The following is a guest post from Matthew Lieberman, CMO at PwC U.S. and Mexico. Opinions are the author's own.

Precisely measuring and demonstrating impact are two of the biggest challenges marketers face. It's one thing to know that after a campaign took place, sales rose 5%. But can you prove to clients or the c-suite that your team's efforts directly caused that sales boost? Can you identify which part of the campaign reached which audience at what time in order to fine-tune efforts and make the next campaign better?

Sure, you have data to answer some of those questions, but this data is probably inexact, late or hard to verify, so it doesn't inspire much trust.

That's about to change. With the help of blockchain, it's now possible to track marketing campaigns in near real time, with verifiable, trustworthy metrics. To see how it works, let's take a look at one sector that currently suffers greatly from this trust gap: digital advertising.

What happens when we run digital ads? In many cases, the answer is unknown. Organizations measure clicks and impressions, but thanks to bots, click farms and ghost sites, fraud is rampant. It costs the industry an estimated $22.4 billion a year, or about 10% of total ad spend.

The digital ad ecosystem is incredibly complex. By one measure, 23 participants are involved in getting a digital ad from the marketer to the publisher to the consumer, then getting data on performance back to the marketer. All the changing of hands opens a lot of room for fraud, human error, data leakage, cybercrime or simple sloppiness to make measurements inaccurate.

The result? Buyers aren't sure they can trust data on ads' impact, both for making payments and for fine-tuning campaigns. Publishers have to spend a lot of money and time trying (and often failing) to manage this system and compile decent metrics. Consumers, meanwhile, may not be getting ads that interest them.

One of the main reasons why blockchain matters to business is that it can more securely verify, store and selectively share data across multiple parties, thereby lifting trust. For digital advertisers, there are already a number of efforts underway to create blockchain-based registries of authenticated digital outlets.

Once these registries achieve critical mass, smart contracts on a blockchain can automatically test measures of impressions against the registry for authenticity. Blockchain can store these verified measurements with a time stamp and securely share them through a digital dashboard as widely or as selectively as desired. Artificial intelligence (AI) can then scan for anomalies, creating an extra layer of protection against fraud, cyberthreats or error.

This combination may allow marketers to more reliably follow the progress and impact of digital ads and demonstrate that progress to clients or the c-suite in near real time. If desired, smart contracts on this blockchain can automatically determine payments based on these authenticated measurements.

This is not a pipe dream. On a small scale, it's already happening. Toyota, for example, rolled out blockchain to reduce fraud in its digital ad buying and saw a 21% uptick in visits to its website as a result. Several vendors are now offering blockchain-based solutions to increase transparency and fight fraud. Companies including Anheuser Busch Inbev, Kellogg, Kimberly-Clark, Pfizer, Unilever, McDonalds, Nestle and Virgin Media have participated in pilots. In a different part of the ecosystem, NYIAX is using blockchain to add transparency and traceability to the sale of digital ads.

None of these solutions are yet able to cover the entire advertising ecosystem, so none can yet give marketers full visibility into how all their ads are performing everywhere. Nor are they taking full advantage of AI's potential to automate much of the process of detecting fraud and maximizing traceability. But we're still in the early days.

For this system to really transform digital advertising, it will need more than a few companies' buy-in. But the more companies get involved, the trickier it becomes, as everyone must agree on standards for data as well as how to share costs and benefits.

Yet the reward demonstrably trustworthy metrics, easily and securely shared is worth the effort. And just as blockchain can slash fraud and provide reliable metrics for digital advertising, it can support digital marketing in other ways as well. By offering new tools for consumers to manage their own digital identities and exert more control over their privacy rights, it can help marketers comply with GDPR, CCPA and other regulations, while encouraging consumers to share more data.

This potential surrounding blockchain is yet another reason why a modern marketer needs to understand digital technology and be ready to lead its implementation.

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Blockchain may be the answer to marketers' trust gap - Marketing Dive

The UKs capital city is the preferred hub globally for blockchain-related ventures, according to a report from private equity firm Outlier Ventures.

The report, authored by research analyst at Outlier Ventures Joel John, highlighted the benefits of basing blockchain projects in London, including its regulatory environment, simple corporate registration, as well as its proximity to Europe.

Many companies in the space have already established their roots in London, which maintains almost five times as many blockchain startups, compared to other established blockchain hubs such as Zug and Berlin.

One in three of the 450 blockchain companies headquartered in London are also able to raise funding, the research added, with a combined $503 million having been invested in London blockchain firms since 2013.

Last year, several firms heavily focused on blockchain technology expanded operations in London or won backing from major established institutions.Blockchain vendor R3 doubled its office spacein London to facilitate an aggressive hiring plan, as it looked to add 40 new hires to its main office.

More recently, the London Stock Exchange Group led a $20 million funding round in blockchain firm, Nivaura, which provides a digital investment banking platform for banks, exchanges and other firms to automate manual processes with the technology.

Various exchange operators including the Australian Securities Exchange and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, as well as larger banks, are also exploring implementing blockchain technology to post-trade, clearing and settlement processes.

Outlier Ventures report concluded that while almost 60% of all blockchain-related investments in London were in series A and B funding, the mortality rate is still high for startups. The conversion rate from seed stage to series A is 13% and only a mere 3% for series B.

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London leads the way as blockchain hub - The TRADE News

Computer scientist Ronald Rivest has said that blockchain is not the right technology for voting, although it can find proper application in a number of other areas.

Rivest delivered his opinion at the RSA Security Conference, held in San Francisco earlier this week, technology-focused news outlet ITWire reported on Feb. 28. Rivest who is a cryptography expert and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called voting an interesting problem that requires a more stricter approach compared to many existing security applications. He said:

According to Rivest, voting is an area that does not require hi-tech to work, and anonymity and secret ballots only complicate the process of audit. "Blockchain technology really doesn't fit for a couple of reasons. One is that we have learned we need software independence, Rivest said and further added:

Elaborating further on the matter, Rivest compared blockchain with garbage stored in forever. Once they've had the chance to manipulate your vote, it goes on the blockchain and never gets changed again," he concluded.

Rivests speech came on the heels of the Iowa Democratic Caucus scandal, when a mobile software application that had been devised to help calculate the total number of votes in the voting reportedly malfunctioned, resulting in the Democratic Party having to delay its public reporting of the results.

Following the event, blockchain-based applications were heavily criticised by regulators, with many political commentators and media analysts speaking out against mobile- and blockchain-based voting technology.

In the meantime, companies on the forefront of blockchain technology realize the potential of the products they are developing to not only transform the global economy, but also the way voters cast their ballots. Most recently, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab unveiled a new type of a blockchain-based voting machine using Polys, the system released back in November 2017 designed to be an effective and secure way to vote online.

Earlier in February, Indias Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that the country will soon be able to cast votes from outside their city of registration thanks to a blockchain-based system. With this move, the government hopes to increase voter turnout.

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MIT Professor: Blockchain Is Good on Its Own but Not Good for Voting - Cointelegraph

A new study suggests that organisations adopting emerging technologies in finance operations are growing their annual profits at a vastly accelerated rate. The international research asserts that artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and blockchain are finally passing the adoption tipping point to deliver a competitive advantage for businesses.

Digital technology has long been discussed as a potential game-changer in modern business, with artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) all being labelled ways for companies to save large sums of money in efficiencies, and improve security, productivity and customer experience in the process. As a result, investors have been diving into various pilot schemes over the last two years. However, new technologys often expensive application has often been said to be over-hyped.

While it has seen a great deal of excited uptake, for example, the volume of trade through various blockchain schemes has been so negligible at time of writing that it is too early to tell how soon blockchain might reach a critical mass, if at all. Similarly, many firms are still finding that AI and automation are not yielding the benefits they expected something which is often blamed on firms merely applying it as a cost-saving exercise, but still throws up questions about the technologys true value. IoT meanwhile continues to struggle to drum up significant interest in the automotive market, among others.

However, while all these factors do merit closer inspection, a new study from Enterprise Strategy Group and Oracle claims that new technologies are finally having a big impact on business performance. According to a survey of 700 finance and operations leaders across 13 countries, AI,IoT and blockchain deployments are passing their adoption tipping point, creating significant competitive advantage for organisations. Respondents from organisations adopting emerging technologies in finance and operations told the researchers they were growing their annual profits 80% faster than those who did not.

