When blockchain technology was first created by a small group of individuals, many banking systems stated they would never use it. That was partly due to the reputation the technology had of being used by anarchists looking to avoid using banking systems, according to head of delivery for ConsenSys, Julien Vincent (pictured), when he spoke recently with Insurance Business.

Since then, it has progressed to the point that the banking sector has realised that it makes sense to invest and utilise blockchain, he said, and in 2019 the financial sector as a whole started to invest heavily in these solutions.

Read more: Aon’s latest report examines the "true potential" of blockchain for insurers

Vincent, who manages the delivery of ConsenSys projects worldwide, as well as the implementation of major blockchain programs for ConsenSys’s global customers, has led digital transformation projects for several international consulting firms and outlined that technological revolutions will always occur – it is only a matter of whether businesses are ahead or behind the curve.

It is difficult to say whether or not the insurance sector is late to the table when it comes to blockchain, he said.

Though the sector is lingering behind other financial services who already have substantially sized projects in production, he said, in many ways, the solution has not been fully ready for the insurance industry until now.

Up until recently, ConsenSys was carrying out proof of concepts within the insurance sector to show that the use case was working, but these projects were not going into production, Vincent said. In 2020, the value of projects began to rise from being under €500,000 to being valued between €500,000 and €2 million. 

“The insurance sector is investing more in blockchain, especially this year and next year, and I think this is the right time for that investment,” he said. “It’s becoming much more important in terms of investment and most of these projects are centred around bringing efficiency to the actual use case.

”Blockchain has several significant benefits to carriers, Vincent noted, among them the capacity to save them time, cut costs, improve transparency, assist them in complying with regulations, and helping them to build better products and markets.

From his own work with insurers, he has noted that the key benefit offered by blockchain that insurance companies are interested in is its capacity to bring efficiency and reduce the cost of processes.

“Most large corporations are ready to invest one euro if they can save one euro in return,” he said, but he highlighted that for some organisations blockchain has become something of a buzzword without any real understanding of exactly what this means for the business.

“Sometimes clients come in and want to utilise blockchain, but at the end of the audit, they don’t need this, they just need to modernise their IT systems and there is no point in implementing blockchain unnecessarily.

”Blockchain has the capacity to maximise operational efficiencies for brokers, Vincent said, particularly when it comes to the opportunities afforded by this for simplifying communication between brokers and insurers.

Taking a KYC (know your customer) check for example, he said - if the KYC of one broker is validated, then, when another insurer is reached out to, this must be redone.

As seen in other areas of financial services already once the KYC is validated it can be published into the blockchain with the trust of the company validating this check.

Then, when a new client comes along, the KYC has already been validated by one or several companies and can be trusted, thus preventing the need for brokers to redo the entire process.

There is a lot of discussion about insurers and brokers adapting to new technologies and the problem of legacy systems preventing transformation, but Vincent noted how quickly transformation can take root within the employees of an organisation, and prompt significant changes in the way that businesses carry out their processes.

Looking to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and how it is forcing people to understand how to work remotely is one example of this, he said. He highlighted how a strike in France precipitated the use of public transport and how, when the strike was over, people continued cycling to work.“I think that COVID-19 will do exactly the same,” he said.

“You can see that most are now working remotely, and with Zoom, and lots of people will start saying ‘why do you have this information on paper, why is it not in a database?’.

They will ask why they cannot access information immediately and why they have to wait. And this will push companies to innovate and allow employees to access information right now, wherever they are.”

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• Blockchain, insurance and the customer experience
• Aon's latest report examines the "true potential" of blockchain for insurers

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Heinrich Zetlmayer assesses the future of blockchain technology and urges senior management to grasp the supply chain opportunities it offers.Most people in international management are familiar with blockchain by now, and some may even be aware of its application to specific industry initiatives.

The global supply chain industry is increasingly being viewed as a key test case of blockchain’s success – indeed, the National Australian Blockchain Roadmap published in February 2020, highlights agricultural supply chains in the wine industry as a cornerstone of the government’s blockchain strategy.

And only last week, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published guidelines for the Coronavirus pandemic, listing blockchain managers in food and agricultural distribution as ‘critical infrastructure workers,’ showing the growing importance the technology has to play in industry and other corners of the economy.

To understand how blockchain can resolve the inefficiencies within supply chain we must first view the technology in light of the sectoral solutions it can overcome – rather than through the prism of the technology alone.

This will allow us to examine and explore how blockchain should be considered as a solutions-focused technology rather than as an abstract theoretical concept.

Nail in the coffin for the supply chain paper trail

The ability of blockchain to resolve the inefficiencies in global supply chains revolves around its application as a trusted distributed ledger technology.

Simply put, this means blockchain will enable new levels of ‘track and trace’ in global supply chains and, as a result, lead to the further automation of supply chain processes between individual supply chain participants.

Through immutable tracking records, supply chains can then be monitored and managed effectively in real-time and through more secure, controlled and automatic access.

All this serves to greatly boost value-added activities of supply chains, and once blockchain reaches mainstream adoption, it will be the nail in the coffin to the supply chain ‘paper trail’.

Trusted access key to real-time information flow

The distinction between permissioned and non-permissioned ledgers also comes into consideration.

Permissioned blockchain is a private ledger to which access is managed and controlled, ensuring trusted access to relevant third parties in the supply chain.

Trusted access through permissioned blockchains ensures business partners are privy to the most relevant and correct information, providing a framework of cross-collaboration and effective management of global supply chains.

This all has the benefit of real-time information flow, which combined with the application of smart-contracts – a form of executable software – can be applied to any shipment or product in the supply chain.

Low barriers to mainstream blockchain adoption

Consider blockchain as a significant software upgrade to your current company IT architecture, and in this regard there are no regulatory hurdles – only opportunities.

Low barriers to the technology will therefore be the lightning rod that speeds up widespread blockchain adoption in supply chain, putting it well on course for mainstream adoption by 2040.

Certain applications will likely become mainstream sooner than 2040, however, especially in healthcare and pharmaceutical supply chains. Already, several blockchain-based applications are positively transforming the pharmaceutical industry.

For example, UK-based Veratrak is targeting the pharmaceutical supply chain to ensure better collaboration and workflow management in the industry. Their aim is to ensure that pharmaceutical companies are better able to communicate sensitive documents and work together with their customers, suppliers and partners with greater efficiency and security than ever before.

US-based Rymedi is another company leading efforts in pushing the boundaries of healthcare quality assurance. Through its blockchain-enabled, trusted B2B data transmission infrastructure, Rymedi’s technological solutions offers life-science companies the opportunity to collect data into meaningful and actionable information for end-users.

The success of these and other projects will, no doubt, help accelerate the widespread adoption of blockchain in global supply chains with certain industries, such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, likely to be at the forefront in driving these efforts. Already, today, it is relatively easy to create a functioning system on Ethereum blockchain.

Technology should lead with the solutions

It’s clear that blockchain technology will continue to evolve, but too often initiatives focus on the technology first, rather than identifying the industry processes where it can be utilised.

The best way forward for the technology’s application is to concentrate on the industry-wide use cases first, and focus on the supply-chain process improvements.

This will ultimately provide the opportunity to devise the system architectures that allows multiple blockchain technologies to be used and provide more robust solutions to supply chain management.

Governance and financing may be a hurdle – but they can be overcome

The widespread adoption of blockchain will ultimately lie, not with a handful of companies, but rather through broader sector initiatives that lead to industry-wide outcomes. In this sense, for blockchain to become mainstream it must connect all the different market participants and industry parts of the global supply chain.

Undoubtedly there will be complexities and challenges along the path to mainstream adoption – but it can be done with no regulatory burden. Unlike other industries, there are, as yet, no clear leaders in blockchain supply chain management.

This begs the questions: who drives it forward, and ultimately who pays for it?Indeed, current blockchain initiatives are grappling between entrepreneur-driven initiatives and large corporate-driven initiatives – unifying these together will be crucial to the successful mass adoption of blockchain by 2040.

Financial investors are willing to fund blockchain initiatives once a critical mass of supply chain participants endorse these platforms and commit to its use when its functionality has been proven. Striking a balance between the influence of participating companies and the flexibility an individual project needs is necessary to create successful platforms.

A realignment of talent and skills

At the heart of all this, blockchain will enable businesses to maximise more value-added activities, while removing the administrative burden for both businesses and the professionals in the supply chain.

This will serve to boost company efficiency and speed up the integration of supply chain functions.

As the automation of supply chain functions take hold, there will likely be some alterations to the role of the supply chain worker – not made redundant – but rather, a realignment based on talent and skills to boost these value-added activities.

A new wave of ethical and sustainable management awaits the supply chain function if it embraces blockchain. Already, we are seeing the technology empower smaller producers to have more visibility in supply chains, while new levels of ‘track and trace’ through blockchain are also ensuring sustainable procurement, as exemplified by the ability to trace labour standards and carbon emissions.

Volvo and Mercedes-Benz, among others, are driving ethical sourcing of cobalt batteries through blockchain technology. This ultimately provides blockchain with the power to set new industry standards and prevent fraud through better automation of quality control and assurance.

For blockchain to be applied successfully across global supply chains, it should not be viewed in isolation to other emerging technologies.

Rather, its true potential will only be fully realised when it works alongside other value added technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics, to maximise efficiency, sustainability and ethical standards in industry and supply chains.

Technology-driven change is undoubtedly sweeping through industry, from supply-chain management to trade finance and the capital markets. If senior managers in business and industry, are serious about being at the forefront of new technology innovation and collaboration, then now is the time to embrace blockchain.

Heinrich Zetlmayer is founder and general partner at Blockchain Valley Ventures

NOvid 2020: American Scientist Pushes for Blockchain to Secure Mobile Citizen Data and Build Payment Platform For Addressing Pandemic And Economic CrisisBy John Clippinger

 -March 27, 2020




By John Henry Clippinger,
It takes a blunt existential crisis to redress systemic societal and economic failings. We are at such a moment with the epic storm of global health and economic crisis compounded by inept and regressive leadership. These failures will not be redressed by traditional means. 

These challenges also present a singular opportunity to catalyze a new ecological, social and economic contract for the 21st century. 

As data are the new currency of the digital realm, there is the real prospect of resetting foundational rights and institutions through an empowering and secure data infrastructure that protects privacy, ensures verifiability and enables authentic, resilient and equitable interactions.

Through such an infrastructure the fusion of the physical and the virtual can provide rapid and robust responses to the health, ecological and economic threats before us. And it does not require either a pubic or private Surveillance State!

Economy and Health

The Nobel Laureate economist, Paul Romer, and the physician, Alan Garber, in their NYT, 3/23,20 Opinion piece – How to Prevent a Coronovirus Depression, starkly state the problem:“To protect our way of life, we need to shift within a couple of months to a targeted approach that limits the spread of the virus but still lets most people go back to work and resume their daily activities.

This approach uses two complementary strategies. The first relies on tests to target social distancing more precisely. The second relies on protective equipment that prevents the transmission of the virus.

