The EOS blockchain is congested by the EIDOS token airdrop, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reports on Nov. 9.

In a post on its blog, Coinbase claims that it had trouble in processing its clients’ transactions due to EOS network congestion caused by the EIDOS token airdrop.

The exchange has since solved the issue by increasing the amount of staked CPU, securing a sufficient portion of the CPU time remaining on the network to process its transactions.Interestingly, the incident also caused the price of CPU time on the network to increase by over 100,000% over the course of 4 hours. The CPU time price reached nearly 7.69 EOS/millisecond.

The cause of the EOS congestion

According to Coinbase, a token called EIDOS was released on EOS on Oct. 31 and its airdrop involves sending transactions on the network from the token’s smart contract. 

Exchanges have listed EIDOS/USDT pairs on Nov. 1 to allow people that received the tokens to sell them for the stablecoin.In order to sell the tokens, users have leased the network’s CPU time to increase the number of transfers processed by the blockchain.

This, in turn, caused the EOS network to enter congestion mode and limit the number of transactions users can broadcast to their pro-rata share of total staked CPU resources on the blockchain.The activity related to the token is responsible for a remarkable portion of total activity on the network:

“Currently, we’re observing around 95% of all EOS transfer actions are related to the EIDOS contract.”

EOS network behaving as expected

Average users, who hold a relatively low amount of staked CPU resources, are currently unable to send transactions. That being said, the exchange also notes that this situation is only temporary. Coinbase expects the network to return to its normal state as soon as it is no longer profitable to collect the tokens or the CPU leases expire after 30 days and the lenders do not renew the lease. Coinbase also points out:

“It is important to note that the EOS protocol is behaving as expected, but congestion mode prevents users from having transactions processed that exceed their CPU stake.”

As Cointelegraph reported at the end of October, EOS holds the top spot in China’s state-backed crypto rankings, while Bitcoin (BTC) is ranked 11th.

Major companies ranging from Walmart to Smucker's have started implementing blockchain to track shipments. Find out what's happening and what the technology's results look like today.

By John Monarch


Nov 10, 2019—Digital transformation of supply chain management continues through the increased adoption of digital platforms to track shipments.

Blockchain, while a buzzword and an almost ethereal concept to some, is starting to make waves. According to Disruptor Daily, blockchain innovation in the supply chain shows great promise for enabling proactive management of shipping.

Faster, cheaper transaction settlement has a proven history of reducing processing time up to 80 percent; when paired with blockchain, payment processing will speed transactions and complete more payments.

Payment processing is only the tip of the iceberg, and major companies around the globe are turning to blockchain to solve their supply chain visibility and traceability challenges. Unfortunately, most companies do not publicize actual rates of use and specific statistics on how blockchain has saved money.

However, based on how many companies are leveraging the technology, it is clear that blockchain is finally gaining the traction it needs. Let's get into some use cases.




Specific Use Cases of Blockchain in the Supply Chain
The use cases of blockchain transcend all modes and forms of supply chain management. As a ledger-based technology, blockchain can be applied to any process. Since this article led with the idea of payment processing, let's start there.

• Payment Processing: SecurCapital uses blockchain to track payment and settlement terms. Upon verification of such conditions, the platform authorizes payment and completes the transaction.

• Pharmaceuticals: Chronicled leverages blockchain networks to track chain-of-custody for pharmaceuticals, notes BuiltIn.com. Documented histories ensure medical authenticity and avoid risks, such as inappropriate storage temperature during transport and more. Similar companies, including Blockpharma, have managed to remove up to 15 percent of all fraudulent, counterfeit medications from the global supply chain.

• Apparel: Companies at the G7 Summit voiced concern over the sustainability of the apparel logistics supply chain, including the need to guarantee authenticity. According to Apparel magazine, deployment of blockchain-based platforms in the apparel supply chain can take place within 90 days, undercutting the Grey market as well.

• Fresh Food and Produce: Following severe outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, Walmart became the first major retailer to require blockchain in tracking foods from farm to table. Now, Walmart has excited demands, using blockchain to track shrimp supply chains in India, says CoinTelegraph.

Since the United States is the largest importer of India's shrimp exports, this demand will force transparency in the market. At the same time, coffee supply chains, including Jacobs Douwe Egberts and Smucker's, are using blockchain to trace coffee beans and products, too.

• Manufacturing in General: Comparable to the apparel supply chain, all manufacturers may use blockchain to track products from the cradle to the grave. Tracking includes traceability of components and hardware, which are critical concerns for electronics, automakers and others. Even IKEA falls into this category, using blockchain to avoid counterfeit products and better manage freight.

The Real-World Results of Blockchain Are in the Traction Growth of Shipping Companies

Pinning down the exact results of how blockchain is performing is challenging. Companies remain hesitant to reveal their results for fear of legality for "saying too much" and pushback from competing shippers. Some wish to keep their innovations proprietary and avoid the risks in joining consortiums or even publicly labeled blockchains.

That's the problem with today's shipping world. Even though digital transformation is happening in many modes of shipping, companies are still not as forthcoming on the topic of blockchain results, says container shipping industry expert Lars Jenson.