Focusing on the financial sector, the study found that the highest number of solutions currently in use to improve financial systems came in the form of IoT at 43% of respondents. Meanwhile, 36% said AI and machine learning functions were fully operational, and 30% were fully using blockchain to that end. The highest number of respondents (38%) also said they had AI pilots in place, suggesting this will soon be the most common form of emergent technology used to improve financial systems.

Almost three-quarters of respondents using AI said it was most commonly benefitting finance teams by delivering an improved understanding of why a business is performing at its current level. This was followed by more than seven-in-ten of those quizzed, who said AI was enabling for faster analysis and insights a key advantage in the rapidly changing businesses environment. The other stand-out response was that 68% of the sample said AI had helped reduce errors in automated tasks.

In terms of IoT, meanwhile, respondents suggested the technology is now surpassing expectations of it on most fronts. While only 40% of those not currently enhancing their finance systems with IoT expect it would lead to better inventory and asset management, a majority of 51% among those using it reported it had done just that. Similarly, while 42% said they thought IoT might improve their forecasting of demand, income, and costs, 50% reported it was fulfilling that role. While it would be wrong to say that means IoT is 11% more useful than expected, it does suggest that at least a portion of firms are missing out by not applying it.

Similarly, blockchain seems to be beating expectations in this manner. As data security is noted as one of blockchains key strengths, its not particularly surprising that a similar number of firms thought it would improve their ERP systems safety to the number saying it had done so. Elsewhere, however, a scarce 22% of non-users said they thought it would enhance their ERP systems ability to reduce reliance on manual processes if deployed, but 37% of those using it said that it had done so. On top of this, 26% said they thought it might improve corporate governance, whereas 37% asserted that it had helped achieve this.

Speaking on the findings, Juergen Lindner, Oracles Senior Vice President in SaaS product marketing, said, AI, IoT, blockchain capabilities enable organisations to innovate faster, creating significant competitive advantage and driving increased profit for companies embracing those technologies more decisively than their competitors The research finds that these technologies have become mainstream and organisations that sit on the sidelines risk their business relevance.

This study makes it clear that emerging technologies have passed the trial phase and are moving toward a state of widespread adoption, added John McKnight, EVP of Research and Analyst Services of Enterprise Strategy Group. The business case for these technologies in areas such as finance and operations is maturing at a rapid pace and in most cases benefits exceed expectations. Furthermore, the research shows that emerging technologies complement and amplify the benefits of one another, which underscores the importance of taking a holistic approach.

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How AI, blockchain and IoT help finance boost operations - Consultancy.uk

Part 4 of 4

As the world (and the markets) grapple with the implications of coronavirus COVID-19, events are being cancelled, and online enrollments in digital classes are spiking. Amazon has cancelled travel globally for 750,000 employees. Around the world, people are being ordered to work from home.

If you missed Part 3, you can find it here!

Beyond a short-term stopgap, are we seeing a more profound shift to a distributed organization, where people are separated by geography but united in common purpose and activity? How can blockchain enable this future?

In our final excerpt from Basic Blockchain, well take a closer look at these questions.

* * * * * *

Adapted from Basic Blockchain 2020 Visionary Future LLC, published by Robinson, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group

Perhaps one of the more novel applications proposed for blockchain is the reimagining of organisations through the lens of highly distributed decision making.

The heritage of open-source computing and highly distributed community projects provides robust DNA for an expansion of blockchains potential from the organisation of facts and figures to the shaping of human systems to new, flexible, creative and rapidly changing forms. The burgeoning needs of organisations to quickly respond to changing circumstances and markets provides the impetus for adopting new and different approaches to getting groups of individuals to move in a coordinated fashion.

Open-source computing was born out of frustration over the growing corporatisation of computer software development. A number of the original hackers who helped shape computer technology came from a laid-back, almost hippie counter-culture of the United States of the 1960s and 1970s. One such figure, computer scientist Richard Stallman, wanted to implement a simple workaround for a common problem: a shared printer that jams sending a message to everyone in the group, so someone could fix it. He discovered that the software for their new laser printer was closed and was proprietary prohibiting modification. This and other efforts to restrict information led him to create an open operating system, and help birth a movement towards collaborative systems.

Stallman was followed in the 1990s by Eric Raymond, whose essay The Cathedral and the Bazaar served as a call to arms for what he began to term the open-source software movement, accompanying the release of his open-source operating system Linux. With open source, the source code (written instructions) of the software is openly published for anyone to use for free. The socially understood price, however, is that if you make improvements, you need to publish those improvements back to the code so that others can take advantage of them. Instead of the proprietary software licensing model of companies like Microsoft, open-source companies like Red Hat made their money from selling services and solutions to enhance the open-source software implementation.

This has led to some large-scale projects, hosted on shared repositories like Github, with thousands of software developers around the world adding to the code and enhancing the code base for the benefit of the many. The MIT License is one of the most popular open source software licenses extant today a commonly understood legal framework for how to manage intellectual property rights that accompany software projects.

Decisions about what gets accepted into an open-source code library are determined by the project creators. The three most common models, according to the Open Source Guide, are:

These different models of managing open-source projects are often considered and applied to blockchain projects, themselves often open-source.

Variations on meritocracy and liberal contribution have been used in numerous blockchain projects, including bitcoin. Both resulted in the unexpected consequence of the hard fork as an output of the democratic decision-making behind blockchain governance, as we discussed earlier in Chapter 1.

Indeed, if we look at Bitcoin versus Bitcoin Cash, the former has a considerably larger market share than the other.

As we apply the lessons and formulae from open source and blockchain to the management of organisations, we see an outline emerging of what a responsive organisation of the future might look like.

Why is this organisation needed?

Technology adoption has been accelerating on a power law curve (basically, its getting faster and faster with each new technology). It took a century for the telephone to reach 80 per cent of the US market. It took about two decades for the World Wide Web to get to similar levels. It took only a couple of years for mobile internet to achieve the same penetration. By some measures, the ascent of bitcoin was even faster.

As the pace of change accelerates, we run into the fundamental challenge that the way we organise ourselves, in groups and companies, isnt keeping up with the kind of decision making, creativity and flexibility that is needed from such structures in the face of a rapidly evolving technological environment. If a large organisation takes a year to study how to reorganise itself around a new opportunity, a year or two to act on those changes, and a year to absorb how to operate in the new structure three or four years in total how can it possibly address the next technology that might achieve widespread adoption in as rapidly as twelve months? In three months?

Many companies have adopted matrix management systems whereby the formal organizational chart is set aside, and functional teams are formed drawing from people across the enterprise to solve a particular problem. People would be recruited and put under the direction of an individual who did not necessarily write their annual performance review, but was tasked with guiding their work for that particular project. This enabled a business to more readily adapt to a new need and focus the necessary skills and talents required to address that need. Some matrixed teams endure for months or years; others are more ephemeral, existing merely for a matter of weeks.

Information systems struggle to keep up with human systems and the perversity of human behaviour. This informational friction has led to a number of cybersecurity failures, because it was more convenient for people to share passwords and logins than it was to go through the process to assign someone formal access for a short-term project. Edward Snowdens breach of the National Security Agency data systems was enabled in large part by his ability to convince more than two dozen colleagues to provide him with their security credentials under the guise of collaboration, stating he needed their credentials in his role as computer administrator. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Startup companies have to deal with an exceptionally rapid rate of change and respond accordingly. Many tend towards a loosely coupled management model with a high degree of individual autonomy and decision-making. Trying to apply conventional data models to a rapidly-evolving startup creates a host of challenges.

Holacracy is a form of management popularized by an American ecommerce company Zappos. Led by Tony Hsieh and still operated at the time of this writing with a high degree of independence even though owned by Amazon, Zappos trialled going a step further than matrix management. Tony wanted to do away with layers of management and coordination entirely. He proposed using something called holacracy, where self-organising teams and groups would attack challenges.

The advantage of a truly empowered individual is a greater sense of ownership and personal responsibility for work and outcomes. Particularly for the millennial generation, who seek recognition and meaning in their work, the new concept of holacracy holds a beguiling promise of relieving the drudgery of acting as a small cog in a very big machine.