Adopting these strategies will require a massive increase in our capacity for coronavirus testing and a surge in the production of personal protective equipment.”It Takes a Virus To Defeat a Virus These challenges cannot be surmounted using current social media and surveying platforms. Nor can they be scaled through traditional top-down institutional governmental means.

In military parlance, it takes a network to defeat a network, and in this case, it takes a digital virus to defeat a biological virus. The challenge is not just one of speed, but veracity. Being able to capture and verify and share the right kind of data at the right time and place and with the right parties, in real-time. And being able to limit and facilitate access based upon testing and to deploy and allocate resources based upon verified data. 

Empower EveryoneJust as everyone can potentially be both a carrier and a fatality so can everyone be a data collector and immunized contributor/worker.  Nearly everyone has a mobile phone that can collect and verify critical medical, location, contact, movement, social distancing, and testing data and share such data in a trusted manner.

The technology is here, it works. Singapore is going in this direction – they recently announced the release of the source code for a Bluetooth-App called ‘Trace Together’ which already works like this. Based on the code, developers can independently build even better versions. Moreover, Germany’s leading public health researchers at the Robert-Koch-Institute too, are about to launch a similar mobile application.

And online hackathons are pushing the public to build software as well. It is also open and could be free and could be supported by the Linux Foundation and the WC3.

How It Works: NOVID 2020Everyone would fill out a questionnaire on their mobile phone or their PC, using a special kind of questionnaire that conforms to a form called HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources that meets requisite privacy and health care interoperability and compliance requirements.

The design of the questions would have to be done by expert epidemiologist – computational social scientist and other stakeholders. What is special about this kind of questionnaire is that it would be implemented on a decentralized blockchain infrastructure (Ares, Indy/HyperLedger) that gives the individual a biometrically authenticated identity credential that protects the real identity and data of the individual.

Special cryptographic techniques are used called Zero-Knowledge-Proofs make it possible to prove something about the data without actually sharing the data. Hence, the data is verified, user-controlled, and encrypted. It is not under the control of Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, or any government.

The data collected on phones can be highly detailed and extremely valuable for epidemiological monitoring – such as geo-location, interactions, clicks, photos, gestures, purchases, and movements.

These can be analyzed to compute social distance metrics, contact histories, movements into infected areas and predict contact with potentially infected people.

Decentralized Testing, Verification And Access Control

The NOvid platform can also be used to verify the results of serological tests for immunity to determine whether someone has developed COVID 19 immunity. 

As such tests can be self-administrated and verified through telemedical consultation. Authorized biomarkers and behavioral signatures can be generated off the phone to give the immune individual a credential that they can use to gain access to public resources and work. Ideally, there would be an incentive program for people to be tested.

For low-risk groups, there could even be work and financial incentives to develop a verified immunity through controlled exposure and treatment. The enrollment process also automatically sets up and installs a wallet for a payment account.

EVERYONE could be compensated for their participation and compliance, and companies and collaborators could use the wallet and the payment system to pay workers and partners.

The goal is to take the friction out of the entire tracking and sourcing process and to allow multiple independent parties to set up new credentials and metrics to adapt to the changing circumstances of not only the virus but underlying economic and supply chain challenges.

Digital Twins, Gaming And Community Engagement As societies start to appreciate the efficacy and ecological necessity of virtualized work and interactions, new forms of commerce, civic and cultural engagement will become virtualized and gaming platforms such as Unity and video conferencing platforms such as Zoom will provide high-resolution digital twins of work environments, communities, cities in which ‘simulations’ will substitute for ‘real-life’.

The ability to go from a digital twin of a building, vehicle, product, service or even a community to a physical instantiation is being facilitated through generative design and 3D printing technologies developed by Autodesk and others.

The proposed NOvid platform can provide a trusted entry point into those worlds where flesh and blood individuals can participate and generate sustainable value within their communities on their terms.

Editor’s Note: Dr John Clippinger is currently working with a group at MIT and open source developers to build NOvid. If you are interested contact him by email.

•  About the Author
•  Latest Articles

About John Clippinger

Dr John Henry Clippinger is a co-founder of The Token Commons
Foundation, and Executive Director of ID3 (Institute for Innovation
& Data Driven Design), formed to develop and test legal and
software trust frameworks for identity, personal data, data-driven
services, infrastructures, and organizations.

He is also Research
Scientist at the MIT Media Lab.He is also an Advisor to Bancor, Evident, Decentralized Pictures,
Cashaa, and partner in CryptoAsset Design Group. Previously, he was
founder and Co-Director of The Law Lab (www.lawlab.org) at the Berkman
Klein Center at Harvard Law School.Dr. Clippinger is a contributor and co-editor From Bitcoin to Burning
Man and Beyond; The Quest for Identity and Autonomy in Digital Society,
(2014), the author of A Crowd of One: The Future of Individual Identity
(Perseus, Public Affairs, 2007, and The Biology of Business, Natural
Laws of Enterprise Josey Bass, 1998). Previously, he was Director of
Intellectual Capital, Coopers & Lybrand, advisor to DOD CCRP
(Command and Control Research Program (CCRP), DARPA, and the founder of
four artificial intelligence software companies.He has been a member of the World Economic Forum Global Advisory
Council, Santa Fe Institute, Aspen Institute, Highlands Forum, Yale CEO
Summit, Dubai Futures Forum, Aspen Italia, TII/Vanguard, and others.
Dr. Clippinger is a graduate of Yale University and holds a Ph.D. from
the University of Pennsylvania.Visit Website

By Mohua Sengupta 

In November 2018, purely out of my keen interest in Blockchain and a little influence from my daughter’s MUN (Model United Nations) preparation in WHO committee, I had written an article, ‘Unleashing Blockchain for cross-border surveillance & reporting of Communicable Diseases.

’ It was pure research at that point and seemed like a perfect use case for Blockchain. Today this COVID-19 crisis suddenly makes me wonder, that if we had a blockchain based real time reporting of Communicable Diseases, maybe we could have avoided a pandemic?

The Big ChallengeThere are two major challenges with communicable diseases: First in today’s globalized world, communicable diseases are extremely hard to contain.  They spread like wildfire and moves across political and geographical boundaries at ease, infecting people across countries.

Secondly, there is a huge social stigma around Communicable Diseases even today.  Man by nature is a social animal and the idea of being separated from fellow human beings is scary to all.  So there is a tendency to hide. This tendency is further aggravated by the fact that most people do not respect privacy.  

Maintaining privacy in case of sharing information about communicable diseases is of utmost importance.

The Start, Spread & the PandemicWhile there are various opinions about this matter and many conspiracy theories are floating around, lets for now just consider the proven cause.  

The disease started from the wet markets of Wuhan, China, where live and dead animals and birds are sold daily.  

The virus most likely has originated from Bats, but since bats are not sold in that market, the scientists think that the bat must have bitten a bird or animal that got sold in the Wuhan wet market.

This much we have seen many a times when any new disease hit us.  But then what’s different with this?  How has this virus brought the world to a standstill?  We have seen it’s more dangerous cousins, MARS, SARS etc., but they didn’t bring the world to a standstill.  

Then why Covid 19?  The difference is that it’s very highly contagious, much more than its close cousins.  So when one person got infected, he started infecting many in a day and each one of them infected that many and very soon there were thousands of people in Wuhan who were infected.

Since the symptoms are typically like simple flu, people continued to travel and China missed sending the warning to the rest of the world and did not restrict travel to and fro.  

So, international travelers kept on coming to China and vice versa.  More than a month went by before the world woke up to realize that this is a serious threat and by then the disease has already spread to many countries like Italy, Spain, UK, US, Iran and a few others too.




And then while the news of Wuhan epidemic as well as the challenges in the other countries came out, travel was not restricted.  It took a couple of more weeks for the travel restrictions to start and by then the virus has travelled to 20 odd countries.  

Now the world really wakes up and every country starts taking measures to do lockdown by restricting travel and also taking various other measures to reduce spreading of the virus within the country.But by then it’s a pandemic!  

The entire world gets introduced to a very different challenge, business suffers, stock market tanks across the world, many people lose their jobs, not to speak of the enormous loss of life and pressure on the healthcare system of all affected countries.

Could Blockchain Have Helped?

As we all know, with Blockchain we can share any transaction / information, real time, between relevant parties present as nodes in the chain, in a secure and immutable fashion. 

 In this case, had there been a blockchain where WHO, Health Ministry of each country and may be even relevant nodal hospitals of each country, were connected, sharing real time information, about any new communicable disease, then the world might have woken up much earlier.   

We might have seen travel restrictions given sooner, quarantining policies set sooner and social distancing implemented faster.  And may be fewer countries would have got impacted.What every country is doing now fighting this pandemic, would have been restricted to fewer countries and in a much smaller scale.  

The usage of a Blockchain to share the information early on, might have saved the world a lot of pain.

Why Blockchain?

Blockchain technology offers (a) greater transparency, (b) enhanced security (c) improved traceability (d) increased efficiency and speed and (e) reduced costs.

Aren’t they all supremely important for reporting cross-border Communicable Disease cases?

The world had not seen anything like this Covid 19 pandemic before.  Today we need to take a hard look at the reporting infrastructure available for communicable diseases, both technology and regulations and improve upon that, such that we do not need to face another pandemic like this in the future.




But of course Blockchain, in this case, like any technology is not a solution, it’s just an enabler.  An enabler that would ensure the security and efficiency needed for sharing something so sensitive.

Finally it would depend on the goodwill of people and governments.Wish we come out of this crisis soon and as unscathed as possible!

(Disclaimer: The author is the Co-founder of Ventures, a platform for theatre and theatre based behavioural coaching. She was previously the EVP and Global Head of Services at 3i Infotech. Mohua has over 24+ years of experience in Banking and Financials Services Industry and IT Services industry, across the globe. The views expressed here are her own)

The key concerns of healthcare management today are data processing and data security. Patients don’t have full ownership of their medical records, and are unable to control how their information is updated. There isn’t enough transparency to the process.

There are also significant concerns related to data security, especially in the areas of personalized medicine and the rise of wearables. Patients and medical staff need secure and straightforward ways to record data, send it over networks, and receive advice without security concerns.

Blockchain technology can help solve these problems.Introduced in 2008 as a means of recording cryptocurrency transactions, blockchain is a distributed cloud-based ledger that offers the ability to verify the origin of data and prevent breaches.

When a user wants to make a transaction, they issue a request signed with their private key.

The network verifies its authenticity by using a public key. If the verification is successful, the transaction is broadcast to the network and included in a block.

 The network of “miners” solves the block to get a reward, and once the block is revealed, it is added to the blockchain, making it permanent. It’s impossible to introduce new information in a block unnoticed, because that would change the structure of the entire chain.

This feature makes the system safe and transparent. Since the information contained in a blockchain exists in every node of the network, it’s impossible to attack, as there is no central authority that holds power.

These features can become very attractive for the purposes of healthcare software development.Blockchain is perfectly adapted for record-keeping in the medical world. Its applications include sharing healthcare data, keeping electronic healthcare records, managing insurance, and performing administrative tasks.