Instead of trying to whittle down the numbers, shippers should look to companies that have begun initiating digital freight practices to increase business. Digital adoption will pave the way for real traction in blockchain, and there are currently several big players using digital practices to get results. Some key findings include:

• Hapag-Lloyd reports online booking rates of 6 percent, and targets indicate rates will soar to 15 percent by 2023. This sudden spike can only arise from faster processing and management, including visibility, through the adoption of digital capabilities.

• NYSHEX is on track to increase its volume more than 428,000 TEUs by 2020, up from 19,000 in 2018, leveraging digital systems along the way.

• Cogoport reports bookings up to 250,000 containers through its online platform.

• Flexport revealed its total revenue at $414 million, hinting at strong growth that will require more processing power.

• Traxens is backed with the brand power of CMA CGM and Mediterraneous Shipping Co., alluding to the demand for more container-specific data. More data to track can only mean carriers are looking to increase transparency.

Since blockchain is the logical choice for tracking data, managing shipping documents, and guaranteeing their authenticity, it is now on track to become the standard for container security, optimization and insurance, says Eric Johnson of the Journal of Commerce.


When Will Companies Release the Real Numbers on Blockchain Results?

No one really knows, but one thing is clear. The entire global supply chain is hungry for digital transformation and traceability. A simple online search reveals thousands upon thousands of blockchain articles and talking points. Meanwhile, strong growth continues in startups and through well-established ocean carriers.

At one time, the Internet stood apart as the biggest change to the global stage of supply chain management. Blockchain is in that same hype cycle, but remember, the Internet was once only hype. The Internet itself was a huge invention and changed the entire world, but no one says, "I'm an Internet company solving things for supply chain.

" And, much like the Internet today, blockchain will permeate the simplest of functions to the very largest problems faced today in supply chain visibility.No one is going to launch a blockchain-based platform overnight. It takes time and resources, and with time, some will claim to be the bigger, better blockchain for supply chains.

Because at its core, blockchain is simply the newest rendition of supply chain visibility technology. The hype is going to continue, but time will see it fade as the true leaders of blockchain merge with the global supply chain systems vendors.

As the demand for data and processing power grows, blockchain will rise to dominate standard shipping capabilities. The results are there; they're hiding behind the growth rates.

Blockchain is here to stay and grow in value through any change the industry endures.This an exciting period for supply chain advancement. As companies across the globe move toward digital systems, those in the blockchain space will work to develop new applications of blockchain. Traceability is the foundation of strong digital transformation.

There is ample room to grow and expand the capabilities of blockchain; the only question is, why hasn't your organization taken a stand for blockchain innovation?

John Monarch is chief executive and co-founder of ShipChain, a blockchain startup focused on the freight, logistics and shipping industry. He is a serial entrepreneur with multiple previous ventures and has a background in physics and computer science.

China’s recent blockchain development bonanza shows no sign of abatement. Business leaders and investors seized on President Xi Jinping’s first-ever endorsement of blockchain as an underpinning technology, and new initiatives sprung up almost overnight.

But Chinese firms, investors and universities have been working quietly on blockchain projects since 2014.  From pledging loyalty to the Communist Party and identifying smart city citizens to verifying pigs and tracking liquor shipments, here’s how China’s gone all-in on blockchain.

1. An identification system for cities

China’s wasting no time with this one. Since Sunday, city authorities across China have been eligible to apply for a city identification code to link them into a blockchain network developed by three institutes in Shijiazhuang city. The network aims to enable data sharing and interconnectivity between provinces. But Chinese smart city goals don’t end there. China’s aim is to have 100 operational smart cities by 2020, including its future capital Xiongan, and blockchain will feature prominently. 

2. An authentication method for everything from liquor to pig meat

Prized by international dignitaries (one bottle is a staggering $450,) Moutai liquor is blended from up to 200 spirits and is manufactured by only one company, Kweichow Moutai Co., a partially state-owned Chinese enterprise. The company has been working with Ant Financial (an affiliate of China's internet behemoth Alibaba) since March 2018, to develop a blockchain-based anti-counterfeiting system for its premium hooch.

The country that’s famous for its copies of everything from Louis Vuitton bags to WAL-MART (China’s version is WU-MART), has embraced blockchain’s authentication talents like no other. It’s using them for everything from verifying pigs to “information asymmetry" in trade finance. 

3. A national digital currency

Many of China’s applications are a far cry from the vision of the technology’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto. One example is China’s plan for a national digital currency. It won’t be decentralized—one of the main factors ensuring that a blockchain is tamper-proof. That’s why some are calling the technology’s renaissance in China, “blockchain with Chinese characteristics.”Decentralized or not, China’s national digital currency is still likely to get off the starting blocks before Facebook’s Libra—the project that’s rumored to have precipitated its speedy rollout. 

4. A highway to innovation for Big Tech and banks 

China’s Big Tech players, such as Jack Ma’s Ant Financial, have long been experimenting with blockchain for financial applications, such as cross-border micro-transaction payments, as well as medical reimbursement and leasing contracts. Things are going well. The People’s Bank of China, Shenzhen branch, reported, in October, that its blockchain-based trade finance platform has processed $10.7 billion in transactions in the past year.

