Ripple Just Gave The XRP Price A BoostHeres Why – Forbes

Ripple, the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency, has today revealed a $200 million funding round, valuing the company at $10 billion.

Ripple's news, announced on the company website, sent the XRP price sharply higher, up around 4% on the last 24-hour trading period, to $0.19 per XRP token.

Ripple's chief executive Brad Garlinghouse has been working to build up the company's customer base ... [+] and told Fortune Ripple will next year expand its number of clients.

Ripple's XRP is the world's third biggest cryptocurrency, behind bitcoin and ethereum but has had a difficult year as the world's biggest banks, payment providers and technology companies look to create their own digital tokens.

However, Ripple's chief executive Brad Garlinghouse told Fortune magazine he expects the company will grow its customer base by 30% to 40% in the coming year, from 300 currently, and boasted transaction volume on the Ripple network will rise more than 600%.

Ripple's new Series C funding round, led by global investment firm Tetragon and backed by SBI and Route 66 Ventures, will be used to grow the number of banks and payments companies using the cryptocurrency XRP for international transactions.

"We are in a strong financial position to execute against our vision. As others in the blockchain space have slowed their growth or even shut down, we have accelerated our momentum and industry leadership throughout 2019," said Garlinghouse in a statement, adding on Twitter this is "a big end to 2019 for Ripple and for the crypto space at large."

XRP, the digital currency Ripple created, has been on a steep downward trend all year, losing around half its value over the last 12 months.

Ripple owns some 60% of XRP tokens but most are locked in long-term storage.

Ripple's XRP is the world's third-biggest cryptocurrency, behind bitcoin and ethereum.

San Francisco-based Ripple earlier this year announced it had bought a stake in high street money transfer chain Moneygram, which now uses uses XRP for 15% of its transfers into Mexico.

Ripple's XRP,one of the oldest bitcoin rivals and the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has endured many of the cryptocurrency industry's ups and downs since it was released in 2012,earning its fair share of fans and detractors along the way.

In October, Ripplerevealedit sold $66 million worth of XRP in the third quarter of 2019down 74% from sky-high sales of $251 million in the previous quarter.

See more here:

Ripple Just Gave The XRP Price A BoostHeres Why - Forbes

75% of IoT Firms Want to Add Blockchain: Survey – Coindesk

While there are still few large-scale use cases of blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT) industry turns out to be a sweet spot for the adoption of such technologies.

Avivah Litan, an IT industry analyst at Gartner, said in a survey, said that75 [percent] of IoT technology adopters in the U.S. have already adopted blockchain or are planning to adopt it by the end of 2020 out of more than 500 U.S. companies.

Blockchain technologies can create a trusted environment for data transmissions between virtual networks or devices while increasing efficiency of such exchanges, according to the survey.

According to Litan, of the 75 percent of blockchain adopters, 86 percent are implementing both IoT and blockchain in various projects.

The IoT companies aim to integrate computing devices with digital and mechanical machines to avoid human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

For example, Apple Watch and Amazon Alexa are using these technologies in consumer goods. The technologies can also be used in the healthcare, industrial and military sectors.

Increased security and trust in shared multiparty transactions are the top benefits when the companies combine blockchain and IoT technologies, according to 63 percent of the survey respondents, while 56 percent said the top benefit is an increase in business efficiency and lower costs.

However, Litan cautioned that blockchain implementations related to protocol changes could be difficult for long-lived IoT devices due to its relatively high volatility.

Some blockchain implementations struggle to scale to the transaction rates that can be generated by large numbers of connected things, Litan said, expecting the necessary evolution in both blockchain and IoT to mature in five to 10 years.

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.

See the rest here:

75% of IoT Firms Want to Add Blockchain: Survey - Coindesk

EY Releases Third-Generation Zero-Knowledge Proof Blockchain – AiThority

New Enhancements Allow Private Transfers to Be Batched in a Single Transaction

EY announced the release of the third-generation zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) blockchain technology to the public domain on the Ethereum public blockchain. The enhancements of the ZKP blockchain technology will help make private transactions on public blockchains more scalable by significantly reducing transaction costs through batching multiple private transfers together in a single transaction.

The new components of the ZKP blockchain technology include tools for batching multiple proofs together and a solution for reducing the size of an on-chain Merkletree. The combination allows for up to 20 transactions to be done at once and cuts the cost per transaction to around US$0.05. This represents a 400-fold improvement (at constant transaction pricing) over the initial EY prototypeunveiled in October 2018.

The release of the third-generation ZKP technology comes on the heels of astudyconducted by Forrester on behalf of EYin November 2019in whichhalf of respondents cite security (49%) and data privacy (46%) as top blockchainconcerns. Additionally, 45% of respondents cite interoperability as a stumbling block of private blockchain.

Read More: Worlds Largest Blockchain Application Competition Klaytn Horizon Winners Announced

Paul Brody, EY Global Blockchain Leader, says:

This technology is perhaps the most important EY blockchain milestone in making public blockchains scalable for the enterprise. In the prior iteration released in April 2019, public blockchains were already getting competitive with private networks. With this iteration, we cut the cost per transaction by more than 90% again, making private transactions more accessible for mainstream business application.

In addition to beingdeployed on the public Ethereum network, the updated technology can also be deployed on private blockchains built on the Ethereum platform. On private blockchains, itprovides a second layer of security and privacy, supporting more complex privacy models across multiple organizations within industry consortia.

Read More: Cognata Selected by Innoviz to Test and Validate LiDAR Sensor Suite

The new ZKP batching function is also the first of several new batching-related functionsthatEY will announcein the coming months to help enable greater scalability. In 2018, EY became the first organization to complete a private transaction on the Ethereum blockchain.

Brody says:

I believe we will look back upon the industrialization of ZKPs as a key milestone in the wide enterprise migration from private to public blockchains. Organizationsare increasingly seeing the potential for public blockchains, with 75% of enterprises likely to use these networks in the future. The third-generation EY ZKP technology brings us even closer to private and secure transactions on the public blockchain.

Since EY announced the release of theoriginalZKP technology code known as Nightfallinto the public domain, it has been tracked by more than 500 individualsand entities,as well as edited and customizedmore than 80 times. EY is preparing for upcoming changes tothe Ethereum blockchain platform that will permit further performance improvements and allow users to pool transactions together.

Read More: AiThority Interview with Pedro Arellano, VP of Product Marketing at Looker

View post:

EY Releases Third-Generation Zero-Knowledge Proof Blockchain - AiThority

Panini America Becomes First To Launch Collection Of Officially-Licensed Trading Cards Featuring Blockchain Technology – PRNewswire

"We were very thorough and a number of factors were considered in selecting the players that will be released in our Panini trading cards that utilize blockchain technology. There is not a more iconic trading card than the rare 1909-11 Honus Wagner T206 baseball card. To be able to produce the first ever Honus Wagner blockchain card, along with all of these other players utilizing blockchain technology and ensuring that these cards will now live forever in the digital realm is truly an honor," said Mark Warsop, CEO of Panini America.

Panini's blockchain trading cards will launch in early January 2020 on http://www.paniniamerica.net and will be sold in an auction format in U.S. dollars as opposed to a digital currency with 10 cards being released each week. The blockchain asset will live on a closed Panini platform where sports fans and collectors can buy, sell and store their blockchain trading card assets. Each card is a unique one-of-one card that not only includes a blockchain digital asset but will be accompanied by a physical version of the card that includes an autograph of the respective player and in some cases will incorporate a piece of memorabilia. The blockchain asset will be an exact representation of the physical version of the card.

Panini also plans to release blockchain versions of cards in upcoming Panini physical tradingcardproductsin the NFL, NBA and MLBPA.With some cards selling on the secondary market for six figures,and as the popularity of trading cards continues to grow in the global marketplace,the blockchain technology also ensures another level of authentication for Panini's products and high-value cards.

