With support from the Hong Kong government community, industry leaders from across the world will converge to define the future trends of blockchain technology application, regulations, investment, market and industry development.

HONG KONG, Jan. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2nd Annual Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020 hosted by The NexChange Group will be held between the 2nd and 6th of March, 2020. The conference enjoys significant support from the region's authorities.

Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020 / 02 - 06 March

Organisations and quangos that have partnered up with HK Blockchain Week to support the community include Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP), Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), Hong Kong Applied Science And Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK), Singapore Blockchain Association, MIT HK Innovation node etc.

The core event of the week is the Block O2O Global Summit, hosted by The NexChange Group and Cyberport and held at Ocean Park Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong on the 3rd and 4thof March. The conference is set to be an ideal platform to carry out prolific discussions about the range of applications blockchain technology can offer across different industries.

Attendees will delve into the various aspects like:

Speakers featured on the event agenda throughout the week:

About NexChange: NexChange Group is a venture innovation and media platform specializing in Blockchain, FinTech, HealthTech, AI, and Smart Cities.

Juwan Lee, Chairman of NexChange: "Hong Kong Blockchain Week bridges many industries with the help of blockchain technology and the opportunities it has brought. We expect to bring together those who decide the future of these industries today: investors, governments, media, and entrepreneurs from around the world."

For more information on the speakers, agenda, side events and partnerships, please visit http://www.hkblockchainweek.netor contact: info@nexchange.com

"PR Newswire is the 'Official Press Release Distribution Partner' of Block O2O Blockchain Summit 2020 and Official Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020"

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Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020 to feature International Leaders of Finance and Technology - Yahoo Finance

Blockchain development firm Bitfury is set to partner with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a project to conserve and increase Kazakhstans forestland.

As the Astana Times reported on Jan. 14, the project aims to help the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over the coming decade to meet its commitments in the 2016 Paris Agreement.

Bitfury and the UNDP are poised to sign an agreement later this month with the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources to create a forestland in the nations Pavlodar Region.

The project will start with the goal of creating 20 hectares that will consume the carbon dioxide generated by the local coal-powered electricity providers to fuel Bitfurys operations. It is hoped that this will offset Bitfurys carbon footprint by 100110%.

As the Astana Times notes, while Kazakhstan currently owns 29 million hectares of forest, most of it faces the threat of illicit forest fires, logging and changes in land-use.

Meruyert Sarsembayeva, a financial mechanism expert at the Biodiversity Financing Initiative (BIOFIN), told reporters that only a portion of the 29 million hectares is protected, while other lands remain excluded from the state forest fund. Sarsembayeva explained:

We will work with forests that are not being considered and managed. It is exactly these forests that are threatened by the forest fires and illnesses. If they are not legitimized and transferred to the state forest fund, it may lead to that, they will produce even more emissions.

Bitfury and the UNDPs carbon reduction initiative comes under the umbrella of BIOFIN, as part of the latters work to improve forest management practices through changes to legislation and to raise public awareness about emissions reductions.

BIOFINs work globally helps various countries to assess their spending on biodiversity and to strategize their approaches to funding to achieve green goals.

With UN support, Kazakhstan has already reduced its annual energy consumption by 2545% over the past five years via a pilot focused on heating residential buildings. The country aims to derive 50% of its energy from sustainable sources by 2050.

Yakup Beris, UNDP Resident Representative in Kazakhstan, has reportedly told the UNDP press service that the Bitfury-UNDP-BIOFIN project represents:

The first carbon reduction initiative for Kazakhstan [...] we hope that it will accelerate the countrys efforts to reduce carbon dioxide in partnership with the private sector. These practical solutions will require institutionalization and expansion.

As Cointelegraph reported in fall 2019, research published by the New Scientist has challenged the perception that Bitcoin (BTC) mining is irreconcilable with tackling climate change, pointing to the misleading assumptions that underlie some of the more alarmist reporting and studies on the matter.

In correspondence this week with Cointelegraph, Bitfurys Head of Renewables, Samy Biyadi, contended that:

Cryptocurrency mining is excellently suited for countries that want to transition into green economies. Contrary to public perception about its negative effect on the environment, cryptocurrency mining can help advance the adoption and growth of renewable energies by incentivizing investment in these assets.

Before this, several energy specialists had critiqued the perception that high energy consumption is Bitcoins Achilles Heel, arguing in favor of shifting the debate away from energy consumption and towards where that energy is produced and how it is generated.

Last June, a study found that 74.1% of Bitcoin mining is powered by renewables.

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Blockchain Firm BitFury Partners With UN on Forest Project in Kazakhstan - Cointelegraph

On January 16, The North American Bitcoin Conference (TNABC) opened its doors at the James L. Knight Center in Miami for its seventh year. The conference was filled with hundreds of crypto enthusiasts, exhibits, and well known speakers from the blockchain industry.

Also Read: Grassroots Bitcoin Cash House Movement Expands to Ghana

BTC Miami, the popular blockchain event hosted in beautiful downtown Miami, has kicked into high gear as the James L. Knight Center filled with crypto and blockchain supporters from all around the world. Thursdays opening remarks started with TNABC host Moe Levin and the city of Miamis Mayor Francis Suarez. The mayor discussed blockchain and crypto innovation within Miamis borders in order to establish the city as a hub of innovation. Suarez also announced that this week was an officially recognized event by the city called Blockchain Week Miami.

The official concluded his talk by presenting Levin with a certificate from the city. Following Suarez, Bobby Lee, the founder of the wallet card Ballet, discussed how people can make digital currencies more accessible and referenced the cold storage Ballet card. TNABC attendees heard from bnktothefuture.coms Simon Dixon, Veriblocks Justin Fisher, and a climactic mid-day speech from blockchain investor Brock Pierce. Pierce explained how crypto solutions and blockchain could transform the world for the better.

The exhibit hall was filled with TNABC attendees checking out all the companies showcasing platforms, devices, and artwork. Bitcoin.com gave away bitcoin cash-loaded Golden Ticket scratch-offs, after having people download the Badger Wallet. After that step, people swept the QR code on their scratch-off ticket, in order to reveal their bitcoin cash (BCH) reward. Then the user had to join the special Telegram group Bitcoin.com created to post their SLP address. When the conference convenes on Friday, people who swept their Golden Tickets will get some special SLP-based Miami Conference tokens airdropped for participating.

The Miami Token can be exchanged at the Bitcoin.com booth for special rewards. The Bitcoin.com booth was busy with people learning about peer-to-peer cash and the innovation behind the Simple Ledger Protocol.

A few members of the SLP development team were in attendance as well including SLP engineer James Cramer. Speaking with news.Bitcoin.com, Cramer gave his thoughts on the crypto conference in Miami.

The conference has been great so far, Cramer told news.Bitcoin.com. Meeting with people face to face that you speak with on the internet. You can do video conference calls and things like that, but meeting people face to face is way better. The developer also talked about TNABC participants asking the developers about SLP tokens.

We made new bright green t-shirts that say slp.cash with the SLP logo. People are asking about SLP and they are super interested I think people are open to trying the Simple Ledger Protocol, Cramer said.

Other booths included Edge wallet, Crypto.com, Bitangels, Tradestation, and the Crypto Playhouse. TNABC featured unique artwork as well from crypto artists like Fractalencrypt, Sergey Gordienko, and Lucho Poletti. After lunch, TNABC participants watched a panel on cryptocurrency regulations and law. Additionally, during the remainder of the afternoon, people listened to talks from Edge Wallets Paul Puey, crypto pioneer Nick Spanos, Binary Financials Harry Yeh and closing remarks from TNABC host Moe Levin. During the event, news.Bitcoin.com spoke with Levin and asked him what he thought about the seventh annual TNABC conference.

I feel like this event more closely resembles 2015 and 2016 and not that many people have experienced those years, Levin explained. What I mean by that is during 2015, it was after the climactic rising price of bitcoin hitting $1,200 with all the hype and then nothing for two years and we produced this event for 300 to 400 people in 2015 and it was tiny. It was super small compared to the last two years and I believe there were only a few exhibits at the time. But those businesses who attended and some of those exhibitors went on to build what are now some of the biggest companies in crypto. Levin added:

A lot of people are not aware of the cycles in this industry and what happens is when the market is down, people start building a lot more. They dont go out much, they dont hype things, they just build. And when theres real hype and interest globally, they have the widest nets to capture all the interest.

Additionally, Levin spoke about Miami Mayor Francis Suarezs speech and the certificate he received earlier in the day. I would love to take as much credit for making Miami a Bitcoin City but Im not here every day building a blockchain center and encouraging companies to come here. But the city of Miami is and when they say the quote open for business, it is true. Its also a form of legitimacy from a local government for crypto globally because its a real thing its an official Blockchain Week recognized by Miami. Its nice man, it feels good.

