter was too complicated. Well, barter never happened, and that's one of the key sort of myths about money. So then, you would ask the anthropologists like, okay so how did we do commerce before money, if there was no barter? There was no commerce? No, there was plenty of commerce. And the way that commerce would happen is that, let's say that someone in our tribe had killed a big buffalo and I would go up to a person and say, "Hey, can I have a little bit of meat?" And that person would say, "no," or "Yes, Wences, here's your meat." And then, you would go up to the person and say, "Hey, can I have a little bit of meat?" And that person would say "Yes, here's your meat." And basically, we all had to keep track, in our heads, of what we owed other people, or what other people owed us. And then someone would come to me and say, "hey, Wences, can I have a little bit of firewood?" And I would say, "Sure, here's your firewood." And now, I have to remember that I owe that person a little bit, that this person owes me a little. And we all went around about our business, with these ledgers in our minds of who owes us what, and what do we owe to whom. Very subjective system.

Often, these debts didn't clear, or cleared in ways that were not satisfactory to both parties, until about 25,000 years ago. Someone very, very intelligent, came up with a new technology that really took off, which they came to me and said, "Hey, can I have a little bit of firewood?" And I said, "Sure, here's your firewood." And this person said, "This time, we're gonna try something different. Here are some beads for you." And I said, "I don't want beads, I don't care for beads, I don't need beads." He said, "It's not about that. We're gonna use beads, as the objective ledger of our tribe. Instead of each of us having to remember what we're owed, the beads are gonna keep track for us, an objective ledger to keep track of debts." And it was such a successful technology that it took off. And in a couple thousand years, it became impossible to find a tribe or civilization that didn't have some form of objective ledger. In some cases it was one point shells. In other places, it was salt, in other places, rocks or beads. But, this form of keeping track of debts, with an objective ledger took off, and anthropologists go as far as saying that, if you describe a tribe's environment in detail, they can predict what's going to emerge as an objective ledger, as money. Because it's always something that has six qualities, the most important of which, is that it be scarce. And it makes sense, because if it's not scarce, we can create, you know, if we were to use tree leaves, for example, we could create debts that are owed to us out of thin air, and that wouldn't be good, that wouldn't be a good ledger. But also has to be durable. If it's something that decays or corrodes, it doesn't store the information well. It has to be divisible. It has to be transportable, recognizable, and fungible.

And this system really worked until about, 5,000 years ago, when trade began to extend a lot geographically, and we began to trade with other tribes. And different tribes were using different ledgers. So they couldn't trade with each other. And what happened then, about 5,000 years ago, is that gold emerged as the first universal ledger to keep track of debt. And it was gold, because it was universally scarce. That was the most important consideration. But also it was very, very durable. Fairly divisible, transportable, recognizable, and fungible. And that's why for 5,000 years gold has been the best store of value we have ever seen. It's incredible that today, if you need to leave $5,000, for someone, for your daughter, not your daughter or your granddaughter, but some great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great granddaughter of yours. 40 generations from now, 900 years from now. We don't know how to do that. If you leave it in just dollars, it's not going to be worth very much. We know of no security, that will last that long. The only thing that we know can carry value for that long, is you need to buy $5,000 worth of gold, lock it in a vault, and give the key to that person 900 years from now. And it's incredible that in the 21st century, this is the best answer we have.

This is why Bitcoin is so relevant. Because it's the first time in 5,000 years that we have something that is incredibly superior to gold in each one of these six characteristics. It's much more scarce than gold. There will never be more than 21 million Bitcoins. It's much more divisible than gold. Bitcoin is composed of a million pieces called Satoshis. It's much more durable, divisible, transportable. You can attach a Bitcoin to an SMS message, or, or an email and send it for free and in real time across the world. And it's incredibly easy to verify. The second you get a Bitcoin, you know that it's a good Bitcoin.

BILL BARHYDT: Bitcoin itself is what we call deflationary, which means that over time, the amount of Bitcoin in circulation if you look at a chart, would actually approach a fixed value of 21 million, never quite approach it, but it will asymptotically in math terms, approach that line of 21 million over time. And it does that, by the amount of Bitcoin being mined, or created, being cut in half every so often, right? Right now it's every few years. And then it'll be every few months, and then et cetera, et cetera. Right? And so that these halvenings actually create a predictable rate at which Bitcoin is created. That rate, like I said, will asymptotically approach 21 million over several years. And at that point though, if Bitcoin is being used for money transfer applications, there are institutional investors buying it like digital gold, that will drive the price higher, but if the price shoots up, to let's say, a trillion dollars, right? And there's only 21 million, it's still not a problem, because you can subdivide Bitcoin down to eight decimal places. So you can get to the point where one satoshi, which is 0.0000001 Bitcoin, could be worth a thousand dollars. So the ability to subdivide Bitcoin into tiny amounts called satoshis, which are, you know, in today's value, fractions of a penny, could eventually be worth, thousands of dollars in their own right, right? So that gives the utility of Bitcoin a lot of legroom for the longterm because even if the value goes up to trillions, you'll be able to subdivide it into small amounts to make it useful for small payments. So cryptocurrencies eventually will look like, traditional commodities, in my opinion. Whether it's gold, or platinum, or other metals, or is probably the best, but it could look like oil and gas, things like that. And so they are starting to trade in in a fashion that's more and more similar, to traditional commodities. But the difference right now is, they're not as liquid yet. Right? So that means that the price is very inefficient, or the markets for cryptocurrencies are very inefficient. So most people who are holding cryptocurrencies, are long-term holders, they're not selling, okay? So that actually means that the price of Bitcoin and Ether, for example, is largely driven by the volume of buyers. So if there are large volumes of buyers coming into the market, it drives the price higher because there are not a lot of sellers. But if the buyers dry up, then the price goes down, regardless, because there are still not a lot of sellers. So that'll change over time because if the price skyrockets, so for example, if institutional money starts to come into the cryptocurrency market in large numbers, which I think it will, that will force the price higher, because there's not enough cryptocurrency to go around. And that'll also cause some of the holders to loosen up their purse strings, because they're going to want to reap the profits that they've been waiting for for 10 to 15 years, by the time that happens. And that'll also create more liquidity in the system, which will create a really positive feedback loop, which should drive the price even higher. The other thing that I think is very relevant is, you're starting to see more traditional types of financial products being applied to cryptocurrencies, derivatives, options, non-deliverable forward contracts. You know, things like that, that actually will help make the cryptocurrency market more efficient over time, close a lot of what we call arbitrage loopholes, which is kind of like free money, in the system for traders. And as those loopholes get closed, the market becomes more efficient, more liquid, and it becomes better for everyone.

BRAD TEMPLETON: What Bitcoin creates is a ledger that needs no bank. And that's actually pretty important because if you think about what is a bank, at least as far as the money transfer and the checking and the savings, not the loan part, but the financial, the moving money part of a bank, it's really a secure ledger. The bank does not just have a little file, that says your account has $3,000 in it. They insist that when you write something, they make a note in their ledger, that $1,000 was transferred from your account to someone else's account and so on. And that's important to make it secure. Well, what the designers of Bitcoin created was a way to make a ledger that's secure, and that everyone can trust, but that no one owns or controls. And this allows people to have money that can be, free of the influence of governments, which is both bad if you're a government, and great, if you don't like what governments do, with their monetary policies. It lets the policy be set by consensus and software. So Bitcoin basically has found a way, to always know what the majority thinks. And by always knowing what the majority thinks, you get something you, you hope you can trust. In theory, if, someone controlled more than half of the computers in the world they could take over Bitcoin, but that's pretty unlikely.

TONY SALDANHA: Blockchain is the underlying programming, on top of which, cryptocurrencyBitcoinhas been developed. Let me distinguish the two. Bitcoin is just one little application of blockchain. It is something that most enterprises will shy away from because it is speculative. And I'm not here to preach that companies go out and start trading using Bitcoin, that would be a mistake. Blockchain is, basically think of it as an Excel spreadsheet. It is basically a big, big ledger, in which everybody can put transactions, but none of the cells, none of the values of those transactions, can be messed around with. Can be changed without everybody else saying, "Oh, wait a minute!" You know, "that particular cell was changed." And because of that, it is known to be unhackable. Now, the value of having an underlying platform that is available to the entire world to see, if you have the appropriate kind of authorization, and is known to be secure is obvious, right? Because we know one of the biggest challenges when it comes to technology is somebody changing the values of my data. If you have an underlying platform that's known to be unhackable, that provides a huge competitive advantage for most people. So potential uses of blockchain could be, everything from, let's take a voting mechanism. By the way, blockchain is being used for voting, in places like Dubai for their stock exchange or even Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, for their actual people voting processes. But there are more mundane uses of blockchain. You could use blockchain, for example, for intracompany financial transactions, between the companies and both, within companies as well. So instead of having your money, go from your company, to a bank, to another company, what if there was a common platform, where you could actually have the best information, that could not be hacked. That would eliminate the middlemen. That is the promise of blockchain. It has the ability to eliminate the middleperson because everybody has equal access to one version of the truth.