"We have spent years researching and exploring the best possible way to incorporate blockchain into our trading cards as another level of authentication as well as the best way to introduce blockchain to sports fans and collectors. We believe our platform and the fact that the cards will be sold in U.S. dollars rather than a digital currency will help fans and collectors have a better understanding, knowing that their cards utilize blockchain as another level of authenticity," added Warsop.

ABOUT PANINI:The Panini Group, established more than 50 years ago in Modena, Italy, has subsidiaries throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States. Panini is the world leader in officially licensed collectibles and is the most significant publisher of collectibles in the U.S., with official licenses for NFL, NFLPA, NBA, MLBPA, College, FIFA, Disney, Epic Games and other key properties from many other licensors. Panini is also the exclusive trading card and sticker partner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. Panini has distribution channels in more than 100 countries and employs a staff of over 800. For more information visit us at http://www.paniniamerica.net, http://www.paninigroup.comor http://blog.paniniamerica.net/. You can also follow Panini America on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Media Contact: Tracy Hackler, Panini America214-552-3475thackler@paniniamerica.net

SOURCE Panini America

http://www.paniniamerica.net

Read more from the original source:

Panini America Becomes First To Launch Collection Of Officially-Licensed Trading Cards Featuring Blockchain Technology - PRNewswire

TradeLens blockchain technology shipping solution adopted by CMIT – Ship Technology

Vietnams Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) has adopted the TradeLens shipping solution, which supports blockchain technology.

CMIT is a joint venture (JV) comprising Vinalines, Saigon Port and APM Terminals and is one of the largest terminals in the Cai Mep Thi Vai deepwater gateway port complex.

The terminal is capable of accommodating mainline vessels with a capacity up to 194,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) / 21,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), connecting Vietnam with markets in Europe, North America and elsewhere in Asia.

It serves as a key link in global trade and aims to innovate and apply e-solutions in its routine operations such as e-invoice and e-cargo.

CMIT general director Jan Bandstra said: In the context of constantly increasing demand for high-quality online services by our customers, along with the robust development of global digitalisation, joining Tradelens enables immediate updates on cargo data, hence directly supporting our customers supply chain planning efficiency.

TradeLens is the industry leader, supported by the major shipping lines in developing blockchain solutions.

The open and neutral blockchain-based platform TradeLens unites parties such as beneficial cargo owners, freight forwarders, inland transportation providers, ports and terminals in the supply chain onto a single, secure data-sharing and collaboration platform.

More than 100 organisations across the industry are now using TradeLens after Maersk and IBM released the platform in August.

CMIT deputy general director Nguyen Xuan Ky said: By way of illustration, a seafood container export from Vietnam to the US has more than 30 shipping milestones and shipment data at more than ten relevant entities with the requirement of close tracking.

When the cargo data is transparent and enabled seamless, real-time information sharing at different stages by different entities in the global supply chain will increase considerable efficiency for global trade flows.

Original post:

TradeLens blockchain technology shipping solution adopted by CMIT - Ship Technology

How Blockchain is disrupting the insurance industry – Intelligent CIO Africa

Most insurers have started exploring the opportunities the Blockchain can deliver to their business. With 81% of insurers globally familiar with the technology, some areas of focus are fraud prevention, the digital tracking of medical records and developing smart contracts. JC Oberholzer, Chief Systems Architect of SilverBridge Holdings, examines the role this technology will play in making for a more secure and efficient way of doing business.

The numbers speak for themselves. More than 24 countries are investing in Blockchain with in excess of 90 companies joining Blockchain consortia. And venture capital-backed Bitcoin and Blockchain fintech investment activity has grown from US$3 million in 2011 to almost US$500 million in recent years. Even so, when talking about the Blockchain, many people default to its part in the cryptocurrency market. However, the technology has the potential to disrupt any industry sector, leaving in its wake a more effective system way people get to own the value they create.

Currently,insurers struggle with the inefficient exchange of information, complexliability assessments when it comes to reinsurance, fragmented data sources,the use of a middleman and a manual-driven claims review and processenvironment.

The Blockchain can change all that. Even when only used in the underwriting process, the Blockchain can help reduce costs, improve risk assessments and enhance client onboarding. It can also change the claims submission process from its registration through to assessment and payment. Having a simplified (and secure) environment to automate much of this, will radically reduce fraud and deliver a better customer experience.

Think of the Blockchainas a more sophisticated way of recording information in a database. Once addedto the database (the Blockchain), the data cannot be removed or altered in anyway. This essentially creates a verifiable, permanent record. Cryptocurrencieswere of course the logical result of this new technology, but even so theinfluence of the Blockchain extends so much further.

Modern times

Two of thetraditional challenges of the insurance industry fraud and customer service can be transformed with the Blockchain. Because Blockchain ensures records arenot altered in any way and can be verified with complete accuracy, it providessignificant opportunities for insurers to embrace the technology.

Because datastored in the Blockchain cannot be altered, it all but eliminates the potentialfor insurance fraud. No single element of the data can be modified in any way.And let us not forget the transactional capacity the technology unlocks.Suddenly, smart contracts become a reality where clients can digitally signcontracts directly with the insurer and claim pay outs can happen virtuallyinstantaneously thanks to cutting out the middleman.

In Europe, the B31Services AG was formed to streamline the development, testing andcommercialisation of Blockchain solutions in insurance. One of its use caseshighlighted how the Blockchain can be used for fraud detection and prevention.This sees how the development of a Blockchain network can provide a way forinsurers to safely and securely share data to gain visibility into criminalpatterns and prevent future financial losses.

From a consumerlevel, the Blockchain can help insurers understand and price risks better. Byallowing customer, risk and policy information to be shared quickly andsecurely across multiple stakeholders in the insurance ecosystem, the revenuepotential and growth prospects will improve by enabling insurers to price theirproducts more accurately.

Irrespective theuse case, the Blockchain provides insurers with an opportunity to grow in new,more innovative ways. However, they must act sooner rather than later if theyare to keep up with the pace of change that has seen the growth of insurtechsin the market.

Fortunately, theBlockchain can scale effectively according to needs, so insurers can limit itsroll out to best suit their business cases. With the Blockchain, insurers notonly get an immutable audit trail, but can do so faster, more securely andefficiently than ever. And that is something that is critical for the connectedcustomer today.

Continued here:

How Blockchain is disrupting the insurance industry - Intelligent CIO Africa

How 2019 Was The Tipping Point For Adoption Of Private Blockchain Solutions – Analytics India Magazine

The year 2019 saw the launch of several private blockchain roll outs in the enterprise space, both in India and across the globe. Here, one of the most important developments was the launch of Hyperledger Fabric 1.4 in January 2019, which was its first long term support release. This was an important milestone in the adoption of enterprise blockchain as maintainers of Fabric network will now provide continuous bug fixes for each following versions. Also, programming model improvements in the Node.js SDK and Node.js chaincode makes the development of decentralized applications more intuitive, allowing developers to focus on application logic.

Hyperledger has been the most prominent open source enterprise blockchain network launched in December 2015 by the Linux Foundation, and receiving contributions from IBM, Intel and SAP Ariba, to support the collaborative development of blockchain-based distributed ledgers. In 2019, apart from its Fabric blockchain product which has been used by hundreds of companies across the globe, Hyperledger Sawtooth also saw adoption from companies like Salesforce, Lamborghini, Target, Cargill.

Apart from using Hyperledger for specific enterprise use cases like supply chain management and distributed applications, other companies tweaked the open source software for serving their own customers. For example, In November 2019, Accenture announced that it developed and tested a solution called Blockchain Integration Framework which allows two or more blockchain enabled ecosystems to integrate and achieve interoperability as an end goal. A tutorial demonstrated sending an asset file between two enterprise blockchain networks, namely a generic deployment of Hyperledger Fabric and JP Morgans Quorum network using Accentures own blockchain interoperability solution, which Accenture has opensourced for all developers. Given there is a large interest among enterprises, Indias tech companies like

MindTree, Tech Mahindra joined Hyperledger Foundation to leverage its blockchain capabilities in 2019.