What do you think about The North American Bitcoin Conference (TNABC) Miami? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Bitcoin.com is an official platinum sponsor and media partner of the 2020 TNABC event.

Image credits: Shutterstock, SLP, Jamie Redman, TNABC, Bitcoin.com, Fair Use, and Pixabay.

Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here.

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

Excerpt from:

BTC Miami Blockchain Conference Kicks Off Its Seventh Year - Bitcoin News

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Chances are that youve heard of bitcoin, the digital currency that many predict will revolutionize payments or prove to be a massive fraud depending on what you read. Bitcoin is an application that runs on the Blockchain, which is ultimately a more interesting and profound innovation.

The Blockchain is a secure transaction ledger database that is shared by all parties participating in an established, distributed network of computers. It records and stores every transaction that occurs in the network, essentially eliminating the need for trusted third parties such as payment processors. Blockchain proponents often describe the innovation as a transfer of trust in a trustless world, referring to the fact that the entities participating in a transaction are not necessarily known to each other yet they exchange value with surety and no third-party validation. For this reason, the Blockchain is a potential game changer.

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or group of people credited with developing bitcoin, released a whitepaper describing the software protocol. Since then, the network has grown and bitcoinhas become a recognized unit of value around the globe. Bitcoinis extremely important because it provides a mechanism for accessing the Blockchain but its not the only application that can leverage the platform.

Bitcoin has also been on the receiving end of some bad press, such as around the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange earlier last year. The Mt. Gox story is not necessarily an indictment of bitcoin. For the purposes of this post, simply remember this: bitcoin is just a mechanism for transacting on the Blockchain and the Blockchain is the key innovation.

The Blockchain enables the anonymous exchange of digital assets, such as bitcoin, but it is not technically dependent on bitcoin. The elegance of the Blockchain is that it obviates the need for a central authority to verify trust and the transfer of value. It transfers power and control from large entities to the many, enabling safe, fast, cheaper transactions despite the fact that we may not know the entities we are dealing with.

The mechanics of the Blockchain are novel and highly disruptive. As people transact in a Blockchain ecosystem, a public record of all transactions is automatically created. Computers verify each transaction with sophisticated algorithms to confirm the transfer of value and create a historical ledger of all activity. The computers that form the network that are processing the transactions are located throughout the world and importantly are not owned or controlled by any single entity. The process is real-time, and much more secure than relying on a central authority to verify a transaction.

There are many analogous concepts both ancient and modern. Technology has and will continue to transfer power and control from central authorities and distribute them to the masses. For example, time used to be determined and communicated by large clock towers that were expensive to build and maintain. Engineering innovations ultimately decentralized the quantification of time to the individual. Likewise, WhatsApp, a popular cross platform messaging app, cut the transaction cost of sending messages globally and cut profits for the carriers. The central authority (phone carriers) lost to the application (WhatsApp) built on a decentralized network (i.e. the Internet).

Similarly, third parties that currently verify transactions (the central authority) stand to lose against the Blockchain (the decentralized network). As such, the Blockchain essentially disintermediates these third-party transaction verifiers: auditors, legal services, payment processors, brokerages and other similar organizations.

While you may not be convinced that exchanging bitcoin is an invaluable service, there are many other examples of value transfer that are critical and currently very slow and expensive. Consider the exchange of property: numerous intermediaries are currently involved in this process, such as a third-party escrow service that works for both parties to ensure a smooth transfer. The escrow service, like other services built solely on trust and verification, collect fees that would be mitigated by performing the transaction on the Blockchain as would wire transfer fees, third party financial auditing, contract execution, etc.

The use case of the Blockchain enabling a decentralized currency exchange such as bitcoin is well defined and will likely be the dominant use case near term, however there are a multitude of innovative and disruptive use cases. Companies are already building their own Blockchains for various applications such as Gridcoin that leverages the Blockchain to crowdsource scientific computing projects. Gridcoin uses its own protocols that require much less computing power and electricity to manage than traditional bitcoin networks.

The Blockchain is a foundational technology, like TCP/IP, which enables the Internet. And much like the Internet in the late 1990s, we dont know exactly how the Blockchain will evolve, but evolve it will.

Similar to the Internet, the Blockchain must also be allowed to grow unencumbered. This will require careful handling that recognizes the difference between the platform and the applications that run on it. TCP/IP empowers numerous financial applications that are regulated, but TCP/IP is not regulated as a financial instrument. The Blockchain should receive similar consideration. While the predominant use case for the Blockchain today is bitcoin currency exchange that may require regulation, this will change over time.

Had we over-regulated the Internet early on, we would have missed out on many innovations that we cant imagine living without today. The same is true for the Blockchain. Disruptive technologies rarely fit neatly into existing regulatory considerations, but rigid regulatory frameworks have repeatedly stifled innovation. Its likely that innovations in the Blockchain will outpace policy, lets not slow it down.

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The Blockchain: What It Is and Why It Matters - Brookings

The logo of the "Petro" is displayed next to images of Venezuelan late President Hugo Chavez (L) and ... [+] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a building in downtown Caracas, on September 21, 2018. - Six months after Venezuelan cryptocurrency petro, with which the government of Maduro seeks to evade financial sanctions from the US, started selling to the public, it still can not be exchangeable for money, goods or other cryptocurrencies as the bitcoin. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP) (Photo credit should read FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)

In spite of the original philosophy behind bitcoin, a tool to protect and empower sovereign citizens worldwide against oppressive regimes and predatory financial institutions, more and more nations are finding legitimate value in endorsing cryptocurrency.

Established nations like the United States and China are taking a nuanced approach in applying the tech to various departments, and smaller alternatives like Malta and the Virgin Islands have looked to crypto as a means to bolster and expand their local economies. Heres whats happening in the world right now.

The United States

With a regulatory stance on crypto typically seen as archaic and lethargic, the USA doesnt typically come to mind as a champion of blockchain. However, there are many government departments actively exploring and deploying applications that leverage the blockchain for various uses.

For example, the United States now employs a private blockchain through which yearly grants are awarded to different departments, through a project called GrantSolutions. This initiative creates a centralized record of grants, whilst also improves the ease with which recurring grants can be renewed and distributed each year.

Per the previous report, the US Government is additionally building out an encrypted healthcare data exchange through the INFORMED incubator program, allowing citizens to leverage their personal healthcare data and sell their data to researchers.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff has also embarked on a pilot that utilizes the blockchain to communicate 3D printing files to military bases. As it can be quite difficult to replace older equipment, the military is increasingly relying on 3D printed parts to repair weapons and vehicles. The blockchain enables the communication of these files in an encrypted manner that cannot be intercepted by unwanted eyes.

China

Global headlines have emphasized a recent shift in Chinas stance towards blockchain technology. Recently, a series of statements by Chinese President Xi Jinping has indicated that the Peoples Republic of China plans to dive head-first into blockchain integration in a number of areas.

Chinas aggressive use of surveillance on its population and controversial developments such as the social credit system, which assigns a reputation to each citizen for their behavior, suggests that their blockchain endorsement may be a means to further surveil and restrict their almost 1.4 billion citizens.

Integral properties of cryptocurrency include transparency and immutability. A state-backed cryptocurrency means that government officials could have complete and unrestricted access to the entirety of every citizens financial history and dealings. This could potentially be further expanded to blacklist and reverse unwanted activity in the eyes of the government.

Of course, future adoption by China is largely regarded as speculation, until more comprehensive developments have come to light. However, this would not be the first time a regime looked to blockchain to improve monetary control: North Korea and Russia have both been involved in similar projects.

Venezuela

In 2018, Venezuela launched its oil-backed petro cryptocurrency as a token on the NEM blockchain. The purpose of the central currency is to improve liquidity to the countrys oil reserves and implement a more stable alternative to a national VEF crippled by hyperinflation.

Additionally, the petro was seen as a mechanism for Venezuela to circumvent sanctions and alleviate difficulty to conduct foreign trade. However, it is unclear whether its oil-backed coin has seen significant acceptance by international business partners.

Malta

Despite interest from bad actors, the overwhelming use of blockchain by national governments has been to stimulate their economies and improve their infrastructure. A majority of the first national cryptocurrency adopters were small nations looking to gain an edge and accelerate national growth.

Malta, in particular, has seen huge growth through its blockchain-friendly legislation. With the explosion of the space in 2017, a number of recently formed and massively growing cryptocurrency startups moved operations to Malta.

The most notable of these is seen through the relocation of Binance HQ, a leading exchange valued at over US$2 billion. With a national GDP of less than US$13 billion in 2017, this single instance represents a significant boost to the islands economy and a major proponent for further prosperity.

