There is now more than $1 billion worth of bitcoin on Ethereum, record-setting transaction volume is boosting Ethereum miners revenue and VeChain joins Chinas food safety watchdog to build track and trace capabilities.

Top shelf

Token reflectionsUniswaps decision toairdrop its new governance token was less about competingwith its genetic clone SushiSwap, and more about building a community, CoinDesks Brady Dale reports. I think its genius in every way, Robert Leshner, Compounds founder, said. It brought a huge number of users into the fold. Tokens were airdropped not just to liquidity providers (LPs), but essentially anyone who has played with the app meaning upwards of 250,000 unique Ethereum addresses that have made trades on it could come into possession. This could help Uniswap achieve the effective decentralization necessary to avoid the prying eyes of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. While the token is likely to spur a new round of liquidity mining, bumping up transactions fees on the platform, Dale also suggests UNI could be a means for the protocol which raised an $11 million Series A to repay its investors.

Ethereum recordsEthereumminers earned a record $16.5 millionon Thursday as the number of transactions on the network ticks up. More than 42,763ether(ETH) were paid out in transaction fees for 1.4 million transactions another all-time high. CoinDesks Paddy Baker points to a meteoric rise in decentralized finance (DeFi) to make sense of the surging Ethereum activity. There is currently over $9 billion worth of assets locked in DeFi applications, according to DeFi Pulse, up from approximately $675 million at the start of the year. Decentralized exchanges too are growing led by Uniswap, Curve and Balancer having recently surpassed $16 billion in total monthly volume.

Community pointsThe number of monthly users who earned T-Points, or loyalty points,for bitcoin (BTC) payments on the bitFlyer exchange in Japan reached a record highin August. Though the exchange did not specify the number of users of the service, CoinDesk Japan previously reported approximately 30% of new visitors to the exchange are in their 20s.BTCwas trading at 1.3 million Japanese yen ($12,400) in August for the first time in a year. Midori Kanemitsu, a market analyst at bitFlyer, indicated that this reflects a larger trend: against the backdrop of COVID-19 and global monetary easing, bitcoin is shifting from a speculative investment for individuals to an institutional hedge against inflation.

Track and traceThe VeChain Foundation has become thefirst blockchain-based entity to join the China Animal Health and Food Safety Alliance(CAFA). According to a blog post, VeChain joins the 130 strong member group as its only public blockchain technology provider, and will further provide technical and infrastructural support for member firms. According to the post, CAFA intends to build a farm to table traceability system across China that would record the various stages of the food supply process on the blockchain in order to build trust with consumers.

Wallet challengeU.S. Homeland Securitys Science and Technology Directorate (S&T),wants you to build its next digital wallet.CoinDesks Danny Nelson reports the directorate is putting $25,000 up for grabs in their new digital wallet challenge, a user interface design competition to pair with DHSs work in the blockchain and decentralized identity space. Finalist wallets must demonstrate ease of use and visual consistency, while supporting interoperability, security, and privacy, said Anil John, technical director of S&Ts Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP). Applications are open through Oct. 15, with the chance for three finalists to win $5,000 and an additional $10,000 to the competition winner.

Quick bites

At stake

Judge Joel M. Cohen, the judge who has been overseeing the New York Attorney Generals (NYAG) offices examination pertaining to the sister firms alleged $850 million cover-up, is applying pressure in what appears to be an attempt to speed up what has become a 17-month-long investigation.

Bitfinexs legal fight with the NYAG began in April 2019, when the state prosecutor first alleged that Bitfinex had lost access to $850 million in funds held by Crypto Capital Corp., a payment processor whose operators were later indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Stablecoin issuer Tether extended a line of credit and provided a loan to Bitfinex to cover the shortfall. The NYAGs office requested access to the documents surrounding this deal.

Specifically, the NYAG wants to know where the funds went, whether any of the funds went to company executives and why transfers from Tether to Bitfinex were necessary.

Bitfinex and Tether are now appealing this request for documentation, with its representatives saying it is literally impossible to comply with, because the NYAGs office has asked for all documents aroundUSDT. A legal representative compared the request toasking GM for all documents about cars,earlier this week.

Defendants counsel also argues the investigation is past its prime. Weve now had 17 additional months of disclosure. All the dirty laundry about Crypto Capital has been aired Whatever risk there may have been 17 months ago is gone, Charles Michael, an attorney with Steptoe and Johnson, representing Bitfinex, said.

Cohen didnt set a firm deadline for when Bitfinex and Tether would have to produce these documents, leaving that decision to a special referee, but said a deadline would need to be set. As part of his order, he extended an injunction that would have ended in the next few weeks barring Tether from loaning funds to Bitfinex by 90 days.

Market intel

Indecision reigns?Bitcoin clocked highs of $11,104 and $11,050 on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, butprinted a UTC closing price below $11,000 on both occasions.Indecision is now the mood of the market. Increasing amounts of bitcoin are leaving wallets associated with miners for exchanges, an indication of selling pressure. According to data source Glassnode, 1,113.85 BTC were transferred to exchange wallets from miner wallets on Sept. 13 the biggest single-day outflow since December. Should the latest indecisive price action end with an upward move, the focus would shift to the next hurdle at $11,200, CoinDesks Omkar Godbole reports.

$1B bitcoinOver$1 billion worth of bitcoin has been tokenized on Ethereumas of Thursday, CoinDesk news reporter Zack Voell found. In January, less than 1,200 BTC were tokenized worth less than $7 million. There are now more than 92,600 tokenized bitcoins (BTC), representing 0.42% of the total BTC supply. Wrapped bitcoin (WBTC), the largest tokenized bitcoin project, has minted over 60,500 tokenized BTC since its launch in early 2019, representing over 65% of the total tokenized BTC supply, while RenBTC, the second largest tokenized bitcoin project, has issued 22,000 tokenized bitcoins since May.

Op-ed

A little realityPreston Byrne, a CoinDesk columnist and Anderson Kill partner,wants American companies to stop issuing tokensand airdrops. Reflecting on Uniswaps decision to distribute their new governance token widely, Byrne writes, Cheerleaders will say that entrepreneurs are leaving money on the table by not doing a Uniswap-style airdrop to the American public. But as a practical matter, many, if not most, of [token sales are securities]. No mental gymnastics, no think-pieces, no cryptographic magic dust, no novel naming conventions, and no gotchas! can work around the fact that courts work with economic reality, and economic reality on this most recent DEX token airdrop looks a lot like an investment contract.

Podcast corner

Pals polemicRaoul Pal, CEO and co-founder of Real Vision, joins the latest episode of The Breakdown for a wide-ranging conversation into the mechanics behind the Federal Reserve, stablecoin disruption and why all macro debates are boring. (Editors note: Not this one.)

Who won #CryptoTwitter?

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Blockchain Bites: Airdrops, Record Volumes, $1B BTC on Ethereum - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Dublin, Sept. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Blockchain Technology Market in Transportation and Logistics Industry Market 2020-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global blockchain technology market in transportation and logistics industry market is poised to grow by $811.51 million during 2020-2024 progressing at a CAGR of 54% during the forecast period.

This report on the blockchain technology market in transportation and logistics industry market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.

The market is driven by the growing use of blockchain technology for trucking and growing number of cargo thefts.

The blockchain technology market in transportation and logistics industry market analysis includes mode segment and geographical landscapes. This study identifies the booming e-commerce industry as one of the prime reasons driving the blockchain technology market in transportation and logistics industry market growth during the next few years.

The publisher presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters.

The report covers the following areas:

The robust vendor analysis is designed to help clients improve their market position, and in line with this, this report provides a detailed analysis of several leading blockchain technology market in transportation and logistics industry market vendors that include Accenture Plc, Capgemini Services SAS, Infosys Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., SAP SE, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd., and Wipro Ltd.. Also, the blockchain technology market in transportation and logistics industry market analysis report includes information on upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth. This is to help companies strategize and leverage on all forthcoming growth opportunities.

The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.

The publisher presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influences. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. The market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast an accurate market growth.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Landscape

3. Market Sizing

4. Five Forces Analysis

5. Market Segmentation by Mode

6. Customer Landscape

7. Geographic Landscape

8. Vendor Landscape

9. Vendor Analysis

10. Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/cenlij

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

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Worldwide Outlook into the Blockchain Technology Market in Transportation and Logistics to 2024 - GlobeNewswire

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blockchain technology can help efficiently and safely share data, process claims, and prevent fraud in the insurance industry. However, the implementation and inception of blockchain in insurance are still in the early stages. Additionally, companies in the insurance industry still have a long way to go in terms of actively working with industry players to figure out the best ways to navigate the potential challenges of blockchain technology.

To gain comprehensive insights and expert guidance on efficiently navigating the challenges of blockchain in the insurance industry, request a free proposal.

Not only does blockchain offer the promise of cost reduction and efficiency, but it could also enable revenue growth, as insurers attract new business through higher-quality service, says an insurance industry expert at Infiniti Research.