A completely democratic organisation that seeks to move with common purpose in a competitive environment will face severe challenges, particularly in times of crisis or stress. At the same time, large organisations are seeking to reinvent themselves for the high velocity future by decentralising authority, granting greater decisional autonomy to individual business units and individuals, and using intelligence computer systems to tie together activity and action into a coherent whole.

In Zappos holacracy, an internal jobs board lets teams post tasks and individuals post skills, creating an ability to dynamically allocate labour and empower people to highlight the training they require to broaden or deepen their capabilities. When I visited Zappos a few years ago and met with Tony, I saw both an organisation made up of people who exuded purpose and enthusiasm, and a leader who could see beyond the edge of the map.

Holacracy is well suited to the open-source-inspired world of blockchain. And blockchain, in turn, can help make holacracy more viable. Now that information systems and data governance structures can adapt themselves thanks to smart contracts and DApps and AI integration with distributed ledgers to the dynamically changing needs and organisational structures of the institution.

Properly constructed AI agents could help mediate this reconfigurable organisation across a blockchain, automatically adjudicating what today requires human intervention. Ordinarily, when you move from one group to another, or get assigned temporarily to a project team, IT needs to change the permissions information that determines what data you have access to and how you access it. This can sometimes take longer than the duration of the project you are working on. The right kind of AI engine can make this automatic. Data permissions can accompany this reconfiguration on the fly, allowing for better data security and better data utility at the same time. And in an era of distributed teams, widely dispersed across many geographies, tightly linked networked communications can facilitate nimbleness and smooth functioning.

The organisation of the future may or may not live on a blockchain, but without question blockchain holds the potential to make that future organisation more effective. One of the challenges of decentralised decision-making is the loss of coordination of activities. In complex systems this can lead to gridlock and chaos, as nobody knows what the rest of the organisation is doing or how their work fits in with the greater whole, sometimes leading people to working cross-purposes.

The relatively rapid coordination and dissemination of information that blockchain enables can help address some of this chaotic behaviour and better conform it to a desired goal or outcome, such as completing a particular project on time and in synchronisation with a larger strategy. It can make organisations more nimble and respond more effectively to the challenges of a rapidly-changing, rapidly-reconfiguring business climate.

* * * * *

This concludes our series on blockchain past, present, and future excerpted from the new book Basic Blockchain. We look forward to continuing our journey into the future of technology and distributed systems in the coming weeks and months.

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Basic Blockchain: The Organization of the Future - Crypto Daily

Joseph Lubin, Co-Founder, Ethereum; Founder, Consensys

Blockchain, as a new technology, has faced fair critique in the last few years that it is a solution looking for a problem. This was mostly echoed by the predominant usage of blockchain in centralized, private and permissioned consortiums led by some of the largest enterprises in the world like Walmart, IBM and Carrefour. While they are trying to use the new technology for its obvious benefits like immutability, programmable smart contracts and the trustless nature of consensus-driven blockchain networks in areas like supply chain, financial services and healthcare, some of the benefits of using blockchain are minimized due to the centralized nature of the private networks.

Enterprises trying to escape from the private blockchain world encounter a challenge due to the many compliance and regulatory restrictions they face internally and externally and the general fear of their private data being exposed to the public or competitors. So far, we have seen several key examples when enterprises were using the public blockchain for important transactions. For example, late last year Banco Santander launched a $20 million bond on the Ethereum network, publicly revealing the issuing smart contract and the originating transactions on the ledger. The other significant effort was made by EY, releasing their privacy-protecting framework called Nightfall, which uses the popular zk-snarks technology to create an extra layer of privacy for Ethereum transactions.

This is all about to change soon as some of the largest players in the blockchain space like Microsoft, EY and ConsenSys are taking on the public Ethereum blockchain with their initiative called Baseline Protocol. This is a major development in the space because the initiative is taking a completely different approach than previous efforts. In the past, enterprises were looking at the blockchain network mostly as a settlement layer, a place to store the final state of their transactions. This was the most obvious usage as this is the logic that most closely resembles the centralized databases enterprises are used to. But that is not the case with the Baseline Protocol initiative: They are taking a different approach and looking at the public blockchain as middleware and not a settlement layer with the help of privacy-preserving techniques like zero-knowledge tools. There are many use cases in the enterprise world where you need to have an integration layer that is always available, without downtimes, stays the same and is accessible for all the partners on your network. Think about all the enterprises spending a lot of money to maintain development teams focused only on connecting different ERP and CRM systems with their internal databases while maintaining the integrity of the data. This heavy lifting can be mitigated now using the Baseline Protocol, which is released as an open-sourced project funded by Ethereum Foundation and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

Over the last two years, we have been advancing the state of the art for private, secure transactions on public blockchains. This takes the groundwork we have built and starts filling in gaps such as enterprise directories and private business logic, so companies will be able to run end-to-end processes like procurement with strong security.

The effort is initiated by ConsenSys, EY and Microsoft, but also participated in by numerous others like Splunk, ChainLink, Unibright and MakerDAO, which are all important in the crypto and blockchain space. Each one of the dozen companies in the initiative brings something different and will play an important role moving forward.

A lot of people think of blockchains as the place to record transactions. But what if we thought of the Mainnet as middleware? This approach takes advantage of what the Mainnet is good at while avoiding what its not good at.

Suffice to say that we are living in exciting times as we continue to work on and build the different components of the blockchain stack. Enterprises moving from private, permissioned networks to using the public blockchain network will be a significant leap; it will need to pass many technical tests and be fitted into the cost analysis and risk management framework models we do for our current tooling. The inception of Baseline Protocol will only help and hopefully lead the way in that direction.

Original post:

Microsoft, EY And ConsenSys To Make The Public Ethereum Blockchain Safe For Enterprises - Forbes

Patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus wait to be transferred from Wuhan No.5 Hospital to ... [+] Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built hospital for the COVID-19 coronavirus patients, in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on March 3, 2020. - Across the world, 3,127 people have died from the new virus. More than 92,000 have been infected in 77 countries and territories, according to AFP's latest toll based on official sources at 1100 GMT on March 3. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

When crypto and blockchain technology get brought up in casual conversation, it often turns to the multiple ways they can be misappropriated by illicit actors. Examples include:

Laundering money

Financing terror

Trading drugs and other contraband

Crypto advocates immediately get defensive.

After all, they must concede that crypto could be used for these things, just like cash, but it can be difficult to present a tangible value proposition beyond investing that makes an impression.

No more. Not since COVID-19.

Since the virus first emerged, governments have struggled to find the right balance between providing up-to-date information without inciting panic and upending social order. In countries like the United States the issue is more about preventing fear mongering and ensuring a united front across the government.

For more authoritarian regimes the overarching concern is limiting social unrest and maintaining public faith in the regime.

This is a shame, because for something this important citizens should not have to rely on governments for what could turn out to be life-saving information.

With blockchain technology, they may no longer have to do so.

The Butterfly Information Effect in China

Countries like China were too slow to get information about COVID-19 to their population at the outset, and now they are struggling to allow for a tolerable amount of online dissent without losing control.

What does this look like in practice? According to a recent report from the University of Torontos Citizen Lab, censored content included criticism of government, rumors and speculative information on the epidemic, references to the late Dr. Li Wenliang, and neutral references to Chinese government efforts on handling the outbreak that had been reported on state media. Some specific examples cited in the report included:

YY, a live-streaming platform in China, began to censor keywords related to the outbreak on December 31, 2019, a day after doctors (including Dr. Li Wenliang) tried to warn the public about the then unknown virus.

WeChat broadly censored coronavirus-related content (including critical and neutral information) and expanded the scope of censorship in February 2020.

Whats worse, Citizen Lab found that the censors were blocking access toinformation sources,not just commentary about COVID-19.

The View From Tehran

In Iran, the government has been inundated with accusations that it is minimizing the impact of the virus within its borders. The numbers suggest there is truth behind them. For instance, according to official figures cited in theFinancial Times,Iran has the highest COVID-19 mortality rate in the world.