We live in a time when a data analyst looking at heart rates recorded with a smartwatch can tell when a person is sleeping, jogging, or doing other activities. Patients can send data about their health to a blockchain network using an app. Doctors can then read it and send back instructions.

This is reason enough to aim for maximum security and privacy of data sent to or through a mobile application.The applicable blockchain model is based on the Ethereum protocol. It facilitates the communication between sensors and smart devices based on automated contracts on a blockchain.

The goal of the system is to offer real-time support to patients and medical staff in a secure environment that is HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant.Electronic health records are, most of the time, distributed across different medical facilities.

Blockchain can unify all the data and give patients access to their history. Having all data interconnected in the same place can lead to new insights about a patient’s health state.

The underlying problem, though, is the lack of standards in healthcare data management. An app that tries to solve this is MedBlock, which uses a distributed ledger for EMR access and medical information retrieval.

Another solution is a data prevention system (DPS). This also uses the blockchain model to ensure that data is genuine and valid, and that the users’ privacy is maintained.

The solution offers the ability to verify originality at any moment. No part of the information is stored in plain text.In some cases, the patient’s location can be vital information.

Location tracking using blockchain is a decentralized and open process. Security and privacy are major concerns, especially if the localization function is used for patients in a coma or other critical states. These systems are useful in both telemedicine and long-term care.

Blockchain can offer increased transparency and fake-information detection. Clinical trials should always be easy to verify for members and stakeholders. A smart contract is an excellent way to collect consent and keep the records of applied protocols and their results in an open and publicly verifiable environment.

This is the first time that technology has allowed the general public to follow closely what happens during a clinical trial.The medical insurance business is always looking for new ways to improve operations and provide credibility. MIStore is a blockchain-based system for managing the patient’s insurance claims.

An advantage is the small amount of computational power required on the part of the hospital. Data is distributed in the cloud, and the privacy of records is ensured even in the case of an attack on some nodes.

A mobile application can be developed on top of this system, to give patients full control over their spending data.Secured by architecture, blockchain technology is a good fit when taking into account current computational capacities.

 It can’t be attacked through brute-force methods; it can only be broken by a 51% attack, wherein more than half of the network nodes get compromised.

This means that the group controlling those nodes can prevent new transactions, or reverse completed ones.

Other valid concerns related to the use of blockchain is the cost of implementation, the enormous energy consumption involved, and the rising price of rewards for miners, since every transaction is paid with a crypto coin similar to Bitcoin or Ethereum.

These are examples of blockchain technology’s potential. The motivation behind this technology is that it’s user-centric and gives patients real-time secure access to their health state and insurance information.

Until now, there hasn’t been enough research in this direction, but scientific journals are beginning to publish more papers dedicated to emerging protocols.

Stepan Shablinsky is a lead software engineer at MBicycle.

A team based in Madrid, one of the epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic, has released an Iota Tango platform that helps combat the coronavirus.

AidSquad

GeoDB is a decentralized peer-to-peer big data sharing ecosystem which returns value to its creators, the users. Luis Gelado, GeoDB CEO and founder shared with Cointelegraph his rationale for creating AidSquad:

“Having stayed home for a few weeks, one weekend, I felt a little bored, so I started thinking: we have to do something. We have a chance to develop something for a concrete problem, give back to society”.

Source: GeoDBA user inputs his Personal Health Record (PHR) — age, gender, symptoms associated with the COVID-19, and the app also collects the user's approximate location. The data are anonymously stored in Iota tangle. Based on this data, heatmaps can be generated that visualize the spread of the virus and contagion hotspots.






Source: GeoDBThe app is currently only available as an Android Package Kit (apk). According to Gelado, both Apple Store and Google Play temporarily barred all new COVID-19 apps because too many unscrupulous developers were taking advantage of the situation. However, he expects the app to be accepted to both stores in a couple of weeks.





Source: GeoDBThe app rewards users for sharing data with “karma points” and Aid Squad tokens. Karma points are a gamification device similar to the one employed by Duolingo, whereas, AidSquad tokens are donated to the user’s favorite charitable cause. 

Government is not doing its job

Gelado states that Madrileños are upset with the government’s inability to combat the spread of the virus effectively and it’s up to the people to feel the void:

“People are angry with politicians. We have the right to know. They don't provide enough information. We wanted to build a network that would exchange information in a public way while protecting privacy. The government of Madrid created some tools, but you have to share so much personal information.”

The beauty of the decentralized world is that an idea born in Madrid could benefit people anywhere in the world including the U.S. which on March 26 has become the world leader in confirmed coronavirus cases.

Download -  Imagine 2030 - Deutsche Bank 84 Page Report here: 
https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/RPS_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000503196/Imagine_2030.pdf

As we enter the start of a new decade, the number of internet users has reached a truly astonishing level: Almost 4.5 billion people were active users as of January, encompassing 59% of the global population. With its growing influence on individual consumers and large economies alike, the internet has become a crucial part of our day-to-day lives.

Moreover, acceptance of the World Wide Web is growing faster than ever with the rise of mobile technology. Many studies reveal to us an exciting revelation: The development of the web is driving acceptance of cryptocurrency.

Digital-currency acceptance is projected to grow

The speed of internet adoption is growing fast. According to estimates compiled by Statista, mobile data traffic worldwide is on pace to surpass 77 exabytes per month by 2022, up from 11.5 exabytes per month in 2017.




However, truly revolutionary opportunities are quite often missed. For example, the pioneering video-content company RealNetworks was the first to create a video-streaming service, doing so before YouTube was introduced in 2005. But it emerged before the market was ready. as the hardware power of 20 years ago did not allow for mass adoption.

Back then, global media found this sort of innovation laughable, while nowadays we see clearly that many YouTube channels greatly outpace television networks in terms of audience numbers. Streaming wasn’t adopted much because the internet was not ready for such innovations back then, but the customers were.

This is precisely where the crypto industry is today: There is high demand and the market is trying to keep up.The very same is happening right now with the advent of blockchain and cryptocurrency. This field is greatly underappreciated.

 According to data from Statista, the number of blockchain wallets has been growing since Bitcoin (BTC) was created in 2009, reaching over 42 million users by the end of September 2019. This represents major progress, especially considering that it took place within a three-year timeline. In the third quarter of 2016, this number was fewer than 9 million.





Other recent data suggests that global blockchain-technology revenues will experience significant growth in the coming years, with the market expected to climb to over $23.3 billion by 2023. The financial sector has been one of the quickest to invest in blockchain, with over 60% of the technology’s market value concentrated in this field.

The exciting similarity between blockchain and the internet

According to recent research from Deutsche Bank, acceptance of the internet and of blockchain go almost hand in hand.The report from Deutsche Bank includes a graph that shows the starting points, middle points and projected forthcoming adoptions of both technologies. It clearly shows that both had a rough start during their initial years.

However, after less than a decade in existence, internet adoption stood at around 500 million users. During the same timeframe, blockchain was used by approximately 50 million people. This ratio of 10 to 1 is clearly visible throughout the whole chart.Judging from the Deutsche Bank data, both indicators are set to quadruple in 10 years, with blockchain reaching 2,000 users and the internet reaching 200 million users.

Overcoming stumbling blocks on the path toward crypto adoption

Estimates may vary, but we can say that as internet technology further progresses during the next decade, the distributed-ledger-technology industry will follow along. Perhaps not in leaps and bounds, but with steady, robust step-by-step increases.

There are particular challenges on the path toward global adoption: legal, technical and regulatory. However, I see 2020 as the year when blockchain technology will finally encounter real trouble in the world of finance and technology, allowing for new commercialization cases to be built upon this basis.

There are so many opportunities that can significantly boost crypto adoption to millions — if not billions — of people. The blockchain disruption of acquiring, remittance and corporate settlement will be the very driver that will provide a new, large-scale wave of crypto adoption.

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

Gregory Klumov is a stablecoin expert whose insights and opinions appear regularly in numerous international publications. He is the founder and CEO of Stasis, a technology provider that issues the most widely-used euro-backed stablecoins with a high transparency standard in the digital-asset industry.

The pressure’s on for Congress to pass a $2 trillion spending bill to thaw the frozen economy. While they negotiate the largest ever emergency relief bill in US history, markets are getting restless.

Stock futures have been volatile as the bill makes progress and stalls, then makes progress and stalls again. Voters are getting restless too. Both sides are badgering each other to “Hurry!” while negotiating a $2 trillion transaction with other people’s money.

Any time either side of the partisan divide has a scruple, the other party attacks them for holding up the bill.

They insinuate the other side doesn’t care about all the people who are hurting right now. Of course, a swarm of each party’s rank and file supporters also join in the shouting. The farther you zoom out from the picture, the more ludicrous the entire affair looks from afar.

Here’s Something You Can’t Do With Bitcoin:

Further, so much of the bill, styled as an emergency stimulus package, is just a massive grab bag of goodies and pork-barrel spending for bloated Washington bureaucracies America can definitely live without, and special interest groups with lobbyists on K Street. 

$25 million for the JFK Center for the Performing Arts. $75 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. $75 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

And a monster $500 billion slush fund for Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to dole out to corporations at his discretion with little oversight. When a terrible crisis strikes, politicians and special interest groups huddle together in Washington and grab all the money and power, they can possibly get their hands on. It’s the American way.

Washington did this to Americans during the 2008 Financial Crisis with Bush’s $700 billion Wall Street bailout in 2008, and Obama’s $831 billion stimulus bill in 2009.At least in 2008, many Americans put up a fight about it. They tried to melt the Congressional switchboard calling their representatives to urge against these massive appropriations.

Today America is so slavish and afraid because of coronavirus that even Trump’s “anti-socialist” supporters are eager to get their checks.You Might Also Like:

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The Federal Reserve Is Crypto’s Best Friend

And the $2 trillion stimulus package at the center of all this drama is dwarfed by the money the Federal Reserve is pumping into the banking system. Top White House economist Larry Kudlow says it’ll amount to $4 trillion. And Congress doesn’t actually have any of the money for its spending bill. It’s borrowing all of that, so the Fed will have to create most of it out of thin air.

Just like the $4 trillion it’s creating to shore up banks. That will make the entire monetary expansion $6 trillion in total.The entire adjusted monetary base is currently $3.3 trillion. So the monetary-political complex is about to triple the money supply in the coming months.

That’s what they did in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Quite more than doubled it actually. And that crisis not only gave us Bitcoin but saw it rise in price so dramatically until 2017, it became the greatest investment in world history by ROI.

That’s how highly sought after something like Bitcoin is for merchants and investors.

Expanding the fiat money supply at such breakneck speed will not necessarily make cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin more valuable. But it will drive monetary inflation that causes dollars to depreciate against Bitcoin, driving its nominal value higher.

Though, the result of this exercise in fiscal and monetary madness will likely be increased demand for crypto. People looking for an inflation shelter will have a powerful instrument in the intensely deflationary cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Bullish.

* Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of the author and does not represent professional financial or investing advice.

Despite the delay, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) is closer to launching its official digital currency. By working together with several large private companies, the nation’s central bank has finished the development process and is working on the proper legislation before the CBDC is released.

China’s CBDC Is On Its Way

After the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese central bank digital currency (CBDC) was delayed indefinitely. However, as the country is portraying initial stages of recovering after the deadly virus, a new report informed that the CBDC’s launch is closer than anticipated.

The Chinese central bank has completed the development process by collaborating with several local firms, including Huawei, China Merchants Bank, Tencent, and the tech giant Alibaba.

The latter has reportedly publicized five patents related to the future digital currency from January 21st to March 17th. The patents cover various areas of the digital currency’s future usage. Those include issuance, digital wallets, transaction recording, anonymous trading support, and assistance in supervising and dealing with illegal accounts.

Aside from all patents, the digital currency has to comply with local legislation as well. This, according to the report, could raise issues, because the currency has to operate with banking and insurance regulators on supervision. This process could be quite lengthy. Therefore, the exact time of the CBDC launch cannot be determined yet.

You Might Also Like:

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• As Expected: China’s Cryptocurrency Aims To Provide Full Governmental Oversight According To Report

Interest Timing

As the world is arguably entering the next, long-awaited, recession, most central banks are taking extreme measures to fight the economy curtail. The U.S. Fed, for example, cut the interest rates in an unprecedented manner and even announced unlimited quantitative easing.

China’s approach for stabilizing its economy might differ substantially with the digital currency launch.

Cao Yan, managing director of Digital Renaissance Foundation, believes that the PBC should accelerate the development of the CBDC.He outlined two main merits; firstly, it would establish China’s leadership position in this new digitally-oriented world. Secondly, a CBDC could be more efficient during times of uncertainty than simply lowering rates.

“If there is a chance China is considering lowering its interest rate into negative territory as a final option and directing such policy to commercial loans and lending, a circulated digital currency rather than M0 will be able to achieve that.” – he explained.

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Here in this guide, I will be explaining the difference between Staking & PoS in Cryptocurrency that will require a lot of details to talk about, so grab a cup of tea and enjoy the guide.

Crypto Mining Yields: Everyone knows that crypto is the booming currency since it got started, but a lot of you probably don’t about the mining process, which is quite popular in the blockchain. 

Crypto Mining Yields could be a long process if your new into you will get to know every about Mining and POS (Proof Of Stake).Getting Started with basics of Mining, its a process of creating new coins and rewarding those coins in the blockchain as they required some fee transaction to transfer in the block. Every crypto miner will need new blocks. 

What Is Staking?

The staking is all about having funds in our cryptocurrency wallet to encourage the blockchain network; many apps support the crypto wallet; one of them is Trust Wallet. The staking is quite similar to pos (Proof of Stake), it has been noticed in various blockchain networks. 

How Does Staking Works?

As we mentioned earlier the staking has a fund in a crypto wallet that helps to their operation as a support to keep active various blockchain networks; it uses the algorithm of Proof Of Stake (POS) for the various new cryptocurrency staking usually works on purchase of crypto coins and involve having funds in the crypto wallet for the particular time.

It gives rewards of your fixed deposit as non-digital currency; it’s similar to a fixed deposit which interest you will get at the end of the period contract.However, in pos (Proof of Stake) is different it also rewards you but with extra coins for holding coins for the period, you will get rewards for supporting more cons you have for more time in the wallet it will increase the number of the coins. 

Mining

You might have heard about it many times, but if you still don’t what Mining is? Then it would help if you did not skip this. The Mining required technical knowledge to understand its algorithm and computer knowledge is a must to solve algorithm stuff for the particular blockchain network.

Mining can be only performed by solving computational math problems.Once the math problems of computers get to solve, you will new coins on your blockchain network.  

What is Proof Of Stake (POS)?

POS is a different concept than staking its mine coins how much coins she or he holds in the crypto wallet, as we stated above the more coins you keep more power mining you will get according to the networks.If you know about Proof Of Work, then you need to know that the proof of stake is an alternative of it, its uses 1-megabyte capacity (maximum) to tackle duplicates multiple computer and nodes when the transaction is initiated.

Mining is a process to get it done correctly, but it requires a lot of power of electricity and computing high power which makes it very costly.According to an estimate in 2015, one bitcoin transaction cost electricity to power up to 1.57 American households each day.

So to run mining process miners will have to pay the huge electricity bill, and even the initial investment of Mining is also expensive that which could lead to selling awarded coins they get that can also lead down stats in the price of the cryptocurrency. 

How Does Proof Of Stake Work?

Proof-of-Stake works differently than others, and it doesn’t imply rewards you for finding blocks. There are also no miners work involves doing work for a reward. Instead, the system chooses a block creator deterministic-ally, depending on the power of stakes for a particular network.

As there are no miners, but there is validator which locks up their ether in the ecosystem of stake, it’s like adding validator in different blocks to get block rewards according to their stakes. 

Conclusion

If you want to save money, then the staking could be the best option, and its also an excellent way to earn coins and more rewards you will get. However, in POS you will need to spend your coins which can lead down movements in the rate of crypto or bitcoin currency.Article contributed by Hari babu!

Sonnen Group has launched a new virtual power plant (VPP) in Germany that will store any excess energy that would have otherwise been lost. The VPP will be powered by blockchain technology, with the participants making payments in a digital currency.

The Wildpoldsried, Germany-based company partnered with the Energy Web Foundation, a global non-profit organization that promotes the use of blockchain in the energy sector.

Sonnen will rely on EWF’s blockchain platform, with the users marketing their free storage capacity on EW Origin, EWF’s digital exchange.

Germany has been a world leader in the production of renewable energy for years now. However, it still sees a lot of the energy it produces go to waste. In 2018 alone, the European country lost 5.4 terawatt hours of renewable energy, enough to power the capital of Berlin for a year.

With the country producing more energy than it needs, the wind turbines have to be switched off whenever there’s more energy than the grid can transport.

The VPP will prevent this loss of energy, with the grid operator now able to report whenever there’s demand for extra storage capacity. The EW Origin software will match this demand to the available storage capacity in the VPP, preventing the loss of the produced energy.

The transactions between the VPP and the grid operator will be processed through smart contracts on the EWF blockchain. Once the transaction goes through, the operator will pay Sonnen through the digital currency DAI.

The use of blockchain and smart contracts will allow the company to offer a smart grid that’s more efficient than the current system, Sonnen’s eServices managing director Jean-Baptiste Cornefert remarked.

He stated, “With a flexibility market for renewable energies and the automatic exchange of supply and demand, we are realising the next step towards a smart grid that can deal much more flexibly with fluctuations from renewable energy.

Virtual power plants such as those from sonnen are the technical building block for this power grid that has been missing up to now and can help to ensure that less green energy is lost.

”Sonnen’s parent company, the Royal Dutch Shell, has continued to invest in blockchain and clean energy.

As CoinGeek reported, last year the oil giant invested in New York-based blockchain clean energy startup LO3 Energy. The startup powers P2P energy sharing platforms, allowing users to verify that the energy they use has been sourced from renewable sources.

The COVID-19 crisis has put unprecedented strain on the global supply chain of every product, but most acutely on critical medical supplies.Companies in the US are converting supply chains to manufacture critical supplies such as personal protective equipment, COVID-19 Test Kits and ventilators. 

New open source movements are stepping up around the world to try address growing ventilator shortages.Internationally, as COVID-19 cases in China have fallen, factories are slowly coming back online. 

This is at the same time as demand around the world is starting to skyrocket for critical supplies.Multi-million dollar contracts that usually take months to negotiate, are being inked within hours. However, one of the key bottlenecks has been the lack of trust between demand, supply and the financing mechanism.

Today In: ManufacturingBroken medical supply chains


Goods stored in a distribution center of the Perekrestok retail chain at the Sofyino logistics ... [+] STANISLAV KRASILNIKOV/TASS

Governments and Health Systems around the world have particular requirements for each system (e.g., a confusing array of EU standards, US FDA standards, non-EU standards). These standards are being updated almost weekly to allow for more supplies to come online to meet forecast demand.

Governments around the world are battling to overcome legacy procurement systems that cannot move at the pace this crisis demands. 

This means countries around the world are missing out on supplies because they cannot get financial mechanisms in place in time (hours, rather than weeks).

Many suppliers around the world are insisting on upfront cash payment as they try to distinguish credible buyers from brokers and middle-men distributors. 

There has been widespread reports of fraudulent production and fraudulent claims across the medical and personal protective equipment supply chain. 

There are risks that equipment may not arrive in the right specifications at the right locations at the right time.There is essentially a trust breakdown across the medical supply chain globally.The 5 Trust Challenges facing the medical supply chain


Trust in the global medical supply chain is broken GETTY

1.      Product Requirements: standards vary across health systems and countries, creating confusion for what each factory should be producing.

2.      Supplier Credibility: there is uncertainty over which suppliers can produce equipment to the right quality, at the right production volume, at the right time.

3.      Financial Payments: factories and freight companies are requiring financial payments be made upfront as their workers slowly come back online, and they themselves are trying to prioritize credible purchase requests.

4.      Customs Certifications: Customs Certifications need to be rapidly validated to allow rapid transportation of equipment internationally, given that medical equipment is highly regulated.

5.      Transportation Tracking: transport options need to be validated to ensure the right shipments can move from factories to airports to distribution centers to health centers around the world, under the right conditions (e.g., temperature controlled for pharmaceutical products).

What is blockchain?




Blockchain can unblock the global medical supply chain, strengthening trust among all parties. 
GETTY

Blockchain is a novel smart contract technology that has been used to guarantee crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin, as well as ensure provenance of supplies. In the sustainability world, blockchain has been used to verify the ethical source of minerals, seafood, fresh produce and forest products, among others.

It uses a deep encryption system, which enables contracts to be regulated in a more decentralized manner, and secure enough to allow financial payments to flow through such a mechanism. 

There are both private and open-source blockchain systems, with each system encouraging coordination and collaboration, above one particular party having too much control over the market, and rapid dispute resolution.What role could blockchain play in the medical supply chain?



Cardboard boxes at loading dock in warehouse GETTYCurrently there is no centralized procurement system governed by a central body (as Central Banks regulate the financial system centrally).  

It is a situation where demand for critical supplies are spiking around the world, these Healthcare Systems are unable to verify which ones have credible manufacturing capacities, traditional supply chains have been globally disrupted, new vendors are appearing with credibility challenges, and suppliers are trying to distinguish credible purchasers or ensure their production inventory will be purchased.

Traditional tools of excel sheets and google forms are currently being used to govern supplies, with legal contracts being uncertain, inability of individuals to fly to verify factories’ capacity and breakdown of trust of the trade finance and letters of credit traditional payment mechanism.

Lack of trust is the biggest bottleneck preventing this market ramping up quicker, and speed is of the essence in the next few weeks.5 Ways Blockchain can help



Blockchain can help with Certification of supplies GETTY

1.      Product requirements: provide a mechanism for health systems to continually update factories with the latest product requirements and specifications, almost like a production auction.