5. A hallowed technology worthy of government investment

Local government officials have begun to provide funding for "outstanding blockchain projects.”—a step up from more stealthy governmental funding of the technology through its “key pillar” projects, such tech giant, Tencent. The city of Guangzhou, a blockchain innovation hub since at least 2017, last week introduced a $150 million initiative to support two public or private-based blockchain projects per year.

There’s no reason to think that other regions won’t follow suit. And standardized regulations for the industry are also in the works.For good measure—irony of ironies, considering its prohibitive stance on cryptocurrencies—China has begun cracking down on any articles daring to tarnish blockchain.

6. A breeding ground for tech unicorns

The prospect of billions of dollars in cheap government financing and subsidies, has led to Chinese investors snapping up shares in blockchain-related businesses. More than 85 stocks surged by 10 percent—the daily limit on trading  in Shanghai and Shenzhen— the Financial Times reported last week.

But China is also home to three of the world’s top Bitcoin mining companies. Last week Chinese Bitcoin miner Bitmain bested all other crypto startups on this year’s “Global Unicorn List,” published by the Shanghai-based Hurun Report. And, on Wednesday, China finally put an end to speculation that bitcoin mining would be phased out, ensuring a more certain future for Canaan and Ebang, and Bitmain too, if it can sort its civil war.

7. A tool for party loyalty

The study of blockchain has become a national movement in China—from civil servants, to stay-at-home moms, the public has been encouraged to study Introduction to Blockchain, on “Xuexi Qiangguo,” an app designed to teach President Xi’s thoughts. A national “Blockchain Day” is even under consideration.

And to provide indisputable evidence of loyalty to the Communist Party, a news publication operated by the People’s Daily newspaper has asked Party members to stamp their declarations of fealty directly onto a blockchain.

This June, as the news bristled with headlines about Facebook’s cryptocurrency-to-be and the price of bitcoin once again soared, the mood in the San Francisco offices of Coinbase was subdued. In 2017, the cryptocurrency exchange was close to the frenetic epicenter of the bitcoin boom.

Millions of people used its app to dip their toes into cryptocurrency speculation. Then came the crash. By now, according to Coinbase COO Emilie Choi, the company has weathered a few similar cycles and drawn an important lesson from the highs and lows: Booms don’t last. “It’s a roller-coaster ride here,” she says. “There’s no two ways about it.”

Sure enough, bitcoin plummeted that same afternoon, as cryptocurrency prices are wont to do.

Coinbase has remained one of the biggest exchanges for buying and selling crypto—making it an $8 billion business, at last valuation. Despite increased wariness of overvalued unicorns after recent high-profile flameouts, CEO Brian Armstrong said last month that Coinbase has actually turned a profit three years running.

But Coinbase’s fortunes, built around the fees users pay for trading, remain closely tied to rollicking price of bitcoin, and to a lesser extent the nearly two dozen other tokens it supports.

Profitable, yes, but precarious.So today Coinbase will begin offering a service, known as "staking," that it hopes will convince users to stick around even when prices aren’t spiking. Under the new system, if you hold particular cryptocurrencies in your Coinbase account, you’ll receive set returns independent of market fluctuations.

Coinbase is starting with a coin called Tezos. The returns—roughly 5 percent to start—come in the form of tokens that Coinbase receives for participating in the network that keeps the Tezos blockchain secure.

Similar to how new bitcoin are distributed based on how much computing power is contributed to network, Tezos doles out new coins based on how many coins each participant has “staked.”Basically, it’s interest. Just don’t call it that.

Coinbase prefers the ersatz term “staking rewards.” That distinction is rooted in regulatory questions.While staking has become a common choice for newer coins, it’s unclear where the process falls under investing rules. Because of those concerns, staking was made available to wealthy investors in March, but held back from ordinary Coinbase users until now.

The company says it now feels confident that it has worked out an arrangement that falls within the SEC’s good graces. Coinbase is the first major exchange to open up staking to all US customers.Rhetorical contortions aside, Coinbase bills staking as a step in the direction of looking more like a bank, with the diverse revenue sources they enjoy.

That includes generating fees from serving as a custodian of assets and facilitating lending and consumer payments. “We’re just doing it in our own crypto way,” Choi says.Beyond the risks of depending on bitcoin prices for revenue, Coinbase faces growing competition.

Beyond the risks of depending on bitcoin prices for revenue, the company faces growing competition. “They’re fighting a two-front battle,” says John Sedunov, a professor of finance at Villanova University.

Coinbase has been seen as uniquely approachable in an industry known for shady actors. But others now compete for that mantle.

Rival exchanges like Binance have grown in the US, and there are now a raft of startups that specialize in safe offline storage for your crypto coins. New offerings from the legacy world of finance, like Bakkt, which shares a common owner with the New York Stock Exchange, and Fidelity Digital Assets, are also entering the fray with existing financial relationships and trusted brands.