TEHRAN, IRAN - MARCH 02: An ambulance staff wearing a protective mask and a suit takes a patient to ... [+] a hospital as death toll from coronavirus (Covid-19) rises to 66 in Tehran, Iran on March 02, 2020. The death toll from coronavirus in Iran has reached to 66 as 12 more people lost their lives due to the virus and the total number of confirmed cases rose to 1,501. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

This seems hard to imagine since by the time it reached Iran much more was known about the virus than when it first emerged in China. Therefore, there are only two ways that this can be true:

1.For some reason COVID-19 is more deadly in Iran than anywhere else in the world

2.The Iranian government is underreporting the number of cases in the country

If the latter is true, why would Iranian officials do this? Well, from the perspective in Tehran all of this obfuscation makes sense for a couple of reasons:

The healthcare system in Iran is substandard

The government is still reeling from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps accidentally shooting down a citizen airliner earlier this year

Obviously neither one of these options is ideal, but if the latter is true it could mean that the government unnecessarily exposed millions of citizens to the virus.

We All Deserve Better

Citizens in China, Iran, and other countries around the world should not have access to potentially life-saving information filtered, or censored, by governments with competing priorities.

Every governments top priority is to protect its citizens, and during times of global health emergencies that involves directly giving people full and correct information, or at the very least letting them find it for themselves.

Blockchain Technology and Open Protocols are the First Step

Blockchain technology at least solves one of these issues. Open networks are censorship-resistant and immutable. When information goes up on a blockchain it stays there forever. This could prove to be a necessary lifeline for individuals in affected areas.

Now, it is important to note that these traits are necessary, but not sufficient by themselves to solve the problem. We must have the infrastructure and applications necessary to send billions of messages and gigabytes of data. Additionally, citizens need ways to evaluate the accuracy of data and detect the signal from the noise. Finally, citizens in China, North Korea, and other restricted areas require consistent access to the Internet. Fortunately, work is taking place behind these scenes, and hopefully things will be different during the next crisis.

However, with blockchain technology the first step is in place, suggesting we are off to the right start.

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The Global Struggle For Information About COVID-19 Is A Reminder Of Blockchains True Value - Forbes

Historically, no asset has been a greater source of wealth creation than the stock market. Throughout its history, stocks have returned an average of 7% per year, inclusive of dividend reinvestment, and when adjusted for inflation. For the average long-term investor, this works out to a roughly doubling in value about once a decade.

Then cryptocurrencies came along and turned this traditional source of wealth creation on its head. When 2017 began, the aggregate value of all digital currencies combined equaled just $17.7 billion. However, as recently as this past weekend, the combined market cap of the nearly 1,400 investable cryptocurrencies was almost $836 billion. That better than 4,500% increase in value is something that the stock market would take multiple decades to accomplish.

Yet, truth be told, most folks don't understand the basics of cryptocurrencies, or the blockchain technology that underlies them. Recently, we broke down what cryptocurrencies are in the easiest way possible. Today, we're going to explain, in plain English, what blockchain technology is all about.

Image source: Getty Images.

Blockchain is the digital and decentralized ledger that records all transactions. Every time someone buys digital coins on a decentralized exchange, sells coins, transfers coins, or buys a good or service with virtual coins, a ledger records that transaction, often in an encrypted fashion, to protect it from cybercriminals. These transactions are also recorded and processed without a third-party provider, which is usually a bank.

The main reason we even have this cryptocurrency and blockchain revolution is as a result of the perceived shortcomings of the traditional banking system. What shortcomings, you ask? For example, when transferring money to overseas markets, a payment could be delayed for days while a bank verifies it. Many would argue that financial institutions shouldn't tie up cross-border payments and funds for such an extensive amount of time.

Likewise, banks almost always serve as an intermediary of currency transactions, thus taking their cut in the process. Blockchain developers want the ability to process payments without a need for this middleman.

Image source: Getty Images.

So, what does blockchain technology bring to the table that current payment networks don't? For starters, and as noted, it's decentralized. That's a fancy way of saying that there's no central hub where transaction data is stored. Instead, servers and hard drives all over the world hold bits and pieces of these blocks of data. This is done for two purposes. First, it ensures that no one party can gain control over a cryptocurrency and blockchain. Also, it keeps cybercriminals from being able to hold a digital currency "hostage" should they gain access to transaction data.

Second, removing the middleman from the equation and working around the traditional banking system should allow for smaller transaction fees. What's unclear is if lower fees would mean cheaper fees for the consumer, or just bigger profits for businesses deploying blockchain technology.

Third, and maybe most important, blockchain offers the potential to process transactions considerably faster. Whereas banks are often closed on the weekend, and operate during traditional hours, validation of transactions on a blockchain occur 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some blockchain developers have suggested that their networks can validate transactions in a few seconds, or perhaps instantly. That would be a big improvement over the current wait time for cross-border payments.

Image source: Getty Images.

However, blockchain isn't perfect, and it does have some clear drawbacks.

One obvious hurdle is the adoption of the technology. To deploy blockchain, financial institutions would essentially have to abandon their current networks and start anew. Trying to integrate the current payment networks with blockchain could prove exceptionally challenging -- to the point where some businesses don't even bother trying to do so. It's also still unclear, with the exception of bitcoin (CCY: BTC-USD), the world's most popular cryptocurrency, if any blockchain aside from bitcoin could survive being scaled to handle a lot of transactions.

Blockchain can also, depending on the circumstance, be very energy dependent, and therefore costly. When transactions are being verified (which we're going to talk about in the next section), it's possible that a lot of electricity can be used. This is the case in point with bitcoin, which is why so few cryptocurrency miners actually find that validating transactions on bitcoin's blockchain is worthwhile (and profitable).

Differentiation of blockchain networks is also a concern. Right now, there are close to 1,400 cryptocurrencies, and many have their own versions of blockchain technology. It's unclear which few will rise to the front of the pack, or which blockchains businesses will prefer. What's in favor now could quickly become yesterday's news.

Image source: Getty Images.

Processing transactions on blockchain also comes with the issue of ensuring that the same cryptocurrency coin isn't being spent twice. That's where transaction validation comes into play.

There are two primary ways that transactions on blockchain are validated: proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS).

Bitcoin runs on the PoW model. What happens with PoW is that cryptocurrency miners (a fancy term for people with really high-powered computers) compete against one another to solve complex mathematical equations that are a result of the encryption protecting transactions on a blockchain network. The first miner to solve these equations, and in the process validate a block of transactions, receives what's known as a "block reward." For bitcoin, a block reward is paid as a fraction of digital bitcoin.

The other primary validation method is PoS. Rather than using a ton of electricity in a competition to solve equations, the PoS method awards the owners of virtual coins the opportunity to validate transactions in a deterministic fashion. In even plainer terms, the more coins you own of a virtual currency operating on the PoS model, the more likely you are to be chosen to validate blocks and add to the blockchain.

It's worth pointing out that while the PoW method hands out block rewards as virtual coins, the PoS model rewards its stakeholders with the transaction fees paid by the users of the block that's being verified.

Image source: Getty Images.

One of the greatest aspects of blockchain technology is the ability for a developer or business to customize it. This means a blockchain can be completely open to the public and allow anyone to join, or it can be totally private, with only certain folks allowed access to the data, or allowed to send and receive payments. Bitcoin is an example of an open-source public blockchain that allows anyone to join, whereas a private blockchain would be perfect for a corporate customer.

Despite popular belief, most blockchain transactions aren't anywhere near as private or anonymous as you'd like to think. Even though you don't have to provide a Social Security number or bank account when buying or selling cryptocurrencies, an analysis of a blockchain can often be traced back to an individual sender or receiving of funds.

A small class of digital currencies known as privacy coins aims to make blockchain-based transactions untraceable. They do this by beefing up the protocols designed to obscure the identity of the sender and receiver of funds, as well as the dollar amount being sent. Yes, privacy coins have been accused of being a haven for the criminal community. However, most privacy coin and blockchain developers also suggest that this is a minute component of their community, and that nearly all members are legitimate consumers and businesses.

Image source: Getty Images.

Up to this point, you've probably noticed that we've discussed the application of blockchain as a means to improve the financial services industry. But, it may actually have plenty of use beyond the financial sector.

For example, Ethereum (CCY: ETH-USD), which has a nearly $116 billion market cap and is the second-largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, currently has 200 organizations testing a version of its blockchain technology.Yes, traditional banks are testing out Ethereum's blockchain, but so are companies in the technology and energy industries. Integrated oil and gas giant BP (NYSE:BP) envisions using a version of Ethereum's blockchain to aid it with energy futures trading. If these transactions were to settle faster, BP could presumably improve its margin.