BRIAN BEHLENDORF: One of the real strengths is being able to take these systems that today depend very much on bureaucracy, and paperwork, and very human processes for sure, but processes that get bogged down and actually automate them. And cut the cost of a lot of this, but also by automating them, improve the auditability of them. People pay a lot of money to have third-party auditors come in and make sure that the claims that are in their books are actually real. It's a tremendous burden. And it's why bureaucracy often requires three signatures to do anything interesting. To send a shipping container, for example, from Asia to the United States. About half the cost of that is in the paperwork involved in coordinating between 20 to 30 different organizations for sign-offs from the bill of materials, all the way to the person that's delivered to. If blockchain technology can help us automate these systems, make them more efficient, they may also ensure that we keep the opportunities for fraud and the opportunities for corruption to a minimum. If we make it hard to steal people's land, or to ship illicit product in shipping containers, or simply approving a permit for construction on your home, holding that up for days or months until you pay me an expediter feewhich all too often happens in home remodelingIf we can make these processes a bit more automated more transparent, then I think we can do a lot to improve society.

ELAD GIL: Some people are talking about the web three, or internet three, and how all infrastructure is gonna flip over to decentralized, cryptocurrency-based systems. I'm much more skeptical about that, at least in the short run. In part because centralized systems tend to be dramatically more efficient than decentralized systems. In other words, if you look at the costs of running a centralized system, it's much lower. You have bargaining power around the underlying hardware. You have economies of scale in terms of how you deploy it and where you place it. And also just running these systems is much simpler, if you have a centralized approach.

BEHLENDORF: Every use case I could give you around where blockchain technology is applicable, you could always come back to me as a technologist and say, "Wouldn't this be more efficient, faster, cheaper to do as a central database? Isn't somebody just gonna pull a Google or pull an Amazon, and build a central database to track all the fish supply, catches and shipping, you know, this or that?" And the answer is always yes, that it is more efficient and cheaper, but it's also expensive when you think about the cost of having politically, and from a business perspective, having a central actor in a marketplace. Many marketplaces simply don't want that. The banks of the world don't want one big bank at the center. People who care about their land title care about, worry about the corruptibility of the land title office. In certain countries that's a big issue. Blockchain technology allows us to build the same kind of systems, but in a world where we don't want to or we can't trust central actors. And, that's hard to wrap your head around, especially because everyone believes they can be trusted, right? Hey, if I'm the center of the market, you can trust me. What do you mean you can't? It feels like a very personal affront perhaps even to say that but it's essential, I think, to realize you can't really grow your market beyond those who can really trust you, if that's your business model. So that's, I think, hard for people, for some people to get the conceptual model around, just like it might've been hard in 1993 to understand what it means to send email to somebody at the other side of the planet, or to buy a television or buy a car through a website. You would've been told you were crazy to think that people would be doing that in 1993. Now we kind of take it almost for granted. So, these are the challenges, but I see many people addressing these challenges.

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Bitcoin and blockchain 101: Why the future will be decentralized - Big Think

Humankind has lost some swagger of late. Were more vulnerable to airborne viruses than we hoped. Our planet is struggling more than we feared. And, the economic fabric of society is stretched further than we imagined. There is a growing consciousness of the fragility in our systems and our species thats calling out for a different, more responsible approach.

In modern multi-tier supply chains, sourcing needs and production processes are often spread across hundreds of suppliers operating in multiple countries to maximize economic efficiency. For years, this came at the cost of greater transparency and resilience. But, for years, global markets mostly got away with it. Then the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) arrived.

The pandemic sent a wave of panic through global supply chains. Almost overnight, the taps turned off. Stockpiles were found to be insufficient. Products and services that were never previously deemed top priority or of strategic national importance were making headline news.

But, what was really lacking? It wasnt just the physical toilet rolls, face masks or pasta. It was the digital information about where to find them. Who could provide them fastest? Were they the right quality? Where did they come from? Without that instant, reliable data, the wheels quickly fell off the cart.

Typical of black swan events, its already hard to remember the world before COVID-19. The microscopic virus has created unprecedented market volatility and fragility, alongside sweeping societal, government policy and financial framework changes. All of these interwoven pressures have driven companies across various industries to urgently re-evaluate their complex global supply chains.

The pandemic has changed the record. Before, businesses could play transparency in the background. It was pleasant mood music, as they continued expanding their supply chains. Now, they need to pump up the volume. And they may need a whole new audio system.

It is trust, not money, that makes the world go round, after all.

Those of us in the transparency industry have proclaimed the usefulness of blockchain for provenance for many years. COVID-19 has brought the full power of distributed ledger technology into clear view because international commerce needs to regain trust in its underlying systems. This challenge presents an opportunity for the integration of blockchain, a technology with the potential to fundamentally alter the future of supply chains forever.

Indeed, blockchain can help replace opaque, transactional supply chains with more transparent value chains. These three-dimensional networks encourage industries to grow the worth of their products and brand equity by creating digital twins of their products offering social, ethical and environmental provenance that can be captured and shared as a point of differentiation in the market. Transparency is thus elevated into a competitive advantage.

Making visible the impact of a product through transparent and evidenced claims can enable accurate assessments of life cycle analysis in a fair and equitable way. If we are able to choose products on the basis of impact, we can support a circular economy and a conscious global trade system of value.

Blockchain technology offers the building blocks to provide trading partners and consumers with trusted and secured data, and to synchronize processes through a mutually agreed ruleset. It is immutable (impossible to change once transactions are written), traceable (gives a fully traceable transaction history) and easy to automate (via smart contracts), which makes it highly practical at a time when international borders are closing to people.

The technology offers solutions to business challenges that have rapidly climbed up the agenda in recent months. For example, blockchain can help enable digital tooling to facilitate more frequent and in-depth supplier risk assessment, as more companies need to plan automation in supply chains as a response to COVID-19.

Blockchain can also help build resilience, by providing the connected tooling thats needed to build an inventory of finished goods and raw materials to prevent future shocks and keep more products on hand for identified customers. Importantly, it can help to simplify manufacturing, as companies focus on their most important products, given the recurring risk of staff shortages due to lockdown protocols.

Consumers, businesses and governments need a clearer idea of where goods come from and where they are headed next. This global crisis offers an opportunity to move away from a purely transactional decision-making process around supply chains, based solely on cost and availability.

The commercial advantages of having the lifetime journey of an asset at our fingertips crystalized during the pandemic. Provenance data suddenly became an asset in its own right. Moving forward, industries can no longer afford to be laid-back about where resources come from.

As we chart a path forward beyond the COVID-19 crisis, blockchain has the potential to contribute to a more equitable system of commerce for producers and consumers alike. Its time to make some noise about it.

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How COVID-19 Has Amplified the Need for Blockchain Provenance - Supply and Demand Chain Executive

PRESS RELEASE. PARSIQ, a blockchain monitoring and workflow automation platform connecting on-chain and off-chain applications in real-time, announced that its PRQ token is now listed on OKEx with USDT base pair.

Please take note of the following go-live schedule:

PARSIQ is a blockchain monitoring and workflow automation platform that serves as a multi-level bridge between blockchains and off-chain applications. PARSIQs features automate the blockchain analytics and monitoring process, providing customizable workflows with real-time intelligence.

Developers and individual users can transform the blockchain data to their favorite off-chain application or web service.

Among the obvious use cases is monitoring the wallets of traders and ordinary users. Among the non-obvious are complex system integrations for financial institutions and DeFi projects that use the PARSIQ infrastructure to improve security, conduct audits, comply with regulatory requirements, AML, and expand their workflows in other ways.

The infrastructure underneath PARSIQs user interface is built with their proprietary programming language ParsiQL, and its users benefits are multiplying with each supported integration.

PRQ Token

PARSIQ Token (PRQ) is an essential piece of the PARSIQ platform that co-exists with FIAT payments for using its services. Payments within the platform that are made in PRQ tokens guarantee a discounted rate. During the first Epoch when PRQ tokens are used as payment for running Smart-Triggers users receive higher execution limits, unlock transport methods, and are able to propose features that can be added to the platform.

In October 2020, the PARSIQ team released plans for Epoch 2.0.

#1. Public Projects

With Public Projects users can subscribe to existing PARSIQ Projects that were pre-made by other users. By paying in PRQ, users that have subscribed to the Public Project will incentivize the creators to create interesting, complex, and more important problem-solving projects.

#2. User Data and PRQ

Every single monitoring target (primitive of type address, a struct with the field of address type, table row) would require 1 PRQ to hold after the implementation. It means that if there are 1000 addresses (960 in the table as rows, 30 as primitives, 10 in the structs) then the User would need 1000 PRQ on the connected Ethereum Account balance.

#3. IQ Protocol

IQ Protocol will allow risk-free PRQ lending and collateral-less borrowing. Risk-free PRQ lending means that PRQ is not transferred from the lenders address to the borrowers address. Details on the algorithm are available in the dedicated explainer on PARSIQs blog.

#4. PRQBoost

PRQ Boost is a liquidity boost program to incentivize PRQ/ETH liquidity providers on Uniswap, which goes with the PRQBOOST utility tokens to increase rewards for liquidity providers.

PARSIQ is actively working to partner with major layer 1 blockchain protocols to expand the range of blockchain integrations and give projects that build on those protocols the ability to monitor and automate workflows between blockchain and off-chain.