2.      Supplier credibility: provide a way for health systems to credibly assess which factories have high quality control, and can meet the specifications and production volumes needed.

3.      Financial Payments: act as a trade finance mechanism to ensure upfront blockchain-backed payments to factories that is then released as working capital upon pre-agreed production milestones and as supplies move to the next step of the supply chain.

4.      Customs certifications: blockchain-based Customs Certifications have been used to regulate export of many products from wildlife trade to pharmaceuticals, and can be applied here.

5.      Transportation tracking: supplies need to be securely tracked around the world to ensure transparency in the supply chain, which can occur with blockchain-based provenance tracking.

Is there a broader role for blockchain?



From L to R: Financier J.P. Morgan Jr. (1867 - 1943), British politicians Richard Haldane, 1st ... [+] GETTY IMAGES

As the US Congress explores a $2 Tillion Economic Stimulus Package, a blockchain solution could also help ensure companies adhere to conditions set in such a package.

For example, guaranteeing worker retention, committing to new standards to rebuild their companies (e.g., on executive compensation, share buy-backs). 

This could also by applied to commitments around lower carbon standards in line with the Paris Agreement, that should be conditional in any corporate bailout.

This is a war-time effort unlike anything faced in a generation.In 1915 during WW1, JP Morgan Jr and a syndicate of 2200 banks stepped in as the official purchasing agent for the British, French and US Government for critical war supplies such as steel, chemicals, foods, cotton, to get the allies up and running with war production capacity. 

Nothing short of this sort of concerted effort is needed now.



Nishan Degnarain

I am a Development Economist focused on Innovation, Sustainability, and Ethical Economic Growth. I currently work with leading Silicon Valley technology companies on… Read More

Alex McDougall is the co-founder of Bicameral Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on blockchain, interoperability, data and identity self-sovereignty, personalized AI and Web 3.0.

The business model where users with the fewest privacy settings are the most profitable. The opaque data policies that routinely top 10,000 words and legal experts agree are nonsensical.

The use of trackers and pixels to allow data players to reach far outside their own domain and index web traffic not even remotely attached to the “services” they offer.

Especially the data and content creators who are routinely either completely excluded or massively de-prioritized when it comes to divvying up the value of the platforms they power. Our data paradigm has been broken for a while now.

We generally acknowledge this break with some form of “yeah, I know Google is building an archetype of me for their own purposes, but what else am I gonna do? Plus look how pretty their site is!” Regulators acknowledge this challenge and there have been well-meaning attempts to legislate a better outcome to this with privacy focused legislations such as GDPR and CCPA.

These laws are well-intentioned, but I believe fatally incomplete in two ways. 

See also: Alex McDougall - Data Creators Should Share in the Profits From Big Data

First, until you either fix the fundamental mismatch of privacy and profit, or alter the system by which investors expect ever increasing quarterly earnings, we will never get a real “private” future led by today’s tech giants.

They are too nimble, too powerful, too incentivized by profits and operate in a world that’s too ill defined to be shackled by slow-moving legislation.

Legislation that can be innovated around or worse, repurposed for their own intentions.Secondly, especially in a post COVID-19 virtualized world, “privacy” by forced disconnection is NOT what we need. Prior to this devastating global outbreak, despite mounting work from home and virtual office technology, the majority of business still happens face to face.

That’s especially true of the high-value “closing” type interactions and the high-value networking engagements (the real point of conferences!). 

LEGISLATION THAT CAN BE INNOVATED AROUND OR WORSE, REPURPOSED FOR THEIR OWN INTENTIONS.

Same story with social interactions. Yes, social media has been the defining force of our past 15 years, but the majority of the important interactions in our lives still happen in person, especially the high-emotional-engagement interactions (romance, family gatherings). 

Same story with health and wellness. You learn digitally, but execute treatment plans in person. We don’t need further disconnection, we need a new digital paradigm to replace our most important interactions without completely losing our humanity.

What happens when 'in person' doesn’t exist?

You may recognize a correlation here between the things we generally do in person and the events that would be most valuable for current data players to observe and model. For example, buy decisions, romantic choices and family dynamics. Up until now, you’ve always been able to, at least somewhat convincingly, “opt-out” of the data paradigm.

While it’s a wrench to leave Facebook when all your friends and family are there, it’s possible. You can live without Facebook.

In the future, it may be impossible to leave society’s dominant data matrix behind. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing widespread isolating lockdowns and sweeping social distancing measures, we’re about to enter into a world of unprecedented digital mediation. Our digital mediators, with all-time low trust and all-time power high, are about to get even more omnipotent in our lives. 

See also: Lindsey Barrett - When Corporations Violate Privacy, They Do Concrete Harm

Unfortunately, privacy by itself isn’t the answer to this; it would be a lot simpler if it was. Our data feeds are the lifeblood of our digital personas and our digital personas are about to become our only personas.

Slowing down and blocking them at a time where we’re about to lose our ability to physically connect is a recipe for isolation socially and economically. 

In the current world, we don’t have control over our digital personas. They are generated, enhanced, tailored and monetized in the shadows. The profiles are rich and detailed and, in some cases, incredibly accurate. Have a look at what Google knows about you sometime. 

MORE PRIVACY WITHOUT FIXING THE UNDERLYING PARADIGM ISN’T WHAT WE NEED.

Why don’t we have the infrastructure we can control? I can see my Google profile and even download an Excel of it. Why isn’t there a secure vehicle where I take that Google profile, correct what’s wrong and supplement it with my Twitter, Netflix, Lyft, Apple Health, government ID, health and personal information to make a real digital version of me that I can use to connect and share myself? 

There are many reasons, including slow emerging distributed technology and strong consumer inertia, that this doesn’t exist today. But this user-controlled, 360-degree, digital profile is what’s going to form the kernel of a world where we can capture some semblance of our valuable physical interactions, in a digital setting. 

See also: Elizabeth Renieris - An Identity Layer for the Web Would Identify Us Everywhere

More privacy without fixing the underlying paradigm isn’t what we need. We need more rich data to make better algorithms and more virtual spaces that facilitate deeper, self-sovereign digital interactions. Here are three key pieces of infrastructure, as I see it:

• A mechanism by which new reams of data accrue to the user first and then are shared onwards or made available only at the user’s discretion

• A suite of digital tools, products and algorithms that are built to only ask for the minimum amount of data necessary to achieve their goal. Further, in certain highly sensitive situations, these tools must be able to have the data processed entirely within a provably private “black-box” execution environment

• A “data-supply chain” mechanism by which data can be traced from its raw creation through to its final commercial use and value shared with creators, algorithm makers and any other necessary stakeholders along the way

Sounds like a lot of stuff to build right? Luckily, we have a secret weapon: Our data is exponentially more valuable when we’re sharing it willingly. Google has become one of the most valuable companies on Earth by quietly trying to run digital simulations of all of us.

Still, the value of  years of surveillance is a tiny fraction of the value of you or I filling out an honest 10-minute survey. 

We’re at a tipping point. We need to re-orient our data paradigm away from the “abstract and extract” model to one where individuals and businesses  start our own digital identities. We need the tools, products, ecosystem and user willingness to adopt this new world. It won’t be an overnight solution.

But the economics of shared data can be incredible, and the reward for getting it done is nothing less than the salvation of integrity and humanity in our post-COVID world of digital interactions.

CoreWeave, the largest U.S. miner on the Ethereum blockchain, is redirecting the processing power of 6,000 specialized computer chips toward research to find a therapy for the coronavirus.

These graphics processing units (GPUs) will be pointed toward Stanford University's Folding@home, a long-standing research effort that unveiled a project on Feb. 27 specifically to boost coronavirus research by way of a unique approach to developing pharmaceutical drugs: connecting thousands of computers from around the world to form a distributed supercomputer for disease research.

CoreWeave co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Brian Venturo said the project has at least a shot at finding a drug for the virus. As such, CoreWeave has responded by doubling the power of the entire network with its GPUs, which are designed to handle repetitive calculations.

See also: Bitcoiners Are Biohacking a DIY Coronavirus VaccineAccording to Venturo, those 6,000 GPUs made up about 0.2 percent of Ethereum's total hashrate, earning roughly 28 ETH per day, worth about $3,600 at press time. 

There is no cure for the coronavirus just yet (though various groups are working on vaccines and research to combat the disease, including IBM's supercomputer).

Venturo noted that Folding@home has been used to contribute to breakthroughs in the creation of other important drugs. "Their research had profound impacts on the development of front-line HIV defense drugs, and we are hoping our [computing power] will aid in the fight against coronavirus," Venturo said.

The coronavirus is taking a toll across the world. Italy and Spain are on lockdown. Conferences, stores and restaurants are closing to stem the spread of the disease; by stoking fears, it's slamming the financial markets in the process. 

World computer

When the idea of using GPUs for coronavirus research was mentioned to CoreWeave, the team didn't think twice. 

They had a test system up and running "within minutes," Venturo said. Since then, the project quickly snowballed. CoreWeave has been contributing over half of the overall computing power going into the coronavirus wing of Folding@home. 

"The idea of 'should we do this?' was never really brought up, it kind of just happened. We were all enthusiastic that we might be able to help," Venturo added.

Folding@home is a decentralized project in the same vein as Bitcoin. Instead of one research firm alone using a massive computer to do research, Folding@home uses the computing power of anyone who wants to participate from around the world – even if it's just a single laptop with a little unused computing power to spare.

See also: Bitcoiners in Europe Reflect on Economic Shocks as Coronavirus Spreads

In this case, the computing power is used to find helpful information relating to the coronavirus. Much like in bitcoin mining, one user might detect a "solution" to the problem at hand, distributing this information to the rest of the group.

"Their protein simulations attempt to find potential 'pockets' where existing [U.S. federal agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] approved drugs or other known compounds could help inhibit or treat the virus," Venturo said.Viruses have proteins "that they use to suppress our immune systems and reproduce themselves.

To help tackle coronavirus, we want to understand how these viral proteins work and how we can design therapeutics to stop them," a Folding@home blog post explains.

Simulating these proteins and then looking at them from different angles helps scientists to understand them better, with the potential of finding an antidote. Computers accelerate this process by shuffling through the variations very quickly.

"Our specialty is in using computer simulations to understand proteins’ moving parts. Watching how the atoms in a protein move relative to one another is important because it captures valuable information that is inaccessible by any other means," the post reads.

Long shot

Folding@home could use even more power. Venturo urges other GPU miners to join the cause. 

Even without these calls for participation, though, miners of other cryptocurrencies are already independently taking action. Tulip.tools founder Johann Tanzer put out a call to action to Tezos bakers (that blockchain’s equivalent of miners) last week, promising to send the leading contributor to Folding@home a modest 15 XTZ, worth roughly $20 at press time. 

The initiative blew up, to Tanzer's surprise. Though they might not be contributing as much power as CoreWeave, 20 groups of Tezos miners are now contributing a slice of their hashing power to the cause.