Blockchain may also offer the ability to replace state ID's that we carry in our wallets, or perhaps help tech companies such asCisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) manage their Internet of Things network. Right now, Cisco is working on its own proprietary blockchain technology that can identify different connected devices, monitor the activity of those devices, and determine how trustworthy those devices are. It has the potential to continually "learn" and assess which devices are trustworthy, and if they should be added to a network.

So yes, blockchain is about way more than just sending money.

Image source: Getty Images.

Lastly, you're probably wondering how viable blockchain is. The honest answer is, "no one knows."

Truth be told, blockchain has been around for almost a decade thanks to bitcoin, but it's only now beginning to garner a lot of attention. Most businesses that are testing blockchain technology are doing so in a very limited capacity (i.e., demos or small-scale projects). No one is entirely certain if blockchain can handle being scaled as so many of its developers have suggested.

Perhaps one of the best real-world examples of blockchain in action is the partnership between Ripple (CCY: XRP-USD) and banking giants American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN). It was announced in mid-November that American Express users would be able to send non-card payments to U.K. Santander accounts over AmEx's FX International Payment network and have those transactions processed over Ripple's blockchain. The allure of this partnership is Ripple's instantly settling cross-border payments, as well as the expectation of small transaction fees.

Can blockchain really go mainstream? While that question remains unanswered for now, at least you have a better understanding of what this craze is all about.

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The Basics of Blockchain Technology, Explained in Plain ...

Imagine being able to scan a pack of fish with your smartphone and know instantly the journey that tuna steak had made from bait to plate - even down to when, where and which boat caught it.

Well, thats now possible, thanks to a new wave of technology being trialled by WWF and partners in the Pacific islands.

This scannable technology could help you trace the fish you buy

Image: Netflix/WWF

Blockchain could revolutionize tuna fishing - making illegal fishing impossible, protecting fish stocks, and allowing consumers to know with certainty the fish on their plate is sustainably sourced.

If you have the opportunity as a consumer to know with confidence that youre buying from a fishery that engages in sustainable and ethical practices, then of course you would want to do that, says Bubba Cook, WWF Pacific.

More than half of the worlds tuna comes from the Pacific Ocean. But tuna fisheries are at a turning point, says Cook.

The Pacific bluefin tuna is heavily overfished and the biomass is at near historically low levels," according to the latest report from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation.

Illegal fishing drives declines in certain fish stocks. Traceability can help fight those declines.

Image: International Seafood Sustainability Foundation

We have seen heavy depletion in certain stocks, like for instance the Pacific bluefin tuna which is at less than 3% of its historic biomass. That should be a shocking figure for anyone that the historic stock has been depleted to the point where the tank is almost empty, says Cook.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major threat to marine biodiversity, the sustainability and balance of marine ecosystems, and to fish populations worldwide.

But it also impacts fisheries. The estimated average IUU catch in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean in 2009 had a value of up to $1.5 billion, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Illegal catches of skipjack, yellowfin, albacore and bigeye tunas are estimated at $548 million annually.

If we dont improve traceability and address illegal fishing then were going to see continued declines in our fisheries, says Cook.

By preventing illegal activities, blockchain technology could help tuna stocks to recover and help fisheries worldwide.

Blockchain can track the journey of a single fish, recording information regarding where it was caught and how it was processed.

Once that information enters the system, it is verified by a network of thousands of computers, making it impossible to manipulate or falsify.

In the Pacific Island tuna industry, WWF has partnered with global blockchain venture studio ConsenSys, ICT implementer TraSeable, and tuna fishing and processing company Sea Quest Fiji Ltd to stamp out illegal fishing and slave labour.

This scanning feature could wipe out the market for illegal tuna.

Image: WWF/Netflix

If blockchain were to be fully implemented, it would be impossible for any illegal or unreported tuna to enter the market, says Cook.

Because its immutable and tamper-proof, blockchain creates an opportunity for verification and validation. It allows retailers and buyers to understand where [fish] is coming from.

In time, were going to see blockchain become the industry standard for transparency and traceability.

Its really exciting to think about the potential for that technology and what it could mean in terms of helping consumers make the right choices and drive things in a sustainable and ethical direction.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Here's how blockchain could be used to help tuna stocks recover - World Economic Forum

Vermont regulators will track hemp production on the ethereum mainnet in partnership with cannabis supply chain blockchain startup Trace.

The five-year deal, announced Monday by Vermonts Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM), is a production-ready solution for every level of the hemp trade, said Trace CEO Josh Decatur. Beginning in March, farmers and processors will begin putting all associated crop data into the Trace system, which runs on ethereum.

It is one of the first times a state regulatory agency has decided to run with the ethereum mainnet, Decatur told CoinDesk in a phone call. The two-year-old company, based in Vermont's capital Montpelier, has built an app users can share details through, and gas fees for conducting transactions are passed onto the users in this case, the state government.

Everyone is deriving value from innate blockchain tech namely the security that comes with public permissionless blockchain technology, he said.

Vermonts regulators said this is the first full-scale government registration and licensing system that pairs blockchain with the nascent hemp industry. Hemp was legalized nationally in the 2018 Farm Bill, but Vermonts program runs under the 2014 edition.

A cannabis strain used in the textiles industry, hemp represents a small but growing slice of Vermonts agriculture sector. The Green Mountain State had just 1,000 registered hemp farmers in 2019 with nearly 9,000 acres of farmland, as well as 300 processors, according Stephanie Smith, VAAFMs Hemp Program manager.

Its important to understand whats being grown, where it's being grown and where its going after being harvested, she said.

The mini-boom foreshadowed VAAFMs call for a hemp registration system. Trace, whose CEO has roots in the Northern California grow scene, beat out the competition.Being based in Vermont didn't hurt either.

We spent the last couple of years finding innovative ways to hone a product that could meet the tracking and data requirements of a state agency, Decatur said.

His Vermont-based team had been building seed-to-shelf tools for other sectors of the cannabis supply chain, such as cannabidiol (CBD) products. The company built patented software, an app and a web portal to document where, when and to whom a plant and its derivative products move.

Traces solution relies on the ethereum network. At 15 transactions per second, the network is hardly a salve for industrial users moving massive amounts of data. But that doesnt matter for the low-frequency hemp lot farmers who, Decatur said, only send three to four transactions per year.

The use case that weve applied the tech to fits into the performance restrictions of ethereum, he said.

Traces registration system should be live by the end of March, according to Smith, in time for the start of the outdoor growing season in June.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Vermont Turns to Home-Grown Blockchain Company to Track Hemp With Ethereum - Coindesk

Dive Brief:

Industry watchers say blockchain adoption in the enterprise is in its infancy.IBM's got time and resources to watch it evolve and deliver more workloads to its cloud.

Since 2018, IBM has tripled its blockchain patents each year, and has a workforce of 2,000 blockchain experts focused on development and implementation,the company told CIO Dive. Citing customers the size of Ford, Maersk and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, IBM's strategy hinges on luring more customers to its cloud platform.

IBM has worked to make inroads in advanced technologies such as quantum computing unveiling the IBM Q System One last year and blockchain. But the enterprise cloud market, led by Amazon Web Services,has remained elusive.

In the broader cloud market, IBM is a niche player, according to Gartner stats. In 2018 it landed in last place among the top five providers, with 1.8% of market share. IBM trails its closest competitor, Google Cloud, which sits at 4%.

In 2018, artificial intelligence, cloud and blockchain projects helped IBM emerge from a 22-quarter revenue growth crater. In January, IBM announced a succession plan for CEO Ginni Rometty, who led the company through a computing evolution. The company's choice of a cloud executive as CEO highlights IBM's shift to focus on the technology. Arvind Krishna, who will become CEO on April 6, currently serves as SVP for cloud and cognitive software.

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IBM bets on blockchain to leverage cloud revenue - CIO Dive

2018 and 2019 could be described as years in which there was a redefinition of blockchain technology and to what uses it should be channelled to. The decline of the market in 2018 as well as the rollercoaster ride of 2019 gave room for real-life use cases for blockchain technology to come to the fore.

So what does 2020 have in store for the blockchain? We can expect to see the following:

A bill has been submitted to the US Congress seeking to provide a proper regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, with legal backing. Harnessing the full potential of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies is only possible when this industry is regulated just enough to root out the bad guys, but not too much as to stifle innovation.