One of the most notable tech trends, blockchain technology, is a distributed, peer-to-peer ledger of records called blocks that is virtually incorruptible. In the insurance industry, this technology offers the promise of cost reduction and efficiency. Higher-quality service and the aspect of self-management help insurers attract new businesses. The applications of blockchain in insurance are expected to revamp the way the insurance industry functions. Although it is in the early stages of inception and implementation, there are many benefits to successfully implementing blockchain technology in the insurance industry. In their recent blog, Infinitis experts discuss four key benefits of employing blockchain in the insurance industry.

Unsure about implementing blockchain technology in your organization? To learn the major benefits of blockchain technology in the insurance industry, and why insurance companies should implement it, request more information.

Infinitis experts identified the following four benefits of blockchain in the insurance industry:

About Infiniti Research

Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us

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Will Blockchain Become the Next 'Game-Changer' for the Insurance Industry? | Infiniti's Industry Experts Provide In-Depth Insights - Business Wire

Viewed from above, the shrimp farms that dot the coast of Thailands Surat Thani province form a watery mosaic of pools. The view from the ground, however, presents a different picture: most of these farms are hidden behind high walls, and information about what goes on behind them is hard to come by.

The fishing industry in Thailand, the worlds leading producer of shrimp, has been the subject of years of criticism for its opacity as well as numerous labour abuse scandals at various stages of the production chain. Despite reforms undertaken by the government in recent years, fish farms continue to be a major point of contention in the industry.

Aquaculture workers [in Thailand] are usually hired from other countries, like Myanmar [Burma], and live on-site at the fish farms. Conditions are often harsh as work is performed under the sun, says data scientist Juliette Alemany of FairAgora Asia, a Thailand-based consultancy firm specialising in traceability in the food industry. Hidden behind these walls, some companies dont always register their employees or respect existing labour laws.

But a simple mobile application developed by FairAgora Asia could help to change that by providing a virtual peak behind these walls and shedding some light on what goes on in these fish farms.

Based on digital blockchain (a shared register that guarantees the veracity of internet operations) technology, FairAgora Asia designed its digital platform VerifiK8 to help companies monitor and report on their working conditions and environmental footprint.

Its a digital tool that monitors the social and environmental impact [of companies]. It checks social parameters [provided by the companies] against production data to find out whether companies along the production chain are on the red or green side in terms of their impact, says FairAgora Asia founder Emmanuelle Bourgois.

As Bourgois explains, along with other values, the application can verify the actual number of hours worked by comparing it to production levels, and determine whether companies are committing fraud in their labour reports. According to the US Department of Labours latest report on child and forced labour, child labour has been found in Bangladesh and Cambodia, forced labour in Burma, and both forced and child labour in Thailand in these respective countries shrimp industries.

Blockchain is a protocol that allows for data blocks to be shared between individuals in a process in which the different parties involved confirm the information. It is considered to be a secure, democratic and decentralised technology as none of the parties have control over the data and consensus is required to alter it. Blockchain can be a game-changer when there are multiple stakeholders involved, especially in exporting focused businesses, explains Om Prakash Routray, Vice President of SourceTrace, an India-based consulting firm which is also trying to implement this type of technology in other areas, such as the cotton industry.

The data in blockchains is also permanent. Once it is stored, you cannot modify the original document, it is a fixed point of information, you can only add layers of information to update the document. But you will always have this initial copy saved says Alemany.

Though blockchain was originally developed in 2008 to support crypto-currencies, specifically bitcoin, its use has spread to a number of other sectors that require secure information transactions.

Its definitely a solution that makes a difference because with blockchain you are able to ensure once the data is in the system that it is reliable. [Moreover] it provides the level of transparency across the supply chain that is required, says Kamales Lardi, CEO of Lardi & Partner Consulting GmbH, a consultancy that specialises in improving digitisation in companies.

Like FairAgora Asia, Lardis company is trying to apply this technology to another controversial industry: the palm oil industry. The worlds most consumed vegetable oil has been linked to deforestation, child labour and forced labour, among other practices.

Through its Malaysian subsidiary BloomBloc, Lardi & Partner Consulting is developing a pilot project for the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), a lobby that represents the industrys interests in the Asian country. The application allows for individual bunches of oil palm to be identified and tracked on their way to a refinery so that each one can be traced to its plantation of origin. As Lardi explains, the data is also available to the various stakeholders involved, with the aim of increasing the industrys transparency and credibility.

The agricultural industry is often synonymous with informal work, especially in regions like Asia, where almost 70 per cent of the employed population works without a contract. This not only makes workers targets for labour abuse but also negatively impacts their professional future. One of the things that we noticed is that many workers in aquaculture sometimes dont even have written agreements, only oral agreements, and they dont have any tracking or record of their past activities or jobs, explains Alemany. To address this problem, FairAgora Asias application includes a profile of each employee that records a kind of CV, which they can use later when looking for a new job. Even if there is no paper-based working contract there are certain data points [approved] and it is better than nothing, she continues.

The BloomBloc platform also verifies that each bunch of oil palm is associated with a worker who has a contract and whose documentation has been verified, especially if that worker is an immigrant.

We monitor what happens from the plantation to the mill, which is the hardest piece to trace because 40 per cent of the industry are smallholder plantations, explains Kamales Lardi. The system also allows for other more technical elements to be monitored, such as humidity and temperature, if the necessary sensors are installed.

But as Om Prakash Routray of Sourcetrace explains, consumers will ultimately determine the success of these projects: The conversation has been going around for a long time but [] now what we are seeing is not only big businesses [implementing this kind of technology], also small ones. This is due to the fact that consumers are increasingly willing to pay higher prices to finance greater transparency in what they buy. Now businesses can probably get 10 per cent or 15 per cent more if you can tell the story [of your product]. This can be dramatically improved by consumer demand, says Routray.

Indeed, these consultancy firms are also adapting their platforms to help producers, particularly smaller ones, obtain sustainability certifications. FairAgora Asia has initiated a pilot project in Vietnam, for example, while BloomBloc and Sourcetrace are working with frameworks such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and organic certifications.

However, the learning curve required to use these applications can be steep for small-scale producers. The weakest point of the blockchain in the supply chain is really around data entry. So we are trying to make data entry as non-manual as possible to make sure that data is trustworthy, says Lardi. FairAgora Asias pilot programme includes specific training in recording all of the data. It was a long process, but it was a very nice success story, says Alemany.

See the rest here:

Can digital blockchain technology improve working conditions in the Global South? - Equal Times

In brief

Coda, a crypto project building a blockchain light enough for anyone to operate a node, is launching an adversarial testnet that rewards users for trying to break the network.

Coda, developed by O(1) Labs, announced today a limited-capacity signup for its Testworld testnet. Testers can receive shares of 1% of the total supply of Coda tokens by uncovering vulnerabilities and attack vectors against nodes on the testnet Coda blockchain.

Participants will also be qualified to receive a Genesis Grant for helping develop the community and learning more about the technical aspects of the protocol. If successful, the Coda blockchain could create one of the most widely distributed networks spanning millions of smartphones and other connected devices.

The Coda protocol uses zero-knowledge (ZK) SNARK proof technology to verify all nodes are connected to the Coda blockchain, while keeping the data storage requirements for the nodes themselves tiny. ZK SNARK proofs use hash signatures generated from previous blocks in the blockchain to verify that everything in the blocks is in order without needing to know the specific contents of the previous blocks themselves.

Using this system, a Coda node requires just a few dozen kilobytes of data storage, about the amount of data in a few tweets, while still maintaining transaction speeds of up to 100 transactions per second. Other blockchains, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, are several hundred gigabytes in size, and still growing.

Given its minimal size requirements, Coda is clearly focused on maximizing the number of nodes on (and, therefore, decentralization of) the network by being welcoming to newcomers. Moreover, through the Mentor Nodes and the Technical Ambassadors programs, Coda plans to onboard additional users to earn testnet rewards.

Users can accumulate testnet points for producing blocks and SNARKs during the adversarial phase, and novice users can get help with block production and SNARKs in our dedicated mentor-nodes Discord channel, O(1) Labs CEO and co-founder Evan Shapiro told Decrypt.

Weve also onboarded more than 20 Technical Community Ambassadors to help new users get started with running a node. Alongside our technical adversarial challenges, we will also offer community challenges for users who have valuable skills in other areas, such as content creation and community outreach.

O(1) Labs, the developer group behind Coda, was founded in 2017 and has raised $18 million from investors like Coinbase Ventures and Polychain Capital. The Coda protocol mainnet should eventually allow developers to build decentralized games and applications that use the Coda blockchain to deliver decentralized and secure data.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that O(1) Labs had raised more than $33 million from investors. According to O(1) Labs, the actual figure is $18 million.