The British Virgin Islands

A recent adopter of cryptocurrency as a cash-alternative is found in the British Virgin Islands. BVI has recently emphasized an intention to focus its efforts on the emerging Financial Technology sector, and as an aspiring FinTech leader, the archipelago is looking to digitize its economy with the help of a central digital currency.

On December 3, BVI hosted its Digital Economy symposium to educate and strategize with 100 stakeholders across the islands private and public sectors alike. The symposium included a presentation by Lifelabs on the ongoing BVI life project. The project is developing a central cryptocurrency that is backed 1:1 by USD to address hurdles between cross-island business and consumption.

The initiative also encompasses a Rapid Cash Response (RCR) system that will quickly provide ample funds in response to any potential future disasters. 2017s Hurricane Irma spawned over US$3 billion in damages and untold trauma for citizens, and the lack of liquid funds inhibited sufficient clean-up for months afterward.

What does this really mean?

Well, as modern society transitions to a global, digital economy, blockchain represents a key tool for third-world and developing economies to transition to digital in pace with established and first-world counterparts. This benefit is particularly impactful to areas currently dominated by fiat that are hindered by an inadequate or nonexistent banking infrastructure.

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National Governments Around The Globe Look To Embrace Blockchain - Forbes

In the Pacific, adoption of seafood traceability technology faces hurdles at multiple stages of the supply chain.

Records frequently start on paper, which can be lost or damaged. Internet coverage is often spotty. Tags with QR codes have to be durable in harsh ocean conditions. Customs and habits are hard to change. And by the time the product is ready for the market, not everyone actually wants fully traced and transparent fish.

The Fiji-based traceability company TraSeable has piloted its blockchain technology in the region, and says about a half-dozen companies are using it, with some 50,000 fish tracked so far. But implementing end-to-end traceability and convincing companies to sign on for it is taking time.

"You're talking about the Pacific Ocean, where the boats are at sea and they don't have internet connections and can't send out data in real-time," TraSeable Founder and Managing Director Kenneth Katafono told SeafoodSource. "It's still going to be a while before people start recording on a tablet and stop using paper."

TraSeable offers a tablet-based application that allows fishermen on boats and regulators on shore to input data directly into the system. All the players in the supply chain need to be connected to TraSeable's system, including the fishing companies and the processors, who can onboard their clients. The software is also designed so regulatory authorities can connect and use it to provide third-party verification. Customers can opt to pay extra for TraSeables blockchain feature, which is built on the Ethereum platform.

"The companies that we work with, I think they think blockchain will revolutionize supply chains. They're thinking of that aspect and trying to get ahead and adopt early," Katafono said. Some might seek to use it as a marketing point.

Starting in 2017, TraSeable was part of a tuna-tracking pilot project with the World Wildlife Fund, blockchain company ConsenSys, and Sea Quest Fiji a seafood company the first project of its kind in the Pacific.

The project demonstrated blockchains potential for the region, but Katafono quickly realized that the enterprise-level systems ConsenSys offered would be too expensive for fishermen and seafood companies in the region. So he built a blockchain integration on top of his companys existing digital traceability system.

"The whole idea was to make traceability affordable, because if it's not affordable, seafood operators aren't going to pay for it, unless it's regulated, Katafono said.

Sea Quest has piloted TraSeables technology, achieving proof of concept, and has implemented it in the factory. The company has conducted about five trials with a customer in Europe, where demand is higher than in the United States. Sea Quest expects to start sending blockchain-tracked shipments to them in the coming year, according to Sea Quest CEO Uttam Kumar.

"European customers are very anxious and eager to receive traceable and tagged fish, but we have yet to see that kind of thing happening in the U.S.," Kumar told SeafoodSource.

Improving traceability is a long process that requires convincing workers at each stage of the supply chain to follow new protocols a tough sell when monetary incentives are lacking.

"To get to this stage has been a lot of goodwill from the guys on the boats who are prepared to do this extra work," Sea Quest Owner Brett Blu Haywood told SeafoodSource. "We're in a transitional period where we're going from the old, what was done in the last 20 or 30 years with a pen or a pencil to now digitally entering the catch reports This is all a change of mindset for fishermen."

The simplicity of the tablet-based application helps, with easy data entry for fish type, estimated weight, and other factors.

"All this information goes into the tag and is captured at the point of landing," Haywood said.

Haywood believes that blockchain technology will help squeeze out the bad actors. Producers will be able to record on the blockchain the boat, the captain, and even a photo of the freshly-caught fish on the blockchain giving each fish a story.

Blockchain technology offers the potential for a world where data is not tied to a particular computer server and anyone can access the immutable record of transparent information. Such radical transparency might not suit some players in the seafood supply chain, while other companies already embrace it, according to Katafono.

But at the global level, blockchain technology is now hampered by its own overabundance. The many existing protocols cant communicate with each other, and TraSeables Katafono thinks its out of the question for global businesses to narrow on just one protocol. Instead, emerging standards will need to govern how different systems communicate with each other, achieving what technology experts call interoperability a process that will take years.

"The product data will be more transparent throughout the supply chain because that data is added to a blockchain that is publicly available," Katafono said. "That's where we see things moving. [But] it's still an emerging technology. There are still a lot of things that need to happen for it to gain traction in the supply chain world."

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TraSeable's blockchain-based traceability technology overcomes challenges in the Pacific - SeafoodSource

Chinese Internet giant Baidu (BIDU) has successfully launched a public beta version of Xuperchain (or Superchain). Its the first of its kind: a cryptocurrency that operates on a centralized network. According to a publication on The Block Crypto, Xuperchain will use parallel chain technology to simplify smart contract processing. Parallel chain technology is an upgrade from the currently used blockchain version 2.0. The Block Crypto claims that this technology will make it easier for developers to create and deploy dedicated, function-based smart contracts.

Xuperchain complies with the Chinese regulatory framework for digital currencies and holds a lot of potential, especially for enterprise solutions. Baidus blockchain-as-a-service offering could see a boost with Xuperchains release. Baidus customers can deploy specifically designed apps using the companys blockchain services without the need to build their own dedicated blockchain network. The idea is similar to using cloud infrastructure services from a specialized cloud service provider to store enterprise data online. Since a business can utilize the functionality of Xuperchain without creating a whole network, it makes Baidus blockchain services lucrative as well as cost effective. Currently, Baidu has priced Xuperchain at 1 Chinese yuan, which is roughly $0.15.

It looks like China has finally taken the lead in terms of blockchain technology. A post on Bitrates stated that Baidus Xuperchain release is a breakthrough solution for blockchain 3.0. The design of the Xuperchain network addresses the problem of computing, storage, and scalability in blockchain networks. Blockchain relies on miners to record and encrypt transactions. Since it works on a decentralized topology, the network is scalable upward.

Typically, all blockchain networks are as fast as the weakest node in the system. At times, this leads to problems when trying to scale up a network. But in the case of Xuperchain, master nodes deploy a cores idle computing power to process parallel transactions. This design overcomes any latency issues and makes the Xuperchain network function much faster. According to Cointelegraph, the presence of these master nodes will make crypto mining more energy efficient.

According to The Block Crypto, the white papers for Xuperchain were made public in May 2018. The Xuperchain website claims that since 2018, Xuperchain has processed over 450 million transactions and houses approximately 3.5 million users. In terms of transaction processing speed, Xuperchain is 23x faster than Ethereum. While Ethereum is capable of executing 15 transactions per second, Xuperchain claims a peak concurrency of 353 transactions per second. A publication by Coindesk says that Baidu holds over 50 patents related to Xuperchain and the entire ownership of Xuperchains intellectual properties.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Chinese President Xi Jinping was a staunch advocate of blockchain technology. Even though the technology that powers Bitcoin is in demand, a CNBC publication claims that trading in cryptocurrency is banned in China. In my opinion, one of the reasons for Xis tepid outlook for Bitcoin and other cryptos is the decentralized nature of the virtual currencies. Theres a genuine threat that a peer-to-peer transactional network could create a parallel economy. This raises the question of whether the Chinese leader would accept a state-regulated cryptocurrency. The launch of Xuperchain is the obvious answer.

In August 2019, Forbes reported that China planned to unveil a new virtual currency in place of its domestic currency, the yuan. But the new virtual currency would be a centralized one, unlike all other cryptos. The Peoples Bank of China would regulate and monitor the supply of the digital yuan. Another publication on Forbes claimed that the Chinese central bank would work with seven key institutions to circulate the digital yuan. These institutions will regulate the supply in the Chinese economy. Four of these institutions are banksnamely the China Construction Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, and the Agricultural Bank of China. The other three institutions are Chinese tech companies Alibaba (BABA), Tencent (TCEHY), and UnionPay.