As far as enterprise vendors in the blockchain space are concerned, IBM clearly won the race on the global level with innovative launches. In 2019, we saw IBM introducing Trust Your Supplier Network along with blockchain consultancy firm Chainyard. Along with IBM, Fortune 500 companies including Anheuser-Busch InBev, GlaxoSmithKline, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric and Vodafone are founding participants in the Trust Your Supplier (TYS) network.

Another IBMs blockchain project called Food Trust added big players in the food sector including Walmart, Nestle, Tyson Foods, French supermarket chain Carrefour, Dole Foods, Unilever, and US grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons. Both of these blockchain networks run on the IBM Blockchain Platform which is built to run on-premises and in multi-cloud environments. With the platform, organisations can create, test and debug smart contracts, and also connect to Hyperledger Fabric. IBM also in 2019 also launched a new supply chain service caled Sterling Supply Chain Suite based on its blockchain platform and open-source software from recently-acquired Red Hat that allows developers and third-party apps to integrate legacy corporate data systems onto a distributed ledger.

Another large scale private deployment of blockchain technology in 2019 was when the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium announced it completed a trial for blockchain-based authorization for expenditure (AFE) balloting after it acquired tech from Canadian firm GuildOne. The alliance consists of several major oil companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell. Automaker BMW and logistics provider DHL worked on a blockchain proof of concept (PoC) for the formers Asia Pacific supply chain operations to provide better visibility for parts shipped from Malaysia. In these two cases, it became clear that apart from open source technologies like Hyperledger or blockchain technologies from large vendors such as IBM, there are niche tech companies and consortiums working to develop in-house distributed ledgers for supply chains and trust/identity management.

In India, the enterprise adoption of blockchain is on the rise with multiple proof of concepts happening in both public and private enterprises. In fact, blockchain developer is Indias fastest growing emerging job role, as per a Linkedin report. To highlight the rising trend of private blockchain solutions, we saw in 2019 that major Indian IT solution providers like TCS, Infosys and Wipro launched their blockchain-focused products for businesses. Software major Infosys launched blockchain-powered distributed applications for government services, insurers and supply chain management verticals. The applications are planned for business systems to guarantee speedy deployment, and interoperability crosswise over divergent frameworks of significant value chain partners and cases including analytics and IoT (Internet of Things), Infosys said.

Services and consulting firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) introduced an innovative a low code development kit for organizations interested in developing and deploying blockchain technology quickly. The Quartz DevKit is a web-based development platform coupled with plug-and-play components that can be reused to help speed up the process. The company claims that these features enable shaving off as much as 40% of the total time required to develop and deploy the solutions. R Vivekananda, Global Head of Quartz at TCS, stated that they had received very positive feedback from pilot customers to their kit.

Unlike Infosys and TCS, Wipro made strides in enterprise payments space in partnership with blockchain firm R3, where the duo together developed a prototype in 2019 to execute digital currency payments for interbank financial settlements for a consortium consisting of the Bank of Thailand and 8 commercial banks in Thailand. Built as a component of the first phase of Project Inthanon, the solution will deliver de-centralized interbank real-time gross settlement (RTGS) using wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Thailand. The solution highlights that central banks across the globe are taking interest in hiring software companies to deploy blockchain solutions for payment and finance-related activities. It is to be noted that R3 developed a similar enterprise payments solution in 2019 with other companies too, including SAP and Accenture.

2019 saw multiple POCs coming into action for helping create enterprise blockchain networks for different purposes. The trend was clear- blockchain technologies created a trusted environment for data transmissions between virtual networks or devices while increasing efficiency of such exchanges. According to research, 75% of IoT technology implementers in America have already adopted distributed ledger or are working on adopting it by the end of 2020 out of more than 500 U.S. companies. Yet, Gartners Hype Cycle (above) for Blockchain Business also shows that most blockchain technologies are still 5-10 years away from transformational impact.

comments

Read the rest here:

How 2019 Was The Tipping Point For Adoption Of Private Blockchain Solutions - Analytics India Magazine

The Promise of the Blockchain – Silicon UK

As data security continues to occupy the time of CIOs and CTOs, adopting technology like the blockchain seems inevitable. The decentralized nature of the blockchain ledger is based upon, offers a new environment where data can be safe and secure.

However, the need for more openness, which forms the basis of the blockchain is proving a difficult sell, as businesses fear opening their secure networks could compromise their security. It seems the ideology that the blockchain is based on is not finding wholesale support across the business landscape yet.

Also, the developers of blockchain services come up against the current raft of legislation and regulation that governs how personal data can be stored and the right to be forgotten. As one of the central supports of the blockchain is once a transaction has been entered into the blockchain it cant be altered, there is instant friction with GDPR for instance. Accenture has developed a mutable blockchain where changes can be made, leaving what ts calls a scar to show where the data was altered, but this is just a short-term solution.

The blockchain has been on the distant horizon for CIOs for several years. A wait and see stance have been the mode most businesses have taken regarding the implementation of this technology. Gartner predicts the blockchain could generate $3 trillion in new business over the next decade.

Blockchain technologies offer a set of capabilities that provide new economic, business and societal paradigms, says David Furlonger, Distinguished Vice President Analyst, Gartner. Exploiting blockchain will demand that enterprises be willing to embrace decentralization and strategic tokenization in their business models and processes even if these strategies are not straightforward.

Use cases for the blockchain have been in development for some time. The issue is whether the business community will adopt the cultural shift needed to implement the blockchain widely as a whole. No one is disputing that the blockchain or more accurately the distributed ledger would be transformative. No business as yet has been willing to take the step themselves without the full support of their market sector.

Richard Gendal Brown, Chief Technology Officer at blockchain firm R3, told Silicon: A key challenge for senior technical leaders within firms is that its not enough to want to use blockchain, there has to be a compelling business case, and the most compelling business cases operate at the level of markets. So, the CTOs and CIOs who are having the most impact are those who are well networked both within their firms with the relevant lines of business but also well networked with their peers across firms.

In their report, Deloitte concludes: Where enterprise organizations seek ways to integrate blockchain into their existing business modelsor, more accurately, how to transform existing processes and systems to work with blockchainemerging disruptors built their businesses around blockchain from the start. This makes them potentially more fluid and agile than competitors and less constrained by similar challenges that inhibit adoption among their more established competition.

Speaking to Silicon, Dimitar Pavlov, Head of Development at Luckbox. Luckbox, an esports betting platform with its own native cryptocurrency, LuckCash said: If we leave speculative trading and actual payments using crypto aside, I cant name a business that is successfully using, say, smart contracts, or another blockchain tech at scale. Blockchain is great, and the applications are indeed limitless, and it has the power to transform the world that we live in. As a global development community of blockchain users, we all share the responsibility to advance the technology and make it truly accessible and usable for everyone.

The potential the blockchain has is plain to see. However, the collaboration will be necessary for this technology to enter the mainstream. Detailed use cases have helped so far in specific sectors such as finance. But for a broader adoption to take place, CTOs and CIOs will need further convincing they can make practical use of the blockchain in targeted or wider areas of their businesses.

The current link many CIOs make between the blockchain and cryptocurrencies is understandable. These new currencies have gained most of the news headlines over the last few years often for less than positive reasons. Looking beyond what can seem like a clandestine world of legally dubious transactions, is only one way the blockchain can be applied.

Businesses then must ask whether they need to implement a blockchain. Often there will be confusion between the digitization already taking place across their companies and, what additional advantages the blockchain could deliver. There is interest in this technology, as, in the first half of 2019, $822 million was raised from VCs for blockchain-related initiatives. How this translates into more wide-spread applicable technologies CTOs can use, remains unclear.