Visit the PARSIQ website to discover some possible use-cases and find more details on the project and token: https://parsiq.net

Media contact: anastasia@parsiq.net

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Real-Time Blockchain-to-Everything Platform PARSIQ (PRQ) Now Listed on OKEx Press release Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Databridgemarketresearch.com Present Global Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2027 new report to its research database. The research report released by Data Bridge Market research provides the market segmentation based on type, market size, Product launches and applications. It identifies the global adoption of the products as one of the growth factors, driven by the availability of the product. The global research report gives the brief summary of the leading players operating in the market, their product offering, key developments, investments feasibility and returns. This Global Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Market report which is outcome of the ultimate dedication of industry experts, has an abundance of data that can profit anybody, regardless of their business or academic interest.

The Global Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Market report provides an in depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecast for various market segments and all geographic regions including North America, South America, Asia and Pacific Region, Middle east and Africa and Europe. The report also features the revenue; industry size, share, production volume, and consumption in order to gain insights about the politics and tussle of gaining control of a huge chunk of the market share.

Blockchain technology in the healthcare market is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2021 to 2028. Data Bridge Market Research analyses the market to growing at a CAGR of 21.70% in the above-mentioned forecast period. The growing awareness amongst the patients regarding the benefits of blockchain technology in the healthcare which will further create new opportunities for the growth of the market.

Download Exclusive Sample Report (350 Pages PDF with All Related Graphs & Charts) @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-blockchain-technology-in-the-healthcare-market

The major players covered in the blockchain technology in the healthcare market report are IBM Corporation; Microsoft; Guardtime; PokitDok, Inc.; Gem; Global Hospital & Healthcare Management.; Chronicled; iSolve, LLC; Patientory.; Factom.; Medicalchain SA.; Proof.Works; Blockchain AI Solutions Ltd; BurstIQ; Doc.ai , Inc.; Intellectsoft US; Medtronic; Quest Diagnostics Incorporated.; Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI); Nebula Genomics; among other domestic and global players.

Competitive Landscape and Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Market Share Analysis

Blockchain technology in the healthcare market competitive landscape provides details by competitor. Details included are company overview, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, global presence, production sites and facilities, production capacities, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product width and breadth, application dominance. The above data points provided are only related to the companies focus related to blockchain technology in the healthcare market.

For More Insights Get FREE Detailed TOC @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-blockchain-technology-in-the-healthcare-market

Global Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Market Scope and Market Size

Blockchain technology in the healthcare market is segmented on the basis of application, type, deployment sector, and end-use. The growth amongst these segments will help you analyse meagre growth segments in the industries, and provide the users with valuable market overview and market insights to help them in making strategic decisions for identification of core market applications.

TO UNDERSTAND HOW COVID-19 IMPACT IS COVERED IN THIS REPORT GET FREE COVID-19 SAMPLE@ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/covid-19-impact/global-blockchain-technology-in-the-healthcare-market

Blockchain technology is used on a real-time basis to gather and monitor information about transactions. This technology acts as a digital ledger and manages all the operations carried out within the network. Blockchain technology offers many advantages, such as higher transaction speed, lower data replication, lower chances of failure, and high confidence and governance. Information on the patients database is stored in bits and pieces in healthcare systems.

Surging incidence of healthcare data breaches, rising threats of counterfeit drugs, growing adoption of blockchain as a service, transparency and immutability of the distributed ledger technology, cost-effective and secured datainteroperabilitythrough blockchain are some of the major as well as factors which will likely to augment the growth of the blockchain technology in the healthcare market in the projected timeframe of 2021-2028. On the other hand, increasing number of government initiatives regarding the growth of the healthcare sector along with growing adoption ofelectronic healthcare recordswhich will further contribute by generating immense opportunities that will led to the growth of the blockchain technology in the healthcare market in the above mentioned projected timeframe.

Lack of skilled professionals along with lack of technicalinfrastructurewhich will likely to act as market restraints factor for the growth of the blockchain technology in the healthcare in the above mentioned projected timeframe. Absence of necessary regulatory system along with lack of awareness in developing economies which will become the biggest and foremost challenge for the growth of the market.

This blockchain technology in the healthcare market report provides details of new recent developments, trade regulations, import export analysis, production analysis, value chain optimization, market share, impact of domestic and localised market players, analyses opportunities in terms of emerging revenue pockets, changes in market regulations, strategic market growth analysis, market size, category market growths, application niches and dominance, product approvals, product launches, geographic expansions, technological innovations in the market. To gain more info on blockchain technology in the healthcare market contact Data Bridge Market Research for anAnalyst Brief, our team will help you take an informed market decision to achieve market growth.

Global Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Market Country Level Analysis

Blockchain technology in the healthcare market is analysed and market size insights and trends are provided by country, application, type, deployment sector, and end-use as referenced above.

The countries covered in the blockchain technology in the healthcare market report are U.S., Canada and Mexico in North America, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Rest of Europe in Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) as a part of Middle East and Africa (MEA), Brazil, Argentina and Rest of South America as part of South America.

North America dominates the blockchain technology in the healthcare market due to the rising incidence of fraudulent activities along with increasing need to reduce healthcare cost in the region, while Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest growth rate in the forecast period of 2021 to 2028 due to the development of healthcare infrastructure along with rising adoption of EHR systems in the region.

The country section of the blockchain technology in the healthcare market report also provides individual market impacting factors and changes in regulation in the market domestically that impacts the current and future trends of the market. Data points such as consumption volumes, production sites and volumes, import export analysis, price trend analysis, cost of raw materials, down-stream and upstream value chain analysis are some of the major pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, presence and availability of global brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, impact of domestic tariffs and trade routes are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.

Healthcare Infrastructure growth Installed base and New Technology Penetration

Blockchain technology in the healthcare market also provides you with detailed market analysis for every country growth in healthcare expenditure for capital equipments, installed base of different kind of products for blockchain technology in the healthcare market, impact of technology using life line curves and changes in healthcare regulatory scenarios and their impact on the blockchain technology in the healthcare market. The data is available for historic period 2010 to 2019.

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Global Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Market 2021-2028 Study & Future Prospects Including k - PharmiWeb.com

The rapid rise of Bitcoin has generated fierce debate concerning the long-term viability of investing in cryptocurrencies. While rapidly evolving blockchain technology can provide a discrete digital ledger to track transactions, many advisors remain concerned with the regulation and volatility of cryptocurrency products. In the upcoming webinar, Amplify ETFs and ETF Trends will explain how blockchain technology can add value to your portfolio, and do more than just track cryptocurrencies.

February 24, 2021

11am PT | 2pm ET

1 CE Credit

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Topics will include:

Pending acceptancefor one hour of CFP/CIMA CE credit for live and on-demand attendees

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Bill Belden PresidentAmplify ETFs

Michael Venuto Portfolio Manager, BLOK ETFToroso Investments

Dave Nadig CIO, Director of ResearchETF Trends and ETF Database

DisclaimerBy registering, you are certifying that you are a financial professional and agree to share your data with ETF Trends and opt-in to receiving occasional communications about projects and events. The contents of this form are subject to the ETF Trends' Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Important Disclosures

Carefully consider the Funds investment objectives, risk factors, charges, and expenses before investing. This and additional information can be found in Amplify Funds statutory and summary prospectus, which may be obtained above or by calling 855-267-3837, or by visiting AmplifyETFs.com. Read the prospectuses carefully before investing.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Shares of any ETF are bought and sold at market price (not NAV), may trade at a discount or premium to NAV and are not individually redeemed from the Fund.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have unique risks and may not be suitable for all investors. There is little regulation of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology other than the intrinsic public nature of the blockchain system. Any future regulatory developments could affect the viability and expansion of the use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology systems may operate across many national boundaries and regulatory jurisdictions; therefore, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology may be subject to widespread and inconsistent regulation.

Amplify ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.

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Webcast: Beyond Bitcoin: How Blockchain is Transforming the Investment Industry - ETF Trends

The price of Bitcoin has reachedrecord highs over the past few months, prompting the CEO of Galaxy Digital tocall the cryptocurrency a digital gold story.However, the comparison is a flawed one.

While gold has shown time and time again that it is a resilient form of money, the price of Bitcoin saw thebiggest single crash in its history at the beginning of the year. Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are volatile, and they lack the necessary components to scale as a global currency and payments platform. The way in which blockchain was designed will ensure it remains so.

Blockchain technology lacks fundamental regulatory guidance and therefore poses a number of risks to crypto holders. Bitcoin was intended to be transparent and decentralized, but as it has grown, the core framework has been augmented with retrofitted capabilities like off-chain transactions where deals cannot be publicly tracked and dont actually write transactions to the public ledger when they are made.

This lack of visibility is a problem in any financial setting, and thats just one of the problems of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Blockchain has instabilities that are inherent to its framework: They cannot be fixed, and ultimately result in a poor store of funds for money and savings purposes. Whats more, the increased utilization of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will only serve to exacerbate these issues. And as people adopt crypto, leveraging blockchain as the distributed ledger of choice, these problems will grow larger and expose a looming end-of-life. Crypto traders wont exactly be advertising these weak points.

So if no-ones told you before, here's what you should know about Bitcoin, other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies and how it affects you.