Many countries may perhaps be waiting to see what model of regulation the US brings to the table. Successful deployment of a regulatory framework in the US could spur a slew of similar actions across the globe.

If blockchain assets and other digital currencies are brought into regulation in the US, this may finally give the confidence to other institutional players to bring money into the market, knowing that they have a cover for their humongous investments. Enterprise adoption is going to increase and we will see further deepening of the cryptocurrency market as well as adoption of more real life use cases for blockchain projects.

Many more of the much-hyped ICOs of 2017 and 2018 that were on one form of life support or another may finally be killed off this year as disillusioned investors jettison whatever they can of their battered holdings in order to recover some of their investment. Many of those ICOs were simply riding the moving horse. With that horse starting to tire, it became aware of all the deadweight and started to throw them off its back. This is exactly what has happened to all the deadbeat ICOs which had no real product, no value to add, but only served as a way for the founders to make money off gullible people who could not predict what would happen down the road.

Ripple was able to raise an additional $200m in December 2019 despite the underwhelming performance of its token in the market. The reason is simple: it has a working product which is gathering loads of attention from the relevant market and more players in that sector are signing up. Projects which have great use case scenarios will keep attracting more funding and more clientele. It will only be a matter of time before the boys are separated from the men.

Bitcoin looks good to continue its dominance in the cryptocurrency market. According to TradingBeasts cryptocurrency guide for novice traders, it still commands the market capitalization, the trading volumes and market interest all across the world to maintain this position. Mention some other cryptocurrency in some parts of the world and many would draw blank; mention Bitcoin and the lights come on.

We expect this to continue in 2020. This will be more pronounced in countries whose national currencies would struggle in the face of economic turmoil. In these areas, Bitcoin would become the new safe haven asset, which only serves to continue Bitcoins market domination.

Some countries are in the stage of conceptualization, or are already in advanced stages of development of their national cryptocurrencies. Examples of countries that are considering launching digital versions of their national currencies include Switzerland and China, although the latter continues to keep mum over such a development. 2020 may also see more countries opening discussions and consultations to kickstart the digitalization of their national countries. However, these discussions seem to be well pronounced in Europe, less so in Asia and virtually non-existent in Africa and Latin America. Will the lagging countries be open to the idea? 2020 will tell.

Libra is yet to take off the blocks and already the project has started to face hitches with stiff opposition from the US, France and a few other countries. Some of its consort partners have also pulled out of the project. 2020 will determine if this project will take off or if Mark Zuckerberg and his team will decide to either kill off the project or replace it with something that is more agreeable to regulators and finance ministers.

So these are the events we think will shape the blockchain industry in 2020.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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What Does 2020 Have in Store for the Blockchain? - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin is back around $10,000. But dont be fooled into thinking that means the cryptocurrency is destined to revisit previous highs twice this level.

Im not saying this means a collapse. For better or worse, bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.26% is here to stay. But that doesnt mean that investors should consider it a wise or safe investment now.

After all, the vast majority of bitcoin price movement is built on the sentiment of the moment. This is not necessarily a damning commentary in itself, as there are entire investing disciplines built around chasing sentiment in everything from microcaps to boring old index funds. But its important to take a hard look at immediate market trends before you buy in.

And right now, the short-term sentiment just isnt pointing in the right direction for bitcoin.

Admittedly, the currency was off to a red-hot start in 2020 as it logged its best January since 2013, thanks to a 30% monthly gain. Whats more, this comes amid a historical backdrop where bitcoin lost ground in the last five prior Januarys.

On the surface that looks encouraging. But as a Coindesk analyst pointed out recently, part of the force behind this rise is structural and related to a planned supply-cutting event in May 2020 where miners will receive half the cryptocurrency reward for solving the underlying bitcoin blockchain. Markets typically see a boost in the several months before the halving date but then a clear market cycle top near the event itself, he writes. Its a structural pullback that old-school investors may call a buy the rumor, sell the news action.

Furthermore, before this breakout January in anticipation of the supply change, there was very little to be optimistic about in regard to bitcoin prices. In the second half of 2019, for instance, bitcoin declined in 15 out of 27 weeks with two more weeks ending flat. Thats only about a 38% weekly win rate.

The most damning evidence of all is that after briefly topping $10,000, bitcoin failed to hold on with a fast pullback of about 5% back below $9,800 on Monday, and volume appears to be weakening this week as dip buyers are reluctant to emerge and give the rally fuel to power higher.

Its also worth remembering that many bitcoin traders had plenty of swagger in early 2019 as the digital currency briefly flirted with $12,000 as it traded at levels not seen since the late-2017 bubble. But they were burned quickly by a big pullback last fall, as the cryptocurrency crashed below $8,000, owing to cratering sentiment and an underperforming Bakkt exchange launch in October that failed to generate much-anticipated interest.

The bottom line in bitcoin has always been volatility. So perhaps rather than clutching to the idea of $10,000, investors should take a more objective look at Januarys bottom of around $8,300 as a sign of where things could settle or worse, prices as low as $6,500 set as recently as December.

Some breathless supporters will surely pile into the comment section to remind me that this kind of short-termism is missing the whole point. To them, bitcoin is a safe haven investment akin to gold and in this environment of heightened uncertainty, now is the perfect time to pile in to this cryptocurrency as an alternative to risky stocks.

Thats a dangerous mischaracterization for two reasons: the first is that bitcoin is decidedly not gold, and the second is that even gold isnt quite a stable as its proponents claim.

On the first point, lets keep in mind that bitcoin went from under $1,000 to over $17,000 in less than a years time. Sure, it was to the upside, but its the very definition of a volatile move. Furthermore, we saw a lurch back down to a low of about $3,500 in early 2019 before a late-year rally took the cryptocurrency back to top $12,000 last summer.

In other words, this investment swung up 16,000%, crashed about 80%, then raced back up 240% ... all in less than three years. I know some people have different definitions of stable, but it is objectively incorrect to use that word about bitcoin.

On the second point, its important to divorce the mythos of gold as a store of value from the reality of past performance. The hard numbers show that gold bullion is largely an uncorrelated asset that doesnt move consistently based on the gyrations of the stock market. That admittedly has its appeal if you want to diversify, but its a far cry from a sure thing investment that is immune to tough times.

Consider the steady and substantial drop from around $1,800 an ounce in late 2012 to a low of around $1,100 by the end of 2015 as proof.

Bitcoin investors are right in some ways to compare the cryptocurrency to gold. Both assets can move independent of the stock market, and that means the potential for gains even when blue-chip stocks stumble in the short-term. But neither asset is a sure thing, and neither asset is a practical replacement for U.S. dollars or equity markets.

Im not nave enough to write one of the many premature obituaries for this digital asset, I have no beef with swing traders of bitcoin or any other asset, for that matter. And I truly think blockchain technology has huge potential in the long run. But its important to tune out the black-helicopter crowd that thinks any investment is the only safe bet, be it gold, bitcoin or otherwise. Thats simply not a logical way to invest.

Jeff Reeves is a MarketWatch columnist.

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Bitcoin recently topped $10,000 but dont expect a run to record highs - MarketWatch

Paxos Standard (PAX) continues to blur the line between traditional finance and the blockchain -- to the benefit of its users.

One of several types of cryptocurrencies that attempts to offer both anonymity and stability, PAX is a regulated "stablecoin" -- those cryptocurrencies that are backed by reserve assets. Now, it's also begun offering auto-transfers between bank deposits and stablecoins, so thatcustomers can automatically wire funds from U.S. bank accounts into either Paxos Standard or Binance USD stablecoins.

First issued in 2018 by the New York-based blockchain company Paxos, PAX was released as a token on the Ethereum Blockchain and is backed by funds held in FDIC-insured, U.S.-domiciled banks.

The Paxos Standard Token is now the fourth largest stablecoin with a market cap of $220 million and trading volumes of around $350 million daily. It is listed on over 100 exchanges, walletsand over-the-counter desks and has grown in popularity among traders due to its immediate settlement and verified reserves.

PAX FCAS is up 34-points (4.45%) since late-January when Paxos announced a new feature allowing customers to automatically wire transfer funds to or from their bank accounts. The goal is to increase the inflow of dollars on the Ethereum blockchain.