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Coda Is Paying Users to Break Its Blockchain - Decrypt

Its been a tough week for Bitcoin. The price has fallen more than 8 percent and dipped below $10,000 on three consecutive days. Analyst Willy Woo, though, thinks its all looking good. He believes that on-chain indicators, such as the NVT ratio, suggest a bullish outlook, while Su Zhu of Three Arrows Capital believes that a surge to $100,000 is more likely than a fall to $5,000.

The son of gold investor and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff is convinced. The 18-year-old college freshman just bought some more Bitcoin, against his fathers advice. Asked whether they want to follow the student whos never had a job or the 30-year investment professional, Twitter picked the Bitcoin fan.

At least the young Schiff will be set for the end of the world. Podcaster Adam Curry has told comedian Joe Rogan that the apocalypse is coming, and as you hide in your bunker and battle the zombies, youre going to need a Bitcoin. Its no wonder that Bitcoin is now the worlds sixth-largest currency. And thats despite dying again. As the cryptocurrency lost value this week, the Bitcoin Obituary got to add another eulogy to its list.

As youre mourning the 382nd death of Bitcoin, you might want to hold off on loading up on Bitcoin Cash, though. It turns out that Tim Draper didnt recently buy some or thank Roger Ver. It looks like his Twitter account was hacked or a paid ad went wrong.

But if the apocalypse does come, maybe the GoodDollar will save us. The eToro token will set aside a daily amount as a basic income for the platforms participants. Andrew Yang would like it. Or alternatively, you could just hack a wallet. Crypto Twitter user Alon Gal has declared that he has a wallet containing 69,000 Bitcoins. He just doesnt have the password. Hackers have been trying to crack it for two years with no luck. Did they try password123?

The number of active decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, has jumped over the last year. Its up 660 percent, from ten a year ago to 76 now. At the same time, thefirst phase of the MakerDAO debt auction is reaching its final stages. Bidders have already committed to buying $2 million worth of Maker tokens using Dai.

Its not only DAOs that are on the up, though. Starbucks is now getting ready to deploy a blockchain to trace its coffee beans and enable greater product transparency. Chinas Hainan Wenchang International Aerospace City will use a blockchain to support its Smart Brain Planning and Design Institute. And Bangladesh is about to get its first blockchain-powered remittance service. The service will let Bangladeshi expats in Malaysia send their money home.

There have been a few setbacks too this week. The Texas State Securities Board has detected some more cryptocurrency scams. Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Ilesnamed Kumar Babu Bondesi and Darwin Eric Balusek as the alleged operators of the Forex Birds and PEK Universe scams. They could face up to ten years in jail. Balusek is also known as Bitcoin Pope.

And YouTube pulled the plug on Sunny Decrees crypto livestream. The platform said the video violated its policy against harmful and dangerous content.

Finally, Jay Cassano, Cointelegraphs editor-in-chief, has been promoted to CEO. His position will be taken by Jon Rice, previously the managing editor of Cointelegraph Magazine. Congratulations to them both.

Check out the audio version here:

Joel Comm is an internet pioneer, New York Times best-selling author, futurist speaker and co-host of The Bad Crypto Podcast. Thats a fancy way of saying he writes words, says things and loves to play with cryptos.

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

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Bitcoins obituary and a Starbucks blockchain: Bad crypto news of the week - Cointelegraph

John Izaguirre, the Business Director, Europe at Ontology, a high-performance or high-throughput blockchain platform, believes that privacy is a basic human right.

Izaguiree notes that data is becoming a very important topic for both individuals and companies. However, he believes that the Internet is still a relatively new technology and that were still learning how to use it effectively and responsibly.

Izaguiree, a graduate from San Francisco State University, points out during a recent podcast that if we look at human history and the achievements [weve made] lets say over the last 500 years[and you compare that to how long the Internet has been around,] then [you realize] its a very young technology.

He added:

Were still trying to learn how to utilize the Internet. On top of the internet, as a technology, its a tool over which several layers have been built over these last 20 years.

He continued:

One of these layers has been the communication technology layers that we now know as social media platformsthese platforms are not the evil corporations that we tend to believe they are. Even though what theyve done in the past isnt the most [appropriate] thing to do or the [morally right] thing to do. I also dont think they have a [special] agenda [where theyre trying to take advantage] of peoples data.

He believes the European Union has done a fairly good job when it comes to promoting the GDPR laws. However, he still thinks effective or proper user data management is still in its early stages just like the Internet.

He adds:

When it comes down to blockchain, cryptography, smart contracts, these technologies are helping with preserving the individuals data and educating societies on how to protect their own data. In terms of technology development, I think what blockchain has achieved in this regard in the last two years is remarkable. [But] were still trying to figure out how to [further] educate people and make people [feel] accountable for their own data.

The Ontology team has been working on various data management solutions that leverage blockchain or distributed ledger (DLT) technology. Recently, Ontology introduced a self-sovereign credit evaluation system, called OScore. Its based on user data that resides on the Ontology blockchain network.

As explained in a blog post by Ontology:

With full integration of ONT ID, Ontologys decentralized identity framework, OScore supports cross-chain interaction and verifiable credentials, connecting user identities with personal accounts on the Ontology blockchain, eliminating third parties from the process. Once a user authorizes their financial data, Ontologys OScore system generates a quantifiable credit score, while ensuring the users privacy is fully protected.

(Note: for more details on how OScore works, check here.)

As covered recently, Ontologys native ONT and ONG tokens may now be swapped to eONT, eONG on Ethereum. Theyre also listed on Uniswap, a leading decentralized ERC-20 token exchange.

Open Banking style benefits are now also available to Ontology Users, after its integration with Fintech Plaid. As reported, more than 6 million decentralized application or dApp related transactions have now been recorded on the Ontology blockchain since its genesis (or first) block was produced.

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Blockchain, Cryptography, Smart Contracts are All Technologies that Allow Us to Effectively Manage Our Data, According to John Izaguirre from Ontology...

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --The Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC), in partnership with Chronicled, is pleased to announce that its Health Industry Number (HIN) System is now available to registered HIN licensees via Chronicled's blockchain-enabled MediLedger Network. By using Mediledger, HIN pharma industry licensees will both be able to access and use real-time HIN data and incorporate it directly into live business processes.

Manufacturers, Distributors, and GPOs on the MediLedger Network use its Contracts & Chargebacks Solution to ensure pricing contracts are aligned. The solution guarantees that distributors always have valid pricing for customers (Hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, etc.) and that chargebacks are accurate.

HIBCC's HIN data is a crucial part of identifying which customers are eligible for which contracts. Through the solution, when HIN records are updated, all participants see the same changes in real-time. Thus, there is no confusion related to customer HIN identity when processing a chargeback. Manufacturers can also now automatically incorporate HIN data updates into business processes such as Class of Trade determination and contract eligibility. Automated integration of HIN data is a significant step towards enabling manufacturer's to proactively determine contract eligibility for all customers, so distributors don't have to guess what pricing to offer new customers, which is historically a common source of chargeback errors and disputes.

HIBCC's HINAPI Service integration with the MediLedger Network, developed and maintained through collaboration with Chronicled, will link the HIN System Database directly with network participants. Consistent and real-time HIN data is distributed through blockchain and is available to every licensed participant in the MediLedger Network. HIBCC CEO Robert Hankin, Ph.D. stated "Deployment of our HIN database within Mediledger's blockchain technology represents a significant development that promises to further streamline the use of HIN data by many of our licensees, and our collaboration with Chronicled is a milestone for the industry standards process."

With the HIN data now integrated into the MediLedger Network, all of the benefits of HIN data in the Contracts & Chargebacks Solution can be replicated across other solutions developed for many other processes between trading partners. Susanne Somerville, CEO of Chronicled, said "Incorporating HIN data into the MediLedger Network is an incredible example of the value MediLedger can offer as a platform. Future solutions can now be developed with HIN data already established as a key building block. We are very excited about the partnership with HIBCC and all the ways we can work together to bring efficiency and accuracy to the pharmaceutical supply chain."

HIBCCHIBCC is an industry-supported and internationally accredited nonprofit standards development organization. HIBCC develops electronic communication standards that meet the unique requirements of the healthcare industry, including the widely-used Health Industry Number (HIN) System, and the US FDA and EU accredited Supplier Labeling Standard.

ChronicledBased in San Francisco, Chronicled is a technology company developing solutions that bring trust, efficiency, and automation to the Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences industry. Chronicled is the custodian of MediLedger, an open and decentralized blockchain-based network that connects trading partners and enforces cross-organization business rules without revealing private or competitively sensitive data. MediLedger currently facilitates solutions in the Supply Chain and Revenue Management functions within the Pharmaceutical industry.

To learn more, contact [emailprotected].

SOURCE Chronicled

http://www.chronicled.com

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HIBCC and Chronicled Announce HIN Data Integration Within the MediLedger Network Blockchain - PRNewswire

Global digital currency trading platform,DiBi Global exchange, today announced that DBLend (Version 1.0 ) development phase officially launched.

DBLend is a digital currency lending platform which centred around the usage of DeFi (Decentralized Financial) smart contract base on blockchain technology as a trusted intermediary in facilitating the growth of global lending marketplace.