For CIOs seeing how blockchain could enhance processes across their business will also mean choosing the right implementation of the technology. Blockchain Research Institute report explained the current options:

Unlike the original Bitcoin blockchain, which was designed solely to enable the exchange of crypto tokens, these platforms are designed for general-purpose use. In many cases, they can be designed to cater specifically to the needs of businesses. Of these platforms, three are of particular interest to CIOs for their potential in the enterprise setting:

Says Nick Fulton, head of partnerships, Paybase: Although blockchain solutions are being applied to streamline back-office processes, they really come into their own when multiple parties are interacting in the same network or ecosystem. An example of this could be an entire supply chain (such as the beef industry) operating on a blockchain to improve the efficiency and transparency of their transactions.

This, however, requires collaboration between parties to overcome the initial chicken and egg problem that comes from building that network. Clear market leaders are more likely to take the lead in adoption in a B2B setting; however, they often have the greatest vested interest to maintain the status quo.

Could the blockchain hold the key to the new business architectures that are needed to move cybersecurity to the next level? IBM dubbed those businesses looking closely at blockchain technologies as explorers. This is perhaps an apt description of the general attitude towards the blockchain at the moment.

Because of its early link to cyber currencies, the focus of the blockchain has been in the financial sector. The expanding FinTech sector illustrates how new businesses and services can be built using the blockchain as its foundation. Other burgeoning industries, such as IoT, could also see a massive expansion in the application of blockchain principles. Where smart environments exist, highly personalized and sensitive information will be collected and transmitted a scenario the blockchain is eminently capable of securing.

The Blockchain Research Institute explains: Now we shift from blockchains impact on enterprise architecture and industry structure to its effect on the role of the CIO and what CIOs can do to navigate and thrive in the blockchain era. The CIOs changing role is an important subject. New technologies do not deploy themselves. Organizations wanting to exploit new technological capabilities need talented individuals and teams to develop the vision and then build, test and implement it. As chief technologist of the enterprise, the CIO plays a crucial role in this process.

R3s Richard Gendal Brown sees a general evolution of the blockchain taking place: Mainstream adoption wont come in a big bang moment and companies have to proceed in a careful, proportionate manner in moving towards this. This is particularly important when there are so many regulatory, compliance and legislative factors at play in ensuring blockchain is adopted sustainably.

With John Connolly, Chief Product Officer, Receipt Bank concluding: I think once skill-sets become more widely available, and once the areas of application are appropriate rather than overkill or rather, once the hype gives way to some real applications we will (as always) see those who are happy to be on the leading edge than on the bleeding edge. Right now, it feels like the bleeding edge. Few can make decisions on behalf of their respective companies.

Sectors such as finance and healthcare are prime candidates for blockchain transformation. Logistics and supply chain management could also be radically altered if the promises made by blockchain technology could be implemented with practical systems. Removing a central data controller is such a radical change to how security has been traditionally handled, its challenging to see businesses moving wholesale to these platforms anytime soon. The blockchain is coming; its arrival is just delayed.

Read this article:

The Promise of the Blockchain - Silicon UK

What Are The Major Limitations, Challenges In Blockchain? – Inc42 Media

High energy is an issue, as Bitcoin consumes more energy than a country Switzerland needs today

Scalability, as Bitcoin at max, can handle only 7 transactions per second

Blockchain is going to be 1000x bigger than the todays internet, are we game?

Over the last decade, numerous blockchain platforms including Ethereum, Ripple, Hyperledger, R3 Corda, IBM Blockchain and Bigchain have gained prominence for developing unique and various use-cases despite the challenges involved. With Facebooks Libra coming up on the horizon, and countries including India and China considering their own fiat cryptocurrencies, whats the future of blockchain going to like?

In an interview with Nasdaq, Celsius CEO and inventor of VOIP Alex Mashinsky estimates that the blockchain systems will be 1000 times the size of todays internet. He explains the analogy by comparing the telephones in the 90s and the transition to the internet, which was just an application on voice network.

Working on voicemail, I could sense that the internet will be so huge that voice will be just an application on the internet.

Mashinsky firmly believes that blockchain today is just a fraction of what it can be.

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are the future of everything. This means that network is gonna be 1000x bigger and more powerful than the internet because it requires much more processing power. Also, the largest network always wins.

While Mashinsky is talking about the future, in the present day, despite so many protocols, consortiums to back it, blockchain use cases are available and adopted only in a limited manner. Mostly due to lack of awareness, infrastructure, skill to its existing complexity and numerous other factors.

So what are the major factors that limit blockchain potential?

Lets take a deeper look!

The beauty of blockchain lies in the complexity of the network. The higher the number of parties associated with a transaction, the better it is for the applicability of the blockchain. In the beginning, many of the PoCs were not at all practical, in terms of operationality and cost-efficiency, as they had very few nodes running the blockchain.

Further, most of the companies, banks are currently adopting blockchain in parts. Instead of going fully centralised or decentralised, entities have taken a hybrid approach. This increases complexity by huge margins. Further companies have to deploy dedicated blockchain experts, even if their existing applications are small.

Secondly, one blockchain application cannot be easily duplicated across operations and use-cases. Each application requires a deeper understanding of the business needs and blockchain can be drastically different for applications such as insurance contracts and for land records.

Do you remember the Ethereum Classics 51% attack in January this year? On January 5, Coinbase had detected a deep chain reorganisation of the Ethereum Classic blockchain and as a result it immediately paused interactions with the ETC blockchain.

Back in 2016 too, the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) that was managing Ethereum was attacked. This led to the loss of $50 Mn i.e. over one-third of its funds. As a result, the Ethereum community then decided to go for a hard-fork or break in the blockchain to create a new blockchain. The new hard-forked cryptocurrency became Ethereum (ETH) with the theft reversedBlockchain, and the original continued as Ethereum Classic.

So what is the 51% attack? Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin had defined honesty in terms of the largest CPU mining network. In the case of a public blockchain, a 51% attack is a malicious miner or a group of miners taking control of more than 50% of a networks mining power or hash rate. The miner (or most likely a group of miners) having control of over 50% of the networks hash can block the history produced by the rest of the network and can even define a new canonical transaction history.

However, in todays times, precautionary protocols have been written by miners and developers to avoid such attacks.

Bitcoin is one of the most popular applications of the blockchain and indeed the first one. The Bitcoin Core needs around 200 GB storage space in every node that is part of the blockchain network. Among other requirements are 5 GB upload and 500 MB download everyday. While India is still struggling to implement Bharatmala Broadband project and 4G having limited availability and capacity across states, blockchain implementation certainly needs a massive infrastructure upgrade.

In the case of Bitcoin blockchain, energy consumption remains one of the biggest issues with miners. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have estimated that Bitcoin consumes more energy than the entire nation of Switzerland. The energy is mainly fed to keep the entire network alive all the time. Thats just one blockchain, imagine the case if we have many more such networks.

Scalability is another likely issue and a hurdle for many blockchain applications. For instance, lets compare the largest centralised payments system i.e. Visa and the largest crypto payments system i.e Bitcoin. If Visa can process 65,000 transactions per second, Bitcoins maximum speed is 7 transactions per second. In the case of centralised architecture, its the controlling authority which decides the flow, it does not unnecessarily notify about a transaction to other peers. This saves time and speed.

In the case of blockchain architecture, the validation takes several minutes because a majority of nodes has to authorise the transaction.

Bitcoin works on Proof-of-Work model which is secure but slow at the same time. There is an alternative in the form of Proof-of-Stake, which is faster in validating entries, but is not regarded as an ideal option for distributed consensus protocol.

Brain-Drain for Blockchain

According to various surveys and reports, more than 80% of the blockchain developers in India are moving abroad in search of better opportunities. Developers cite the brain drain happening due to lack of robust regulatory framework in the country on blockchain technology.

The report suggests that blockchain developers are moving to Singapore, UAE, Estonia and Switzerland which offer tax breaks and e-residency for startups. The significantly improved digital infrastructure in these countries is also better suited for applications under blockchain.

The Indian government recently announced that it is indeed working on a National Blockchain Framework which will soon be released. However, such promises have been made in the past as well. The government had earlier asked the NITI Aayog to prepare a roadmap for largest blockchain-based egovernance project called IndiaChain.