Cryptocurrencies are subject to quick and severe value changes. The surge in price over the past few weeks is not the beginning of a settling period, its mostlikely been triggered by a drop in the U.S. dollar and investors flocking to a seeming safe haven in the coronavirus pandemic (probably encouraged by BlackRockexpressing interest in Bitcoin and Paypallaunching a new service to buy, sell and hold crypto).

Its important to remember that Bitcoin ishistorically volatile. Just this year, itsprice was sliced in half between February and March, before doubling in price between November and the end of the year. Even after hitting its record high on January 3, its value fell by nearly 15 percent only hours later.

Because cryptocurrencies hold no intrinsic worth, their value is purely speculative. Unlike other financial assets like gold which has other uses such as material for electronic devices, medical equipment and jewelry cryptocurrencies also dont serve any other purpose other than a store of value. As a result, there is no real connection between the price and longevity of cryptocurrencies, so the bubble around them could burst at any time.

This volatility means that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general cannot offer the long-term security that people need especially not during a recession and such uncertain market conditions. As the Guardians Kenneth Rogoff puts it, Like lottery tickets, there is a high probability that [cryptocurrencies] are worthless.

Theres also thecrypto paradox, whereby people buy cryptocurrencies but dont use them because they want their value to grow. Ironically, unless crypto is used as a currency (its only purpose), its value will fall and investors will eventually offload it to avoid further losses. Theres no sign of cryptocurrencies becoming widely accepted as payment either, as the volatility and lack of transparency makes it too high risk for most vendors. These reasons are why leading economists predict that cryptocurrencies will sooner or later return to a value near zero.

The previously mentioned off-chain transactions are particularly problematic for cryptocurrency users because they arent individually written to the blockchain. What that means is that people can buy and sell crypto coins outside of the wider blockchain consensus essentially undermining the entire reason to use the technology in the first place.

These off-chain transactions are supported by constructs like the Lightning Network, which operates as an external layer on top of a cryptocurrency blockchain and allows for private payments to take place separately before being written back onto the main blockchain.

Blockchain is intended to be a trustless environment: Every transaction requires the different nodes in the system to reach a consensus, so no single actor is responsible, and its nearly impossible to manipulate. But off-chain sales depend on the individuals managing those transactions, which opens the door for foul play. Its already been discovered that off-chain transactions can be manipulated before being written to the blockchain. For example, if an off-chain transaction takes place but one party stops cooperating, the transaction wont be confirmed back into the Blockchain, and the other party wont be able to withdraw their money or take action to redeem the transaction.

Bitcoin cant be the digital gold investors are alluding to because it doesnt have the characteristics to make it a good store of value. Gold has intrinsic value and is in finite supply: Theres a fixed amount of it in existence, and it cant simply be manufactured out of thin air. While Bitcoin can be considered finite because there is a limited amount of it, there is no cap on the number of other cryptocurrencies that can be created. This ability to continually reproduce cryptocurrencies will dilute their value over time, which is why theyll never be a place for people to safely store their money.

The speculative nature of cryptocurrencies also means that their purchasing power is unstable. That means that anyone who buys crypto could find that when they need to buy services, be it the following day or the following year, they have less money than when they started out.

Theresalso great concern over cryptocurrencies in the banking sphere. In 2019,eight of the 10 major U.S. retail banks had dealings with illicit crypto money service businesses. The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has sinceemphasized the importance of anti-money-laundering schemes in relation to cryptocurrencies, but many banks still find themselves unsure of protocols when it comes to virtual currencies. If banks are plagued by such crypto gray areas, it could seriously undermine their stability as financial institutions.

Just as fiat (government-run) currencies lose their value over time, so will Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies but at a greater pace. Already, a large majority of cryptocurrencies have ended up listed asdead coins, or failed currencies. Spikes in crypto prices should not be taken as a sign that they are digital gold but rather that there are so many unknowns surrounding virtual currencies that raw speculation is dictating their price. This couldnt be further from the historic reliability of gold: As the worlds oldest currency, gold has endured countless recessions and economic dips and dives. Yet it has come out stronger than ever, and it continues to be used as money universally. Any emerging currency has to pick up a lot more mileage, experience and security before drawing such a comparison.

As blockchain-based crypto utilization expands globally, there are clear limitations to their speed and scale. It takes huge computational time and energy to write transactions to a blockchain, which is why fewer than 10 transactions are written per second. This slow speed cannot be improved without rebuilding the original framework of the Blockchain technology. But even if this were successfully done, the augmentations would mean that the blockchain wouldnthave the same security as before, nor the same capabilities, and it would be proven to be susceptible to modifications.

Blockchain also relies on the immutability of previous transactions and the related algorithms that maintain the network. That means blockchains are intrinsically difficult to enhance; they cant be simply upgraded from version to version and still maintain the integrity of the original system.

There are also concerns around the environmental impact of crypto processes. Transactions made by Bitcoin users are verified via mining, a process that involves solving a problem on a computer. Because people are rewarded with cryptocurrencies for correctly solving the problems,Bitcoin mines have emerged: warehouses full of mining computers that run all day. The energy consumption associated with crypto is breathtakingly high;estimates showthat Bitcoin uses around 90 TWh of electricity per year, about as much as the entire country of Finland.

Bitcoin and blockchain can be thought of as version 1.0 of cryptocurrencies. They were built to serve the core purpose of providing a distributed ledger of tokenized assets that utilizes cryptography principles and a trustless network of distributed ledgers (nodes) to ensure the security, accuracy and non-repudiation of cryptographic transactions. Version 2.0 added the ability to use the same blockchain framework to support binding legal contracts, but it still suffers from the problems of scalability.

There is an alternative distributed ledger technology to blockchain that could support digital payments outside of cryptocurrencies, while providing a far more efficient and borderless service compared to traditional banking.

Hedera Hashgraph can be considered version 3.0 of distributed ledger technologies. Hashgraph takes all the benefits of a distributed ledger security, cryptography, binding contracts between entities, non-repudiation and builds a secure, mathematically proven distributed ledger framework that can scale to support the demands of global adoption.

As a distributed ledger platform, Hashgraph is much faster and more secure than Bitcoin, supporting up to10,000 transactions per second compared to Bitcoins 2.8 per second. The network also utilizes a gossip protocolto ensure the network remains resilient even if the entire internet was turned off in the middle of a transaction. Furthermore, the network has been proven to be Byzantine-fault tolerant, meaning that, as long as two-thirds of the nodes are controlled by reputable entities, no data can be manipulated on the DLT. Byzantine-fault tolerance is also proven mathematically to be the best possible outcome any distributed network of nodes can hope to achieve.

Distributed ledger technologies stand poised to change the landscape not only for fintech as a means to transact and allocate funds but also as a mechanism for cradle-to-grave asset tracking, legally-binding contracts between entities and, of course, as a platform for generating an infinite number of cryptocurrencies.

In order to properly utilize crypto as a transactional currency with a long-term store of value, it must satisfy two requirements:

Due to the inherent gaps in both scalability and as a store of value, its my view that Bitcoin will never live up to the hype surrounding it as a crypto platform.

Read More From Our Experts in FinanceBreaking Out of the Bubble: Why Im Committed to Investing Beyond Silicon Valley

Read more from the original source:

What We Don't Know About Bitcoin and Why It's a Problem - Built In

New York-based Ethereum hub ConsenSys has partnered with the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) to bring its enterprise ledger, Quorum, to Chinas nationwide blockchain project.

As part of the partnership, announced Monday, ConsenSys Quorum, an open-source protocol layer that serves as a foundation for businesses to build Ethereum-based applications, will be available in about 80 different cities through BSNs public city nodes throughout mainland China.

China is a great example of where enterprise blockchain is a strong play, said Charles dHaussy, director of strategic initiatives and ConsenSys man in Hong Kong. What Ethereum is doing with ConsenSys Quorum is connecting people who are essentially migrating from the permissioned chain to the global chain.

Its a plum announcement for Quorum, the privacy-centric blockchain originally designed by engineers from JPMorgan. Quorum appeared to be in the wilderness for a time, between being spun out of the bank and re-housed within the ConsenSys ecosystem.

Quorum was very much associated with JPMorgan, but there was also this open-source software which was available to many developers, said dHaussy in an interview. It may not have been apparent, but there was this large audience of enterprise users, and we are now bringing to this ecosystem other products and applications from ConsenSys.

The BSN was founded in April 2020 by Red Date Technology, a Beijing-based software company, China UnionPay and China Mobile. BSN spans various cloud environments and portals in China (Quorum is already integrated with Alibaba Cloud), and is also backed by the Chinese government in the form of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), an economic planning agency.

Designed to be the backbone of the so-called Digital Silk Road, BSN has so far deployed 108 public city nodes, connecting over 80 cities across mainland China and eight public city nodes in other countries around the world, according to a press statement.

After the launch, BSN will include Quorum in BSNs training programs in 2021 to substantially accelerate the enterprise adoption of blockchain technology and Ethereum-based solutions in China, Yifan He, CEO of Red Date Technology and the executive director of BSN Development Association, said in a statement.

GoQuorum will also be interoperable with other permissioned frameworks and open permissioned frameworks on BSN, He said, building the blockchain cornerstone for the new infrastructure in China.