Maggie, the Co-Founder of DBLend's Chinese Community, said: "As blockchain technology and DeFi (Decentralized Financial) applications become more and more mature, It is likely that DeFi will change the entire financial system in the near future. As early as 2019, DiBi Global has been laying out its own DeFi ecosystem. As the first and most important DeFi application of DiBi Global, DBLend project has been widely concerned as soon as it was lauched, that's because of DBLend's decentralized mining mechanism and users' multiple ways of making profits here, and all of these features are based on smart contracts on the blockchain. In the long run, code is more reliable than humanity. Through the smart contract in blockchain technology, trust and consensus can be well established. In addition, smart contract technology automates the movement of funds and tokens, amplifying the provision of liquidity to digital currency market participants. "

According to the whitepaper, Lenders and borrowers in DBLend platform are matched automatically through the smart contract (Ethereum-based protocol), eradicating the need for third parties. It's loaning feature plays it safe for borrowers by allowing only up to 70% of the collateral's worth, rather than the full 100%----minimizing risks. In additon, users have multiple investment options with high-profit on the DBLend platform, such as DBL (DBLend token) mining, providing DBL liquidity for the interest pool, mainstream token lending, mainstream token lending, etc.

"I think DeFi will change from serving the financial industry to changing the entire financial system. Today, I am so glad that DiBi Global officially launched the development of DBLend platform 1.0 which I believe will be released soon. " Maggie added.

For more details, please visithttps://www.dblend.pro

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DBLend, The First Blockchain DeFi Project In DiBi Global Ecosystem, Has Entered The Development Stage - Exchange News Direct

Fintech solutions, retail focused platforms, and information communication technology or ICT software programs are expected to lead the blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT) revolution, according to a new report.

The findings of CIVITTAs report reveal that finance, retail, and ICT solutions are the most promising economic sectors for applying and developing blockchain or DLT based platforms. The report has been prepared after relevant research was conducted by the BlockStart initiative, a pan-European DLT focused partnership program.

The research report has been drafted with assistance from European management consulting firm CIVITTA. It has been compiled after conducting expert interviews that examined several key economic sectors, which were ranked in terms of their maturity, impact, feasibility, and level of the regulatory barriers for the implementation of the DLT solutions by SMEs.

The reports summary states:

SMEs in Fintech scored highest in terms of readiness for the blockchain application. Many financial services are data-heavy and fault-prone, thus requiring intermediaries for mediation and ensuring trust. This drives the transaction costs up. Applying DLT allows reducing costs through operational simplification, regulatory efficiency improvement, settlement time reduction, etc.

It added:

Despite strict regulation, Fintech already holds the largest share in the blockchain market due to the extremely high potential effect of the DLT-based solutions implementation. In 2019, the global blockchain finance market size exceeded EUR 2 billion and is expected to reach EUR 19.5 billion by the end of 2025. For example, a peer-to-peer payments, investing and trading company Circle focusing on blockchain is valued at $3 billion.

Vytautas erniauskas, expert at CIVITTA. notes that the blockchain or DLT solutions began in the payments sector. Its now being integrated into larger banking and insurance services, erniauskas confirmed. He believes that the main benefits of DLT come when its used in finance applications to ensure security and speed when exchanging data and money.

erniauskas explains that blockchain-powered solutions allow users to take advantage of transparent infrastructure along with relatively low operational costs.

He adds that blockchain applications in the retail sector are expected to be valued at around EUR 2 billion by 2023, driven by a growing awareness that DLT solutions can improve the tracking of product authenticity, ensure reliable delivery throughout the supply chain and accountability of suppliers.

The report further notes that spending on new ICT solutions is expected to grow by 14% in the coming years and applying blockchain/DLT may be among the most transformative solutions, changing the notion of trust and bringing greater transparency.

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SMEs in Fintech Scored Highest in terms of Readiness for Blockchain or DLT Adoption and Integration: Report - Crowdfund Insider

by

Shannon Flynn

A growing amount of waste in the form of plastics and electronics is putting increased pressure on the recycling industry and its supply chains. Despite big initiatives by public and private organizations, recycling rates remain low. This increases the chance that plastics accumulate in the environment.

Public information on recycling is also limited. There is little information for organizations and individuals on the effectiveness of current pushes to improve it.

New technology like the blockchain, a kind of secure and shared digital ledger may be able to help.

Companies in a variety of sectors are increasingly interested in how the tech can be used to improve data transparency and build trust between parties.Now, the recycling industry has adopted blockchain in a few different and interesting ways.

One of the most significant benefits the blockchain can offer recycling is data transparency. Multiple parties working together can access the exact same data, even if they're not actively sharing tracking systems or information with each other.

For example, there's RecycleGO, a software-as-a-service provider that offers a blockchain solution for recycling companies and the organizations they work with. In this case, the platform works by tracking recycling activity across a local recycling supply chain on the blockchain. With the solution in place, recyclers can track waste as it moves through the chain, and organizations and municipalities can compare their recycling efforts.

When the blockchain is made publicly available, consumers can also use the ledger's info to make more informed purchasing decisions. For example, they can buy from companies that make recycling a top priority.Logistics companies are also increasingly using verified data reporting to cut down on supply chain emissions. If this kind of data is included in the ledger, it could provide customers even more information on which businesses are taking environmental stewardshipseriously.

The blockchain could also be used to track individual items through the recycling supply chain which could result in more sustainable plastics.

If you can tell how long a piece of plastic has spent in circulation, you could conceivably create incentives that reward manufacturers for designing easy-to-reuse or recycle plastics.

This is the aim of a new project, called reciChain, from BASF, a multinational German chemical company and the largest such producer in the world. The project takes advantage of physical markers on plastic products to create a timeline or map of each item as it moves through the supply chain, using blockchain technology.

With the data produced by the project, it may be significantly easier for manufacturers and recyclers to know which products are most likely to be picked up by recyclers. They can also determine what's likely to fall out of the recycling supply chain. Because reuse and recycling of products is so essential to the creation of green supply chains, this data will be invaluable for businesses that make eco-friendliness a top priority.

Combined with data from other new technology in the supply chain, like the trend toward increased use of digital freight brokerage, this individual product tracking could help provide sustainability minded organizations with the best possible information on which businesses to work with.

All these solutions, however, may not help one of the most significant issues for the global recycling supply chain. That's the existence of accumulated plastic in places like the oceans and the Amazon rainforest.

Multinational tech giant IBM is working on a potential blockchain-based solution to this problem, in the form of one of the company's newest projects, the Plastic Bank. According to IBM, the majority of the ocean's plastics come from countries outside the developed world with inefficient recycling systems.

The Plastic Bank works to solve this problem by creating recycling supply chains in which members receive a premium for the material they collect, more effectively incentivizing the gathering and recycling of plastic that might otherwise escape recyclers.

How supply chain blockchain may transform recycling

The recycling industry is under immense pressure in the form of a growing production of recyclable products and limited consumer buy-in. New strategies, powered by blockchain technology, may help the industry.

These blockchain-powered projects, which provide better information and incentives across the supply chain, may soon transform how recyclersapproach their work.

Shannon Flynn

Shannon Flynn is a technology writer and the Managing Editor at ReHack.com. Shannon's written for sites like TechDayHQ, Re-Work, and Innovation & Tech Today. Follow ReHack on Twitter to read more of her work.

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3 Ways the Recycling Supply Chain Is Using Blockchain - EPS News

Reddit-inspired social aggregation platform Discussions.app announced its expansion to the Telos network on Sept. 3.

The first project to come out of the new collaboration will be a decentralized identity system, allowing users to record their accounts and contacts from Twitter and other social networks to the blockchain in the event of a block or ban.

In the social-media age, users spend years growing networks and followers on various platforms, although this work can be destroyed by the sometimes arbitrary-seeming decisions of the networks.

Discussions.app addresses this by allowing users to migrate across platforms without losing their valuable identities and connections. Telos chief architect Douglas Horn explained the problem:

It seems that every few days I see another unique voice de-platformed and the connections they invested years building pulled out from under them like a cheap rug especially in the crypto community. Discussions.app empowers individuals to secure their own social networks immune to the whims of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

As Cointelegraph reported, YouTube has arbitrarily banned (and then reinstated) a number of crypto-related channels over the past few months. In May, the platform even pulled the plug on our special livestream of the halving event.

In addition to digital identity management, Telos will provide Discussions.app with options for advanced governance and Ethereum Virtual Machines which can run Ethereum-compatible smart contracts with zero transaction fees.

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Decentralized Reddit enables users to secure Twitter on the blockchain - Cointelegraph

While new projects are popping up all the time that tackle these types of issues in new ways, there are already a few major players defining this space. Some of the most popular projects being developed now are FOAM, XYO and Hyperion.