However, its been two years since the announcement, there have been very few updates in this regard. This has only discouraged blockchain developers further.

It must be noted that storage, high energy consumption, scalability and many other issues are momentary issues. As blockchain is still evolving, many of the existing issues have either already been sorted out in different protocols or are in progress of being managed. Hence, despite these existing flows, its the blockchains advantages that score heavily and it heavily outweighs the limitations.

Also, many of the issues can be resolved based on how it gets implemented. Today, private and permissioned blockchain are being integrated at the top, or a hybrid of various blockchain protocols are adopted to achieve whats needed. This also nullifies many of the above-mentioned limitations.

Message from our partner

More here:

What Are The Major Limitations, Challenges In Blockchain? - Inc42 Media

Now Christmas trees are going on the blockchain – Decrypt

Blockchain-powered Christmas trees are proving popular this year. Two separate teams of developers, one at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the other funded by Nano, introduced interactive trees this month, with lights that can be changed via a blockchain donation.

The projects are real world examples of how physical things can be manipulated via a simple blockchain interface. They demonstrate the technologys power alongside smart meters and the Internet of Things (IoT), and are designed to encourage understanding and adoption.

The Ethereum powered tree resides in the lobby of the University of Ljubljanas Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

Its a working prototype the students can use, the projects leader Matev Pustiek told Decrypt.

We provided a simple web user interface. You can open it on your mobile phone or another device, and then you can select the colour of the lights and the period [of time] the lights should go on for. In the background, it executes an Ethereum transaction which is accepted by a smart contract, he said.

The smart contract is composed by a device dubbed Swether, an IoT gadget designed by the team to manage the lights. In essence, Swether intercepts events from the Ethereum network and toggles its state accordingly. Anyone with the link to access the site can control the tree. But, since the team has yet to install a webcam, theres no way to see the result unless youre in the lobby. The donations are currently supplied by the Faculty.

Nevertheless, Pustiek considers that its a good starting point for students to develop decentralized applications such as charging points for mobiles and electric cars, or applications for the smart grid.

Nano's Christmas tree at the Pixel Bar in Leeds, UK. Image: Vimeo.

Log on to the live stream for e-sports venue Pixel Bar in Leeds, UK, and you can see its very own Nano powered Christmas tree.

To change the lights on the tree, you can send Nano donations using a QR code via a simple interface. The last digit of the sum sent dictates what the lights will dothere are ten different program patterns to try out.

The project is a collaboration between the Nano Center, which funds the blockchains initiatives, and the Pixel Bar. Funds will be donated to Simon on the Streets, a charity which helps the homeless of Leeds get back on their feet.

We developed this to show that you could have a fun and engaging way to drive donations for charity by having something cool and innovative tied to a simple donation, one of the developers on the project posted on Wednesday, on Reddit. Weve raised approximately 500 for Simon on the Streets, and hopefully delivered some holiday cheer along the way as well.

Whats most remarkable about the project is the speed of its transactions. Nano combines blockchain technology with a Directed Acrylic Graph (DAG), a structure which sees individual transactions directly linked to one another rather than grouped for processing in blocks.

According to Nano, when dedicated Nano wallet Natrium is used for the transaction, the tree lights change in as little as 170 milliseconds. Theres a demo here.

And in answer to the Redditor who asked: Cant someone just unplug it and plug straight into the wall outlet?

Its about adoption, you klutz. Next stop: Times Square.

Read more from the original source:

Now Christmas trees are going on the blockchain - Decrypt

The Future Of IoT Security Using Blockchain Technology Via The Chip – Forbes

By 2020, 20.4 billion IoT devices will be in use around the world.

From your smartphone to your toaster, TV, curtain rail, car and toothbrush the time is coming when all "things" will always be connected.

Though it is an exciting time in technology, it is also a critical time to look at the way our data is owned and used as it passes through "things."

If we continue connecting everything we possibly can, letting anyone control our devices and data, we will face an array of potentially serious problems. After all, our data is our most important asset. If we allow our data to "flow freely," we will lose control of it. And though our personal data can be used for good reasons, it can also be exploited.

As with all new technologies, industry leaders are still developing the best long-term solutions at scale. Trust, transparency and immutability are the characteristics that make blockchain technology the perfect partner for managing all the data flowing through all devices.

As with any great building, you need a strong and deep foundation.

A natural place to start is at the chip level and I do not mean the variety that you eat. This is the foundation of any device. All are operated by embedded chips. If you can control the data from the silicon chip that sits in the device, then you have an extremely important device identity foundation.

Imagine a chip that is immutable, programmable and smaller than a pinhead.

You could program this chip once, set an immutable identity for it and deploy it on a blockchain network. In the current world, you would likely use a centralized database and register the device to the network. While this is a great solution today, it is still open to centralized vulnerabilities.

Once this chip is embedded, you can then track everything it processes, manage its security and decide what happens to the data in and out of this chip.

It takes some imagination to think about this vision, but what I am suggesting is a real opportunity, and some companies are developing these solutions.

Take U.S. startup Borsetta.io (a company I admire and have worked with), which is working on a "trusted physical assets" project. This project is a "patented decentralized security protocol," otherwise known as a set of rules and codes built to protect, secure, tokenize and transact physical assets using technology.

What this means to you and me is that Borsetta is able to secure data from IoT devices. The data flowing through the "things" is securely encrypted at the source and then "chained" (like in blockchain) with other data through Borsettas zero-knowledge mesh network (a cryptographically secured network) and shared via its distributed ledger.

Another example is a real production solution we launched for a client, where the firmware updates of the "things" in the smart city run through our blockchain solution. This provides an instant, shared record of what was updated, when it was updated and with what solution. All the participants in the smart city network then know that these IoT devices are all updated and with which version of the update. The next stage is to develop the network further and start to develop the new chips.

This is the next step for leaders in IoT technology to understand: The identity of things is difficult to track and maintain, but every thing has a chip. Therefore, every device can have an immutable and maintainable identity. Everything the device does can then be tracked and traced immutably.

The benefits:

The list goes on, but we need to wake up to the world of things and use blockchain technology at chip level to secure, manage and maintain this new and exciting world.

Read this article:

The Future Of IoT Security Using Blockchain Technology Via The Chip - Forbes

ExxonMobil, Shell oil consortium trials blockchain to decide joint venture interests – Ledger Insights

Yesterday, the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium announced it completed a trial for blockchain-based authorization for expenditure (AFE) balloting in collaboration with Canadian tech firm GuildOne. The alliance consists of several major oil companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell.

AFE balloting is used to approve large expenditures related to exploration, development and production. Most exploration projects are joint ventures which makes blockchain a good match for sharing. Depending on how much of the expenditure a participant agrees to bear, AFE balloting determines the final interest of parties in a joint venture project.

The legacy AFE balloting process is manual and largely paper-based, where an operator sends ballots via registered mail or courier to invite prospective joint venture partners to participate in new capital projects. This process may take months to complete. Owing to a paper trail, it becomes difficult to calculate working interests of partners which may lead to delays and disputes.

In the proof of concept (PoC) by OOC, the operator submitted AFEs digitally under multiple scenarios to nine non-operating partners using the blockchain solution from GuildOne. Smart contracts automated the calculation of working interests based on the responses from the stakeholders over several balloting rounds.

In September, GuildOne was awarded the contract to develop a blockchain solution for AFE by the OOC consortium. All members of OOC Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Hess, Marathon, Noble Energy, Pioneer Natural Resources, Repsol, and Shell participated in the trial which lasted for less than four months.

Successfully proving the application of blockchain in the AFE balloting process with all ten operator member companies demonstrates the power of this technology and its ability to transform fundamental oil and gas business activities, said Rebecca Hofmann, chairman of the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium.

The positive result of the PoC will now be leveraged by the consortium to streamline joint venture management. In 2020, OOC plans to combine AFE balloting and the joint interest billing (JIB) exchange use cases to develop an end-to-end solution for the joint venture management process. JIB deals with billing and payment of expenditures between joint venture operators.