Summing up, dHaussy pointed out permissioned blockchain was the obvious start of the journey for many large firms but that commercially these networks are extremely hard to get off the ground.

Enterprise blockchain has been given strong support from the government in China and the tech is a good fit for the countrys sprawling manufacturing landscape, he said.

Chinas industries, which are a global network of large and small suppliers, are not integrated as they were in the past, said dHaussy. They are jumping on coordination tools such as blockchain.

See the rest here:

Ethereum-Based ConsenSys Quorum Partners With Chinas BSN Blockchain - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Crypto startup The Graph has announced it is exploring providing support for additional layer-one blockchains, including Bitcoin, Polkadot and NEAR.

The potential integrations, which comes over a month after The Graph launched on mainnet, would add to the startup's existing list of supported chains, including Ethereum, IPFS and POA. The Graph's service enables the querying of data across many blockchains.

For instance, the Bitcoin integration would allow developers on layer-two Bitcoin projects to use some data they need from Ethereum or whatever other layer-ones that are integrated. The Graph's integrations across that first layer will allow developers to use each integration's best features to build their apps.

After launching mainnet, we are looking to accelerate the upward trajectory of the Web3 ecosystem. That means ensuring that no matter which Layer 1 blockchain you are building on, you can build a subgraph and easily access data from across chains," said Director at The Graph Foundation Eva Beylin. "We think this is a key part of unlocking that next wave of innovation on the decentralized internet.

According to the startup, the new layer-one integrations are expected to take place in the next few months, depending on community interest and engagement.

Continue reading here:

Graph to explore rolling out several new Layer 1 integrations, including one for Bitcoin - The Block Crypto

By Ioana Good

Cryptocurrencies have become a hot topic again. The emergence of the token-based economy, allowing people to buy and sell goods using new types of currencies, will have far reaching legal ramifications.

Legal marketers should be prepared for expansion of practice groups around blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Clients will no doubt be curious how this emerging technology may change how they live and work. The legal space will most likely be one of the first places they turn for answers. This is a complex, technical topic, but understanding the basics is critical for the legal market and those who promote it.

Legal marketers should be prepared for expansion of practice groups around blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

I spoke with Debbie Hoffman, founder of Symmetry Blockchain Advisors; Michael Laussade, head of blockchain and cryptoassets at Jackson Walker; Dr. Hans Kuhn, legal advisor to Idoneus; and Ciaran Connelly, who oversees blockchain at Ball Janik. Here is what each have to say to provide some insight and help demystify this new digital economy.

Hoffman, who spent many years working as an in-house legal counsel, founded Symmetry to help clients with blockchain strategy and implementation primarily in real estate. Companies are seeing immediate efficiencies and cost savings when they implement this new technology, says Hoffman. With the pandemic driving so much of our lives to the digital world, interest in blockchain is growing rapidly and there is more willingness to explore and adopt this technology.

"Blockchain opens up the door for many types of legal questions..."

But blockchain is still in its early stages and questions center around its impact on tax, security and other laws across a range of different industries and countries. Hoffman provides this analogy as it relates to a benefit of blockchain: A young adult entering a bar must show a hard copy of a drivers license to verify age. Imagine if you could verify your identity through your phone using blockchain technology. The technology allows for identity data points to be stored. You have the ability to securely share only the information that is important to that specific transaction.

Legal marketers are beginning to work with lawyers to market this evolving technology globally. Since blockchain technology is being used in a wide variety of industries, law firms may consider appointing one person in marketing who understands and has the combined expertise of the different angles that affect clients, says Hoffman, who will also teach a blockchain course in March at Albany Law School. Blockchain opens up the door for many types of legal questions, so it would be helpful for law firm marketers to address the benefits and legal issues through targeted marketing programs.

Laussade at Jackson Walker agrees. He first got involved in blockchain when states like Delaware and Texas amended their corporate statutes to allow stock ledgers to be maintained on a blockchain. He worked on drafting amendments for corporate statutes, which lead him to working with clients, primarily those who operate private investment funds or startups, about the use of cryptocurrency to raise capital.

"This will drive innovation across the technology spectrum..."

Initially clients had a lot of securities law questions about blockchain and crypto. Laussade says, but over time thats shifted into startups looking to deploy these technologies more broadly. Laussade is also seeing clients move some of their wealth from traditional currencies to cryptocurrencies. Global economic uncertainty tends to drive interest in cryptocurrencies, Laussade says. Remote work and communication will continue to be important in 2021 and beyond. This will drive innovation across the technology spectrum to bolster solutions that enhance flexibility and security.

Idoneus is one such company that has emerged to provide a blockchain based platform for the exchange of luxury goods and services globally. The company has already established a large portfolio of assets available for sale and rent on their platform that includes real estate, yachts, jewelry, cars and fine art, including works of Picasso. One of the first things a new client has questions about are the laws surrounding what we do, says Kuhn who concentrates much of his legal practice on the banking and financial market with a focus on regulations. Blockchain allows Idoneus to deliver a much more rapid, secure and cost-effective method to facilitate transactions.

Blockchain is allowing Idoneus to solve several challenges around security and identity during a transaction while also speeding up transactions and lowering costs. The technology will evolve a great deal over the next 10 years, Kuhn says. While the technology is still very much evolving, Im deeply convinced that blockchain will have a big impact on real-world assets.

"We are still in the exploratory phase."

Although this is an exciting field that is quickly evolving, there are some concerns around the security of blockchain and cryptocurrency because they are not all created equal, warns Connelly. He is working with several clients in Oregon, including engineers who may be working on two to three different blockchain projects at a time. Would-be blockchain users must understand the risks before they decide to implement blockchain technologies. When crypto currencies are involved, there are securities laws, fraud and money laundering risks that must be mitigated. SEC enforcement actions extracted millions of dollars from companies that engaged in improper Initial Coin Offerings.

Connelly points out, Its important to know the pros and cons of using blockchain. We are still in the exploratory phase. The question I always ask clients is: What problem are you really solving by using blockchain? I have yet to hear a convincing answer.

*

Ioana Good is a regular contributor and is the founder of Promova, an international communications and PR agency. She may be reached at igood@promo-va.com.

Read the rest here:

New Year, New Legal Focus: The Impact of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Law - JD Supra

Shares of Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) are getting a nice boost on Friday despite no company news emerging from the firm.

Source: Shutterstock

Overall, RIOT stock traded relatively flat for most of 2020 up until late July, And after ending the year strong and more than 1,300% higher, RIOT stock continues to ride its positive momentum as we close out January 2021.

So, who is Riot Blockchain and what do they do? Lets take a closer look at the company for a better idea.

RIOT stock was up 7.8% as of Friday morning.

On the date of publication, Nick Clarkson did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

Nick is a web editor at InvestorPlace.

Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2021/01/riot-stock-6-things-to-know-about-riot-blockchain-as-share-prices-soar/.

2021 InvestorPlace Media, LLC

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RIOT Stock: 6 Things to Know About Riot Blockchain as Share Prices Soar - InvestorPlace

It is a useful exercise for those of us working in tech to cast our minds back to the dot-com boom and bust of the late 1990s. There is a lot that can be learned from that time. The period was crucial for the United States and the global economy and a defining moment for the tech sector. It is helpful to consider those helter-skelter days when assessing the current crypto ecosystem.

Most people will rightly point to the glut of Super Bowl ads coming in at over $2 million each or the initial public offerings that rose more than 1,000% on opening day as the defining memories of the time, and they would be right. It was a time of frenzied excitement, where the fundamentals of technology and business models were often disregarded by sky-high growth projections. But this excitement only arose because technology unlocked a new approach to doing business. Well-run companies built on network effects survived the crash and continued to grow and create enormous value. In 2000, three of the top five listed companies in the U.S. were tech stocks now it is all five.

Even the Super Bowl ads that we like to ridicule were associated with business models that have since led to the formation of great companies trading stocks and recruiting staff online are big industries. Digitizing these functions and other similar ones led to extremely successful companies, but this value was only realized in the subsequent decades as digital infrastructure was rolled out internationally and digital literacy improved. These first movers could have achieved far more if they had concentrated on building effective businesses based on long term vision and solid unit economics. Instead, they are notorious for being swept up by hype bubbles and being swayed by large valuations inflated by immature investors.

Something similar can be witnessed in the fintech and crypto space. This story also involves a crash, as the 2008 financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers led to a crowd of young, bright finance professionals suddenly looking for work. Nascent fintech startups absorbed the talent, creating a fintech boom in clusters within financial capitals, including New York and London. Technologists and mathematicians reimagined finance at an abstract level, recruiting financial masters of the universe to complete the vision and build companies.

The combined talent from these two groups, coupled with the experience of two crashes in a decade and a half, led the fintech industry to take a pragmatic approach to growing companies and building products. Because investors had cooled on tech, fintech entrepreneurs had to focus relentlessly on product/market fit to grow their startups, iterating repeatedly when building new financial products and markets from first principles. This led to the creation of a stable ecosystem where valuations were grounded in reality, rather than charismatic founders and fantasies of growth.