For starters, a project called FOAM is one example of how the issue of a decentralized mapping system could be addressed. In essence, FOAM utilizes the Ethereum blockchain and a service called geohash in order to make network addresses that correspond to real world locations. The system is referred to as Proof of Location (PoL) and involves the use of radio transmitters, called Anchors, to act as nodes for the network. Operators must stake some FOAM tokens in order to participate, however they are also rewarded for successful contributions. These nodes then connect to each other and form “zones,” which basically define an area on the surface of the earth. 

Once the basic grid is established, users can then create “Points of Interest” (PoI) which get mapped to the network by being attributed to a specific address on the blockchain. By staking tokens, different users can vote on the validity of a given PoI, with the winning side receiving all staked tokens as a reward, and the losing side losing all. This incentivises honesty, as a PoI like a landmark or coffee shop is either there or it isn’t, hence false claims could be quickly voted out of the network.

The system isn’t perfect, of course. It requires sufficient infrastructure of Anchors to be in place and while there is economic incentive to run one, there is a long way to go to cover the earth. Also since the system runs on Ethereum, it is subject to the limitations of that network’s bandwidth and speed, though these are admittedly set to improve.

Another project looking to create a blockchain powered location service is called XYO. The unique approach here is that users can capture real world location data with special sensors called “Sentinels.” Simply by deploying these sentinels, users can begin earning XYO immediately. When sentinels communicate with each other in “the wild”, by being in close proximity, then further rewards can be earned. This incentivises users to deploy as many sentinels as possible, which of course work to expand the network and the quality of the location data. It should also be noted that any smartphone can also be turned into a sentinel by downloading the project’s app.

There are other ways users can get involved and earn rewards as well, such as by becoming “Archivists” or “Diviners.” These are basically the layers of the network that record information to the blockchain and run queries against that data. With all these parts working together, a constantly evolving, real-time map of the world is being recorded on an immutable ledger. One possible stumbling block could be getting enough Sentinels deployed, as they act as a key cornerstone of the system. That being said, they are fairly inexpensive and again, any mobile device can also be used.

One other project, taking a somewhat different approach to the global mapping on blockchain      endeavor, is called Hyperion, which is offering comprehensive location based services thanks to the deployment of their “economic model 2.1.” This model has three layers. The user level layer, an app called “Titan,” provides location information services as well as a wallet for the native HYN token, which users can use to provide their own PoIs to be verified. Beneath this layer is a “Proof of Hybrid” (PoH) system, which is basically a two-tier network that has both a Proof of Work (PoW) layer, called Map3, and a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) layer, called Atlas. Map3 is where location data is stored, verified and distributed; the Atlas layer is where map asset transactions and validation takes place on the blockchain. The system is designed to be censorship-resistant and fault-tolerant.

Users on Titan can stake their HYN tokens to support the Map3 layer, which will earn them passive rewards for participating in the functioning of a node. Furthermore, these tokens can then be re-staked on the Atlas layer, which further aids the network and adds more opportunities for user rewards. Using Atlas’s proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, the top 88 block production nodes will be selected to receive block rewards. 

One more reason users may want to get in early is that Hyperion has 9 planned scaling cycles, and in each cycle network nodes will be effectively “split” into two nodes each, which will scale the network horizontally — in both the Map3 and Atlas layers. This will also increase the amount of rewards node operators see in the long term, further incentivising contribution to the decentralized map service.

It also helps that the Hyperion network can be seamlessly integrated into existing map applications, bringing familiar interfaces connected to the highest quality location data. Lastly, the token burning model employed by the network ensures that the supply of HYN tokens will incrementally decrease as the total amount staked on the network and requests to the map service grow. So, based upon supply and demand dynamics, that should drive up the value of the token. This aims to encourage increased adoption of the network due to a naturally deflationary currency acting as the cornerstone.

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Mapping on the Blockchain, Explained - Cointelegraph

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In 2009, Bitcoin, the first of many cryptocurrencies and still the most successful today, arrived on the scene. Eleven years later, despite repeated forecasts of its demise, Bitcoin and thousands of other cryptos continue to be in use, and some would say, thriving and disrupting the status quo of fiat currency and parts of the financial industry. Back in 2009, few would have predicted that the underlying technology that makes cryptocurrency work, the so-called distributed ledger, would come to be an even bigger story.

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) or blockchain, the term more commonly used, has captured the imagination of innovators, entrepreneurs and a wide variety of stakeholders from across the economy. Its advantages, which Ill describe briefly in a moment, has shown up in almost every industry and type of organization. Even many government organizations have tentatively embraced blockchain in some creative ways. However, cities have warmed to the technology to a much lesser degree than other organizations and their efforts have been given much lower priority.

Why hasnt this new technology rocked the world of city CIOs yet, or is it because the promise of blockchain has simply failed to deliver?

An abundance of articles has been written on what blockchain is and what its not. You likely have at least some basic knowledge, but in case, heres my quick primer.

I like to think of blockchain as a type of database. Its a database that has some clever qualities. These include mathematically linking database entries, so it becomes near impossible to change transactions. It also prohibits the deletion of data making it possible to understand every transaction since the very first entry in the database. Best of all (in my opinion), new entries can only be added through a process of network consensus.

The blockchain database itself is distributed among all users, with no central system or governance. These properties increase the integrity of transactions, eliminate centralized management, lower the risk of cyberthreats and remove the need to rely on trust. A blockchain system is said to be trust-less.

The totality of this design means its possible to deliver some powerful capabilities such as having viable digital money; to process common transactions that require no middleman such as steps in a mortgage; and as a way to distribute independent logic such that it is reliable and auditable. This latter quality enables Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, for example, to execute transactions without having to bear the burden of latency validating against a central system.

With these features, what are some obvious applications in a city context?

Since cities, like all government agencies, collect, create, store and process an abundance of data, intuitively blockchain has the ability to increase the security and integrity of that data. By far, this is the most common use in City Halls that use the technology.

Blockchain has the capability to increase trust and transparency in digital government solutions. Enhanced integrity of digital transactions in a city means that blockchain has the ability to enhance and improve a wide variety of common functions that range from procurement to identity management.

With cities becoming a platform for a wide range of connected devices, from autonomous vehicles to IoT sensors, blockchain appears to also offer some compelling advantages for securely moving and processing data.

Surely then, with all these advantages, blockchain technology must be making a killing in our cities.

Not so fast.

While there is growing interest, city CIOs for the most part, have not made blockchain a priority. While government more broadly has been trending towards some mature experimentation and in some limited cases even production use, cities have been much more conservative.

That said, there have been some compelling city use cases. Here are a couple of examples.

The city government of Zug in Switzerland, sometimes referred to as Crypto Valley because it hosts over 450 blockchain-based organizations, is also a user of the technology. The city permits the use of Bitcoin for some government payments and in 2017 it began using blockchain as an identity solution for certain services. In an article in Smart City Hub, the mayor of Zug, Dolfi Mller said, We want a single electronic identity a kind of digital passport for all possible applications. And we do not want this digital ID to be centralized at the city, but on the blockchain. Efforts continue to expand and today the city of Zug is fostering an international ecosystem of blockchain innovation.

In 2016, the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in collaboration with the Smart Dubai Office and the Dubai Future Foundation, launched the Dubai Blockchain Strategy. Its focus is to explore and evaluate blockchain as a way to deliver seamless, safe, efficient, and impactful experiences.

By early 2020, the effort had produced over 24 use cases in eight industry sectors and established Dubai as a global leader in blockchain technology. One of the notable efforts was the use of blockchain to process payments by constituents for government services. In the old system, payment reconciliation and settlement could take an average of 45 days. The new blockchain-based system eliminated the delay entirely and issues are resolved in real-time.

In a blog post she wrote for CoinDesk, Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, director general at Smart Dubai Office, said, Dubais adoption of blockchain technology at a city-wide scale is a testament to its commitment to positively transform government from service provider to service enabler.

In both city instances, leadership and an appetite for bold steps were essential to move forward.

Blockchain has many supporters and proven benefits, but its not without its detractors. Many argue that blockchain is being explored and used when a less complicated and more mature relational database could be used. They maintain that the technology continues to be too unstable and immature for use in critical systems (to a degree, Id say thats a fair assessment although the technology is quickly evolving).

The most damning criticism is that blockchain, aside from cryptocurrency, is a technology looking for a problem to solve. This kind of sentiment is often shared by more cautious (and skeptical) city CIOs who have seen lots of hyped technology come and go. In the risk averse environment of local government, unfortunately, being more conservative can be the right strategy.

For city CIOs to move forward with blockchain and for its promises to be assessed will require a number of important prerequisites.

The first, Id argue, is for more education on the topic. City CIOs and their technical teams need to get deeper into the weeds on the subject so they can understand its possibilities.

The second prerequisite is for city CIOs to ensure that they have the innovation ecosystem and a blockchain sandbox in place to enable the exploration and experimentation of the technology.

Finally, the IT leader must educate their city leadership and elected officials. They need their support and formal approval.

While certainly not exhaustive, these three recommendations will better position the city CIO to move forward with some light-risk opportunities.