Both Alibaba and Tencent are gearing up to improve their blockchain service offerings. In November last year, SCMP reported that Ant Financial was testing blockchain services for small and medium enterprises. Ant Financial was formerly known as Alipay, Alibaba Groups mobile payment platform. On the other hand, Tencent is putting together a cryptocurrency research team. A post in Coindesk hints that the research team will focus on how to use digital currencies in its payments platform.

The US is more focused on setting the ground rules for the crypto space. US Congress plans to define digital assets in the draft bill of the Cryptocurrency Act of 2020. In September 2019, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved the launch of Bakkt, the first regulated exchange for Bitcoin futures.

In comparison, China is making a lot of progress when it comes to applying blockchain solutions. Coindesk reported a month ago about a bond issuance by the Bank of China using blockchain tech. The two-year bond carries a coupon of 3.25% and has raised 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion). Now, the Xuperchain announcement could establish Baidu as one of the market leaders in blockchain-as-a-service. Other Chinese tech companies Alibaba and Tencent are also catching up.

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Xuperchain by Baidu, the Digital Yuan, and Blockchain 3.0 - Market Realist

Chinas Xi Jinping deems blockchain a core technology

Not long ago investors were getting hyped up about blockchain. Then they dropped it. But they should take another look, says Ben Judge.

Just a few years ago, blockchain also called digital ledger technology (DLT) was the next big thing. It was going to transform every facet of our lives, including the entire global payment system; back-end office systems; and supply chains from beginning to end. The hype was immense. Every spivvy entrepreneur and their dog set up a company that somehow had its value inflated by some version or other of blockchain. Some didnt even bother coming up with a blockchain business. They just slotted blockchain into their name and watched the share price shoot up. The Long Island Iced Tea Corp., which notoriously became the Long Blockchain Corp., immediately enjoyed a share price surge of 458%.

At its simplest, blockchain is a ledger: a way of storing and manipulating information, like a spreadsheet or database. Crucially, though, where a normal database is a single, centrally controlled entity, a blockchain is a public distributed ledger. Each computer that has access to the chain has its own copy. It is literally a chain of blocks of information. As a new piece of information is added to the ledger, it creates a new block in the chain.

The block stores the information, but also who added the information and who has access to it. Once a block has been added and verified, it is given a hash a unique, immutable code that identifies that transaction. You cannot go back and change any of the information stored. Any changes are recorded as new blocks in the chain with a record of who has done what.

Another unique feature of blockchain is its ability to use smart contracts. A smart contract is computer code stored on the chain that can execute transactions between parties once certain conditions have been met: for example, to automatically transfer the ownership of property once funds have cleared; to release funds to a supplier once goods are confirmed as having arrived; or to impose financial penalties if certain conditions are not met. All of this is permissionless it can be done with no need for someone to provide access. It is all coded into the blockchain when the agreement is initially drawn up. And it is this security, and the fact that all parties have access to the information so that there is no need for a middleman, that makes blockchains so useful.

In situations where multiple parties need to access and update data in the knowledge that it is secure and cannot be tampered with, and where intermediaries can be eliminated, a blockchain system is an ideal solution, according to IBM, which employs more than 1,000 people on blockchain products. It is making its blockchain platform available to other organisations that want to create their own versions.

The blockchain hype of recent years went hand in hand with the meteoric rise of bitcoin, whose price peaked at almost $20,000 this time two years ago only to come crashing down in the subsequent months. Blockchain was, after all, created to track ownership and transactions of the digital currency.

Now, however, it all seems to have gone quiet. Many of the promised fabulous enhancements to our lives have yet to happen. Other digital currencies launched to cash in on blockchain have withered away. People are now asking whether blockchain was all just a load of hype. Is that true?

Blockchain is still here and is slowly but surely gaining ground rather than disrupting everything in one fell swoop. Big business is quietly adopting this technology to do the things its good at: settling transactions, recording ownership and verifying identities, for example. It may not be a purists idea of what blockchain should be a public, permissionless ledger open to all. Instead, what we are seeing are private, permissioned blockchains. That means that, unlike public blockchains such as bitcoin, only certain users with the appropriate privileges can add blocks to the chain.

The technology is following the classic example of hype cycle first observed by research firm Gartner. It consists of five key phases. A new technology is developed and enters the trigger phase. Publicity explodes and everyone wants a piece of the action; the cycle enters the peak of inflated expectations. That was the bitcoin peak that prompted chancers to launch new cryptocurrencies. Then, when the technology doesnt seem to change everyones lives as promised by the early adopters, we enter the trough of disillusionment. Investors lose interest. But then, after a while, people find uses for the new technology and we begin to climb the slope of enlightenment. Then comes the plateau of productivity. With blockchain were just past the trough of disillusionment, having risen over the peak of inflated expectations and were now in the foothills of the slope of enlightenment.

There have been flops. Insurance giant Axa trialled a blockchain-based flight insurance product called Fizzy. It used smart contracts to pay out automatically if your flight was delayed. But just the other week it decided to shelve it. And some projects have had a rather longer gestation than was originally envisaged. The Australian Securities Exchange ASX has been planning to replace its clearing system with a blockchain-based system. It has been in development since 2015; the latest estimate for its deployment is spring 2021. Australia is not the only exchange looking at using DLT. Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York are interested too. As Joshua Oliver noted in the Financial Times a year ago: Worldwide, three quarters of the financial market infrastructure operators surveyed by Nasdaq and Celent are working on DLT pilots or already using DLT.

Enterprise blockchain is now most definitely a thing, having moved from proof of concept to real-world applications. Big business has bought in. Along with IBMs platform, other big enthusiasts include Amazon and Oracle. Amazons clients include management consultants Accenture, AT&T and Guardian Life Insurance. Oracles clients include a Jordanian investment bank using blockchain to facilitate cross-border payments; a healthcare technology company providing a network for healthcare organisations to share data and processes securely; and a brewer tracking its supply chain.

Much of the activity is in financial services. One high-profile trading platform is we.trade, set up by a consortium of big banks including HSBC, Societe Generale and UBS. It allows small and medium-sized businesses to guarantee and process transactions digitally, cutting down on paperwork and speeding up trades.

Another area where DLT is useful is in identity verification. In Canada, Verified.Me is a system that has been developed between government agencies and private companies. Customers of five banks including Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank can now verify their identities using blockchain technology.

But it is in supply-chain management that it is really proving itself. Last year, IBM launched its Food Trust platform, a blockchain-based system for tracking the supply chain of food. It was originally trialled by Walmart, but is now being used commercially by, among others, Nestl, Carrefour, and Unilever, says Forbes. Walmart Canada has now developed its own system with DLT Labs, a Canadian blockchain developer, for tracking deliveries, verifying transactions and automating payments among suppliers to its 400 retail stores. Shipping giant Maersk developed the TradeLens supply chain platform with IBM, to track cargo around the world. Maersk now wants to monetise the platform and it has recently been joined by Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express of Singapore.

But perhaps the most fervent adopter of blockchain technology recently is China. President Xi Jinping recently praised blockchain as a core technology and called for more support and investment. Chinas tech-focused shares surged. Over 500 new projects have been registered with the Cyberspace Administration of China. Chinas big tech companies are involved, says Jane Cai in the South China Morning Post, and there are dozens of government-led initiatives and schemes, in areas ranging from communications to land development.

It is somewhat ironic given the technologys libertarian origins. China is now pushing toward global blockchain dominance, says Kevin Werbach in Wired. Thats something that should get the rest of the world and especially the US worried, says Biser Dimitrov on Forbes.com. Having a superior blockchain technology will give China an enormous trading opportunity with the emerging technology markets. And then theres the spectre of a digital renminbi. A digital currency controlled by the Peoples Bank of China has the potential to usurp the dollar as a global currency.

While blockchain in the West is mainly business-driven, China is adopting it to strengthen its grip on its population. Mu Rongping, director of the innovation and development research centre at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Cai that The potential is huge for the use of new technologies, such as in areas of public security, public transport, crime investigation and anti-corruption campaigns Blockchain could open a new chapter on the integration of governance and technology. Rather than fulfilling its original imperative of shifting power away from centralised authority, it could actually help Chinas government cement it.

Still, what is clear is that, for good or ill, blockchain is no longer the brash shouty new kid on the block; its maturing. Slowly but surely distributed ledger technology is integrating itself with public and private systems. Its here to stay.

Originally posted here:

Whatever happened to blockchain? - MoneyWeek

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "The Application of Blockchain in Southeast Asian Countries, Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global blockchain market is growing very fast and it is forecast that its market size will reach US$23.3 billion by 2023, representing a CAGR of 81% over the period from 2018 to 2023.