Tanzer's pot has swelled to roughly $600 as Tezos users caught wind of the effort and donated.

But that's not to say all miners can participate. While GPUs are flexible, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), a type of chip designed specifically for mining, aren't, according to Venturo.

Though ASICs are more powerful than GPUs, they're really only made for one thing: To mine cryptocurrency. This is one advantage Venturo thinks Ethereum has over Bitcoin, since GPU mining still works on the former, whereas the latter is now dominated by ASICs. 

See also: Israeli Bitcoiners See Surveillance as Unavoidable During Coronavirus Crisis

"This is one of the great things about the Ethereum mining ecosystem, it's basically the largest GPU compute resource on the planet. We were able to redeploy our hardware to help fight a global pandemic in minutes," Venturo said.

(However, it's worth noting that Ethereum has seen ASICs enter the fray. Not to mention, ether miners might soon go extinct when a pivotal upgrade makes its way into the network.)

ASICs are useless for the Folding@Home effort, but if bitcoin miners have old GPUs lying around from the early days that they could contribute, too.Even if other miners join up, though, it's still a long shot that the effort will lead to a helpful drug.

"After discussing with some industry experts [...] we believe the chance of success in utilizing the work done on Folding@Home to deliver a drug to market to be in the 2-5% range," Venturo said.

Impressive use-cases of blockchain technology have come to the fore after the conclusion of the 2020 Blockchain Africa Conference in South Africa.The event went ahead as planned in early March despite the global coronavirus pandemic that has made headlines around the world.

The viral outbreak led to keynote speaker Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, cancelling his trip to South Africa due to travel restrictions.The event also suffered a drop-off in attendance due to fears around the virus, but there were still over 230 delegates present on day one while day two numbers dropped slightly.

Renowned cryptocurrency investor and analyst Tone Vays managed to fulfil his commitment to the conference with an insightful presentation on the value proposition of Bitcoin. His talk was praised by event organizers for bringing back a focus on cryptocurrencies,  which has become a neglected talking point at the African event in recent years.

The majority of speakers at the conference weighed in on a wide variety of subjects within the blockchain ecosystem with specific focuses on trade finance, self-sovereign identity and regulation.

Binance launching rand support, donates $1million to blockchain dev

One of the announcements made at the conference was Binance’s launch of a fiat gateway for South African users to make rand (ZAR) deposits on the global platform.Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao made the announcement in a pre-recorded message to the conference.

The support would include initial trading pairs with Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD).The company currently has trading support in 35 African countries. Zhao believes the continent has massive potential for cryptocurrency adoption:

“Africa illustrates one of the largest demands and instrumental use cases for cryptocurrency, notably for financial access. According to the World Bank, approximately 66% of Sub-Saharan Africans are listed as unbanked. So instead of trying to bank the unbanked, let’s try and Bitcoin the un-Bitcoined.”

Trading support for the South African rand is expected to go live within the next few weeks. In addition to that announcement, the Binance Charity Foundation has also put forward a $1 million donation to support the growth and development of blockchain education in South Africa. 

The organization will be looking to partner with local companies in order to deliver effective educational programs to drive the development of the sector in South Africa. 

Binance South Africa country manager Tanya Knowles told Cointelegraph that the Foundation check that organizations that receive funding are making a tangible difference in the blockchain ecosystem: 

“We’ve got one or two NGOs that we are already having discussions with and the criteria is really the traceability of those contributions to beneficiaries to reach end users. We’re also trying to make sure that there is an educational element in that.”

Blockchain can drive trade finance in Africa

Trade finance and supply chains were another major talking point at the conference that already have working use-cases being powered by blockchain technology.

Tech industry heavyweight Microsoft was represented at the event by its South African Data and AI specialist Thavash Govender.

The company already has it’s own blockchain-enabled enterprise solution Azure and is working hand-in-hand with Ethereum among other projects.

Govender believes that blockchain technology is specifically suitable for overhauling trade finance by improving traceability, transparency, auditability, efficiency and security of a wide variety of working parts, data and real life goods.

At the same time, Govender said that blockchain technology should only be considered in certain scenarios. This would include instances where projects need to process trust boundaries where multiple parties are using the same data. This prevents intermediaries from controlling or tampering with the data and will address tedious manual verification processes.

Nevertheless, Govender believes that Africa could become a leading force in integrating blockchain technology to improve trade finance and supply chains. He referenced the construction of cellphone towers in East Africa that allowed the development of the MPesa mobile payments systems in Kenya:

“Africa became a leader in mobile payments and it's still something that the rest of the world struggles with. Will we see the same necessity in fostering innovation by blockchain? Absolutely.”

Carlos Teixeira, global industry principal of Finastra, began his address at the conference by stating that “trade finance is deeply enabled by blockchain technology.

”Teixeira highlighted the fact that the trade finance sector has a massive number of moving parts, making use of an example of a pilot project that tracked a shipment from Kenya to Belgium. The shipment involved over 30 completely independent institutions, from the buyer and sellers to customs officers, logistics partners and financiers:

“Companies and banks are forming consortiums using new technology to overhaul current systems. We are looking at leveraging wider networks to give companies and banks information to make the right decisions.”

SA Reserve Bank acknowledges crypto is here to stay

The South African Reserve Bank — or SARB — also delivered a fairly positive update on its stance towards cryptocurrencies in the country. Anrich Daseman, senior fintech specialist at the Reserve Bank, told delegates that the institution had acknowledged that cryptocurrencies were “here to stay,” proven by the fact that a task force had been set up to develop regulatory frameworks for the sector.

Daseman also confirmed that the SARB would be issuing a draft policy paper on the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the country that would be released for public input in March. The SARB has classified cryptocurrencies on how they are used and how they derive value.

Daseman said that cryptocurrencies can be used as a method of payment, investment as well as other utilities, but the SARB does not recognize virtual currencies as legal tender.

The Reserve Bank has taken a keen interest in the space due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the institution is tasked with regulating monetary policy and in theory, when demand for cryptocurrencies increases then the demand for fiat money will decrease.

There is also the consideration of cryptocurrencies becoming a parallel payment system and the SARB needs to protect its national payment system. Financial stability is also a consideration, considering that crypto market capitalization growth could expose conventional financial systems to the inherent risks of cryptocurrencies volatility.

Exchange control regulations also need to be considered in the cryptocurrency space in regard to the movement of capital. Market integrity is another area that is a focus, in an effort to create a fair and transparent space that also considers Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terror Financing concerns.

Daseman said that there is still a perception that the very nature of cryptocurrencies works hand in hand with illicit activities:

“Many feel that we shouldn’t have exchange controls for the space but the reality is that they are there in conventional markets for a reason and we need to look at it.”

SA government sees blockchain driving economic growth

Members of branches of the South African government also made some positive statements about the potential of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to uplift South Africa and the wider continent.As Cointelegraph reported at the conclusion of the conference, Mpho Dagada, Commissioner on the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the South African Presidency, made a bold statement that touted blockchain technology’s potential to help reduce unemployment and bolster the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Related: South Africa Looks to Blockchain to Reduce Unemployment

Dagada said that the technology could plug into existing artificial intelligence systems in the mining sector:

“When we look at where the world is going, it’s important to leverage our strengths and align with that. If the world is moving towards more blockchain systems that are transparent and people want that, we know there is strength in Africa’s minerals and why not plug that in on top of the sector? We might find that we’ll solve the problems we have, like corruption or bringing access to markets. These problems could be solved by us bringing in these solutions and allowing them to plug and play.”

South Africa’s Office of Digital Advantage is also pushing to invest and support blockchain-based projects according to Akhona Damane, who heads up the department.Damane highlighted the fact that the ICT sector in South Africa had already outgrown the country’s agricultural industry in terms of GDP. That has led to a drive to increase investment in the sector and explore new technologies like blockchain:

“We reali`ed we can go into the blockchain space and drive development that goes a lot further than cryptocurrencies. While there are limited tech skills in the country, the local blockchain ecosystem is growing, driven by startups. The space now wants government involvement.”

A major takeaway has been the formation of the South African National Blockchain Alliance, which will be officially launched next month. The working group will look to develop opportunities for the blockchain industry.

Self-sovereign Identity 

Self-Sovereign Identity was a particularly important talking point at the conference that addresses a major problem across the continent.

Victor Mapunda, founder and CEO of FlexFinTx, presented data that estimates that around 400 million Africans do not possess proper identification documents.

As a result many Africans are unbanked and have little to no access to insurance services.

Mapunda said that institutional problems are a main reason for the status quo. Slow processing services and a lack of information sharing between governments, financial and healthcare institutions has exacerbated the problem.

On the bright side, Mapunda said that the situation has led to the development and proliferation of mobile money systems in Africa that do not need to meet Know Your Customer requirements.

The investigation into potential solutions has led to blockchain technology representing a not yet seen ability to tackle these problems. 

Mapunda told Cointelegraph that African governments have a lot to benefit from having mass, nationwide identity solutions. He said that a primary problem for African governments are massive tax gaps.

Mapunda used his native country of Zimbabwe as an example, highlighting massive unemployment rates which means most people exist within the informal economic sector:

“Most of their earnings and business transactions go completely under the radar of the government and they lose billions of dollars as a result. By having a system or platform where everyone is participating in a semi-formalized system on a digital scale they’ll be able to know what’s going on in their own communities.”

The uptake of these digitized solutions should benefit government, private companies and citizens alike according to Mapunda:

“Digital identity platforms typically move people from that informal sector to a digital, formalized scale where both government and the private sector are able to start offering better products and services to those people.”

A promising African future

There was an air of optimism at the 2020 Blockchain Africa conference driven by insightful presentations from various industry leaders.

There seems to be a strong sentiment that blockchain technology could provide the backbone for new solutions to uniquely African problems.

Furthermore, a number of speakers went as far as saying that the continent could become a driver of development and adoption in the future.

The proliferation of mobile payment services was often referred to as a prime example of a space that Africa has completely adopted and dominated.

More than 20 companies expect to tokenize securities on the Tezos blockchain, representing some $200 million in deals, through a new partnership with fintech merchant bank DealBox and software provider Vertalo.

Announced Monday, the partnership will see Vertalo tokenize 22 different securities issued by DealBox’s clients, providing data management services and providing liquidity, Vertalo CEO and co-founder Dave Hendricks said. His firm is also a registered transfer agent with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Hendricks told CoinDesk his company is essentially a technology provider for this partnership, while DealBox is the actual intermediary between the clients and the tech firm.

This is preferable, he said, because, while Vertalo can work directly with issuers, the company prefers to work with "channel partners.”

The move more than doubles the number of customers using Vertalo for digital security issuance. The company had 18 customers as of January 2020.

“The private assets are a bigger market than public securities. Because of the antiquated methods for asset management, and for ownership of private assets, owners of private assets cannot obtain liquidity,” Hendricks said, saying tokenizing might be able to boost liquidity.

The move comes a month and a half after Vertalo formally picked the Tezos network as its default blockchain for issuing securities. The company supports securities issued on Tezos and Ethereum, but said in January it would encourage customers to switch to the former when possible.