In the years ahead, solving our intractable urban issues in order to create smarter and more sustainable communities means there often wont be the luxury of business as usual. City CIOs will be required to explore the art of the possible. Again and again.

Without any guarantees of success in the short-term, blockchain technology must be part of their innovation toolbox. Theres no evidence yet that the technologys use in cities has failed to deliver. However, the promise of blockchain will always be elusive if its not even given a fair try.

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A Few Smart Moves Can Jumpstart The Promise Of Blockchain In Cities - Forbes

Education has gone online, and blockchain can play an important role in securing, safeguarding, and growing this trend.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Much has been written about the dramatic pivot to online learning and education that has taken place during 2020. Although the discussion and debate around virtual education has become a hot topic recently, this is not a new item; education and learning have been taking place in various virtual formats for years. COVID-19 might have turbocharged the move from physical education and learning to online formats; instead of creating a new trend, it has merely accelerated something that was already underway.

Peruse any education related site, and a primary topic will be the number of courses that will be taught online. It remains to be seen if this shift will be completely permanent, but it would not be illogical to forecast an increasing percentage of courses being taught in a virtual format going forward. With ever larger amounts of information, both institutional and individual, being stored and shared virtually over an array of networks, there will invariably be risks associated with hackers and other unethical actors.

Especially as many private organizations, either on a solo basis or in collaboration with educational partners, continue to roll out certificate programs, training opportunities, and even entire degrees in a virtual format, the risk of this information being compromised is not an abstract one. As a part of the educational or training process, there is a large amount of personally identifiable information transferred between the individual, the institution, and any number of third-party providers.

Blockchain seems almost tailor made to help secure and protect this new model of education with a combination of information security, as well as the ability to share this data among a wide network of counterparties, and to do so in a completely virtual manner. Specifically, there are a few considerations and opportunities for online educators, institutions offering education online, and private sector blockchain organizations to improve the educational process and product.

Accreditation and credentialing. Credentials are, ultimately, why many individuals engage in education in the first place, and the continued rise of online education and offerings makes obtaining credentials more convenient than ever. That very same convenience, however, also opens the door for identity theft, fraudulent diploma mill types of institutions, and non-accredited or non-certified offerings operating on a seemingly level playing field with accredited institutions.

Having a blockchain-based system to record the accreditation, track the changes over time, and enable the instantaneous verification of credentials and degrees delivers two distinct benefits. This increased 1) transparency, and 2) trust that blockchain-secured records would provide can help open the door to any number of new offerings and institutions. As individuals continuously need to reskill and upskill over the course of their careers, the verification and tracking of newly obtained credentials will only increase in importance.

Rationalize intellectual property. Many breakthroughs and innovations have been started by, or at least been partially affiliated with, the research and efforts undertaken by educational institutions. Professors, other educators, and individuals linked to the educational space often allocate large amounts of time and energy developing intellectual property in the form of research papers, prototype products or services, and sometimes even the creation of entire textbooks. In an economy that is increasingly a digital-first and shifting toward a digital-everything model, the importance of securing and potentially monetizing the results of these creative efforts is paramount.

Specifically, since any number of private enterprises and other non-traditional organizations are entering the educational space, creating additional revenue streams can make such efforts financially self-sustaining. A self-sustaining model helps ensure the continued production of high-quality offerings, and a return on investment that will attract capital to further develop educational products.

Reinventing higher education. One of the most prominent use cases and concepts that underpin the blockchain ecosystem is the idea of a borderless and completely open system. The free sharing of information and ensuring accessibility to this information are integral components of blockchain. By connecting these core functional components of blockchain to higher education, an entirely new educational model is possible. Since the world is becoming increasingly interconnected on a daily basis, it would make sense that education should follow suit. But how?

Blockchain-enabled smart contracts, agreements between different individuals or organizations consisting of executable programmable code, would allow education to be available on an ad hoc basis across the globe. In other words, students and instructors including those already enrolled or associated with incumbent providers could collaborate and work together, enabling institutions to become more flexible, responsive, and keep pace with the rapid pace of change in the economy.

Higher education and blockchain might not seem like topics that have a lot in common, but looking beneath the surface reveals just how much potential this combination has moving forward. Increased responsiveness, better transparency, and creating a new market for digital assets are just a few of the applications this combination can unlock; exciting times for sure.

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Blockchain And Online Learning Are A Powerful Combination - Forbes

Cryptocurrency was built on the premise that a reimagined financial system could exist. It was brought to life by a community that supported these ideals and worked tirelessly to bring them to fruition.

As the blockchain community grows, so does the recognition that cryptocurrency is important. According to Big Four audit firm Deloittes 2020 Global Blockchain Survey, more than half of those surveyed believe that digital assets will be very important, while almost 89% of respondents feel that digital assets will be important to their industries in the next three years.

Cryptocurrency remains the priority for the blockchain space within traditional financial hubs, such as Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, as outlined in Deloittes report. Such growing acceptance and support for blockchain and digital assets globally have proved to be important to adoption and advancements within the ecosystem.

The community has played a pivotal role in developing blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies since their inception. It is now imperative that the industry continues to recognize the important role the community will play in the further development and adoption of the digital asset space. There is still much that the industry as a whole can do to further spur growth within the community.

Cryptocurrencies were designed to be decentralized without any connection to a centralized third party. Forming the bedrock for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), decentralization allows users to transact digital assets directly with another user without the need for a third party, like a bank, to be involved.

This has led to a decentralized form of finance that enables a more open and transparent financial system supported by decentralized technologies like blockchain. Decentralized finance provides more inclusive access to financial services and credit at a lower cost. This includes smart contracts, protocols, decentralized applications and digital currencies, such as Bitcoin and stablecoins, notably Tether (USDT), whose growing usage in DeFi is indicative of the pivotal role that it plays in the nascent sector.

Decentralization also sees projects driven by community ideals, ensuring a free flow of information within the community. Community-driven development has given developers control over the development process, while the resources and decision-making authority are directly in the hands of the community.

There have been many examples of projects and exchanges in the industry that have taken a community-first stance to development, product offerings and overall day-to-day operations. For example, the ethos of Bitfinex has always been to remain driven by its community and to be designed for its community. Bitfinex is now one of the most advanced and most liquid exchanges in the world.

Polkadot built a community of anticipated followers and is now expected to be the most anticipated project since Bitcoin and Ethereum, which is transitioning to Ethereum 2.0 with the support of its dedicated community.

An important sub-community is crypto traders. Understanding the needs and feedback of trading communities, many projects and exchanges are now focused on creating a place for traders to communicate with one another. This has helped the industry flourish while creating a pathway for new tokens, projects and digital assets.

This focus on community building has led to the creation of crypto-centric social networks, such as Bitfinex Pulse, and has led to the creation of Reddit communities for nearly every project in the industry. These platforms have opened up a dialogue for the next generation of traders, facilitating a free flow of ideas and providing real-time, high-quality market intelligence for the benefit of the entire trading community.

Ultimately, innovation comes from outside and within. Innovation is vital within industries because it gives companies an edge in penetrating markets faster. Innovation can also provide better connectivity to developing markets, possibly leading to bigger opportunities. Listening to the opinions and needs of the community can facilitate and accelerate innovation within an industry.

The pressure to innovate, challenge and self-disrupt are intense, especially as the blockchain industry transforms at an exhausting rate.

By taking the time and effort to build and listen to the community, companies and industries can tap into a pool of diverse voices and new ideas to drive innovation. The same is true for the blockchain industry as well.

Building the blockchain community has led to many new innovations and further adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. This intense focus on community building can only help the digital asset space to fulfill its immense potential.

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

Paolo Ardoino joined Bitfinex at the beginning of 2015 and now serves as its chief technology officer. After graduating from Genoas Computer Science University in 2008, he started working as a researcher for a military project focused on high-availability, self-recovering networks and cryptography. Interested in finance, Paolo began developing financial related applications in 2010 and founded Fincluster in late 2013. Backed by two financing investment rounds, Fincluster delivered an advanced, modern and accessible web platform serving different clients with customization capabilities.

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Building the blockchain community is essential for further developments - Cointelegraph

Lex Sokolin, the Global Fintech Co-Head and CMO at ConsenSys, confirms that the organization recently acquired Quorum from J.P. Morgan. Quorum is a platform that serves as a private, enterprise version of Ethereum (ETH). As covered, ConsenSys has also received an investment from J.P. Morgan.

Sokolin notes that theres a lot of jargon or confusing terminology being used in the blockchain industry, and that he wants to try to explain the acquisition in simpler terms, so that people can really understand why the Quorum project is relevant to traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi).

He explains that, at the core of the answer, is the question about the computing paradigm. He notes that we should ask: How does software operate? Where does it operate?

Sokolin continues:

Who secures [software]? And of course, in the spirit of our common interest, how does this impact financial infrastructure? Ultimately, financial infrastructure is just our collective solution for enabling the above activities using the latest in technology. J.P. Morgan, the global bank, was one of the first large financial institutions to understand and invest in the potential of this technology.