Blockchain, which is a decentralized digital database, supports participants when they confirm their transactions without the need for a central authority to approve/accept the transaction. Although this technology has been recognized mainly by digital currencies such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, it has several other applications in different aspects of life including in digital payments and e-wallets (which is supported by fintech; blockchain is one of the technologies used in fintech), agriculture, logistics, healthcare, real estate, cloud storage, education, public transportation, pharma, food and beverage, etc. Countries around the world including those in Southeast Asia are improving and updating their regulatory frameworks to provide a suitable and attractive environment for blockchain companies to keep pace with the fast-growing global blockchain market and reap the benefits of this technology.

The global fintech market also showed a significant increase in 2018, reflecting greater application of blockchain in financial services around the world. It is also predicted that the global fintech market will grow faster and its future market value looks promising. In countries covered in this study (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) the future fintech market is forecast to be optimistic and promising considering the transaction values in each country.

Countries in Southeast Asia are also trying to improve their regulatory environment to gain more benefits from different applications of blockchain technology.

Key Issues Addressed

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Overview

3. Introduction to Blockchain

4. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Regulations and Applications in Malaysia

5. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Regulations and Applications in Singapore

6. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Regulations and Applications in Thailand

7. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Regulations and Applications in Vietnam

8. The Future of Blockchain

9. Growth Opportunities and Companies to Action

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/w6svd0

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Application of Blockchain in Southeast Asian Countries: Blockchain Market is Projected to Grow at a CAGR of 81% Globally, 2018-2023 -...

Another year has rolled on by, and while many things in the blockchain space have changed, a lot remains the same. 2019 saw a continued cooling of indiscriminate funding and a renewed focus on quality over hype. In addition, weve seen the acknowledgement by some big names, including Facebook and the other Libra Association members, and even a few central banks, that blockchain technology, and digital currency, are truly exciting innovations that just need a bit more experimentation to stick.

At the World Economic Forum, were keen to ensure that greater blockchain adoption, which we deem inevitable, happens in ways that support inclusion and avoid replicating the consolidation of power that currently exists, particularly in the financial system. In addition, we remain focused on rationalizing this technology across sectors and publicizing our learnings in an effort to guide the public sector and civil society knowledge, funding, and robust experiments.

Image: Image: Statista

Last year, we saw less of established actors pitching competitors on unilateral projects. Instead, we saw either totally internal initiatives or creative attempts at consortium building (for example, Food Trust, Tradelens, INATBA, Libra), with varying degrees of success. Companies are waking up to the idea that to go far, they ought to go together. (As an example, the Forum recently launched a consortium to explore the use of blockchain technology in the mining and metals sector, where a collaborative approach would have been hard to imagine even a few years ago).

We expect to see a similar collaborative approach from the public sector as 2020 progresses, and in fact, the Forum has already seen an increased willingness on the part of public sector agencies to share learnings and challenges. (An example is our Central Banks Digital Currency project, which has brought together more than 45 Central Banks to explore parameters for successful deployment of a CBDC. Our CBDC Policymaker Toolkit, co-created with over 45 Central Banks, will launch in Davos at our Annual Meeting.)

The term governance used to cause immediate recoil among even blockchain enthusiasts. But 2019 saw a gradual recognition (or perhaps resignation) that governance is a feature that drives adoption.

Of course, as Facebook learned, the promise or potential for good governance is not enough; the devil is in the details, and 2019 saw laypeople diving deep into the specifics of operations, business models, and legal structures in an effort to assess risk. That was also reflected in regulators investigations in the 2017-2018 slate of ICOs, exemplifying the importance of specifics (despite the lack of clarity that continues to cloud the regulatory space globally).

At the Forum, were focused on bringing together stakeholders to pilot policy projects focused on social impact. The social impact space continues in an ongoing, and frustrating, attempt to remedy complex societal problems with technical solutions. Our view, which is informed by the previous generation of tech experimentation, is that technology alone simply cannot adequately address social challenges, and that accompanying policy is essential to ensure that a blockchain, or really any technology, is deployed in a way that addresses its limitations.

Celo, a payments startup, is a good example of a team that understands cultural and social realities and its baking that learning into its user experience. Another example is AZA Group (aka Bitpesa), with its deep knowledge of frontier markets, particularly in Africa.

In a similar vein, our government transparency project, which focuses on aligning civic engagement with a blockchain deployment designed to reduce corruption in public procurement, will pilot in Colombia in early 2020 and looks to develop local talent needed to maintain deployment over time and avoid vendor dependency.

We are seeing increased understanding that blockchain technology is not exempt from the need for robust understanding of context. This is a welcome change from the insanity of 2018, when merely adding the word blockchain to a pitch was enough to claim authenticity.

Of course, there is still a long way to go. The reality is that the most transformative applications of blockchain technology are arguably best-suited to the most challenging contexts (for example, banking the unbanked is a deeply complex problem that cant be solved by simply rolling out a token), and we are still a long way from realizing the true potential of this technology in the social impact space.

This year, we expect to see increased experimentation with hybrid blockchain models, both in the financial sector (for example, decentralized finance or DeFi and synthetic CBDCs) and the public sector (increased use of smart contracts). These are a great way to increase comfort with the technology.

We are not close to realizing the promise of truly decentralized systems, but the space continues to evolve in exciting new ways, and its just a matter of time before something huge gains traction.

This article originally appeared on CoinDesk.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.

Written by

Sheila Warren, Head of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology, World Economic Forum

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

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Will 2020 be the year blockchain overcomes its hype? - World Economic Forum

Zcoin, a privacy focused cryptocurrency is set to be the first cryptocurrency project to release Receiver Address Privacy (RAP) on a desktop wallet. RAP is an implementation ofReusable Payment Codes (BIP47)originally proposed byJustus Ranvier, which provides greater privacy by allowing users to share a single permanent address publicly without leakage of privacy.

Traditionally, when a user shared an address out, anyone can look up that address on the blockchain and see its entire history which is a real privacy problem that inhibits real world adoption especially in businesses where they may not want to reveal who their customers are, how much theyre receiving and who their suppliers are.

Read More: Technology Watch: Dont Miss These CES 2020 Themes And Sessions

RAP addresses allow for a single permanent address to be shared publicly without outsiders being able to tell when it has received payments. This privacy is also further enhanced as Zcoins RAP implementation allows users to send Zcoins Sigma transactions to RAP addresses which allows users to hide the sender of the funds.

RAP also offers several practical benefits and advantages over stealth addresses in that payments to it are indistinguishable from other payments making it harder to censor and the scheme can be supported by light wallets.

RAP or BIP47 is a very creative solution to the address reuse problem and it works great together with Zcoins Sigma privacy protocol offering a complete solution for both sender and receiver privacy, saidReuben Yap, Project Steward of Zcoin. Thus far we have only seen BIP47 being implemented in a handful of mobile wallets such as Samourai, Rune and Billions. Writing BIP47 almost from scratch in C++ allows not only Zcoin to benefit but any cryptocurrency using a Bitcoin core can also adapt the work. We are happy to contribute to the space in improving privacy and seeing greater adoption of BIP47.

Read More: Allied Wallet China and Founder Andy Khawaja Plan to Implement Blockchain Technology in 2020

The Zcoin core team worked together with Arcadia a blockchain software development company with a focus on privacy preserving technologies to implement RAP.

We made a lot of informed choices when implementing BIP47 on Zcoin. Forexample,we went with the traditional notification transaction style on the blockchain for notifications versus WebRTC or BitMessage to not accidentally introduce potential points of network level leakage, said Rasikh Morani, CTO and co-founder of Arcadia.

RAP is fully implemented and undergoingcode reviewand is set to go live on Zcoins network in about a month.

Read More: What is Chinas Password Law and What it Means for the Blockchain Industry?

Read more here:

Zcoin RAP Enhances Wallet Address Privacy on the Blockchain - AiThority

Yesterday, it was announced that startup Propy and the U.S. city of South Burlington completed a blockchain trial for real estate transactions. Propy implemented its blockchain registry system for six weeks in parallel to the city Land Recorders office.

Property deeds filed with the U.S. Land Recorders office were also fed into Propys title registry software. While Propy is best known for providing real estate transaction management software for brokers and agents, it also has a title registry solution for government departments, which was the subject of the South Burlington trial.

Real estate titles registered using Propys solution include an address on the public Ethereum blockchain.

The companys core software for brokers and agents enables the listing of properties, completion of documentation and digital payments, with the facility to record ownership on the blockchain registry.

The broker/agent solution helps to prevent wire fraud that can happen if the recipients bank details are intercepted when sent via email. Additionally, it provides real-time transaction monitoring and integrates DocuSign, a digital solution for signing agreements.