John Nance, DealBox’s president and chief investment officer, told CoinDesk the partnership would help build out market infrastructure for digital investments. 

“This idea of crowdfunding and using online investment platforms is pretty new,” Nance said, adding that more established companies might not have the necessary plumbing to support these types of securities issuance.

DealBox previously saw two securities issued on the Stellar blockchain, but is hoping to potentially migrate to Tezos. “We’re going to be bringing a significant amount of capital to the Tezos platform,” Nance said. 

The integration has already begun, according to Hendricks, and is expected to continue through the second quarter. 

The world is really falling apart, isn’t it? Bitcoin to the moon and the Lambos that we were going to chill in this summer came crashing right down when the market collapsed. 

If you’re at home sinking in despair about how the stocks have crashed, how Bitcoin easily left its support margins and how coronavirus is spoiling your social life. –  here’s a list of research papers you can read, while you’re at it. 

    1.Impact of the 2020 Bitcoin Halving: A Mathematical, Social,               and Econometric Analysis

Starting with Jered Masters research paper on the impacts of the 2020 Bitcoin halving. His research “explores the consequences” of the Halving. It is a methodical approach that concludes the price of Bitcoin could drop in the short-term and increase in the medium. The paper also suggests how this halving could be different from the previous ones. Jered also talks about how the reaction to this halving could hold indicators for the long-term utility and security of Bitcoin – discussed in the later sections. 

      2.Crypto thesis for 2020

Messari the aggregate data provider company which provides insights to its users to make correct decisions around BItcoin and crypto wrote down a research paper as their “thesis” of crypto for the year 2020. Right from the top 10 people to watch in the crypto space to DeFi and policy trends – it has it all. To give a bit of investment advice, it says, “BTC: Digital Gold

• ETH: DeFi Reserve (vs. ICO Reserve)
• XRP: Too-Big-To-Jail Coin
• USDT: Surprise! They’re more reserved than most Tier 1 banks. (vs. Surprise!

They’re solvent.)

• BCH: Bitmain casino chips
• LTC: BTC betanet 4-> (vs. Now useless)
• EOS: Actually no, it is in fact broken and run by a cartel. (vs.Wait, it’s legit?)
• BSV: Faketoshi Coin
• XLM: Burn the coins cuz no one wants them (vs. Cool. Enigmatic.)
• BNB: exciting unregistered security
• LINK: XRPArmy welcome
• ADA: YOU STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS?
• XTZ: Wow! Staking games will never backfire!
• ALGO: Top 20 if no one redeems, amirite?
• TRON: fake-it-til-you-make-it coin
• XMR: Fluffy Pony Watch Fund
• LEO: Quasi-security backing a quasi-Liberty Reserve
• ATOM: Most interesting ETH “complement”
• NEO: “Chinese ETH”
• HT: Quasi-security that might have CCP blessing”

3. The Marketing Strategy of the Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology – The Marketing Strategy of the Cryptocurrencies is written by Rafi F. Asgarl from Azerbaijan State University of Economics. The paper is a thesis intended to clarify the fundamental thinking or mentality towards cryptocurrencies, what they are perceived as what they should be – under two segments:

• Theoretical analysis of the problem. Cryptocurrencies and their marketing strategy
•  Methodology and the results of empirical research. Blockchain technology

It’s a good read for the non-techie community. 

4. Transformative effects of IoT, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence on cloud computing: Evolution, vision, trends and open challenges

This study is done by multiple researchers, it is a collaborative effort. The study explores the scopes of how three emerging technology paradigms: Blockchain, IoT and Artificial intelligence will influence the growth of future cloud computing systems. The research even identifies several technologies driving these paradigms. The research invites international experts to discuss the current status and future directions of cloud computing. Additionally, the paper even proposes a “conceptual model for cloud futurology” to explore “the influence of emerging paradigms” and technologies on the evolution of cloud computing.

5. Stake Shift in Major Cryptocurrencies: An Empirical Study

This empirical study is done by multiple researchers namely Rainer Stütz, Peter Gaži, Bernhard Haslhofer, Jacob Illum; one the best researchers and computer scientists of this space.

As interesting as it can get, the paper revolves around secure PoS proposals to observe the time gap between stake contributions. Further, it even investigates the ledgers of the top cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Zcash.

It’s a good read for geeks who are knee-deep into consensus mechanisms.  

[Note:- To download any of the ‘unavailable’ research papers, please copy and paste the research links to https://sci-hub.tw/ for a free download.]Disclaimer: The suggestions in the listicle are based on the writer’s research and personal opinion.

Needs evolve as do corporate demands. For that reason, it’s reasonable to assume that new technologies will start to enhance the way that human resources perform and operate in the years to come.

One of the most exciting developments in recent years is blockchain, a digital ledger which many people will know makes possible cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Blockchain is, by way of the simplest definition, a digital framework. It allows different parties in a contract or agreement to lay down and to agree to rules which receive full backing from hard evidence. Blockchain is not only great for establishing what took place during negotiations, but who has said what, and to whom.

Therefore, what can we expect from blockchain and the world of HR? How could this technology help to enhance the way that HR professionals carry out their day to day work? Here are a few ideas already taking shape in the industry right now.

Enhanced security

It's clear that blockchain will be an incredible aid to privacy. It is already helping bitcoin traders maintain a private profile in terms of the currency they buy and sell online. When it comes to HR, data and privacy have never been more important.

Therefore, HR professionals will be able to assure participants that their data is secure to an absolute degree. To an extent, blockchain can also help to encrypt and anonymise data, which means that it will be easier for HR teams to assure their clients that their information is under close protection.

Fraud prevention

HR is at high risk of fraud and data theft. Alongside the security benefits listed above, blockchain will also be able to support people in terms of fraud protection and prevention. Data written onto a digital ledger will ensure that it is impervious to counterfeiting and copying. What’s more, it will protect users from the chances of losing data altogether.

Automation and productivity

Blockchain can help to automate processes. For example, it will be easier for HR professionals to delegate certain administrative tasks and concerns through a digital ledger than to attend to all matters by hand.

Therefore, cutting down on time spent in terms of admin and processing will mean that productivity and efficiency will be enhanced.

This, of course, is always beneficial in any line of work.Automation is rife in blockchain, as well as in the trading of cryptocurrencies. Outside of HR, for example, any budding traders simply need to check out a list of crypto trading robots. These help them to make decisions on the crypto markets without letting personal emotion or psychology get in the way.

Clearer background checks

One of the most important tasks HR professionals need to perform is, of course, employee onboarding. One of the main hurdles to traverse in this regard is running background checks.

Major companies and public services will always need to ensure that they are hiring trustworthy professionals.Therefore, blockchain can assist by recording clear, concise and confirmed background checks.

Through a blockchain network, HR professionals will be able to clearly see what a person has done, where they have trained and their qualifications. These details will be clear for all to see not only in the here and now, but also in the future.

Recently, it was found that almost two-thirds of job applicants are lying on their CVs. Blockchain could help to weed out the more cavalier applicants from the genuine professionals!

Clearer contracts

A key benefit to blockchain technology in the world of HR is the smarter contracts they can help to put in place. It is easier for parties to record who has agreed to what in terms of contracts and negotiations, as this data will be clearly recorded in a digital ledger.

This means that parties that need to complete tasks or adhere to specific rules will be easy to monitor based on blockchain details. It’s greater protection all around, as it also means that those entering into contracts with firms and businesses can see what agreements came into effect, with whom, and when.

Will blockchain change HR in the short term?

There is still a lot of shakiness surrounding blockchain in the UK. This increases with the fact that the law remains somewhat unclear on how we should treat cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. However, it’s clear that human resources will stand to benefit immediately from bringing blockchain into everyday business.

Will this occur sooner, or later?

We will have to wait and see. In the meantime, it’s clear that businesses and HR departments are pressing ahead to make things as efficient and as productive as possible.

Binance and its local subsidiary have set up a $50 million fund to reinvigorate growth in blockchain startups in India following a Supreme Court decision to allow banks to service crypto firms.

Binance and India-based bitcoin exchange WazirX – which Binance acquired in November – announced Tuesday their new "Blockchain for India" fund would incubate and invest in local startups that contribute to the creation of a sophisticated cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem for the subcontinent.

The new fund comes weeks after the Indian Supreme Court lifted a central bank-imposed ban that prevented cryptocurrency businesses from accessing financial services. Some exchanges added support for bank account transfers within hours of the court ruling.

The new Binance-backed fund, which will make investments in both equity and token acquisitions, is especially interested in initiatives that help develop a full crypto market infrastructure for India, according to a press release. That could include fiat gateways, remittance platforms, stablecoin solutions and new applications for decentralized finance (DeFi).

Worth a total of $50 million, the fund will make investments anywhere between $100,000 and $5 million.

Highlighting that India had one of the largest developer and software engineering talent pools in the world, WazirX founder and CEO Nischal Shetty said in a statement the new fund would make full use of the "incredible potential that the Indian blockchain ecosystem has to offer."

The new fund would be open to collaborating and co-investing with other local funds sharing the same goals, Shetty said. There will also be an initiative for supporting blockchain development and incubator programs in Indian universities.

Rival Mumbai-based exchange CoinDCX announced last week it had pledged $3.1 million towards an education campaign to promote cryptocurrency adoption in India, according to a press release.

The Opera browser app has partnered with e-payments startup Wyre to expand its built-in wallet’s crypto buying power, the Norwegian web developer announced Tuesday.

In a deal that primarily caters to mobile crypto buyers in the U.S., the Opera-Wyre partnership brings Apple Pay functionality to iOS and debit card integration to Android.

It lets users of either system purchase up to $250 in bitcoin or ether daily, for a 30 cent fee plus a 2.9 percent transaction commission, Opera’s Head of Crypto Charles Hamel told CoinDesk.

That’s not a very high ceiling, Hame said, but it’s meant to appeal to dapp developers and day-to-day users, not investors and speculators looking to move well over $250 in crypto a day.

“As our browser-based wallet is focused around the usage of cryptocurrencies on the web and using dApps, we expect the vast majority of transactions will not hit that limit,” he said.

It’s part of Opera’s larger, long-term mission: become the go-to browser for Web 3.0. The browser has already taken strides towards that goal, adding TRON support, an Ethereum dapp-compatible desktop version, crypto mining protective layers and a wealth of other built-in blockchain features that other leading browsers only offer through third-party extensions.

Opera already supported bitcoin payments through its native wallet.On-the-go fiat on-ramps make it yet more simple for Opera’s dapp-using community to interact with blockchain projects, Hamel said. He touted its 30 second transaction settlement time, as Wyre has custody over all the crypto assets sold. 

Opera had previously rolled out these features in its native Scandinavia. It plans to introduce more crypto payment options in other countries “soon,” according to the press release.

Akoin, a cryptocurrency project from famous singer Akon, has joined up with blockchain financial infrastructure company Delchain. 