The other financial milestone of 2008 that history books will recognize was the creation of Bitcoin (BTC). When the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper in October of that year, she, he or they looked past the wreckage of the financial system and imagined a new one based on blockchain technology. This store of value based on memory and removed from a central authority was intellectually elegant and came at a crucial juncture of technological development and financial instability. Many thought the stage was set for Bitcoin to take over the world.

But there was a problem. Where some of us saw an asset class with tremendous social value, far more saw nothing more than an asset going up in price, and others saw a Ponzi scheme. Satoshi built an amazing system, but its true value had yet to be realized.

We know what happened next. Bitcoin became a speculative asset that then surged in value in 2017, leading to behavior eerily similar to the Super Bowl ad blitz with Bitcoin mortgages and blockchain iced tea. Then the price cratered and ushered in the crypto winter. Just like the viable ideas of the dot-com craze, a fundamentally strong idea was lost to poor communication, scarce infrastructure and a lack of product/market fit.

Like we saw in the broader tech ecosystem, things change over time. Today we have a vast range of products, functions and currencies built on blockchain technology, built to last during the crypto winter, like the fintech companies of the last decade. This is backed by a sophisticated class of investors who are providing clear-eyed valuation to the blockchain. Wide-scale quantitative easing and fluctuating fiat currencies due to the COVID-19 pandemic are showcasing the true value of the blockchain. Its time has come.

The global financial system as a whole is a demonstration of an apt product/market fit for blockchain. Bitcoins hype exceeded reality, harming the sectors reputation for several years. However, we now have the infrastructure, expertise and demand to meet the technologys potential. The key to reaching maturation will be to realize the social value of blockchain how it empowers people rather than solely viewing it as a financial instrument.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Andrew Kessler is the chief technology officer and a co-founder of Zenotta.Andrew is a tech entrepreneur and cryptographic generalist. He won first prize at the IDC Inventors Garage, was a finalist in the GAP Innovation Competition, a finalist in Seed Stars, and a TIA grant holder. Zug-based Kessler is a serial entrepreneur who worked on an N-doped diamond-based semiconductor startup and founded several additional startups focused on biometrics, logistics and human identity. Andrew has a background in chemistry and biochemistry and has a strong knowledge base in cryptography.

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Blockchain tech may have arrived too soon, but now, its ready - Cointelegraph

Warangal: The experts who gathered at the five-day Faculty Development Programme (FDP) jointly organised by the AICTE Training and Learning (Atal) Academy and the Department of CSE, Kakatiya Institute of Technology and Science, Warangal, here on Friday discussed at length about the 'Blockchain Technology'. It may be mentioned here that Blockchain technology is a decentralised ledger that keeps a record of transactions across a peer-to-peer network. It allows participants from across the network to confirm their transaction without the need for a central authority.

Speaking at the valedictory, KITS Principal Prof K Ashoka Reddy said that 134 participants including faculty, researchers, post-graduate scholars and industries from across south India have utilised the FDP that provided a hands-on-experience on Blockchain Technology.

Head, Department of CSE Prof V Shankar said that Blockchain was a database that is shared across a network of computers. Once a record has been added to the chain, it is very difficult to change. To ensure all the copies of the database are the same, the network makes constant checks.

Blockchains have been used to underpin digital currency (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum). The technology allows digital information to be distributed, but not copied. That means each individual piece of data can only have one owner. Using cryptography to keep exchanges secure, blockchain provides a decentralised database, or "digital ledger", of transactions that everyone on the network can see.

Dean, Research and Development, Professor P Niranjan said that this network was essentially a chain of computers that must all approve before it could be verified and recorded. The information is constantly reconciled into the database, which is stored in multiple locations and updated instantly. It means that the records are public and verifiable. Since there is no central location, it's hard to hack. Blockchain is going to be used for more than just currency and transactions, he added.

Original post:

Experts dwell on Blockchain tech - The Hans India

Vaccination distribution to protect against COVID-19 gets a technological boost in the hopes to accelerate speed, create a more standardized process, ensure authenticity and safety and certify social equality, meaning that all socio-economic segments have equal access. CargoChain, Inc. and FileVision work together to release VaxTracks, a blockchain solution specifically for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The companies say that the solution creates an immutable chain of custody for the COVID-19 vaccines as well as a patient self-service registration and proof of immunity.

Click here to hear more about how blockchain can be used in the vaccine rollout:

Per GlobeNewswire:

VaxTracks is designed to support the COVID-19 vaccine process with speed, standardization, safety and social equality, says Jonathan Colehower, chief executive officer, CargoChain. The blockchain-enabled solution guarantees that patients and providers can verify the authenticity and safety of the vaccine, improving public trust and lifting overall participation. VaxTracks provides national and local authorities as well as pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organizations access to verifiable evidence of product supply, condition, location and socially equitable distribution.

See original here:

Blockchain Ensures Vaccine Custody, Patient Immunity - Supply and Demand Chain Executive

Digital currencies cruise into the Davos World Economic Forum discussion

Since 1971 the World Economic Forum has considered a broad range of matters impacting the global public interest. It does this by bringing together public and private sectors through political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to advance global governance.

This year the Davos agenda asserts that:

The time to rebuild trust and to make crucial choices is fast approaching as the need to reset priorities and the urgency to reform systems grow stronger around the world.

In accordance with this aim is the two-part session on Resetting Digital Currencies. The sessions seek to address COVID-19s push from cash to non-cash payments, recognising the increase of 8% of non-cash payments in the euro area in 2020, and what considerations in relation to policies, practices and partnerships must be considered to yield the opportunities digital currencies may bring.

The two-part session hosted a range of government, research, and private actors to discuss the opportunities of digital currencies. The first session highlights the necessity for clear terminology and language surrounding digital currencies as Her Majesty Queen Mxima of the Netherlands observed that whether a currency is designed as a medium of exchange or store of value impacts the effect of the currency greatly.

However, Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, expressed that the regulatory approach for digital currencies didnt need to change from traditional regulation being centered on public interest. Bailey said that three areas of public interest to regulate digital currencies were to ensure stability of value, tackle financial crime, and present an appropriate balance with privacy and access to personal information

This session demonstrates the way that digital currencies are arriving on the mainstream stage as a crucial consideration in developing economies. The first part of the session is publicly available online here.

Bolstering eSafety with blockchain?

Julie Inman Grant, Australias eSafety Commissioner, leads what is described as the worlds first government agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online. Grant recently spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald, encouraging social media companies to increase their own accountability for content hosted on their platforms. Grant said that social media companies should harness their resources to develop more robust systems to identify users who are violating their terms of service.

Importantly, the eSafety Commissioner has recognised that blockchain might assist in tackling the scourge of bots and fake accounts. Specifically, Grant identified that the major issue exists in society where individuals abuse anonymity online to harm others and said that:

balance could be achieved with digital IDs or blockchain-powered solutions that would hide users details until requested by law enforcement.

Australia has already made strides in the digital ID space with blockchain voting occurring in 2019 and a digital ID government identification currently available. It is important that emerging technologies remain a central consideration in seeking to enforce standards in digital spheres. We look forward to seeing whether the eSafety Commissioners current views will inform the ways that Australia approaches regulating and enforcing conduct standards online and what role blockchain technology may play in this.

Rise in ransomware beaten back by blockchain boffins

NetWalker, a notorious form of ransomware-as-a-service, has been targeted by the American Department of Justice (DoJ) in a recent coordinated international law enforcement action. Court documents report the growth of a network of affiliates identifying high value targets and developers boosting the capabilities of NetWalker for ransomware attacks. Victims have spanned a range of sectors including companies, hospitals, law enforcement, schools, universities and more. During COVID-19 the ransomware specifically targeted the health care sector.

The DoJ has since seized USD$454,530 in digital currency which was made up of payments made for 3 different ransomware attacks showing once again, that digital currency is not an anonymous pathway for criminals, but rather leaves a clear transaction path to be followed.

The law enforcement action was coordinated with various actors including authorities in Bulgaria that recently seized a dark web resource that developers and affiliates of the NetWalker ransomware used to launch their attacks. Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company, announced that it also assisted in the investigation including by tracing more than $46 million worth of funds paid in NetWalker ransoms since 2019.

As ransomware continues to tap into new vulnerabilities that are being discovered as workplaces remain largely dependent on remote working, it is important that coordinated approaches continue. This is a key demonstration of how important international cooperation is in tackling international crime

National Blockchain Roadmap RegTech Survey is live

The National Blockchain Roadmap RegTech working group has released a survey to collect data points on how blockchain is being viewed and used (or not used) in RegTech applications.

Regulated entities, regtech (or tech companies), regulators or even just people who are interested in blockchain and RegTech are invited to complete the survey and help the Working Group shape Australias policy approach in Blockchain

The Working Group is trying to find out where blockchain and DLT are being used, where it should be used and any barriers to adoption the technology is facing. Responses will help the Working Group draft its report to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources National Blockchain Roadmap Steering Committee.

This is the next phase in consultation by the RegTech Working Group which was launched with the publication of the Issues Paper in December. The survey is available here.

See original here:

Blockchain Bites: Digital currencies cruise into the Davos World Economic Forum discussion; Bolstering eSafety with blockchain?; Rise in ransomware...