Coming back to the land registry trial, one of the reasons it is in Vermont is the 2018 blockchain legislation passed in the State in which Propy played a prominent role. While the bill was quite broad, it included a clause which recommends legislation to support the possible use of blockchain technology for land records.

At the time of the signing of the new law, Vermont Governor Phil Scott credited Propy and said the bill encouraged companies to pilot applications of blockchain, like launching a program here in South Burlington, to reduce both the cost and complexity of recording real estate transactions.

Vermont-based non-profit Distributed Ledger Governance Association (DLGA) played an important part in securing Propys place at the table.

Founded in 2016, Propy raised $15.5 million via an initial coin offering. More recently, Second Century Ventures, the venture capital arm of the U.S. National Association of Realtors invested an undisclosed amount in the company, according to Crunchbase. The firm boasts real estate firms Coldwell Banker and Century 21 as clients.

Meanwhile, Propy entered a partnership with Escrow Agent Japan (EAJ) last year to introduce its blockchain platform in the Japanese real estate market.

Among other similar initiatives, The Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF), has launched a blockchain pilot for property registry in South Africa. The Spanish Association of Registrars is working on a registry for tourist rentals. Projects are also active in the UAE, Mexico and the U.K.

View original post here:

Propy trials blockchain for land registry in Vermont - Ledger Insights

Blockchain technology had its beginnings in the financial sector and is most commonly associated with cryptocurrencies, but it is also beginning to emerge as a significant player in the healthcare industry. A recent study published in the Journal of Digital Imaging explored the history of blockchain and examined its potential impact on the future of medical imaging technology.

Specifically within medical imaging, blockchain use cases include image sharing (including patient-driven/centered ownership of images), teleradiology, research, and machine learning/artificial intelligence applications, wrote authors Morgan P. McBee, MD, Medical University of South Carolina, and Chad Wilcox, MD, University of California Los Angeles. It is more practical to store hashes, metadataor references/links to images within the blockchain as opposed to images themselves as illustrated in one proposed blockchain implementation for sharing of images. This is especially true because of the slow speed and high cost of storing large amounts of data in a public blockchain.

There are, however, four key limitations McBee and Wilcox discussed in their assessment. Any researchers looking to learn more about blockchain should keep these limitations in mind at all times.

More here:

4 limitations of blockchain technology every imaging researcher should know - AI in Healthcare

Loyyal Product Suite V3.0 Continues Loyyals Commitment to Innovation and Customer-Centered Design Principles.

Loyyal, the industry leader in applying blockchain technologies to enhance loyalty and incentive programs, is proud to unveil version 3.0 of the Loyyal Product Suite, achieving yet another milestone in the platforms performance, security, and features. Already the industry leader, Loyyals continued enhancement of transaction security, scalability, and ease of deployment delivers greater benefits to loyalty program operators than ever before. Among several new features, two significant introductions in this release are the new Administration Console, as well as improved fault-tolerance and recovery.

The new Administration Console provides Operators with a new level of insights into program activity and member behavior. With these new features, Operators are able to query and view individual blockchain transactions within their programs, or the precise activities of their members in ways previously unavailable. This level of observability empowers Operators to more accurately tune their programs for maximum member value and engagement, all while improving program profitability.

Read More: How Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Changing The Future Of Architecture?

Another key set of functionality provided via the Administration Console gives Operators greater security through the management of user accounts and permissions. An Operators organizational roles, as well as access rights and privileges, can now be mirrored in how it manages its blockchain on Loyyal. In addition to easier deployment and ongoing management of the Loyyal Product Suite, the user management features of the Administration Console also serve to help prevent fraud within a programs operations.

Future releases will expand on the Administration Consoles capabilities, including visual management of Smart Contracts, Partner management, and additional customized reporting tools.

With version 3.0, the Loyyal Product Suite has improved redundancy and system recovery from unforeseen network errors or conditions, negating the need for continued monitoring by Operators, and automating the recovery of key Platform functions within milliseconds. Additionally, Loyyals engineers have refactored much of the Platforms underlying API layer for greater performance, while maintaining backward-compatibility with previous releases.

Read More: The Future of Works Most Crucial Component: Artificial Intelligence

It is the needs of our clients and their partners that continue to drive the design and features of the Loyyal Product Suite, said Greg Simon, CEO, and Founder of Loyyal Corporation. Loyalty program needs are somewhat unique among large enterprise applications, and we are absolutely committed to staying ahead of the rest of the industry in meeting the needs of Program Operators. The release of Version 3.0 provides the support and tools needed by even the largest global programs.

Loyyals blockchain-as-a-service and software components combine the core Loyyal Platform APIs, Program Manager, and Event Manager modules, coupled with secure Node hosting for a complete solution. The capacity and performance enhancements, plus the robust data privacy controls of Loyyal Product Suite version 3.0 build upon the success of version 1.0 released in June of last year, which delivered enterprise-grade capabilities and improvements in transaction security, network resiliency, and scalability.

Read More: What is Chinas Password Law and What it Means for the Blockchain Industry?

Read more here:

Version 3.0 of Loyyal Industry-Leading Blockchain Administrative Console - AiThority

Source: Twitter, @CES

The Customer Electronics Show (CES 2020) is already in full swing. And this years event, now being held in Las Vegas and winding up on January 10, will have a special significance for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry following on from themes first explored at CES 2019.

But for many, this will be the year when innovators and industrialists must stop talking about blockchain, and actually start making money from it.

Nowhere is that truer than South Korea where many of the countrys largest conglomerates, banks and business groups spent 2019 talking about how much blockchain-related tech they would be commercializing in 2020. South Korean media outlets such as Fn News have been reporting about some of the companies set to showcase blockchain-related solutions at CES 2020. But not only South Korean companies participate in the event.

Here are some highlights.

Samsungs IT services arm, Samsung SDS, is displaying a blockchain-powered automotive parts management solution, as well as its own mainnet, Nexledger. The company has previously developed interoperability solutions that it claims have already helped bridge the gap for companies and government entities that make use of different blockchain protocols. It is also extremely active in the areas of logistics and shipping.

South Koreas answer to Microsoft has been busy creating a blockchain-powered suite of office solutions, but will also unveil what it says is a comprehensive data management platform for a wide range of certification, including birth certificates, digital identification, education records, employment history and medical records. Interestingly, the same platform also appears to offer blockchain-verified cryptocurrency trading data records. The company will also exhibit details about its own mainnet, as well as smart contract technology.

This startup is affiliated with KAIST, South Koreas biggest tech university, often referred to as East Asias MIT. In fact, ReDWit will be making its CES debut this year, presenting its blockchain solutions at a KAIST booth. These include a blockchain solution designed with academics in mind: one that will allow researchers to make, log and share research notes both online and offline, using a wide range of file formats and devices.

Singapore-based blockchain company Pundi X is using the CES to reintroduce their blockchain-powered smartphone, now called Blok On Blok, or just BoB. The device comes with a special operating system called f(x) or Function X OS. It allows users access to the Function X ecosystem, so that every call, text, or action made online, is decentralized. Each BOB functions as a node, so the more BOBs deployed means a stronger decentralized Function X ecosystem.

This startup company from Taiwan that focuses on applying blockchain technology to retail industry, launched what it calls the world's first all-in-one cryptocurrency retail payment solution built with blockchain hardware wallet - and exhibited it at CES. SecuX Cryptocurrency Retail Payment Solution includes three components: (1) a White-label Mobile App that can add any crypto payment with the existing fiat-currency payment app; (2) a Payment Terminal/Module that can operate without the internet connection; (3) a Hardware Wallet with a military-grade Secure Element chip.

This Silicon Valley startup offers a blockchain-based omnichannel mobile experience through integrating social messaging, mobile commerce, and fintech services. Zocials wants to power the new Blockchain network with its technology called Integrated Blockchain Architecture, which they claim provides a systems approach to solving limitations in scalability, security, and latency.

This Luxembourg-based platform built on a decentralized mutuality-based system aims to enable the next generation of insurance, particularly for the 500 million or more uninsurable smallholder farmers. It does this by allowing farmer-to-farmer risks to be shared in a transparent and cost-efficient manner, and it uses blockchain, satellite earth observation data and index-based risk modeling to accomplish this, their website says.

Chinese KryptoGO is a blockchain search engine that organizes all cross-chain information for usability and readability, the aim being to make blockchain more accessible and to hasten the adoption of crypto. Therefore, they've launched a RegTech (regulatory technology) solution built on top of KryptoGO's data infrastructure that analyzes on-chain data to connect virtual worlds with real-world identities. Furthermore, to make compliance easy, KryptoGO wants to solve the non-interoperability issue of travel rule standards by introducing a FATF/FinCEN compliant regulation kit.