The team highlights the practicality of this new automated feature if you have weekly, recurring deposits of USD; if you are a trader who needs stablecoins on a weekly basis, or a merchant who accepts payment in stablecoins for instance. The team is actively making these transfers faster, within minutes for requests below a certain USD threshold, which explains the 10.22% increase in Developer Behavior were seeing.

FCAS is up 34-points (4.45%)

Developer Behavior is up 57-points (10.22%)

User Activity is up 14-points (1.48%)

Market Maturity is down 1-point (-0.10%)

TheStreet

Stablecoins provide the standard benefits of cryptocurrency without the volatility of price. This makes them extremely useful for users who wish to switch between a volatile cryptocurrency or traditional currency, and a more stable asset.

Regulations in the U.S., however, may deem stablecoins as evidence of debt that is put in circulation as money, forcing the issuer to be licensed as a bank or trust company. Paxos (formerly known as itBit Trust Company LLC) is well positioned in this regard because it is licensed as a limited purpose trust company, distinguishing itself within the blockchain industry as a trustworthy issuer.

Were really a technology firm at heart, and so were trying to give you the confidence of a bank, but the innovation of Silicon Valley, Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla says.

The FCAS Tracker provides institutional and sophisticated retail investors a top-down approach to tracking 500+ cryptocurrencies fundamentals. FCAS Tracker is currently free to a select group of new users as we continue to develop the product. Visit us here to gain access to Flipside Analytics.

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Cryptocurrency in Focus: Making PAX With Traditional Banking - TheStreet

The Blockchain Education Alliance launched by blockchain accelerator MouseBelt has gained several noteworthy new members.

Ashlie Meredith, the university program director for MouseBelt Blockchain Accelerator, told Cointelegraph on Feb. 11 that the new members include payment processing behemoth Mastercard, the innovation arm of major crypto exchange Binance, Binance X, Ripple's accelerator Xpring and cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin.

Smart contract platform NEO, internet-of-things startup IoTeX, blockchain security firm Quantstamp and big data blockchain service Constellation Labs also joined the alliance.

According to its official website, the Blockchain Education Alliance aims to support education to ensure students receive the skills, connections, and knowledge necessary to contribute to the blockchain ecosystem.

At its launch in October 2019, the alliance counted Stellar Development Foundation, Tron, Hedera, Icon, Ontology, Wanchain, Harmony One, Nervos, Orbs, LTO Network, Emurgo, Nem, and ETC Labs among its members.

In August 2019, MouseBelt launched a blockchain education initiative at three campuses in the University of California system.

The blockchain and cryptocurrency industry has long been suffering from the lack of a specialized workforce able to move the space forward. In late August 2019, Ripples head of social impact, Ken Weber, said that universities around the world should expand their education programs to offer blockchain and digital assets training courses.

Last month, Nikolai Mushegian, a former MakerDAO contributor and Carnegie Mellon alumnus committed 10,000 MKR valued at just under $5.65 million at press time to his alma mater to develop a research program for decentralized applications. In October 2019, a Masters degree in blockchain and distributed ledger technology was launched at the University of Malta.

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Mastercard, Binance X and Ripple's Xpring Join the Blockchain Education Alliance - Cointelegraph

When the Nervos Networka new, two-tiered Ethereum competitor that relies on a proof-of-work blockchainraised $72 million in a token sale, a huge chunk of the money was reserved for network development.

Nervos values its development grant pot at $30 million. Its made up of the cash it raised from the token sale (its token is called the Common Knowledge Byte), as well as some of the money from the market.

Its actually not really that much money, Ben Waters, Nervoss head of operations, told Decrypt, considering the companys plan to build up the network over the next five or ten years. Its a good raise, he said, but we definitely think we need to be very efficient with how we use the capital.

Today, Nervos announced the first two recipients of the money. Theyll build some of the infrastructure for the Nervos Network.

The first, Summa, a small blockchain company based in San Francisco, will get $75,000 to build a set of open-source libraries thatll make Nervos interoperable with the Bitcoin network. James Prestwich, co-founder of Summa, told Decrypt he first learned of Nervos in early 2019, and that he was impressed by its innovative state model.

Nervos gave the second recipient, Obsidian Labs, also based in San Francisco, $180,000 to develop a graphic IDE for developers building on Nervos. Itll make it easier for companies to build on Nervos, Rose Ren, co-founder of Obsidian Labs told Decrypt. With the Nervos IDE, developers will be able to read a simple tutorial on Medium and spend their time building rather than learning a new language, she said.

The Nervos Network is a two-tiered blockchain network. On the base layer, a proof-of-work consensus mechanism confirms important transactions. On the top layer, developers can build applications with unlimited scalability, claim Nervos. Nervos is underpinned by the CKB token, which users can pledge in exchange for state storage space on the base layer of the network.

Given its reliance on proof of work, and Ethereums move toward proof of stake, Waters said that Nervos is for people who think that that proof of work is the correct consensus algorithm, and the only real consensus algorithm that can deliver decentralization.

Its popular in Chinathe teams roots are in Chinas crypto space, the core development team is based out of Hangzhou, and its raised money from China Merchants Bank International, the international arm of the major Chinese bank.

In around six to twelve months, Nervos will open grants for decentralized applications and use cases, said Waters; these two grants are a precursor to more advanced stages of development.

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Ethereum rival Nervos announces first recipients of $30 million grant - Decrypt

Written by Tajha Chappellet-Lanier Feb 12, 2020 | FEDSCOOP

A senior member of the House Oversight Committee says hesinterested in exploring the use of blockchain for an upcoming decennial census.

I know that blockchain is used extensively on databases and registries in other countries, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass, said Wednesday during a hearing on the 2020 census. Are we looking at anything like that where we can use a more secure system, a distributed system, one that is less vulnerable in terms of where the census is going?

The Government Accountability Offices Nick Marinos, the watchdog agencys director for IT and cybersecurity, replied that while he is not aware that thetechnology was explored for the 2020 census, it may be an option for the bureau to consider for 2030.

Despite some pockets of strong interest in blockchain in the federal government,the distributed ledger technology is generally unpopular among many members of the civic technology community. Its seen as aposter child for hype, shiny object syndrome and government tech solutionism. Its also a technology with a narrow range of use cases and its either unnecessary or inefficient to use outside of these cases.

Lynch hinted that he might be interested in ordering the Census Bureau to conduct a study on blockchain viability within the census, and suggestedthat GAO should take initiative on such work. Lynch is a member of the panels Government Operations Subcommittee, which helps shape federal IT policy, and is chairman of its National Security Subcommittee.

Wednesdays hearing followed release of a new GAO report on the 2020 census that details mixed readiness for upcoming census operations. Marinos testified that while the bureau has successfully delivered several operational systems to date, it still faces schedule risks for five out of the 11 remaining deliveries including on the system for internet self-response.

Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham, meanwhile, maintained that the systems are on schedule and will be delivered as needed. He told the Oversight Committee that hes confident the online self-response system will be able to deal with any surge in user numbers, because it has been designed to far exceed the bureaus expectations.

In total, the 2020 census will rely on 52 new or legacy IT systems.

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Rep. Lynch wants the Census Bureau to look into 'blockchain viability' for 2030 - FedScoop

Samsung announced a new generation of smartphones during its Unpacked event on February 11. The Galaxy S20s provide advanced cameras, 5G technology and will be able to store your crypto.

However, unlike Samsungs last range of phones, the Galaxy S10s, it hasnt broadcast the cryptocurrency support to the same degree. While previously it advertised its blockchain keystore, announcing new coinsand eventually adding Bitcointhis time theres barely a mention of crypto or blockchain anywhere.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 has an upgraded screen. Image: Samsung.

The only reference is on Samsungs official website, which states that the S20 phones will contain a secure processor dedicated to protecting your PIN, password, pattern and Blockchain Private Key.

But elsewhere its lacking. There are no details as to what this might entail, which coins are supported and how many apps will be able to access the crypto support.

However, we can look to previous phones for answers. The S10s contained a secure enclave for keeping private keys, kept in the phones Knox security platform. It connects to Samsungs blockchain keystore app, which is used for people to see their balances and send money. Considering that the S20 also contains Knox, its possible that it will continue to use the same system.

We have reached out to Samsung for details on the S20s blockchain support and will update this article if we hear back.