Sokolin adds that J.P. Morgan had an internal team that developed a version of Ethereum (ETH) that supported the specific requirements of the financial company, including privacy and scalability. ConsenSys has also been making updates to the technology stack to address Fintech related issues experienced by financial institutions when they work with blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT)-based platforms, Sokolin said.

He explains that theres been a steady progression from mainframe computers, to standalone desktop PCs and more compatible laptops that would run using local software. Now, we are leveraging the magnificence and efficiency of cloud computing which is accessed via the interfaces of mobile devices.

We also have open-source programmable blockchain or DLT networks that are being secured by computational mining, he adds. He also mentions that these gears of computational machine [support] core banking, portfolio management, risk assessment, and underwriting in the guise of various companies.

Sokolin writes:

[We have] worlds that today are quite different: the exponential innovation of decentralized finance, trying to outpace regulation and automate away human involvement, and the transformative reformatting that will happen to financial incumbents over time. As DeFi assets approach $10 billion, one narrative we may see is that crypto is a completely separate, new sphere of economics and finance. It does not need to connect to the old world. It simply needs to be left alone to perform.

He adds:

In some sense, this is the distinction between physical cash, credit cards, e-commerce payment processors, NFC-based proximity payments, and QR codes. Each has their own logic and sphere of influence. But in reality, one usually sits on the accomplishments of the other. Even Ant [Group] today is directing its billion users to traditional capital providers, while leveraging modern user experiences.

He thinks that the ConsenSys Codefi application suite is evolving towards the natural financial behaviors turned into software. For example, ConsenSys Codefi apps may be used for paying, saving, investing, trading, insuring, Sokolin explains.

He claims that DeFi protocols such as Aave, Compound, Maker, Nexus Mutual, and Yearn do even more of the work as battle-tested and capital-tested financial primitives. He believes that all we need to do in the long-term is to connect into them in a risk-managed way to the existing economy.

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Ethereum Blockchain focused Developer ConsenSys Is Also Addressing Fintech related Issues, Industry Exec Explains - Crowdfund Insider

What is blockchain?

Blockchain technology is a ledger-based technology that has traditionally been used in banking and crypto-currencies like Bitcoin. Blockchain stores information in batches or transactions call blocks. Each addition, deletion or modification of this data is composed of an additional block. These ledger entries are linked together in a chain of blocks.

Blockchain was designed to be decentralized and distributed across a large network of computers. There were two purposes for this decentralization; the first being redundant storage to ensure data is not lost and the second to ensure there is trust in the data. This trust is first created by the initial computer solving a crypto puzzle. This crypto answer is then shared with all other computers on the network, this is called proof-of-work. The computers in this network all verify the initial proof-of-work and if correct the new block will be added to the chain. The combination of these complex math puzzles and the verification by many computers provides trust for each block in the chain.

The healthcare industry started looking carefully at blockchain technology many years ago as a way of ensuring confidentiality, integrity and availability of health data. Rising attacks by cyber-criminals and nation-state hackers has compounded the urgency for increased protection of PII, PHI and clinical research. Recent cyber-attacks against medical research facilities working on COVID-19 vaccines underlines this urgency.

In 2017, the US FDA partnered with IBM Watson to develop a secure exchange of medical record data utilizing blockchain, In 2018, Mount Sinai opened a center for Biomedical Blockchain research to evaluate its own medical research programs and its partnerships and eMQT utilized blockchain to study the results of their sequencing of DNA from thousands of Africans with sickle cell disease.

The Healthcare industry is constantly working to increase the stability and comprehensive nature of their EMR systems. Blockchain offers secure and complete access to a patients global medical records. This combined need for transparency and security are at times in conflict with each other. Blockchain technology offers a means to reach both goals without impacting the other.

The security aspect is covered by the fact that every node in the network must verify and record any changes to the medical record. This means that if someone wanted to tamper with the data, they would have to control every computer in that network.

The fact that the medical record data is stored across so many network nodes assures access to that data for the patients provider. A single servers downtime will not impact patient care.

More importantly, since the medical data belongs to the patient, each patient can decide who should have access to it at any given time. This control of their own data empowers patients to play a greater role in their own care.

There are many case studies to argue for the use of blockchain technology in healthcare:

Our healthcare institutions are constantly under attack in 2018 over 15 million patient records were compromised in 503 breaches. In 2019 according to Malwarebytes there was a 60% increase in these breaches and a majority of these breaches were over an extended period and not reported within the HIPAA mandated 60 days. Blockchain can provide data security because it has no centralized point of failure and users can only access the data with a highly complex access key, making ransomware and similar attacks useless against it.

The lack of interoperability in healthcare is one of the most common pain points as physicians seek to treat their patients in a timely manner. The decentralized nature of blockchain allows for access to medical records across states, countries and continents. It helps to alleviate the challenge created by incompatible security protocols between different institutions as the patient is the critical owner of the data. Each patient could own a digital key that they could share with their medical providers and their health insurance provider.

There is no such thing as free healthcare, even non-profit organizations must seek compensation to cover their operating costs. Blockchain with its instantaneous exchange of medical and financial information could allow insurance claims to be instantly filed and fulfilled as all data will be verified and coming from trusted partners.

There are some problems that must be resolved for blockchain to become the panacea for secure access to healthcare medical records:

Blockchain suffers from the double hit of being a fairly new technology (2008) and that had been closely tied to the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. This perception has hindered its acceptance within the medical research communities.

All entities involved in patient care and medical research must embrace this new model of collaborative exchange of information with new read/write standards and the distributed platforms and systems needed to support this new blockchain technology.

One of the questions raised is if a patient is unconscious how can the patient provide the security key to access their data files. There must be a way that the patient can always carry the keys with them and does not require any conscious input from the patient. Medical bracelets with biometrics security could be a solution to this problem.

Blockchains ledger legacy means it is difficult for it to handle large amounts of data in a single transaction such as an MRI or CAT Scan image or even genome sequences. Backend repositories and encoded libraries will be needed to store and track these large file formats.

Blockchain does not remove deleted or replace modified records; instead additional blocks are added to the chain to represent these deletions and modifications. This process results in the need for ever-increasing storage. EMR systems and their associated redundant backups are already a huge cost to healthcare institutions, making these storage requirements larger and the constantly growing storage in support of these chains becomes a technical and financial hurdle.

Finally, in todays ongoing medical evolution there is a battle between the time a provider spends examining the patient and the time it takes them to enter the data into their EMR systems for patient tracking and billing. Both of these times slots are under pressure to be reduced to allow the provider to be more efficient without sacrificing patient care. Any new data technology like blockchain must be applied and provide secure access of the data without adding steps and time to the doctors patient process.

It is often said that blockchain as a viable technology, could be many years from practical application across the healthcare industry, but as we are already seeing, this is not just limited to cutting edge early adopters.

Adoption of blockchain has already taken off with over 2 dozen companies including IBM implementing their own solutions to meet not just secure access of the EMR data but also utilizing AI to identify patterns within the Block Chains to help identify leading remedies or effective treatments for a specific disease. Medical equipment manufacturers and drug research companies can track the development, manufacturing, delivery and effectiveness of the products and programs to validate their efforts to bring a product to market.

The latest example of this is Mount Sinais use of blockchain technology in its use of AI to rapidly read chest CAT Scans of potential COVID-19 patients. CT chest scans have been proven to be a more reliable validation of a COVID-19 viral infection than the present swab and blood testing. Mount Sinais research has found that its AI model can accurately detect the ground glass opacities in the lungs as well as any seasoned radiologist. This will greatly accelerate the time required to identify a positive patient and limit their time to spread the disease before being forced into quarantine.

The advantages of blockchain technology is only just beginning to be understood. When this technology is combined with AI, the possibilities to find treatments to our major sources of diseases may be endless. As US and other healthcare systems attempt to deal with both financial and pandemic crises, so the development of tools, technologies and clinical applications that encompass blockchain will become ever more necessary and desirable. As interoperability and digitalization of health services across the world increase so too will the need for verifiable patient information and the need to protect that information from attackers. Blockchain is here to stay!

Originally posted here:

What Stands in the Way of Healthcare Blockchain Adoption? - DevPro Journal

With unemployment numbers at record highs, millions of people around the world are embarking on the daunting task of job hunting which is even more challenging for both candidates and recruiters in todays world of remote work.

Lets face it finding the right person for the right job is hard enough, but verifying their credentials to finalize the hire can be a nightmare. Personal references can often be unreachable or unresponsive, past roles may be unverifiable due to the companies being defunct or acquired, and credentials from other countries are incredibly hard to validate. It makes it difficult for both the employer to make a hire and candidates to land the job.

This is where blockchain technology can make a huge difference in essence, acting as a trusted source of truth for employers and delivering a greater sense of data security for employees records.