“Bahamas-based digital asset management leader Delchain, an affiliate of Deltec, has provided strategic advisory services and expertise in connection with Akoin’s token generation event on a top tier exchange, scheduled for Q2 of 2020,” Akoin president and co-founder Jon Karas said in an email to Cointelegraph.Delchain is reportedly associated with Deltec Bank and Trust Limited. 

Akoin helps people in asset maneuvers

Constructed on Stellar’s blockchain, Akon’s crypto endeavor aims to provide utility tokens for atomic swaps, allowing parties to transition across various digital assets and fiat currencies, among other things, according to a copy of the project’s white paper shared with Cointelegraph. 


Akon described current monetary difficulties in Africa, including unstable and unstable currencies. The singer even said the country’s citizens often barter with cell phone minutes and credits in exchange for products and food. “Akoin is a blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency designed to fuel rising entrepreneurs in Africa and beyond,” Akoin COO and co-founder Lynn Liss told Cointelegraph in an email, adding:

“Akoin's mission is to unlock the potential of the world's largest growing economy by creating revenue- generating opportunities and stimulating innovation, entrepreneurship, economic stability, and growth across Africa and other lean economies.” 

Delchain delivers know-how

Delchain adds depth in a number of areas for Akoin. The outfit brings “Industry best practices, financial services and top tier relationships related to digital asset management, token generation events and token custody management and services,” Karas explained. “We decided to partner with Delchain, Delchain being one of the most prolific financial facilities in the crypto world,” Akon said in a statement provided to Cointelegraph. He added:

“When we met with them it was more so about allowing them to understand what we are trying to do in Africa, the kind of challenges that they will be facing, that most banks and financial facilities aren’t willing to take at the moment.”

Since Bitcoin’s inception more than a decade ago, many famous personalities have jumped into the crypto space with ties to various products, including Johnny Depp’s partnership with crypto social platform TaTaTu, and 50 Cent’s allowance of Bitcoin in album sales. 


Some of these celebrity-involved crypto dealings have gone south, however, as was the case with Floyd Mayweather, who faced action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, for his ICO advertising.

Rapper and entrepreneur, Akon, shared the whitepaper for his upcoming ‘Akoin’ cryptocurrency project exclusively with Cointelegraph.

The document describes Akoin as a cryptocurrency “designed for entrepreneurs in the rising economies of Africa and beyond,” adding that the project’s mission is to “unlock the potential of the world’s largest growing workforce” using blockchain technology.

Mobile credit trading in Africa

The whitepaper describes Akoins as utility tokens that power “atomic swaps” between cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, and mobile phone credits on the Akoin network.Speaking with Cointelegraph, Akon emphasized that mobile credits are being used as a currency in Africa, stating:

“We have so many currencies in Africa - a lot of them are unstable, and most of them are untrusted. It got to the point where the day-to-day African people don't even use the currencies anymore, they're using their cell phone minutes and credits as a way of trading for basic goods like produce, fish, fruits and things on the market.”

“Ultimately, outside of the villages, you really can't trade cell phone minutes for anything,” he continued. “So we want to utilize that same mindset to take advantage of that mechanism outside of Africa - so even when they leave the continent, they can be able to utilize all of their credits and really be able to purchase real things."

Akoins used to pay fees on network

The token is also used to pay for fees for listing applications, transaction fees, fees for advertising on the platform, and as a means of exchange across the network.Akoin will be launched on top of the Stellar (XLM) network. Tokens can be held in both Stellar and Akoin wallets.The whitepaper also notes that private transactions “processed on the Akoin ecosystem” incur a fee of 2.5%.

BitMinutes to launch Dapp on Akoin network

The platform seeks to host an ecosystem of decentralized applications (Dapps), with the Akoin Foundation pledging to support and invest in Dapps that build on top of the Akoin network.

The platform has partnered with peer-to-peer payments and mobile credit exchange platform, BitMinutes, who are working toward launching an app on the network.

The whitepaper identifies several industries that the Akoin team believes can flourish using decentralized applications to target the African market - including mobile credit trading, micro-lending, phone credit trading, solar energy trading, media sharing, and healthcare.

Akoin to distribute 10% of tokens through IEO

Only 10% of Akoin tokens will be distributed via an initial exchange offering (IEO).The whitepaper states that the IEO will be conducted in partnership with a “top tier cryptocurrency exchange” during the second quarter of 2020, as per the terms of “an agreement with the unnamed exchange partner.

The IEO is slated to distribute 45 million Akoins at $0.15 each, giving the offering a hard cap of $6.75 million. IEO participants will need to contribute in the form of XLM.

Akoin token distribution

The remaining 90% of Akoins supply will be distributed among advisors — who will receive 5%, the team and foundation — with 10% each, the Akoin Wallet Retail Exchange — with 15%, and the treasury — with 20%.

The remaining 30% of supply which will be placed in Akoin’s escrow fund, from which 2% will be released each month for 48 months.The total supply is planned to be released over four years, however, the paper notes that this will be subject to change based on “Escrow tokens being placed back into Escrow if they are not needed in the month they are released.”

‘Akoincity’

Akon also in the early stages of building “Akoincity” on 2,000 acres of land provided to the project by the president of Senegal. Akon predicts that the city’s construction will be complete in five to ten years.

Once complete, the rapper plans to construct additional Akoincities in every major African country in a bid to unify the African economy.

William Mougayar, a CoinDesk columnist, is the author of “The Business Blockchain,” producer of the Token Summit and a venture investor and adviser.We should stop trying to define or classify cryptocurrency as if it were a beast from another planet.

Rather, we just need to accept it as the future of money. It is a currency, not a security, and it shouldn't be governed by securities laws. The dollar, euro, yuan, pound are not regulated by securities authorities.  

​There is little value in attempting to define, box-in, segment or categorize cryptocurrency as something that needs to be continuously examined, questioned and analyzed. Instead, let’s focus on promoting cryptocurrency’s adoption because it is here to flourish and stay.

At a recent DLD 2020 panel, entitled "Virtual Currencies & the Global Financial System," the first question from the moderator consisted of “defining cryptocurrencies.

” Each of the three panelists (painfully) took a shot at suggesting their own definitions.

Another panel from Davos 2020, "From Token Assets to a Token Economy," discussed tokens as a type of cryptocurrency. In both panels, the definitions tried to depict tokens and cryptocurrency as a new type of animal.Is there a point trying to classify the various types of cryptocurrencies, really? 

See also: While We Wait for Laws, We Need Better Interpretations of Existing Regulation

Cryptocurrency is just like any currency, except with more powerful properties. It is that degree of power that is scaring incumbents while exciting new participants. 

Over the long term and in the end-state, cryptocurrency is going to be as pervasively used as today’s currency, but with a rivaling variety. Today we see cryptocurrency as the future of money, but tomorrow it will be an integral part of money. 

Email was new until it wasn’t. E-commerce was a novelty until it no longer was. Filing taxes electronically or renewing licenses online was a rarity until it became routine and sometimes the only option. Online banking was innovative until it became routine. Meeting friends online was extraordinary until it became very common.

Reading online news was a parallel activity to printed newspapers until it became the norm for billions of people.

Today, cryptocurrency is an anomaly whose usage and understanding are in the hands of the few. Soon enough, it will permeate our society, habits, business, government, and become second nature.

The rabbit hole of classifications 

If you go down the rabbit hole of classifications, you quickly realize the resulting madness and confusion from the nomenclature jargon: stablecoins, staked currency, utility tokens, security tokens, native coins, digital rights tokens, non-fungible tokens, etc.

There are stablecoins and market-driven coins. Stablecoins, like the name implies are coins with less volatility (supported by algorithmic or asset-backing stability), whereas non-stablecoins are subject to market supply/demand price fluctuations. 

Cryptocurrency can be government or non-government backed. Government-backed cryptocurrency is still a rarity, and the subject of more discussion than action. As an aside, it will end up as a centrally controlled digital currency rather than being decentralized, programmable and native to a given blockchain.

SADLY, WE HAVE INVENTED MANY OF THESE CLASSIFICATIONS TO PLEASE REGULATORS.

We also have tokens that are in essence cryptocurrencies with a purpose. Then we enter the legal sphere, where tokens get labeled a utility, or security, based on how they were initially created, who received them and their ultimate functionality. For most tokens, there is a blurred line in demarcating the distinction between exclusive utility and their security-like properties of tokens.  

Somewhere between a utility and security, we also have non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are representations of unique ownership of a digital asset that has no physical equivalent (such as a CryptoKitty or a games related artifact like a special tank or sword.)

Sadly, we have invented many of these classifications to please regulators. With tokens, regulators and governments get agitated because companies can now issue tokens as currency, whereas issuing money used to be the sole right of sovereign governments. But companies have been issuing stock for decades.

A stock is another form of value that cryptographic tokens mimic when they function as a security. 

Then, we enter discussions about the functionality of these tokens: can they be earned? Sold? Bought? Spent? Awarded? Are they a payment unit? Or a right to a privileged action (like voting or getting access to information).

Will their value increase if you don’t use them and just store them? Are they native to a blockchain network, or grafted on top of an existing platform or singular application? 

The above classifications are what we currently see, and there may be new representations we haven’t seen yet. While some of these functions are distinct from one another, many of them overlap with each other. That is why classifying cryptocurrency is not that useful, because we are still in the formation stages. 

Reality check. Stop defining.

Time for a reality check. Do we still attempt to define the internet? Not anymore. But in its early days, we did…until we didn’t anymore.Do we define money by its use cases, like something you buy groceries or pay a toll with? Or do we, rather, define money by its properties? 

See also: Cut the Consensus: You Can’t Run a Business Like a Blockchain

Money’s key properties consist of being a unit and a store of value that is transferable, fungible, verifiable, divisible and scarce.

Cryptocurrency inherits all these properties, in addition to adding unique functions that money doesn’t have: its immutability is digital (the physical is gone), it can be fungible or non-fungible, its policy governance doesn’t need to be centralized, it has very powerful programmable capabilities with imbedded logic (if-this-then-that), and its transferability is peer-to-peer (without central intermediaries). In essence, cryptocurrency is money on steroids. 

Let us start using cryptocurrency according to its most common features first, the ones that it shares with the money we know. Then we can evolve from there.

Just like early websites were glorified brochures on a screen, then we evolved way beyond that monochromatic use case into e-commerce, e-business, two-way communications, social interactions and much more.Using cryptocurrency hasn’t been easy for the average person, and that’s a valid challenge. But it is getting better. 

It is time to give cryptocurrency the place it deserves. If it is to claim a position as the new money, then we need to increase its usage, starting with the easier use cases and gradually increasing the variety and complexity.

We need to bring cryptocurrencies to the fore and make them as popular as regular currency and web are. 

Let us stop defining and segmenting cryptocurrency in ways that limit it. Rather, let’s start using it in ways that open up the possibilities and allow it to cement itself in our lives and businesses so it is accepted, welcomed and not feared.

Cryptocurrency is the new money and the new currency. It is time it enters the bloodstream of the mainstream.