While the adoption of blockchain remains in its nascent stages, 2020 was in many ways a defining year for this decentralized technology. The initial coin offering wave of 2017 and 2018 gave way to new projects, including those for stablecoins (i.e., coins backed by a fiat reserve or other assets, or algorithmically stabilized to create a nonvolatile means of payment and remittance). Innovations in decentralized finance (or defi) also demonstrate how blockchain-based solutions have the potential to disrupt many aspects of the financial services sector through lower-cost options. In addition, companies in industries from logistics to content distribution continued to explore ways in which blockchain technology can improve their own ecosystems.

The historical evolution of virtual currencies has resulted in an interesting mix of proposed regulations and enforcement activity. Given the industrys past history, regulators view the virtual currency world as fraught with illegal activity that needs to be regulated or curtailed. However, the potential success of legitimate stablecoin projects is influencing various legislative efforts that seek to address concerns regarding their impact on monetary policy. Overall, regulators globally will likely try to find ways to protect consumers without creating regulatory environments so inhospitable they cause technologists to abandon their efforts.

Regulators globally will likely try to find ways to protect consumers without creating regulatory environments so inhospitable they cause technologists to abandon their efforts.

We address below some of the key developments in the past year.

US Cryptocurrency-Related Enforcement Continues To Increase

In 2020, regulators sharpened their focus on cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions. High-profile cases included Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) actions against BitMEX, a cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives trading platform, for Bank Secrecy Act and CFTC registration violations; Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions against several prominent digital asset developers and computer programmer and entrepreneur John David McAfee; and a DOJ prosecution and parallel enforcement action by the Department of the Treasurys Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) against Larry Dean Harmon, the founder and operator of two alleged convertible virtual currency mixers or tumblers. Mixing and tumbling are techniques that combine potentially identifiable digital coins with other coins to make it difficult to trace the source, owner or recipient of the first set of coins.

Rulemaking and new guidance seem likely to continue in 2021, as 2020 ended with a flurry of activity:

Although their impact remains to be seen shortly after President Biden was sworn in on January 20, 2021, the new administration directed a regulatory freeze pending further review these developments likely foreshadow growing focus on illicit uses of cryptocurrency and ongoing efforts to curb them through both regulation and enforcement.

Proposed Legislation Seeks To Clarify US Digital Asset Regulation

In 2020, U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle introduced new legislation aimed at regulating digital assets. Three such bills, highlighted below, reflect the lawmakers goal of balancing the need to protect consumers with the need to foster technological innovation and are representative of the types of legislation being contemplated.

Securities Clarity Act

The Securities Clarity Act seeks to clarify that an asset (including a digital asset) does not become a security as a result of being sold or transferred pursuant to an investment contract. The bill is a reaction to the SECs activity in this space, which, as SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce acknowledged in a February 2020 speech, has been criticized for eliding the distinction between a digital asset token and the investment contract under which it is offered. However, in its initial stage, the bill is a noteworthy step toward mitigating the uncertainty around application of the Howey test to digital tokens.

Digital Commodity Exchange Act

The Digital Commodity Exchange Act proposes to create a single, opt-in federal regulatory scheme for digital asset trading platforms under the exclusive jurisdiction of the CFTC. The proposed framework, based on the regulatory model for traditional commodity exchanges, aims to remove major regulatory roadblocks for innovators developing new digital asset projects and provide regulatory certainty in cash markets for digital assets while protecting retail consumers. As with the Securities Clarity Act, while it is unclear whether this bill will become law, its introduction will likely spark discussions as to how to improve the current regulatory landscape for cash markets in digital assets and for innovators of digital asset projects.

STABLE Act

The Stablecoin Tethering and Bank Licensing Enforcement (STABLE) Act seeks to fundamentally alter the stablecoin industry. If passed in its current form, it would add significant costs and complexity for market participants, thereby creating significant challenges for stablecoin development in the United States. Specifically, the act would subject prospective issuers of stablecoins to a host of new regulatory obligations, including (1) obtaining a banking charter; (2) following the appropriate banking regulations under the existing regulatory jurisdictions; (3) notifying and obtaining approval from the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and appropriate banking agency six months prior to issuance and maintaining an ongoing analysis of potential systemic impacts and risks; and (4) obtaining FDIC insurance or otherwise maintaining reserves at the Federal Reserve to ensure that all stablecoins can be readily converted into U.S. dollars on demand.

Financial Stability Board Recommendations on Stablecoins

On October 13, 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its high-level recommendations for the regulation, supervision and oversight of stablecoins, which are designed to become common global standards and systemically important as a result. The recommendations call for regulation, supervision and oversight that is proportionate to the risks of global stablecoins those stablecoins that become widely adopted with potential reach and use across multiple jurisdictions. To that end, the FSB sets out 10 recommendations, including that authorities ensure global stablecoins have effective risk management frameworks in place to deal with reserve management, operational resilience, cybersecurity safeguards and anti-money laundering measures. The FSB also recommends that global stablecoins be required to provide transparent information on their stabilization mechanisms and nature and enforceability of any redemption rights to users. In addition, it recommends that they must adhere to all applicable regulatory standards and address risks to financial stability before commencing operation.

We expect that the FSB recommendations are likely to become the bedrock of international cooperation between regulatory authorities as the universe of stablecoins develops. The FSB expects to continue its work over the coming months and to complete its international standard-setting work in relation to global stablecoins by December 2021. In the meantime, we anticipate that individual jurisdictions, such as the U.S. and U.K., will continue to develop their own legal and regulatory regimes.

Presidents Working Group Statement on Stablecoins

In late December 2020, the Presidents Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) released its assessment of the key regulatory and supervisory considerations for stablecoins primarily used for retail payments, which mirror certain of the FSB recommendations. The PWG recognized that stablecoins have the potential to lower payment costs, increase competition and broaden financial inclusion, but it emphasized that they should be designed in a manner that manages risk and maintains the stability of U.S. and international financial and monetary systems. The PWGs key assessments provide a road map for the establishment of a stablecoin in the U.S.

UK Restrictions on Sale of Cryptoassets and Related Products Come Into Force

The U.K.s Financial Conduct Authoritys (FCA) prohibition on the marketing, sale and distribution of crypto-derivatives to retail investors came into force on January 6, 2021. Crypto-derivatives were already subject to the U.K. financial promotion regime, which contained certain exemptions that were relied upon by unregulated service providers in relation to crypto-products. The FCAs policy statement is intended to prohibit the use of these exemptions that enabled the sale of crypto-derivatives to U.K. retail clients by unregulated service providers and to prohibit FCA-regulated service providers from marketing such instruments to U.K. retail investors.

As a result of the new rules, service providers seeking to distribute such cryptoassets in the U.K. will be required to either rely on an exemption specified in the U.K. Financial Promotion Order and receive approval of their marketing material by an FCA-authorized entity before distribution or obtain authorization themselves before carrying out the marketing activity. We expect that the actions of the FCA are the first of many U.K. regulatory developments specifically related to cryptocurrencies, not least as a result of the work of the FSB described above.

Conclusion

We expect that the regulatory momentum that began in 2020 will continue in 2021 as regulators around the world seek to either fit blockchain technology into existing regulatory frameworks or build out new approaches.

This memorandum is provided by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and its affiliates for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This memorandum is considered advertising under applicable state laws.

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As Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency Mature, so Do Their Regulation and Enforcement - Lexology

Over the past few years, the Isle of Man has made significant progress in making the island one of the best locations to set up shop as a blockchain or digital currency business. However, coronavirus has made it difficult for businesses looking to operate out of the Isle of Man to relocate to the country. Fortunately, the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (IOMFSA) has come up with a solution to that problem.

Under normal circumstances, a business registered in the Isle of Man needs to have a physical presence on the island and have at least two Isle of Man resident directors to ensure management and control of the business is on the Island. But as we all know, coronavirus has made cross-border travel difficult, and nearly impossible depending on where you live or what kind of passport you have.

But now, the IOMFSA allows digital currency businesses to apply for a subject-to registration. The subject-to registration allows a business to register in the Isle of Man if they satisfy all of the registration criteria besides re-location, under the condition that if their application is accepted, they will relocate to the Isle of man when it becomes possible. When the company officially re-locates to the Isle of Man, its application will receive formal registration.

That being said, the subject-to registration lets the business know that their registration in the Isle of Man will indefinitely be approved once they relocate to the Isle of man (if their business operations have not drastically changed from the time they registered for the subject-to, to the time that they are able to physically relocate).

This welcomed option comes at a time when crypto businesses are looking for some regulatory certainty, not just for the final outcome but for the process and regulatory direction. The route to registration for crypto businesses has been well trod by the IOMFSA over the past five years, each time they continue to adapt and strengthen the opportunities available, said Steve Billinghurst, the Regulatory lead at Digital Isle of Man.

Why the Isle of Man?

The Isle of Man has one of the most straightforward regulatory frameworks for blockchain and digital currency businesses. In our recent conversation with Steve Billinghurst, we learned more about the Isle of Mans legal frameworks for blockchain and digital currency companies, as well as, why businesses gravitate toward countries with regulatory certainty. To find out why the Isle of Man is becoming one of the best destinations for blockchain and digital currency businesses, you can learn more by reading CoinGeeks interview with Steve Billinghurst.