Coming from New York, this startup is exhibiting their blockchain router, with a goal of bringing decentralized internet to every home across the world. The product enables its users to connect to the internet through an encrypted channel from any place in the world, and access regular websites, but also browse through the blockchain-based websites, which are not available otherwise.

The second-largest producer of Bitcoin mining equipment, China-based Canaan, will also be exhibiting their blockchain chips and system solutions products at the CES. It will continue its promotion of the multi-level design development and in-depth application of ASIC super-calculation chips for the multi-disciplinary areas.

The Netherlands-based project has developed a Blockchain-based Transparency Solution to trace products from its source to the finished product, that way giving the consumers full transparency over the entire process by utilizing blockchain and zero-knowledge. Furthermore, it enables sustainability and a circular economy in supply chains. The producers/companies can provide information about their products and their supply chains in a transparent way without risking privacy.

There are a number of blockchain companies and protocols at CES this year presenting their solutions and infrastructure capabilities:

ANote Music is a marketplace for buying and selling Music Rights based in Luxembourg. They want to innovate the current music industry by, among other things introducing it to the blockchain. The team claims that this allows artists, record labels, publishers and songwriters to become financially independent and get funds immediately, which they'd be earning over many years otherwise.

Netherlands-basked Fluidensity is a certified blockchain platform for the tokenization of art and other assets. They offer a complete platform for Security Token Offering, reportedly approved by financial authorities in the EU. Artists and collectors can use its platform to convert the ownership of art into digital certificates, thus collecting, trading, and exposing art in a new way via these tokens. Furthermore, the company says, blockchain makes collecting and trading art secure, transparent, and inclusive.

This product exhibited at CES comes from the U.S. - EmP Fitness is a blockchain-based solution that collects data from fitness apps, wearables, equipment, free weights, group exercises, and more, in order to store it on the blockchain. It gives its users control over that data, can share data anywhere, and earn money.

In this department, we find the U.S.-based Crypto Watches, which is showing off its Blockchain Watch Face brand. Utilizing their patent-pending blockchain technology, the company creates digital collectible smartwatch faces that they claim are compatible with almost every smartwatch out there. Watch Skins, also from the U.S, is a Blockchain Watch Face Marketplace. Their patent-pending technology allows popular brands to sell digital collectible smartwatch faces for almost any smartwatch, says the company. This is done via blockchain to ensure authenticity and scarcity of the licensed watch face.

Watch the latest reports by Block TV.

Finally, just yesterday we've written about another CES participant: 2020 CES Innovation Awards Honoree, Taiwan-based AuthenTrend. They exhibited their new fingerprint enabled crypto wallet, called AT.Wallet. ___

Stay tuned to Cryptonews.com for more CES 2020 blockchain and crypto-related developments!

Read more from the original source:

These Companies Hope to Shine at Blockchain-focused CES - Cryptonews

Dublin, Jan. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Blockchain Technology in Healthcare Market" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report on the market for blockchain in healthcare provides a market overview, assesses application markets, provides an end user analysis, and evaluates the market for blockchain in healthcare by mode of deployment, application, end user and geography.

The major companies profiled in the report include a detailed introduction, product portfolios and recent developments. The report also includes regulatory aspects, current and developing technologies, market projections and market share.

The report includes:

Key Topics Covered

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Summary and Highlights

Chapter 3 Market and Technology Background

Chapter 4 Market Breakdown by Deployment Sector

Chapter 5 Market Breakdown by End User

Chapter 6 Market Breakdown by Application

Chapter 7 Market Breakdown by Region

Chapter 8 Patent Review/New Developments

Chapter 9 Analysis of Market Opportunities

Chapter 10 Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5jwr1t

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

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Global Blockchain Technology in Healthcare Market, 2019-2024 - Funding, Investment, and Pilot Projects Acting as Catalysts of Market Growth -...

Telegrams victory in court over the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday wasnt much of a victory. In fact, it could prove to be the undoing of its planned Telegram Open Network blockchain platform and gram cryptocurrency.

The SEC sued Telegram in October, alleging the messaging services $1.7 billion token offering had broken federal securities laws. Telegram is fighting the suit, claiming its grams are utility tokens, outside the agencys purview. But a new announcement that it wont integrate gram payments into its Telegram Messenger platform signals a recognition that its case is faltering.

Federal Judge Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York gave the company a short-term win over the SEC by denying the agencys request to see all of Telegrams bank statements before a scheduled deposition of its CEO and founder, Pavel Durov, in Dubai on Jan. 7-8.

That saved the company from an impossible situation, as EU privacy requirements mean it could not legally turn over documents relating to European Union citizens without redacting personal information.

Judge Castel accounted for that, but he did order the company to turn the documents over in the not-too-distant future. He ordered Telegram to set forth a proposed schedule for a review of the requested bank records to ensure that production of such records complies with foreign data privacy laws, by Thursday.

The SECs document demands and the judges acquiescence to them mark an aggressive expansion of the agencys investigation. Having accused Telegram of making excuses, stalling, and generally trying to avoid handing over the documents, the SEC has made clear that it is no longer just trying to stop the gram sale.

Once the SEC gets its hands on those bank records, that will mark the beginning of an aggressive expansion of its investigation. Instead of just stopping the sale of TONs gram tokens to the general public, the SEC is now calling Telegrams 2018 initial coin offering to a small number of wealthy investors illegal, and is looking for evidence of fraud.

As a result, Telegram has come up with a new plan to launch TON while making sure the gram tokens it pre-sold in 2018 initial coin offering are not securities. Those tokens are the payment mechanism of TON.

In a blog post on Monday, the company announced that strategy change, which undercuts its biggest strength. It said it no longer planned to build its Telegram cryptocurrency wallet into the Telegram Messenger service, which has 200 million monthly active users.

Telegrams Ton Wallet application is expected to be made available solely on a stand-alone basis and will not be integrated with the Telegram Messenger service, Telegram wrote.

That is a Massive blow to $TON investors, Spencer Noon, founder of DTC Capital, tweeted. 90+% of the investment thesis for TON was having Telegram as a distribution channel.

Those 200 million Telegram users would have given TON a huge captive market. Users immediately would have been able to use grams for payments. That in turn would have given the company a huge lead over other blockchain-based payment platforms.

When Telegram pre-sold 2.9 billion gram tokens worth $1.7 billion to private investors in a Simple Agreement for Future Tokensor SAFTsale that ran from January through March 2018, that customer acquisition lead was the key selling point to the profit-seeking buyers.

That advantage is now gonemaybe.

In the blog post, Telegram highlighted its legal disclaimer that Telegram and its affiliates have not made any promises or commitments to develop any applications or features for the TON Blockchain or otherwise contribute in any way to the TON Blockchain platform after it launches. In fact, it said, It is possible that Telegram may never do so.

Nor will Telegram maintain TON, it said. Instead the companys goal and hope is that a decentralized community of third-party developers will maintain TON through a foundation.

That brought a snort of derision from Elizabeth Stark, co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs.

Because you know, decentralized third party protocol developers just grow on trees, she tweeted. The sentence was followed by a laughing-to-tears emoji.

Once it launches, Telegram wont be obligated to maintain the platform or create any apps for it, Telegram wrote in its blog post. Its possible we never will.

As for its TON Wallet, Telegram said it may integrate it in the future.

Telegram seems to be actively taking steps to separate the gram tokens from the only thing that really makes them interesting in the first place: the integration into the 200 million+ user messaging platform itself, wrote Ryan Selkis, founder of cryptocurrency research firm Messari, in an analysis Tuesday.

At issue is the Howey test, four questions that determine whether or not something offered for sale is a security. Two of those factors are whether investors have the expectation of profits based on the ongoing efforts of others. Normally, those efforts come from the offerings sponsor.

Telegrams argument has been that because gram will be used to make payments and transfer money on the TON blockchain, it is not a cryptocurrency bought as an investment but a utility token, outside the purview of the SEC. The SEC disagree, vigorously.

Which is why the announcement is likely a tactic in Telegrams fight with the SEC.

Distancing the Ton Wallet from the Telegram app makes sense if youre trying not to trip the efforts of others prong of the Howey test, but not if youre actually trying to distribute a useful token to your target users, Selkis said.

Ian Lee, managing director of Ideo CoLab Ventures, believes the announcement is a Howey test workaround by Telegram.

The goal, he tweeted, is to make TON more decentralized. Once the mainnet is up and running and other developers are creating distributed apps on the platform, grams will be decentralized enough that they will no longer be considered a security, he said.

At that point, Lee predicted, the TON Wallet will be natively integrated into Telegram.