The success of this POC demonstrates how the industry can use blockchain technology to address these pain points, and we expect to leverage learnings from this project to realize key blockchain frameworks and guidelines for the oil and gas industry, said JD Franke, vice-chairman of the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium.

Meanwhile, Chevron and Equinor are part of another prominent oil and gas initiative, VAKT, which is trialling blockchain for post-trade processes.

See the original post here:

ExxonMobil, Shell oil consortium trials blockchain to decide joint venture interests - Ledger Insights

Exploring the Next Wave of Blockchain Innovation – CXOToday.com

Karthik Ramarao

Talk about blockchain and the first thing that comes to mind is Bitcoin. Blockchain has been stereotyped or correlated with Bitcoin and crypto currencies even though its applications lies far beyond, with high potential in auditing, healthcare, business and even cloud computing. The technology has come a long way since its inception and is now being adopted by enterprises for day-to-day functions like invoice automation, fraud control, patent tracking etc. People are gradually realizing that blockchain technology can have myriad applications.

The global blockchain market is expected to be worth $20 billion in 2024. Blockchain becomes the core enabling technology for financial institutions to move into the modern age of real time transactions. Government, medical and IT industries are all experimenting with the advanced blockchain solutions. Corporates can work with NGOs/ non-profit organizations to sustain a healthy and transparent way to give back to society by creating a social good ecosystem. Holistic policies are used to create a paradigm shift in using blockchain technology for creating directional social impact. By bringing digital technology into real time computing systems management, blockchain changes all aspects of our economy including healthcare, shopping, entertainment, education as well as social networks.

Blockchain new-age applications

Blockchain applications have been extracted from the use-case of Bitcoin to varied fields. It started off with banking and is slowly moving in to different fields.

Focusing on Blockchains potential to reduce cost, increase efficiency, instill trust and improve security will enable this technology to move away from the hype and become a full-fledge technology enabler in all spheres of businesses.

(Disclaimer: The author is Founder and CTO, Empirical Data and views expressed in this article are those of the author.)

Continue reading here:

Exploring the Next Wave of Blockchain Innovation - CXOToday.com

AMD Joins Blockchain Game Alliance, Hopes The Tech Grows Within The Sector – Yahoo Finance

Computer hardware maker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) is joining a collaboration of companies seeking to boost the use of blockchain-powered gaming platforms.

AMD said it joined the Blockchain Game Alliance, to help spur the increased use of blockchain in gaming, and in doing so may be creating more business for itself. The company says it can provide the tech to run the blockchain-powered applications that would be needed.

"AMD is in a unique position to offer the best combination of high-performance (central processing units) and (graphics processing units) for demanding blockchain workloads," the company said.

Other gaming concerns, including "Assassin's Creed" makers Ubisoft Entmt S/ADR (OTC: UBSFY) of France, are part of the alliance, as is blockchain software company ConsenSys.

Blockchain's Role In Gaming Future

While blockchain has largely been thought of in terms of its role in cryptocurrency adoption and supply-chain and other logistics environments, some experts have said it could play a big role in the future of games. Aside from the obvious use of cryptocurrencies for payment systems, blockchain is seen as potentially allowing the trading of in-game resources, such as weapons, characters and accessories. Some experts have talked about the ability to make items transferrable from one game to another with a blockchain system. It also could protect against fraud - stealing of in-game items or money.

Blockchain has drawn some interest in the gaming industry - games startup Forte this year partnered with Ripple's Xspring to form a $100 million fund aimed at speeding up that integration, for example.

Value May Bring Regulation

There is some caution:One of the reasons gaming companies have been able to avoid regulation of games as "gambling" is that things players can win, like a loot box, don't have any real-world value. That could changeif a blockchain system made it easier to treat those winnings as currency, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter noted in a Wired story in May.

AMD's interest in blockchain gaming follows what appears to be a short-lived foray into the cryptocurrency mining equipment space. Blockchain and cryptocurrency publication The Block reported that AMD had significant revenue from that business in early 2018, but appeared to be out of it by the end of last year.

Price Action

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices were up slightly Wednesday at $42.86

0

See more from Benzinga

2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

See the original post here:

AMD Joins Blockchain Game Alliance, Hopes The Tech Grows Within The Sector - Yahoo Finance

CipherTrace Discovers that 10 US Retail Bank Currently Have Unregistered Cryptocurrency MSBs – the blockchain land

KPMG Origins is a blockchain track and trace supply chain platform created by KPMG. It has launched in Australia, as well as China and Japan, and will be trialled in the Australian sugar cane, food export, and wine industries.

The platform has been designed specifically for the agricultural, resources, manufacturing, and financial services industries, to provide transparency and traceability between trading partners.

KPMG Origins will allow its users to share unique product information throughout supply chains as well as to end-users, whilst reducing operational complexities, explains the press release.

KPMG not only uses blockchain for provenance, but it also combines other emerging technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and data and analytics tools.

CaneGrowers, an organisation for sugarcane producers in Queensland, Australia, as well as SunRice, one of the countrys largest food exporters, will be trialling KPMG Origins. They will be joined by a major Riesling producer, Mitchell Wines.

Ken Reid, ASPAC Head of Advisory and Partner at KPMG Australia says 21st century supply chains are faster, more interconnected, and require sharing greater amounts of data than ever before.

This creates operational risks, reconciliation challenges, and safety concerns within supply chains. To solve these challenges, KPMG Origins will provide independent third-party verification and certification of data and processes. The platform will also help to enable global trade.

For CaneGrowers this trial manifests as using blockchain to demonstrate the sustainability of sugar and to recognise and reward growers for better environmental practices.

KPMG Origins has been previously tested and is now ready to be trialled amongst a more complex group of stakeholders. Laszlo Peter, KPMG Head of Blockchain Services for Asia Pacific adds:

The platform is based upon in-depth work across highly specialised areas, as well as collaboration across multiple jurisdictions to deliver a multi-lingual, standards and taxonomy driven platform that accelerates the development of distributed ecosystems.

It will be rolled out across Asia Pacific, as per KPMG, as part of the companys regional broader investment, in blockchain capability, ranging from consulting advice to technology delivery, build and service operation.

KPMG joins several technology companies in utilising blockchain for food and supply chain provenance in answer to growing consumer demand for ethical and proven product sources. In October, Topco revealed it would use Envisible Wholechain, a platform built with Mastercards Provenance Solution. This summer Bumble Bee Foods announced it would use SAPs cloud-based blockchain platform to track yellowfin tuna from ocean to store.

Read the original:

CipherTrace Discovers that 10 US Retail Bank Currently Have Unregistered Cryptocurrency MSBs - the blockchain land

Honeywell applies anti-counterfeit tech for aircraft parts blockchain – Ledger Insights

Aviation is a fast-growing industry but still lacks digitization on several fronts. Yesterday, Honeywell announced partnerships with iTRACE and SecureMarking to prevent counterfeit aerospace parts by using the technologies in combination with blockchain.

The new system employs two-factor authentication of Honeywell Aerospace parts to ensure their authenticity. First, iTRACEs 2DMI solution will laser-etch data onto the identification plate of a part on Honeywells assembly line. Then, a special ink is applied to the component. This comes from Honeywells Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT) business and SecureMarking, a third-party authentication company.

Once the part is ready for sale, iTRACEs mobile app is used to scan the 2D matrix etched on the part to activate its digital authenticity. Honeywells blockchain will record this data along with the part information such as manufacturing and subsequent repairs.

The two-factor authentication will be useful for Honeywells GoDirect Trade aircraft parts e-commerce portal, which was launched last year. Blockchain will help to ensure the authenticity of the parts sold on the portal.

Our mission is to build the first aerospace marketplace that customers can confidently buy quality parts from. Our work with Honeywell PMT, SecureMarking and iTRACE is bringing new levels of security to the aviation industry, said Lisa Butters, general manager of Honeywells GoDirect Trade online marketplace.