 “If I’m thinking about who I trust, do I trust JP Morgan to be the custodian of my cryptocurrency or a website that’s been operating for a few years?” Sedunov asks.It’s no surprise, he says, to see big exchanges getting into edgier aspects of crypto that legacy businesses won’t yet touch.

 It’s a familiar playbook. During the so-called “crypto winter,” the long period of low prices after the 2017 bitcoin boom, a common way for exchanges to bolster bottom lines was to add more esoteric coins for trading. Tezos, listed on the exchange this August, is one of Coinbase’s newest additions.

Even in the context of the volatile cryptocurrency world, Tezos had a rough start. After raising $232 million by selling a token without a network in place, the project descended into chaos over a management dispute. The ship eventually righted itself, but regulatory questions have dogged it and other projects.

The SEC has made clear that people should assume tokens used to raise money are securities, says Joshua Klayman, an attorney who specializes in blockchain and digital assets at Linklaters. Some coins have gotten a pass based on a variety of reasons, but "there is no bright line," she adds. "It really is a case-by-case basis.

"Last week, in an interview at San Francisco Blockchain Week, Hester Peirce, an SEC commissioner known for her cryptocurrency enthusiasm, noted her colleagues should be looking at the “structure of the product” instead of the underlying assets. Coinbase says it’s confident the Tezos token is in the SEC’s good graces. (The SEC did not respond to a request for comment.)


LEARN MORE





The WIRED Guide to Bitcoin


Staking adds a few other wrinkles. Bitcoin doesn’t use staking to keep its network secure; it has a system called proof-of-work, in which a network of computers, known as miners, race to solve cryptographic problems. In exchange for their services, the miners are rewarded with bitcoin and can also vote on proposed changes to the protocol.

Staking puts both the incentives and the voting rights in the hands of token holders, not miners. To some, that has all the hallmarks of an investment relationship. “Initially [the SEC] said it would have serious concerns about this,” says Brian Brooks, Coinbase’s chief legal officer.

Brooks says the SEC became comfortable with the arrangement because of the unique structure of the Tezos staking process. Rather than having customers stake the tokens, Coinbase stakes coins itself using funds from its custody business. It then distributes the profits as “rewards” to customers based on how much Tezos they hold in the company’s accounts.

Coinbase says the arrangement insulates customers from the potential risks of staking. Staked coins are harder to trade quickly during price swings, and more vulnerable to hacks than coins stored offline.Still, nothing in the arrangement protects investors from the frequent whiplash of cryptocurrency prices.

If Tezos were to crash, the customer’s funds would go with it. Max Branzburg, head of product for Coinbase’s consumer product, compares the idea to picking stocks, with all the attendant dangers.

Of course, public companies are required to make extensive disclosures about their risks and financial health; Branzburg notes Coinbase has invested in making information available about specific coins.

“The principle here was to make it as simple and easy for customers as possible,” he says.

That pitch is likely to irk independent-minded crypto enthusiasts, who already see companies like Coinbase as unnecessary middlemen who stand between users and their coins.

A more practical tradeoff to convenience are fees. Tezos offers nearly 8 percent rewards to those who stake their coins directly. Coinbase plans to take a hefty percentage off the top, leaving users with a roughly 5 percent annual return that pays out every three days.

That pitch is likely to irk independent-minded crypto enthusiasts, who already see companies like Coinbase as unnecessary middlemen who stand between users and their coins.

Coinbase says it will consider staking for other tokens, especially as other networks, including Ethereum, adopt similar security models.

The company also has other ventures outside of trading, including an expanding crypto custody business for larger institutions to park their coins. It has also invested in efforts like Coinbase Commerce, which enables partner merchants to accept cryptocurrency.

(The company also joined the Libra Association, the struggling Facebook-led group that hopes to enable global crypto payments.) Armstrong has also speculated on the possibility of offering crypto-based loans.

The fate of those products is unclear, given the hurdles of regulation and user adoption. Crypto loans have been called a bubble, and payments have gained little traction so far.

Coinbase has stumbled in its attempts to get other ventures off the ground. Last spring, the company closed its Chicago office, the central hub of an effort to get into high-frequency crypto trading.In the meantime, Choi says the company is focused on making sure the core product works and remains secure.

During the big run-up in 2017, the onslaught of users forced portions of the trading system offline. This summer’s spike was a calmer affair; staffers seemed visibly relieved that no major gaskets had been blown—a reflection, Choi pointed to at the time, of the company’s investments when cryptocurrency prices were low. “It feels like the lessons have been learned.”

• 
  

Gregory Barber is a staff writer at WIRED who writes about blockchain, AI, and tech policy. He graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and English literature and now lives in San Francisco.

Cryptocurrency analysts have warned that early adopting Bitcoin $BTC▲0.14% whales still have “plenty of clout” when it comes to dictating market prices.

Those behind Twitter-based transaction monitor @whale_alert have noted that an apparently dormant Bitcoin address houses almost 80,000 BTC ($750 million), and if the owner decides to sell them all, it could spell utter devastation for the industry.

“That address alone — if that is actually a whale who’s been holding their coins for so long without doing anything with them — if they decide, ‘Okay, let’s go sell them,’ it would crush the market completely,” Whale Alert told crypto prime dealer SFOX in a recent interview.