Yes, thats right Im talking about applying blockchain to careers. The same technology that can be used to facilitate currency exchange, and that many companies now use to track shipments of goods across a supply chain. Believe it or not, blockchain has an incredible opportunity in the workplace to help validate data about career history, educational background, and accreditations.

To discuss blockchains potential for the future of work, I met (virtually) with Dror Gurevich, CEO of the Velocity Network Foundation, a non-profit established by Velocity Career Labs, developer of blockchain technology that underlies a global network for verifiable education and career credentials, known as the Internet of Careers. Founding members of the foundation include tech companies (including Oracle), background screening firms, professional services providers, and ed tech specialists. Heres what we discussed:

Fixing the Data Problem

The problem that the foundation wants to remedy is the fragmented and unreliable data underlying todays HR processes and systems, Gurevich told me on the call.

While organizations have made progress in their ability to manage employee data, many employees now have multiple employers or are taking gig assignments on the side. This makes it difficult for a single employer to have the holistic picture needed to drive personalized solutions and derive value through analytics. In fact, most of this career data is scattered across multiple platforms and databases, with proprietary restrictions making access either difficult and/or prohibitively expensive.

The Velocity Network instead proposes a system where individuals use a designated credential wallet app to connect with credential issuers (i.e. their employers, schools, trade associations etc.) to claim their career-related records. Those credentials are issued and signed by the issuing entity and then the individual can store their credentials on a local device.

In parallel, the issuer generates a cryptographic proof of validity that is stored on blockchain run by the Velocity Network. At that point, individuals can choose whether to share credentials with third-parties, how the credentials may be used by others, and for how long. Once a prospective employer or other party is authorized to access the blockchain, they can verify the credentials.

The foundations challenge is to make sure that the keepers of various pieces of peoples historyuniversities, technical organizations, training companies, employersall agree to fix this data problem, which slows the vetting and hiring process.

The current state of the art is that job applicants share their resumes with a target employer. If that company decides to proceed, a long, onerous, and expensive process of confirming past employers, degrees, and references listed on the resume ensues. Depending on the company, there will also be checks to credit and legal status. That process of chasing and verifying a scattered set of facts about a persons professional life can take weeks, even months. With readily available, verified, and tamper-proof records, hiring can be done much faster.

How the Pandemic Exacerbates Hiring Snafus

While the data problem described above pre-existed COVID-19, many virus-fueled job displacements have sparked a greater sense of urgency. When you need to hire healthcare workers and first responders to fill the ranks of sick workers, the stakes are higher.

And its not just first responders, per se grocery store stockers and cashiers, as well as a multitude of gig workers, are needed in full force now more than ever.

Take truck drivers for example. Their drivers licenses must be updated periodically to keep them on the road, but a commercial license renewal can take weeks to filter through various systems. During that time the availability of supplies hangs in the balance.

There are 1.6 million long-haul truckers in the U.S. Delayed credentials can cause lost work, lost income, and burden the supply chain, Gurevich said.

A verifiable, more automated process enabled by blockchain would mean that job openings are filled faster, allowing work to go on.

In addition, a truly international career network utilizing a blockchain-enabled set of references could help refugees and immigrantswho now typically must settle for menial jobsbetter apply their skills in a new country. How many times have we heard about refugees who were doctors or nurses in their native countries who must drive cabs or deliver food because they could not verify their credentials? Blockchain as a career tool can help provide a solution.

Cleaning Up the Resume Supply Chain

Additionally, the data in LinkedIn listings and other resume repositories is entirely self-reported, unchecked, and likely to include inaccuracies.

The emergence of more accurate and up-to-date data could not only help employers vet candidates more easily, but identify possible recruits more effectively.

Career credentials data is key to sustaining efficiencies across all employment-related processes: hiring, job matching, internal mobility, learning and development, compensation, benefits and complianceall are based on peoples career history and credentials data, Gurevich said.

Blockchain technology holds robust benefits for both individuals and organizations.

If you are an individual, you can control your career data and who can see it. If you work for a hiring organization, you will be able to find qualified job candidates faster. And you can apply analytics and AI to employee data to more accurately match individuals to suitable roles, recommend learning and development paths, and design talent management activities.

While the concept of blockchain playing a role in the future of work may seem unusual at first, the prospects and potential are immense. This technology could not only streamline processes, but reshape the way we search for jobs and build the right teams. Personally, Im very excited to see what the future holds for blockchain in careers and what Velocity Network can accomplish in this new world of work.

More:

Blockchains Role In Reshaping The Future Of Work - Forbes

ESG means Environmental, Social & Governance. SDG means Sustainable Development Goals. SDGs are set by the UN. Most SDGs have ESG implications. ESG rated companies have become popular in investment portfolios. This is because the ESG standing of a company is a proxy for long term value, say the boosters of ESG based investing. The retail investor, by necessity, outsources research on ESG to professionals and invests in funds with a sustainable focus. The funds are meant to investigate the sustainable claims of many companies. Instead of doing so themselves, they rely on outfits like MCSI and Sustainalytics to choose the portfolio companies.

Much like the ratings agencies whose triple A rated bonds cratered as the financial crisis hit in 2008, these ESG raters do not and cannot stand by their scores when non-sustainable practices at firms with high ratings are exposed. Similar to those rating agencies who also got paid by their targets to rate the bonds that they issued, there is often a conflict of interest at the heart of these ratings. The scores are often proprietary and employ models and methods, including survey based results which rely on the enterprises to self-report. Self-reporting has never been a good method to rate enterprises or individuals.

Sustainable Development Goals

After laying bare the debate about ESG based investment strategies; some efforts to improve the quality and depth of the data and hence make the scores more objective are discussed. Some of these proposals use the blockchain to secure the truths about the business attested by programmatic or other verifiable metrics. A combination of methods probably works best, with suspicious activity getting investigated further, including the use of shoe leather.

The US Labor department regulators recently released a proposed new rule, to clarify the ERISA guidelines as being concerned purely with pecuniary results. The new rule says that ESG ratings should not be used as a criteria for investment. Since this affects all investments by pension plans, it has a great influence on investment strategy and climate in the US; since pension plans control a huge chunk of investment. This new rule could be a huge problem for portfolio managers who are in charge of pension funds.

Another idea that has gained prominence when talking about the superior pandemic performance of ESG rated companies was that ESG ratings have nothing to do with it. A well respected analyst has asserted that ESG ratings do not have anything to do with the better performance of ESG rated companies; since the difference in performance during the pandemic is due to the fact that energy companies and airlines who have poor ESG ratings cratered in first weeks of the pandemic. You can certainly apply this narrow logic to the performance metrics focused on a specific crisis. However, nothing can be said about the wider alpha generated by better ESG metrics. Indeed the better performance of ESG companies during the pandemic can be thought of as being generated by their resilience, better credit ratings and being relatively sheltered from black swans like the pandemic.

One more example is a company called Boohoo in the UK. Boohoo had received good ESG ratings from the ESG rating agencies which earned it a place on some portfolios in ESG funds. When news broke that their supply chain included vendors that underpaid their workers, the stock dove. These revelations resulted in its removal from the ESG funds. This points to the lack of depth in the rating; for a fashion brand suppliers matter. This is a case of a company receiving higher grades than they should have, because of the lack of proper due diligence.

The head of State Street Advisors STT , Cyrus Taraporevala, published an op-ed in the Financial Times arguing against the dept of labor rule about the Erisa guidelines and its proscription of ESG ratings as criteria for investing. Taraporevala is all for the guidelines that put the fiduciary responsibility of the portfolio managers to focus on pecuniary results. However, his argument is that ESG forward companies are better suited to weather the storms since they focus on employee well-being, resilience of supply chains and agile management. This is more true in the longer horizon which most pension plans should be focused on. He asserts that stocks with higher ESG ratings are better bets in the long term. Taraporevala does admit that there are some gray areas in measurement and accounting for ESG risks.

There was some talk in the ESG community that using the SDGs to measure ESG performance would be better, since they are finer grained and may be actually measurable. There are 17 headings there rather than just three in ESG.

For carbon emissions and other types of environmentally destructive activities where there can be a measure of objectivity, independent auditors and public data can bridge the transparency gap. The IWA has created a Carbon Emissions Token that includes several measurements and assertions. Nominally this would be on the blockchain so that the various parties who issue and monitor the token can assert to the measurements.

Another effort in the climate & accounting SIG in Hyperledger to setup utility emission channels will use public eGrid data, published by the EPA, along with the customers utility bills to calculate the emissions attributable to their energy consumption can be used to rate enterprises on their emissions profile. This uses a blockchain to capture this information from multiple parties. All of this point to the original use case for the blockchain to be a non-repudiable source of ordered documents.

Other ESG factors are harder to measure, especially the social and governance aspects. The ESG rating agencies who use a host of factors to calculate the ESG ratings will have to use many more automated methods using publicly available data; including some from blockchain anchored data stores. These methods will get better as time passes and ESG ratings will no longer be questioned as proxies for long term performance.

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ESG And SDG Alpha Backed By The Blockchain - Forbes