In aviation, it is common to see parts and planes being leased or sold multiple times. This makes it very hard to verify the provenance of the aircraft parts. With blockchain, a repair technician can use the identification plate to verify the authenticity of a part and view previous maintenance events.

We use upconverting nanoparticle ink to create physically unclonable codes, bringing the ability for every aerospace part to be stored on the blockchain network, said Daniel Stanton, president of SecureMarking.

Innovative identification technologies are being increasingly used to verify the provenance of a product. IBM is working on a nano-chip thats so small it is part of magnetic ink that could be used in pills. Sydney-based startup UCOT is using a microchip and sensor in product packaging to combat counterfeiting.

A key issue with blockchain is how to link a physical item to its digital fingerprint.

Blockchain firm Everledger is tagging luxury products with molecular DNA to guard them against counterfeiting. Credit Suisse and Innogy Ventures-backed startup ScanTrust has developed a QR code which cannot be cloned. Some of ScanTrusts customers include Unilever, Dow Chemicals, and ABInBev, though not necessarily all for blockchain.

Read this article:

Honeywell applies anti-counterfeit tech for aircraft parts blockchain - Ledger Insights

HTC doubles down on VR headsets and blockchain phones – Decrypt

Taiwanese mobile giant HTC has announced that it intends to focus on developing blockchain smartphones, according to local news reports.

As part of a major strategy change, the company will make further cuts to its team for the second year running but will continue to focus on developing new products.

Currently, the firm employs 3,000 people, although its expected to layoff staff across a number of departments. At this point, the firm hasnt revealed which areas of the business will be affected by job cuts.

Despite planning to downsize its team, HTC plans to continue investing in research and development activities. In particular, the company wants to focus on its virtual reality system Vive and smartphones.

Going forward, the company will place a bigger emphasis on products like the VR headset Vive Cosmos and Exodus blockchain-powered smartphones.

HTCs chief decentralized officer, Phil Chen, recently told Decrypt the creation of a blockchain smartphone where users own their private keys was a paradigm shift.

He said, This really is a smartphone plus hardware wallet, which I think by definition makes it an entirely new category, whether you call it a crypto phone or a blockchain phone.

Once upon a time, HTC was one of the worlds most profitable smartphone manufacturers. However, in recent times, its struggled to compete with the likes of Apple, Samsung and Google, all of which have a bigger market share.

Because of this, the firm has continued to slash jobs. In 2015, it laid off 2,250 jobs, while laying off a further 1,500 people last year. Right now, its not known how many more jobs will be lost. But its likely that this trend will continue in the near future.

Be the first to get Decrypt Members. A new type of account built on blockchain.

Although further job cuts will worry some, HTC obviously has a vision for its future - and blockchain smartphones form an important part of that.With more consumers becoming conscious about issues such as security and data privacy, it seems inevitable that crypto smartphones will rise in popularity. Having developed the Exodus 1 and the newly-released Exodus 1s, it seems like HTC could lead this market. But will the pivot work?

Continued here:

HTC doubles down on VR headsets and blockchain phones - Decrypt

Huawei Exec: How Xis Endorsement of Blockchain Greatly Improved Industry Reputation – newsBTC

Huawei Research Manager Ruifeng Hu said that Chinese President Xi Jinpings endorsement of blockchain technology greatly improved the reputation of the industry. However, there is a clear divide between blockchain and crypto.

At the Blockchain for Global Impact Conference, Hu said that specialists working during the early days of the industry struggled with the publics perception of the industry.

He said that the use of crypto assets in black markets and money laundering brought a negative reputation to the asset class and the underlying technology.

As people working on blockchain, the most exciting thing is our President has announced his endorsement to the technology. Blockchain is a technology, it depends how you using that. Sometimes, people would use that for bad things, sometimes you would use for good things, said Hu.

However, following President Xis encouragement of blockchain development, Hu noted that the reputation of the industry recovered almost overnight.

Hu explained:

Dont mistake me from the bad guys. And it has been troubling for a long time. Our President has expressed his endorsement and I think its the best news for me. I dont need to worry about that [reputation].

China is primarily looking at the ability of the blockchain to process data on an immutable ledger to implement it to various applications like a digital currency, a settlement network, and a supply chain network.

In a purely decentralized and immutable blockchain network, an incentive system in the form of a cryptocurrency is necessary to prevent bad actors intentionally affecting the protocol.

However, recent initiatives from China including the National Blockchain Initiative indicate that the government is exploring the development of permissioned distributed ledger platforms that focuses on transparency over decentralization.

Focus on blockchain, crackdown on minor crypto exchanges continue

Multi-billion dollar firms in the likes of IBM and Intel among many others are developing similar platforms through consortia such as Hyperledger.

Read this article:

Huawei Exec: How Xis Endorsement of Blockchain Greatly Improved Industry Reputation - newsBTC

EXW Wallet Named the Best Wallet of 2019 at World Blockchain Summit in Bangkok – newsBTC

The 14th edition of Trescons World Blockchain Summit was hosted in Bangkok last week. Over 300 blockchain and crypto experts from around the world came together at the event. This was WBSs first appearance in South East Asias most active regions when it comes to cryptocurrency and blockchain development. It has become one of the most prestigious events in the crypto space, bringing together enthusiasts, investors, entrepreneurs, developers and fans from all over the world in one place.

This year WBS saw participation from many regional and international executives and managers as well. Blockchain and cryptocurrency startups from around the world were at the summit to build new connections and pitch their ideas to fans and investors alike. The summit also became a hotspot for the discussion of current and future market trends and regulation pushes around the world.

The conference took place right after the Trescons Startup Grand Slam Pitch Competition. The competition was an effort to discuss and argue the leading startup ideas in order to refine them and showcase and celebrate their success.

The summit also hosted an honorary award ceremony to encourage and appreciate the best projects and to celebrate their wins over the past year. The EXW Wallet was also at the summit to receive the reward for the best cryptocurrency wallet of 2019. The award celebrated EXWs work in offering a product to the cryptocurrency fans that can help them use and trade their tokens easily.

The EXW Wallet is a project to take on the traditional economy of the world and replace it with the new and better-decentralized economy of digital tokens and distributed ledger technologies. With their EXW Exchange, the EXW Wallet is offering great bonuses and awards to its customers simply for holding their EXW Token.

The EXW token is an ERC-20 token with which you can earn up to 0.32% profit daily without additional effort. Making it easier and simpler for individuals or businesses to participate in exchange-based transactions and take advantage of the bonuses offered by EXW.

The summit also gave out awards to the entrepreneurs attending the event with the best and most innovative ideas to help blockchain merge into peoples daily lives and business operations in the most seamless way possible.

The EXW Wallets founder, Benjamin Herzog, co-founder Manuel Batista, co-founder and CNO Pirmin Troger all received this award at the World Blockchain Summit. The award was an appreciation of their efforts to make the ideas behind EXW Wallet a reality.

The WBS Bangkok was a major success in bringing together the blockchain community and providing a platform for collaboration and networking to entrepreneurs and investors. The summit proudly showcased the blockchain industrys most innovative ideas and projects to the world.

View post:

EXW Wallet Named the Best Wallet of 2019 at World Blockchain Summit in Bangkok - newsBTC

Alchemy is secretly fixing blockchains node nightmare – TechCrunch

The top cryptocurrency companies have quietly begun to outsource their infrastructure problems to a tiny stealth startup. Its called Alchemy. Today its making the big public reveal of its technology that could help developers finally build the killer use case atop Bitcoin or Ethereum.

If the operating system connected computers and software, and if browsers connected HTTP to web apps, Alchemy wants to be the bridge enabling the blockchain ecosystem. Its this middle layer thats produced Microsoft, Apple and Google some of the most valuable companies in the world.

How does Alchemy work? It replaces the nodes that businesses use to read and write blockchains with a faster, more scalable decentralized architecture. It also provides tools for analytics, monitoring, alerting, logging and debugging for cryptocurrency-connected software. The two-year-old startup already powers infrastructure for hundreds of businesses serving over one million customers in 200 countries per week, including big names like Augur, 0x, Cryptokitties, Kyber and the Opera browser.