“But it’s really hard to say anything about the status of that address: Are those keys lost? Is that person even still alive? […] It’s just waiting to see if anything happens with those addresses,” they added.A list of top dormant Bitcoin whale addresses (in which no outflowing Bitcoin has been detected in at least five years) can be found here.

The ‘Bitcoin whale effect’ has been demonstrated before

It’s plausible that the power of Bitcoin whales has been demonstrated recently. Whale Alert told SFOX that between August 29 and September 6 2018, a cryptocurrency whale unloaded around $1 billion worth of Bitcoin after they moved the funds from a single wallet to exchanges.When most of the Bitcoin from the wallet was sold, the price of Bitcoin dramatically dropped by almost 15 percent, and the 30-day rolling volatility increased by almost 25 percent.




Price goes down, volatility goes upAnother example is the recent closure of a darknet child abuse imagery ring in South Korea. Police confiscated a massive amount of Bitcoin from the perpetrators, which were eventually auctioned.

Whale Alert managed to track 10,000 BTC ($94 million) during the auction, which were likely sent to cryptocurrency exchange Binance for selling.“Almost directly after that big transaction, the price of BTC dropped,” said Whale Alert. This seems to be corroborated by Binance‘s order book, which shows a rise in volume just a few hours after the auction.An eventual BTC selloff drove the price of Bitcoin on Binance from $8062.56 to $7856.89.



Those are some big-daddy red candles.It’s worth noting, however, that these kinds of movements are often localized to one particular exchange – in this case, Binance.However, when such large, inactive Bitcoin addresses exist, one can’t help but wonder what the markets would look like if dormant whales one day awoke with a sudden urge to capitulate.

You can read the rest of the Whale Alert interview here.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should consider issuing a public digital currency, an EU draft document said, after plans by Facebook to introduce a private one met with a hostile response from global regulators.

FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen on representations of the virtual currency before the displayed European Union flag and the Facebook Libra logo in this illustration picture, October 20, 2019.

The social media firm said in June it planned to launch its Libra digital currency next year. But France and Germany said in September it posed risks to the financial sector, and backed developing a public alternative.

The draft European Union text, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, also urges the bloc to develop a common approach to cryptocurrencies, including possibly banning projects deemed too high-risk.

In its current form, the document - which could be adopted by EU finance ministers next month - would escalate an EU regulatory campaign against cryptocurrencies, which have so far been only partly regulated in some EU states.

“The ECB and other EU central banks could usefully explore the opportunities as well as challenges of issuing central bank digital currencies including by considering concrete steps to this effect,” said the draft, prepared by the Finnish EU presidency and subject to possible amendments.

Digital currencies like Libra - also known as stablecoins - are usually backed by traditional money and other securities, while crypto coins like bitcoin are not. Both are cryptocurrencies.

The draft text could be discussed by EU finance ministers on Friday, according to the agenda for that meeting, with a view to its adoption at their next gathering on Dec. 5.

“STEPPED UP” THINKING

ECB board member Benoit Coeure said in September the bank should “step up” its thinking on a public digital currency.An ECB official said that, in its most ambitious version, the project could allow consumers to use electronic cash, which would be directly deposited at the ECB, without need for bank accounts, financial intermediaries or clearing counterparties.

They are all needed now to process digital payments, but might no longer be if the ECB took over their functions, slashing transaction costs. But that raises technical challenges, and opposition from banks is likely.

Until Facebook launched its project in June, regulators had largely ignored stablecoins because of their tiny size. The largest, Tether, is far smaller than bitcoin.

But Libra’s potentially huge reach - it could be used by billions of Facebook users - has spooked regulators.As part of a global push against Libra, the G7 group of wealthy nations said last month that stablecoins should not be allowed to launch until international risks they posed were addressed.

Under regulatory pressure, Libra has lost a quarter of its original members, including payments firms Visa and Mastercard.The EU document reiterates the G7 concerns over the risks that private currencies pose, citing money laundering, consumer protection, the functioning of payment systems, taxation and cyber security.

But in recommending an outright ban on risky projects and a move toward a public digital currency it goes further.“At the very least, we need a robust regulatory framework to deal with virtual currencies,” said Markus Ferber, a German conservative who leads on financial matters the largest EU Parliament grouping.

“The (executive EU) Commission has been way too ... complacent on the issue so far. With the threat of Libra on the horizon, it is time for action now.”

Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; editing by John Stonestreet

NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Nervos Network, an open source public blockchain project, said on Wednesday it had raised $72 million in a public sale of its tokens last month, one of the more significant fund raises this year in the cryptocurrency space.

The project aims to solve the biggest challenges currently facing blockchains like bitcoin and ethereum. Blockchain, which first emerged as the system powering bitcoin, is a shared database maintained by a network of computers.

After the collapse of cryptocurrency prices in 2018, the focus shifted to blockchain companies developing projects for financial services and the corporate world overall.

Nervos Network sold its tokens to the public through Coinlist, a licensed and compliant token offering platform.