He added: The problem is whether they will [ever get] there.

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After court win Telegram claims will abandon TON blockchain, gram token - Modern Consensus

2020 marks the turn of the decade. Here's what we think might happen this year (or the next).

In May 2020, Bitcoin's block reward will be reduced by half, which should reduce inflation and drive up the price of BTC. However, many experts have observed that past halvings haven't caused price surges. If inflationary changes are priced into the market, as some experts believe, Bitcoin's next reward halving will probably have long-term effects that play out over more than a year. A short-term price surge is unlikely.

Ethereum collectibles (or non-fungible tokens) make up a modest portion of the crypto market. However, recognition is growing: Binance has announced a special series of Ethereum NFTs, while CoinGecko has announced a forum called NFTGecko. Other major exchanges and market aggregators may add limited support for NFTs in 2020especially if trading continues to grow on dedicated markets like OpenSea.

In October, Ripple CTO David Schwartz suggested that an XRP-backed stablecoin is under consideration. This is an important step forward for Ripple: many similar crypto projects aimed at bank settlement, such as JPM Coin and IBM World Wire rely heavily on stable, fiat-pegged cryptos. Though Ripple hasn't confirmed anything yet, a stablecoin would certainly give the company a stronger competitive foothold.

EOS has been plagued by congestion over the past two years. The issue has prompted several DApps to move to WAX, a blockchain that runs on EOSIO software without sharing EOS's overburdened network of block producers. Even EOS's parent company, Block.one, is planning to launch a social network on its own EOSIO blockchain. Alternate EOSIO blockchains may continue to "steal" apps from EOS this year.

In 2019, Tether minted $2 billion of USDT, bringing its market cap up to $4 billion and making it the fourth largest cryptocurrency. If Tether continues to mint $2 billion worth of USDT per year, it could surpass XRPs $8 billion market cap by the end of 2021. This would make USDT the third largest coina controversial achievement, given that some critics doubt that Tether actually has sufficient fiat backing in its reserves.

This year,Litecoin will introduce private transactions, a feature that led many exchanges to delist Monero and Zcash in 2019. Litecoin has attempted to reassure its users, but some exchanges may be biased toward delisting for regulatory reasons. The fact that Litecoin's privacy features are optional seems irrelevant, as Dash's similarly optional privacy features did not save it from delistings on Upbit and Coincheck.

This year, Cardano will launch staking rewards. Currently, its testnet has about 9.6 billion ADA tokens staked, representing about 1/3 of its total supply. However, this testnet only allowed entry over two "snapshot" days, whereas Cardanos mainnet will offer staking to all coinholders with very low restrictions. Cardano may be able to attract at least 50% of funds to its staking poolsand that is a conservative estimate.

Riccardo "fluffypony" Spagni stepped down as the lead maintainer of Monero in December, leaving a long-time contributor, Snipa, to take his place. However, Spagni also represents Monero on Twitter, while Snipa has admitted that he does not have an active social media presence. As one of Moneros few non-anonymous developers, Spagni will probably continue to be Monero's most recognizable personality.

Facebook's Libra is facing difficulties. U.S. regulators have been hostile to the project, several European countries have announced plans to block the currency, and companies have dropped out of the Libra Association. However, Facebook has been exploring other markets, such as India and Mexico, as well. Libra should find one location to go live in this yeareven if its launch is more limited than originally planned.

There are many uses for blockchain in the video game industry. Ultra is taking a grand-scale approach that is similar to Facebook: it's bringing onboard major companies to serve as node operators for profit. So far, Ultra has signed Ubisoft as a block producer and AMD as a strategic partner. If it succeeds, it will be a sign of a future trend: consortium-backed blockchains with big players from mainstream industries.

Disclaimer: information contained herein is provided without considering your personal circumstances, therefore should not be construed as financial advice, investment recommendation or an offer of, or solicitation for, any transactions in cryptocurrencies.

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Ten Predictions For Cryptocurrency and Blockchain In 2020 - Bitrates

Today, California-based iTRACE Technologies has launched an Android app for authenticating products etched with its blockchain connected 2DMI mark.

An iPhone app for iTRACE already existed, and with an Android launch, more users can authenticate, track and trace a product. Android holds 74 of the global market share and many devices are cheaper than an iPhone.

iTRACE calls itself a supply chain security, brand protection and product security company, and its app can be branded and customized by businesses for individual applications.

The 2DMI mark is a supply chain security system which uses a laser to make 2D micro marks on any solid surface including stainless steel, diamond, glass and even fabrics. iTRACE hopes to combat grey markets and counterfeiting of products by providing easy and trusted access to provenance data.

The addition of the Android OS version of our app has significantly broadened the number of people that can participate in authentication with their own devices, said iTRACE Founder and CEO Mark Manning. Giving customs officers, investigators and even end consumers the ability to guarantee the authenticity of the products in their hands gives the brands a very powerful tool to engage with their consumers in real-time.

The mobile app also features two-factor authentication (2FA) that can be used to secure existing security systems such as human-readable devices. iTRACE claims to provide better security and damage resistance than QR codes, barcodes and 2D codes, making them ideal for harsher environments.

Last month, Honeywell said it was working with iTRACE to secure its aerospace parts supply chain by recording identification on a blockchain.

Other technologies linked to blockchain for traceability include molecular DNA used by blockchain provenance company Everledger for tagging luxury products. And ScanTrust has a barcoding system which it says is copy proof.

Anti-counterfeiting is a popular application for blockchain technology. Microsoft, ConsenSys and French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH have a blockchain network to trace history and authenticity of luxury goods. Meanwhile, Seagate is working with IBM for a blockchain solution to authenticate the provenance of its hard disks and prevent fraudulent clones.

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iTRACE adds Android support for blockchain product authentication - Ledger Insights

CES 2020 is about to open a new decade of consumer electronics inventions, and the star of the show is the worlds first blockchain-powered smartphone.

With the arrival of 2020, the world has officially entered into a new decade, which will undoubtedly bring new technologies and inventions, but also new threats. When it comes to threats online, there is definitely no shortage of them.

Hackers and other cybercriminals seem to be everywhere, with malware, viruses, and alike constantly getting more sophisticated. Meanwhile, the number of internet users around the world is on a constant rise, making more and more people vulnerable to said threats.

This is no secret, either, and some studies suggest that 8 out of 10 internet users feel vulnerable while online, with little to no control over their data. So far, security researchers managed to convince the authorities of the dangers and the reality and severity of these threats, although a few steps that were taken to mitigate these threats have yet to bring any major impact.

This is where blockchain technology, with its decentralized nature and immutability, comes into play, promising a real method of increasing security for the first time in years. However, with the number of mobile users constantly on the rise, there was a major demand and an even bigger lack of blockchain-based smartphones. A few attempts to make them in the past failed due to the lack of awareness, trust, or interest.

This is why Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 is expected to be a major game-changer, as it will introduce the worlds first blockchain-powered phone, called Blok on Blok (BOB). BOB is a product created by a company Pundi X, headquartered in Singapore, and it acts as its first flagship smartphone product.

The phone was originally known as XPhone, and it was presented during the Bali Blockchain Summit in 2018. After the Summit, the company rebranded and perfected the phone, ensuring the users utmost privacy by developing a new operating system, f(x) OS (Function X OS). The system ensures that every call, text, or other action, are made online, through a decentralized app or browser.

Meanwhile, each BOB phone acts as a node of the network, which eliminates the need for a centralized service provider or carrier. Simply put, the more BOBs there are in the world, the bigger the network, and the stronger the decentralization.

Pundi Xs co-founder and CEO, Zac Cheah, stated that the goal is to ensure that the users data will belong to the users themselves and that the last decade has proven that users need to be more careful with their information.

However, since it will take time for people to get used to the idea of a decentralized network for their phone, BOB will have an option to switch between blockchain mode to more traditional states. This is possible due to the Android 9 Pie OS.

In terms of design, BOB has a retro-futuristic look, and each package will include the MOD assembly kit, including core components and various accessories.

While its default form certainly feels futuristic and sci-fi, users will have the ability to customize its look through 3D printing. Meanwhile, the Function X Foundation plans to invite designers from around the world, and ask them to submit their ideas for the blockchain-powered phone, resulting in 5-10 different MOD designs, in total.

BOB can be pre-ordered today, January 7th, on Indiegogo at 9 am PST. Early birds can expect a discount, while the latest prototype can be seen at the CES 2020 at Sands, Hall G 52501 in Eureka Park in Las Vegas, Nevada.

What do you think about the new BOB smartphone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, Youtube @FunctionX

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World's First Blockchain-Powered Phone Arrives at CES 2020 - Bitcoinist