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Samsungs new Galaxy S20 will have cryptocurrency support - Decrypt

According to their site, Tezos is an open-source platform for assets and applications backed by a global community of validators, researchers, and builders.

According to me its a rocket!

For those who know nothing about Tezos:

It is a technology for deploying a blockchain capable of modifying its own set of rules and it is said to causeminimal disruption to the network through an on-chain governance model.

Unlike other blockchains like as Bitcoin or Ethereum, in its most popular incarnation, a Tezos blockchain does not rely on mining (Proof of Work) but instead uses a Proof-of-Stake based consensus model.

They started recently in 2017 and areaSwiss-based non-profit. The company managed to raise a massive USD 232 million to become one of the biggestICOsat that moment.

The concept is soo popular thatIn July 2019,Banco BTG Pactualtogether with Dalma Capital, a Dubai based asset manager, announced plans to utilize the Tezos blockchain forSecurity Token Offerings(STOs).

It seems that they are on to something as you can see from the chart below. You cant really use any kind of technicals to forecast where this will end. Much like Bitcoin back in November 2018 let's let the market decide!.

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A 378.10% rise in less than 4 months is Tezos the new Bitcoin? - FXStreet

By Andrey Sergeenkov

As 2018 drew to a close, crypto skeptics were ready to write obituaries after the devastating bear market that year. Talk of blockchain and cryptocurrency demise was rife among seasoned analysts. Just over twelve months later, the industry has shown remarkable resilience to rebound back.

Regulators are a segment of stakeholders who seem to be appreciating that crypto is here to stay, with Federal agencies in the US and Chinese authorities praising the potential of this technology in their respective countries digital future.

Blockchain technology has gained independent credibility over and above its application in cryptocurrency. The opportunities are endless as the emerging enterprise sector continues to draw plaudits. So far, this technology has grown in spite of regulatory infrastructure rather than because of it. A suitable regulatory climate is essential for widespread adoption.

This is how Jason Lee, Vice President of NEM Foundation, describes the industrys evolution:

2017 was the year of the blockchain craze. In 2018, we hit the brakes towards the end of the year. For 2019 and the start of 2020, Don Tapscott at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting reports says that the blockchain revolution ground to a halt. This is because not all initiatives are going past the proof of concept stage just as blockchain regulation shapes progressively as it moves forward in the right direction. In 2020, real use case projects are starting to shape up and will play a crucial role.

Therefore, industry leaders and enthusiasts at large are eagerly following regulator sentiment. Themes like consumer data protection and harnessing tech will be constant in these discussions. What is going to be the major themes around blockchain regulation in 2020?

Anonymity and privacy were defining aspects of the decentralized blockchain projects. This sector went mostly unchecked until blockchain platforms became increasingly popular.

Last year, the release of the Libra project whitepaper by Facebook brought these issues to the fore. Specifically, concerns about blockchain enterprises, including cloud services and handling customer data gave regulators an opening to legislate on such platforms. Blockchain enterprise will continue to draw unprecedented legislative scrutiny in 2020.

In late 2018, the US Department of Homeland Security started scrutinizing privacy tokens that shield user information. Similarly, G20 countries issued regulations in June 2019 for exchanges to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) requirements. In February 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) implemented additional guidelines specifically for blockchain companies.

Chinese regulators claimed that these measures are aimed at settings the standard for blockchain development in the country. In the US, the Blockchain Promotion Act of 2019 focuses on finding potential applications for the distributed ledger and opportunities through which government agencies can explore and incorporate the technology. 2020 is sure to bring more scrutiny and legislation on this premise.

Many countries initially took a position of ignorance about cryptocurrencies. However, as bitcoin took a larger-than-life profile after the monster rally in 2017, this position was no longer tenable. The only reason that blockchain experienced the crypto winter was due to being unregulated rather than the breakdown by governments.

The unchecked printing of money before and after the financial crisis of 2008 by the Central Bank led to some people becoming disillusioned about centralized financial systems. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies offered an alternative to these people. As with any power structure, the entities in charge will not relinquish power with ease.

China took drastic measures against trading cryptocurrencies in 2017. Last year, India went even further and completely banned non-sovereign cryptocurrencies. The fundamental aspect of decentralization is an existential threat to the ability of major central banks to control monetary policy.

Even without expressly stating this position, the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. decided to classify coins like Telegram Open Network (TON) as securities to regulate their rise. Regulators in the U.S. see blockchain currencies and commerce as an issue that needs to be addressed.

As 2020 begins, some countries are looking at digital currencies as an opportunity rather than a threat. China astonished the world last year when the Peoples Bank of China announced that it was researching on a national digital currency. Such a development could trigger an arms race of sorts between nations that want to be the first to innovate in this space.

China has openly embraced blockchain technology. President XI Jinping gave a ringing endorsement to the power of this sector in October 2019. During his speech, Jinping said blockchain is an important breakthrough in independent innovation of core technologies and will help China gain an edge in the theoretical, innovative and industrial aspects of this emerging field.

While this announcement came as a surprise, it is a well-calculated and probably necessary move on the part of Chinas government.

NEMs Lee sees the big picture in understanding why China is suddenly keen on blockchain optimization. Embracing blockchain was a smart move by President Xi Jinping; policymakers are starting to realize the benefits of decentralization, he says. Blockchain is an enormous cost saver for many industries, and not only is it more resilient to hacks, [but] it also does not bind you to a specific platform, which makes it the ideal solution for multi-vendor cooperation.

Lee states that the Peoples Bank of China is almost ready to launch a sovereign digital yuan with a global use case. President Xi urges China to seize the opportunity to accelerate the nations innovation. Enterprise blockchain can potentially see a clear pathway of growth in China as they ride the coattails of excitement, he says.

It will be interesting to see what direction Chinas regulations take. This jurisdiction is particularly interesting for enterprise blockchains that major on anonymity. China is obviously keen on being a leader in the blockchain space. On the flip side, China ordinarily wants to have a level of control over tech platforms in the country, which is the antithesis of fully anonymous platforms. What will the future look like for enterprise blockchains in China?

But even before China formally embraced blockchain technology, other states were already active in the space. An example is Singapore, which has established itself as a regional hub for blockchain and crypto platforms.

Startups like NEM have found a suitable environment in the city-state in a quest to transform the industry. The Singapore-based NEM offers businesses a quick and secure way to deploy blockchain in their operations. The blockchain is built from the ground up and focuses on solving real-world needs on a global scale with high performance, customization, and security.

Enterprises can utilize NEMs powerful API interface with any programming language for secure transactions and impeccable record keeping.

Accordingly, developers and enterprises have an efficient hub to innovate and work. Permissioned private blockchains ensure trailblazing transaction rates for internal ledgers.

The acceleration in regulation is favorable for platforms with proven use cases and reliable track records. Enterprise blockchain platforms that maximize the impact of blockchain by facilitating developers and commerce are first in line.

It will be harder for individuals to pull off new blockchain projectsat least anything that would be regulated and gain widespread acceptance, Lee says. Regulations will raise the bar, and while that serves to protect the users, it will make innovation more challenging. But regulators that develop policies for flourishing will attract the opportunity. Blockchain platforms that would help the developers with compliance have the highest chance of gaining traction in such environments.

Regulations are taking a more facilitative approach rather than being primarily restrictive. Governments now appreciate the power of blockchain technology better because of its proven capabilities and efficiency.

Lee thinks that industry leaders should embrace and be leading voices in shaping regulations. Enterprise blockchainslike tech in generalhave to learn that regulation is not something they should avoid, break or fight; they should play along, and that will even lead to better products for their customers, he says.

The possible unveiling of Chinas national digital currency can be a real game-changer, especially for stablecoins, cryptocurrencies that have been pegged to a fiat counterpart. It will be interesting to see whether other countries follow Chinas lead. Given the disruption that blockchain is already causing through sectors like fintech, other developed countries will be monitoring Chinas moves closely because of the potential overhaul blockchain can bring to their financial systems.

The bottom line is that blockchain and cryptocurrencies have the tag of opportunity rather than a threat. Countries that take the initiative to develop a suitable regulatory framework will likely be leaders in the blockchain space.

Andrey Sergeenkov is the founder ofBTC Peers

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How blockchain regulations will change in 2020 - TechTalks