Several institutions participated in the sale, Nervos said, including China Merchants Bank International (CMBI), Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital, Hashkey Capital, MultiCoin Capital, and Distributed Global.

The public token sale ran from Oct 16-Oct 24.China Merchants Bank’s participation in the token sale comes amid Chinese President Xi Jinping’s message a few weeks ago to embrace blockchain technology, saying the country needed to take advantage of the opportunities the technology provides.

Nervos also announced on Wednesday the launch to the public of its open-sourced network, or mainnet called “Lina.” It added that miners and developers are able to participate and utilize the network starting Nov. 16.

“The launch means that the promised blockchain is ready,” Kevin Wang, co-founder of Nervos, told Reuters in a phone interview, in a project that started two years ago.

Nervos said its blockchain allows developers and enterprises to launch products and services on it without trading off security and decentralization for speed and scalability.

Proceeds from the token offering will go towards engineering and research and development needed to maintain, upgrade, and grow the Nervos project.
“First-generation blockchains like bitcoin and ethereum paved the way by showing us what’s possible,” Wang said.

“Nervos was built on their learnings but it’s now up to us and our community to solve the problems of tomorrow as blockchain adoption is brought to the masses.

”The tokens will be made available when Nervos’ public blockchain is launched.

Nervos last year raised $28 million in a private sale of its token to institutional investors. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

The supply chain has existed since the industrial revolution, and little has been done to streamline its processes, particularly in the last 50 years. It has also become more than simply moving products from A to B. In today’s industry, supply chains are now more fragmented, complicated and in some cases geographically dispersed.

The 21st century has enabled more dynamic networks than ever before, with seasonal products facing a higher demand than ever, which are transported further than before. Because of this, the traditional supply chain has become outdated and can be difficult to manage.

This is a problem for businesses of any size as their success will often correlate with the success of its supply chain. So, how can blockchain change this?Blockchain is everywhere. It was the buzzword of 2018, and so far, that doesn’t look set to change as we continue through 2019.

However, there is still plenty of uncertainty over the technology and the benefits it can bring to different sectors and businesses, including the supply chain – a vital element for numerous organisations.

Originally developed to power bitcoin over 10 years ago, blockchain is a surprisingly straightforward concept.

In a nutshell, it’s a system that records change and movement of transactions. It’s maintained across several systems that are linked to a peer-to-peer network. When it comes to the supply chain, blockchain acts as an immutable ledger within a decentralised location.

Meaning that any changes in ownership or possession of goods, along with their movements from each end of the supply chain, can be recorded instantly for the greatest possible accuracy, which is essential for businesses.

This increased transparency across the chain can allow for a clear understanding of the value of goods, as well as a more succinct idea of a fair and reasonable cost of each individual product. It also allows for more detailed traceability in goods from across the globe, which gives an insight into the environmental impact of products, as purchasers can follow the entire journey of their orders.

SEE ALSO:

• Blockchain and the supply chain
• Osborne Clarke: Will blockchain drive the evolution of cognitive supply chains?
• Indian Coffee Board launches blockchain marketplace to improve supply chain
• Read the latest issue of Supply Chain Digital here!

How can it reduce costs?Many retail businesses are dependent on global supply chains for transporting their goods via the logistics industry. This market is controlled by freight brokers who can charge a huge mark-up for assisting in the transactions of loads through shippers.

Blockchain can be effective in resolving this issue through the use of smart contracts, which are automatically triggered when a specific action takes place, removing the use of intermediaries, therefore saving money across the chain.

As well as cutting out unnecessary and often expensive admin, the features of blockchain can help improve inventory management, reduce costly data errors and delays, and shorten resolution time when disputes occur.

It also allows producers the ability to accurately track capacity and costs, estimate delivery times for multiple routes, and make smarter decisions. How can it promote traceability?

Blockchain ensures that the data it records is permanent and easy to share, giving supply chain players more comprehensive track-and-trace capabilities than ever before. The public ledger means it is possible to trace each product to the very origin of the raw material used.

Companies can use this information to provide proof of legitimacy and authenticity. It even allows people to see if their purchase has been ethically sourced and if it has been stored in the correct conditions.

By having a clear and concise understanding of exactly where a product has come from, businesses and their customers are able to have a better understanding of the routes taken and transport options used to deliver their goods.

In a society that is becoming more environmentally aware, those who can show improvement or have a clear and transparent policy to their own emission production, may be looked on more favourably. 

The future?

Blockchain has the potential to transform the supply chain and disrupt the way we produce, market, purchase and consume goods. The added transparency, traceability and security to the supply chain can go a long way toward making our economies safer and much more reliable, by promoting trust and honesty and preventing the implementation of questionable practices.

Businesses, especially those in retail or those who rely on supply chains, should consider the benefits of blockchain and not be afraid to step into a different world, which on the surface may appear complicated, but in reality, can offer measurable benefits. By Richard Shakespeare, Retail Propositions & Performance Director, Opus Energy

Of all the many emerging blockchain use cases for enterprises, supply chain track and trace is a hot topic. The idea that food especially can be safely and securely traced from farm to table is something that benefits many players in the production sector. 