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

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The Isle of Man continues to create blockchain-friendly policies - CoinGeek

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Blockchain In Healthcare and Fintech: Will There Be an Impact? - Onrec

Blockchain could unlock desperately needed modernisation in Australias construction industry, according to Professor Srinath Perera from Western Sydney Universitys Centre for Smart Modern Construction.

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, shot to mainstream fame around five years ago as the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies such has Bitcoin. It wasnt long before other industries, including construction, recognised the value of secure, transparent transactions that Perera says are almost impossible to fool.

The blockchain buzz has since subsided but R&D continued in promising streams, with the technology underpinning many of the research projects underway at Western Sydney Universitys c4SMC.

Perera, the centres director, told The Fifth Estate that the technology is particularly useful for eradicating supply chain issues.

Construction has long, complicated supply chains. Each precast panel, for example, might be manufactured with cement from one place and aggregates from another place.

Its not easy to keep track of what came from where and, importantly, who has been paid for what. Perera says delayed payments to suppliers adds up to massive overheads that are typically passed on to the client.

Construction companies are known to add on around 20 per cent extra to the construction cost to finance unexpected delays, with building clients unknowingly picking up interest on delayed payments.

Thats why the centre has been working on a blockchain enabled payment system, with each payment captured on a transparent, sequential ledger thats stored on multiple computers rather than a centralised spot. If a payment is missed, the system wont be able to proceed.

Everyone can see what is happening and who is doing what, we can hide identity but show the transaction. That way nobody can cheat in the system.

Perera is confident that such a system can eliminate these extra costs.

He also says managing the supply chain this way will unlock opportunities to monitor embodied carbon extremely accurately.

Using this kind of automated, accurate record will take the guess work out of measuring the distance each element of the supply chain travels, with time spent on trucks, ships or planes making up a significant proportion of a building materials carbon footprint.

We just hit a 45 degrees plus heatwave, [climate change] is a concern for everyone. Going forward, more people will be asking how to reduce carbon emissions.

The next step will be integrating this sort of information into the building management system (BIM) so that its all readily accessible in a neat, central spot. With all this information at hand, it will be easier to make decisions that reduce emissions and costs.

The team of about 15 researchers is also looking to use the technology to monitor compliance by using a distributed ledger to track certification, and for managing property, with a ledger used to capture all the activities involved with buying a property, such as land registration.

Perera is confident the technologies developed by his team can be rolled out fairly quickly. The modelling has been done and the software prototypes have been built. Now its just a matter of commercialising them.

He says the centre has several partnerships and commercial arrangements in the works, and its still too early to say exactly what these will look like.

Blockchain might sound complicated but the user is unlikely to even know they are using it. Perera expects it will be technologies like this that enable rather than burden workers that will fuel the sectors much-needed digital revolution.

He is, however, realistic about the size of the challenge at hand, with construction the second least digitally-enabled sector after agriculture.

Manual, inefficient procurement practices are the thorn in the industrys side, Perera explains.

Procurement is still done in a traditional way, where the subcontractor takes a quote on the telephone and brings things together in an ad hoc way.

He says this is a primitive way of doing things that could be easily resolved with digital procurement technologies.

Digitisation will come hand-in-hand with what he calls the industrialisation of construction. By this he means the shift to more offsite construction, taking advantage of the economies of scale that can be achieved in a factory as opposed to onsite, as well as the improved efficiencies of working out of the weather and in a controlled environment.

Construction costs have plateaued at the same level, he explains, because the volume is unable to increase. When the volume comes up, the costs should come down.

The shift to high tech manufacturing offsite will likely be supported by other innovative technologies, such as robots and exoskeletons, which are Ironman-like suits that people wear to increase their strength and carrying capacity.

He suspects this technology will be useful onsite for a few minor applications but potentially game changing within a production line.

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Why blockchain just might be the answer to better construction - The Fifth Estate

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via Blockchain Wire) -BitAngels (www.bitangels.network) Los Angeles, one of the worlds largest digital currency investor networks working to expand the blockchain investment ecosystem in LA, announced today that their Blockchain and the Future of Work hybrid event will feature discussions from the Founder of Job.com Arran Stewart, WarriorSage Founder Satyen Raja, and Founder and Director of Blockchain at Pepperdine, Dr. Lene Martin. Free registration for the hybrid event, being held January 27, 2021 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time, is available on the event page. Attendees can choose to attend the event virtually or in-person at Phase Two Space.

Arran Stewart will serve as the keynote speaker for the event discussing key use cases of blockchain in the human capital industry and gig economy. As founder and CEO of Job.com, Arran Stewart is one of the key voices in the human capital industry. As an innovator, Arran is a strong proponent of the use of blockchain in staffing, workforce management, and human resources to help shore up some of the industrys biggest problems.

Following the keynote will be featured speaker Satyen Raja, founder of the WarriorSage group of companies. Satyen is a trusted transformational advisor to many tech and business CEOs and founders, and has over 30 years of mentoring the world's top business leaders to self-actualization or to personal breakthroughs. In this presentation, he will help attendees understand how to harness key energies for growth instead of self-destruction in relationships, their organizations and themselves.

Founder and Director of Blockchain at Pepperdine, Dr. Lene Martin, will follow Satyen to give an insightful presentation on the state of blockchain in academia and for enterprises. With a doctorate in education and a doctoral candidacy in philosophy combined with her master's degrees in both mass communications and women's studies, Dr. Martin is a leading educator, advisor, and mentor to blockchain companies and entrepreneurial talent.

Rounding off the event will feature presentations from three breakthrough blockchain startups. David Lake will present on behalf of Awakening Health, which is creating humanoid medical robots built with decentralized AI. Dan Austin will discuss Shooflys problem-solving AI leveraging blockchain consortium, and Trevor Charlston will present Freelys idea to create a token incentivized community of listeners offering emotional support.

The event welcomes all blockchain and emerging technology investors, especially those looking to make investments in cutting-edge companies that currently have traction. Company founders and blockchain subject matter experts are also welcome to register for the event. Attendance is limited.

BitAngels Los Angeles is co-lead by Phase Two owner Peter Pastewka and Bill Inman. Inman is a blockchain patent holder who has led multiple idea-stage companies to billions of dollars of revenue, and is currently the CEO of Singularity Studio, creating next-generation AI solutions for the enterprise.

About BitAngelsBitAngels (https://www.bitangels.network/) is an investor network for the blockchain industry. BitAngels launched in 2013 as the worlds first angel network for digital currency startups. Each BitAngels event features networking and short pitches by startup founders to an audience of investors, business leaders, and the local blockchain community. These events provide investors the unique chance to learn about new cryptocurrency investment opportunities in person. For more information, visit http://www.bitangels.network.

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BitAngels Los Angeles to Host First Hybrid Blockchain and the Future of Work Event on Jan 27 - GlobeNewswire

The Regtech Working Group, formed by the Steering Committee of Australias National Blockchain Roadmap, is currently undertaking a consultation in order to gain a better understanding of the wide-ranging views and perspectives regarding the use and adoption of distributed ledger technologies (DLT).

The consultation is being carried out to determine whether blockchain and DLT may help with reducing the burden of legal, regulatory, and other compliance requirements for firms.

Its worth noting that while blockchain or DLT cant effectively streamline every business process, there are some legitimate use cases for the technology such as document authentication and digital ID verification.

The responses to the survey will reportedly be used to inform the Discovery Report to be presented by the Regtech Working Group to the Steering Committee overseeing the National Blockchain Roadmap in the first half of 2021.

This survey follows from the Issues Paper released on December 15, 2020, which provides relevant background regarding the National Blockchain Roadmap, the Regtech Working Group, and the overall scope of this consultation. The Regtech Working Group has suggested that its better to read the Issues Paper first, before responding to the survey questions.

Interested parties are welcome to respond to the survey by 11:59 pm February 14, 2021.

As noted in the announcement, this survey uses a combination of yes / no questions, questions where you will be asked to select from a series of options and free-text responses. The survey takes between 1 2 hours to complete.

(For more details on how to access and fill out the survey, check here.)

The information provided in response to this survey will be made available to the Regtech Working Group. Responses will not be made publicly available, the announcement confirmed.

Some of the free text responses may get included in the text of the Discovery Report. The announcement also mentioned that before any specific information is included in the Discovery Report, we will seek confirmation that you are happy for the information to be included and that it is accurate.

According to a recent survey, almost 20% of Australians now own blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, as attitudes toward Bitcoin (BTC) and other DLT-enabled digital assets have improved.

As the price of Bitcoin (BTC), the flagship cryptocurrency, surpassed its previous all-time high to reach nearly $42,000 (and recently corrected to around $32,000 at the time of writing), a fairly recent report reveals that attitudes toward the digital asset are improving with nearly one in five Australians now owning some virtual currency.

Conducted annually, the Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) is a nationwide survey offering a benchmark for the awareness, trust and confidence that Australians have in virtual currencies. Bitcoin or BTC remains the best known cryptocurrency, with 88.8% of the nations residents confirming that theyre (at least) aware of it.

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Regtech Group formed by Steering Committee of Australias National Blockchain Roadmap Wants to Know if DLT will Improve Business Processes - Crowdfund...