Right now people are trying to build skyscrapers with picks and shovels. We need to give them construction equipment, Alchemy co-founder and CEO Nikil Viswanathan tells me. None of this exists for blockchain.

Investors are lining up to see that it will. Alchemy is now announcing that it has raised $15 million through a seed round and now a Series A led by Pantera Capital, and joined by Stanford University, Coinbase, Samsung, SignalFire, plus angels like Charles Schwab, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Google chairman John Hennessy and more.

For any new technology, developer infrastructure and tools are required to enable broader application development and adoption. Weve seen this happen in previous tech waves like PC and the web, says Yang, who rarely does interviews. Alchemy is trying to do the same thing for the blockchain space . . . they have the opportunity to meaningfully accelerate the entire blockchain industry.

Despite its momentum, its immediately clear that Alchemy doesnt want to become another overhyped blockchain promise that doesnt deliver. There are two vanity metrics in Silicon Valley, Viswanathan declares. How much money youve raised and how many people you have on your team. In reality, you want to keep both of these as low as possible while being a big success.

Alchemy co-founders (from left): Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau

Viswanathan and co-founder and CTO Joe Lau already had a shot at the startup A-league. For a brief moment, their simple social app for finding out if friends could hang out via emojis, called Down to Lunch, topped the app rankings and had VCs beating down their door with term sheets. But the pair of Stanford computer science grads got knocked off the charts by a vicious rumor that their app helped kidnappers, which they call a purposeful smear campaign.

The two were resilient, though, drawing on Viswanathans time in product management mentored by executives at Google, Microsoft and Facebook. He sat next to Mark Zuckerberg, brought Steve Ballmer to campus and had meetings with Larry and Sergey. His takeaway was that You can have massive impact on the world. If they can do it, we can do it too.

So when cryptocurrency hit the zeitgeist in 2017, they cast aside the budding successors to Down to Lunch theyd built, and dove in head first. Through the frustration of spinning up nodes to build anything decentralized, they spotted the opportunity to start something with more potential than a college kids social app. They saw the chance to seize the bridge layer of the next computing platform the blockchain.

One strategy the duo is carrying over from Down to Lunch is allowing any Alchemy customer to contact them directly. They actually put their phone numbers inside DTL to keep their ears open for problems, but soon were receiving about 10,000 text messages per day from the apps millions of users, rendering Viswanathans iMessage inoperable. He shows me the Youre our only hope email he Hail Maryd to Tim Cook begging for a fix that was eventually granted.

Now, most of Alchemys lean team founders included are openly available to customers via Telegram for instant assistance. Viswanathan justifies a CEO fielding complaints, saying Its not just good customer support. It gives us really great user feedback. He doesnt want that to change, even with the new cash from investors, including Stanfords StartX, Mayfield, Kenetic, Dreamers and former Thompson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer.

Viswanathan and Lau are known in entrepreneur circles for embracing the thrifty ramen-fueled startup life, with Lau having once spent six straight days in the office to keep things afloat while Down to Lunch was blowing up. They still run a scrappy ship, with staffers sitting on cardboard boxes until chairs arrive for their new but still snug office.

Its 1972. Who used computers? Only computer companies. By 2019, the entire world. In 1992, who used the web? Only internet companies. By 2019, the entire world. In 2019, who uses blockchain? Viswanathan explains.

The implication is that ubiquitous adoption is coming to transactions entwined with code, and blockchain will become so common we dont even talk about it the same way. No one says Im using an internet application, Viswanathan laughs.

Making the same true for blockchain is Alchemys goal. Typically just to get started, businesses must spend tens of thousands of dollars to set up and operate nodes that can interpret and write to blockchains. Its not only slow and costly, but it sucks up a ton of engineering resources. And worse yet, node architecture may not gracefully support massive scale. Load balancing across servers, as is traditional with web applications, breaks down when nodes mistakenly return block numbers out of sync. Blockchain apps run slow and buggy, or crash completely. Programmers spend nights awake fighting fires.

Alchemy uses a whole different decentralized architecture, says Lau. This lets it separate different types of data into special data stores for much faster and more reliable access. The result is that its easier to build apps on Bitcoin, Ethereum and other coins with fewer engineering resources. In that sense, its not unlike an Amazon AWS for blockchain.

But Alchemy also takes inspiration from Microsoft, offering a range of tools for managing decentralized apps. These include analytics for tracking usage, monitoring of performance and availability, alerting to inform teams when things break, logging for tracing back errors and debugging for getting apps running right again. On the traditional web, this would be the work of multiple startups, but because blockchains standardize the database and how its accessed, Alchemy can do it all and is already building more tools.

Since using Alchemy, our team has been able to refocus its time on building new product features for Augur that we wouldnt have been able to otherwise, Augurs director of operations Tom Kysar tells me. We used to spend a notable amount of time dealing with infrastructure issues, and now we dont worry at all. His prediction market startup writes that Alchemy resolved 98% of reliability issues and made its users applications load 3X faster.

Crypto exchange AirSwap ditched the node system it had built and open-sourced to use Alchemy instead. Another client said it got 25% of its engineering staff back. When I looked at its top competitor in infrastructure, the Ethereum founder-backed Infura, most of the clients it lists on its site are now actually working with Alchemy. Alchemy has grown quietly and quickly to become a leading infrastructure provider. Were excited to see how Alchemy will push forward the crypto ecosystem, says Coinbase COO Emilie Choi.

Another heartening sign? Alchemy has already turned away acquisition interest. For us, selling for $100 million or $1 billion isnt a success, Viswanathan says. They want to empower a generation of developers.

Ive been closely involved in companies that shaped the earlier internet like Google, says Hennessy, the former president of Stanford. What Alchemy is doing in blockchain has the potential to be similarly transformational, and Nikil and Joe have the deep technical background and proven entrepreneurial track record to make it happen. The 30-year-old Lau tells me the advice of older tech luminaries is invaluable. Hennessy saw the rise of computers. Its good to have people who saw things we didnt see.

At my dining room table in San Franciscos Mission District, Viswanathan giddily scribbles out a grid to chart the history of developer platforms.

In the first age, IBM underestimated the market of personal computers, allowing Microsoft to swoop in with Windows that opened PCs to third-party software devs. In the second age, it was the browser and then the mobile OS that let Apple and Google conquer the middle ground between HTTP and our favorite apps. Alchemy assumes that lucrative spot in Viswanathans vision of the blockchain-equipped third age. This is what spins the innovation cycles and increases speed of development, he says of this infrastructure layer.

The real question, though, is one of timing. The biggest threat is how quickly will crypto become a massive market, Viswanathan admits. He says Alchemy is already making a fair amount of money selling tools and service packages that start in the tens of thousands of dollars. But it may need its technology to jumpstart the blockchain developer flywheel by powering a breakout success serving mainstream consumers that could in turn attract more creators to the industry.

Convincing developers, especially incumbent corporations, to outsource a key part of their infrastructure to Alchemy could be tough for the engineering-focused startup. It only hired its first salesperson last week to help pitch big banks and commerce giants intrigued by blockchains efficiencies. Crypto zealots might also balk at running their decentralized apps through acentral platform. Luckily, because Alchemy powers everything from exchanges to games to finance to integrating distributed ledgers into traditional businesses, it just needs something to win on the blockchain.

Many startups have died waiting. Why will Alchemy persevere? The founders say its a sense of duty to pay it forward. I just feel so lucky to live in 2019 and have technology and computers and internet. Never before in human history before the last 20 years could you build something and potentially have everyone on the planets life improved by it, Viswanathan tells me.

These technology shifts happen every 20 to 30 years. If this is a massive technology shift, we have a chance to build a really foundational company in the space. Its not about the money, he concludes with a bright-eyed smile. There are so many less stressful ways than startups to make money.

More:

Alchemy is secretly fixing blockchains node nightmare - TechCrunch