For the consumers, there is a growing desire to know for certain their food is from where it says it is from; promoting sustainability and better food production. For the food companies, an efficient and secure supply chain offers enormous benefits for the business and eventually leads to money-saving down the line. 

Even for the farmers and food producers, there are benefits involved, yet, those are not as widely publicized or well known. Farmers want their product to be bought and traded fairly, as well as truly represented when it reaches the plates of the population, but there is a lot more that blockchain can do for the men in the fields and on the boats. 

A Scallop pilot
As part of this collaboration, a fleet of scallopers owned by Capt. Danny Eilertsen of New Bedford, MA, will begin uploading data about their catch onto the platform, enabling distributors and retailers to identify precisely when and where a given lot of scallops were harvested. 

The platform will also track when the boat landed portside, and when each scallop lot was hand graded, selected, packed, and shipped to its final destination. This information, as well as images and video, is uploaded via satellite to a distributed ledger while still offshore. 

Once it is uploaded, this information is then available to permissioned parties, including distributors, suppliers, retailers, and their customers at point of sale.It is a bold undertaking and one that has a lot of data injected into it onto the blockchain; but it all starts with the fishermen, in this case, and it is an important starting point. 

I spoke with Dan McQuade, Vice President of Raw Seafoods Inc, to ask him about how these new technologies will affect, and benefit the fishermen and food producers at the grassroots levels.

The technology is a tool for retailers and buyers of these scallops, as well as the consumers, but McQuade also explains how it will be used to help fishermen.

“The boat owners and captains who have this technology can use it to assess how the location of their harvest is producing,” he told me. “This includes information like the number of scallops, the sizes and the exact location, and the yields.

Additionally, the boat owners can also measure the quality of the work the crew is producing by the shift, for example, whether the scallops are shucked and cleaned correctly. So you’re also increasing quality assurance.”“Collecting this data will hopefully help boatowners ensure their catch is valued more by buyers than scallops without that record of provenance.

”I was also interested to hear how these fishermen were to use this advanced technology and how it had been tailored for ease of use on a rocking boat.“The system is also easy to use, thanks to a seamless UX developed by IBM in tandem with Marel, our food processing software provider.

The data from the server outputs in the exact format needed to ‘land’ on the ledger. What this means is that crews can submit the harvest via satellite communication, either in real-time or at set times for a batch upload of the individual bag data,” McQuade added.

Incentivized operations

While this new system will add many benefits to the fishermen, it will also involve them far more than before.

Rather than landing dockside and dispensing with their catch and their responsibilities, there is a lingering involvement for them.

“For generations, fishermen who land their harvest never knew where it ended up. They unload dockside, and their involvement with that fish is over,” explained McQuade.

“This gives boatowners little incentive to do an exceptional job handling the raw material, upgrading their vessels or improving systems and quality. In short, they really know whether ‘it really matters.’ There are too many degrees of separation between them and the consumer.

Now we can connect captains to consumers, allow them to share their experiences.

”“Helping captains understand the next stage in their scallops’ journey will affect how they initially handle the product, ultimately leading to better shelf life, better yields, and better consumer experience as far as taste and quality.

Boat owners can also take these insights back to the point of the harvest, where processors like us can reward them with higher prices as the supply chain “shrink of value” begins to dissipate. Everyone in the supply chain wins.

”McQuade pained a rather good example of how this blockchain interconnectivity can work “We’re already seeing this happen. Thanks to this platform, a chef who thinks their scallops were particularly good one week can call up the ship captain 3000 miles away who produced the catch and tell them directly.

On the other hand, if a chef thinks the night’s scallops are too sandy or poorly shucked, they can call up the captain and tell them that too.

”It starts from the bottomKey to this entire empire of blockchain track and trace sustainable food production is where the supply chain starts - at the docks or the fields.

If there is a failure of information from the outset, the entire technology advancement can fall on its face. This is something McQuade is all too aware of.

“The real beauty of Food Trust — for us but also the fishermen we work with — is the simplicity.

Although it may be an ‘advanced’ technology, IBM made it incredibly easy to onboard and integrate into our existing tracking and receiving systems.” “We really only need a high-level understanding, and it’s ultimately our blockchain partner who aligns the rest of the chain.

This type of go-to-market strategy has resonated with the ‘last mile’ of engagement. When we meet our retail partners, we’re able to present a team solution to an industry problem, rather than an individual one,” he concluded.




Darryn Pollock

I am an award-winning journalist that has covered a variety of topics from finance to economics, technology, and even sport. With the emergence of Blockchain technology ... Read More

As the hype around blockchain cools and enterprises continue to cut their tech teeth on the distributed ledger, non-technical challenges and interoperability hurdles are emerging
By Lucas Mearian

Senior Reporter, Computerworld | OCT 29, 2019 10:18 AM PDT


Ismagilov / Getty Images


After several years of proofs of concept testing, followed by pilot programs, enterprises deploying blockchain should turn their focus toward integrating the distributed ledger technology (DLT) with legacy data systems and making sure they can communicate with other external blockchains.

That advice is part of Forrester Research's 2020 Predictions, which highlight several upcoming challenges for the nascent electronic ledger technology.In the world of enterprise blockchain, the shift from irrational exuberance to realistic assessment is almost complete, Forrester said.




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[ Related: The top 8 problems with blockchain ]"While we still see a lot of excitement around what DLT can or could do, the focus has expanded to include questions about how DLT is going to deliver a particular benefit," the report said.

Among Forrester's predictions: the battle between private and public blockchains will heat up and the debate will reach corporate executive teams; 80% of blockchain deployments will be hybrid, multi-cloud or both; and non-technical issues will represent some of the biggest hurdles.

 "It really is first agreeing on what data is to be shared among partners, what that process should look like, and then putting everything on an appropriate legal footing," said Martha Bennett, a Forrester vice president of research. "You need to understand what yours and others' contractual obligations are. No one has done this to scale.

"For example, when a company rolls out a blockchain ledger, it will not likely integrate with existing corporate single sign-on capabilities. So, for a time – perhaps even permanently – a blockchain project will likely function on an exception basis, which propagates discussions around security and risk management.

"It sounds like a minor thing, but I've seen projects grind to a halt over it," Bennett said.Governance of a permissioned business blockchain is also a critical non-technical issue that hampers deployments.

Most often, determining how a distributed ledger will be managed falls to a single third party in charge of key considerations, such as who has access and who can invite new members onto the ledger.

Additionally, while early governance models have basic rules about onboarding new users, rarely do they address the offboarding process, according to Forrester – especially if rules have been broken and legal issues arise.Hybrid blockchains, which are expected to dominate ecommerce, also face hurdles  such as scalability and privacy.

For example, supply chain partners who enter into a blockchain must be extremely careful about data they place on the electronic ledger and the ledger owner should be aware of throughput issues that could affect costs.

Hybrid blockchains are a combination of a permissioned blockchain (for backend transactions between businesses) and a public blockchain, which enables a public-facing application.

That would allow consumers, for instance, to see how produce was grown on a farm and transported to grocery store shelves. Mastercard recently partnered with track-and-trace software provider Envisible to create a blockchain-based supply chain platform to help supermarkets trace the origin of seafood while also enabling consumers to see the history of the catch.

When Facebook launches its Libra cryptocurrency in 2020, it will need a public-facing blockchain network for users who purchase items with the digital currency and a private blockchain network for the banks backing it.

As blockchain ledgers proliferate in the corporate world, enterprises will need to ensure their flavor of distributed ledger can communicate with other platforms deployed by potential business partners.

The result: interoperability is expected to take center stage next year.Businesses should be "extremely" concerned about interoperability and integration, according to Bennett.

She said many of her clients building multiple blockchain networks began pinging her four or five months ago with questions about how they could all interoperate.

"The whole public-versus-private blockchain argument is the reason enterprises are becoming interested in the interoperability discussion. If I'm building silos with permissioned blockchains, is there an alternative?

If I want to run something hybrid, things would need to be interoperable," Bennett said.Interoperability also applies to public and private cloud infrastructures; some enterprises host their own blockchain technology while also outsourcing blockchain services from vendors, such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Some blockchain vendors, such as IBM and Oracle, have developed APIs to pass data from legacy systems or from one blockchain to another, but not necessarily between different platforms. And, once an external data source is added to a blockchain ledger, ensuring messages are secure and data is accurate and not duplicated becomes yet another issue.

For example, if a company has tokenized assets – meaning it created a digital representation of the value of an asset, such as oil or other commodities – the  company must be able to ensure those tokens are deleted from the original ledger once they've been traded or transferred to a secondary one.

Otherwise, the assets would be duplicated.It's already clear that there are several blockchain-based networks covering many of the same functions, such as trade finance, invoice factoring, shipping documentation, and product provenance.

There are also networks with adjacent functionality, such as supply chain track-and-trace and financing. To deliver on the promise of frictionless processes, those networks will need to talk to each other somehow.

Much of the debate for 2020 will be around exactly what it means for one blockchain network to talk another and how that happens: simple message passing? transfer of value between chains? interoperability at the state level?

"We've already got a plethora of startups and other initiatives promising (sometimes miraculous) solutions; expect the battle to heat up, but don't expect neat, widely applicable solutions," Forrester said in its report.

Many businesses risk creating siloed networks if interoperability isn't baked into a platform or the industry doesn't settle on standards.

Earlier this month, Gartner released a report predicting that by 2021, 90% of current enterprise blockchain platform implementations will need replacing within 18 months to remain competitive, secure and to avoid obsolescence.

Among the issues leading to obsolescence: blockchain interoperability, smart contract integration with legacy corporate data systems, and scaling issues.

Several industry groups are now working to address interoperability and scaling (the ability for a blockchain ledger to handle data traffic generated by hundreds or thousands of users).

Earlier this year, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) announced new and updated specifications aimed at helping developers create business-class blockchain networks that are faster, easier to use and capable of interacting with other DLT networks.

And the Linux Foundation is working on developing smart contracts that can be used across industries to create business automation processes via blockchain.

Those efforts are expected continue into the new year as the blockchain industry evolves.