Tag: Blockchain Technology

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Crypto News

Blockchain Technology Researched By Big Players In The Space Industry

Space is a historically researched field by a number of governments, as it is a challenging subject that demands comprehensive, high-quality investigation and therefore substantial financing. More recently, with the increasing popularity of private space companies like SpaceX, space has become a non-exclusive field. Now, however, it appears that the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies, the technology of the blockchain, is increasingly attracting the attention of the big players in the space industry.

Big space industry players explore blockchain technology

Space giants like NASA, the U.S. National Aeronautics, and Space Administration, and ESA, the European Space Agency, are exploring possibilities for exploiting the blockchain technology for their missions.

The results to date indicated that the technology might be useful both in the area of facilitation of data-related procedures and in other relevant areas, such as space exploration and deep space navigability.

NASA explores the use of blockchain technology

In 2017, NASA made a $330,000 donation to assist in the construction of a stand-alone spacecraft system based on the blockchain, the first step toward endorsing the blockchain technology.

The so-called Resilient Computing and Networking Paradigm (RNCP) system is powered by blockchain technology and is not a human-dependent technology, as depicted by Dr. Jin Wei Kocsis, an associate professor of engineering and computer science at the University of Akron.

As Kocsis points out, RNCP will look at the implementation of smart contracts on the Ethereum network in the context of developing a secure computer system for use in case of difficult spatial conditions.

ESA considers the application of the blockchain in its administrative processes

The European Space Agency (ESA) has also been looking into the blockchain technology implementation, even though they are most likely to employ the blockchain technology to simplify internal administrative procedures, not to release it into deep space exploration like the US space agency.

In September 2017, ESA presented a briefing report titled “Distributed Ledger Technology: Leveraging Blockchain for ESA Success.” The paper discusses the overall pros and cons of the blockchain with a few specific illustrations and then specifically addresses the potential gains that the technology may offer to ESA.

These would include the deployment of smart contracts in the logistics, faster and more efficient payments, real-time data access, built-in access rights upgrades, and a seamless voting environment.

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Crypto News

Blockchain Summit Latam In Chile Will Host A Hackathon Starting This Friday

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts and their underlying technology will have the opportunity to participate in a hackathon to be held on Friday, August 3rd, and Saturday, August 4th, in Santiago de Chile, during the Blockchain Summit Latam. The Chilean government sponsors this activity, along with companies such as IBM and ecosystem companies such as NEO (NEO) and ConsenSys.

The idea is that attendees can operate on any blockchain they wish and that the event serves to discover new cases of use of blockchain technology.

“This is perfectly in line with our mission as an institution. It’s the first time we’ve done a hackathon in the country,” said Julio Pertuze, in charge of the Future Economy area of the Chilean Ministry of Economy.

Participants will have the opportunity to work on the development of tools and ideas that will make the potential of this technology manifest.

The hackathon will offer the winners the opportunity to develop their projects on the blockchain technology they want during the Blockchain Summit Latam

“How can we apply blockchain technology to different use cases, related to what could be commercial transactions and even collective financing, outsourcing, ICOs, all enabled by blockchain technology,” Pertuze said.

Participants will have 18 hours to present their concepts, and there will be different thematic focuses, such as finance, health, international trade, and energy, among others. The winners from each area will participate in an acceleration program with a Chilean startup.

The co-founder of Mifutu and one of the organizers of the event and the Blockchain Summit Latam, Cristobal Pereira, explained that the winners would be able to create a Proof of Concept or the pilot of the idea they develop in the hackathon after three months of business and technical acceleration.

The goal is that the winners of the event will be able to present a viable product to develop a pilot test, evaluate the results and, if it is exciting and useful, implement it.

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Crypto News

Cryptocurrencies And Blockchain Technologies Challenge The Conventional Banking System

With the emergence of Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009 and the subsequent launch of many other cryptocurrencies, most of them decentralized, essential challenges have arisen for banks. Namely, they work under a fully centralized scheme, which prevents them from achieving the efficiency and convenience of specific functions of this new type of digital assets.

Centralization of banks Vs. Decentralization of cryptocurrencies

If we start from the centralized nature of banks and contrast it with the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) infrastructure of Bitcoin (BTC) and the majority of the cryptocurrencies, the storage of transaction information is the first significant difference between the two platforms.

While banks store all their users’ transactions in large accounting ledgers that remains on the central servers of each bank, the ledger used by the cryptocurrency transactions is distributed, meaning its replicated at each node of the blockchain network.

Cryptocurrencies offer faster transactions in comparison with banks

Another great feat of the cryptocurrencies, in comparison with the banks, is that a cryptocurrency transaction is conducted fast, almost instantly in the case of some cryptos, which is also another advantage of decentralization.

In the cryptocurrencies universe, the transaction takes the same amount of time, regardless of the day of the week, or whether it is weekend or not, but more importantly, for transfers and payments with cryptocurrencies there are no geographical boundaries.

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies can replace banks, undoubtedly

In addition to the advantages of higher availability of information and more autonomy and flexibility in money transfers, since no central body will restrict or control the amounts transferred, cryptocurrencies offer another advantage over banks, namely, the unbanked can access to manage their own finances through this type of digital assets, which also provide the benefit of their total portability.

The crypto wallet is available anywhere and anytime, no matter it is day or night, or weekend. The only condition is to have an Internet connection.

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Crypto Finance News

The Leading Credit Institution In China Issued A Loan Using The Blockchain Technology

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the fourth largest bank in China, has issued its first loan based on the blockchain, according to a July 31st report by the local news channel Financial News.

Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) had granted a loan via the blockchain technology

ABC, one of China’s leading credit institutions, announced that it had issued a credit of around $300,000, guaranteed by a piece of agricultural land in the province of Guizhou.

According to Financial News, the bank will bring together “local people, resource offices as well as agriculture and livestock offices” through the blockchain system, adding that the loan “will support the local tea industry.”

The ABC’s blockchain project received the participation of third parties, including the provincial branch of the Chinese People’s Bank, which acted as nodes for verifying the validity of credit data.

More blockchain-based loans to be granted in the future, according to ABC

In the future, as the bank says, other types of loans will be under the auspices of the blockchain technology, with decentralized ledger technology enabling ABC to prevent the issuance of customers applying for loans from different banks using the same property as a guarantee.

Accordingly, more blockchain technology-based loans would be granted in the future, as the distributed ledger technology wins more and more ground in China.

The Chinese government and local FinTech companies work on IoT and blockchain technology standardization

China continues to deploy blockchain technology at a significant pace, and the government plans to introduce industry-wide standards next year.

In July, China’s Joint Technical Committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) announced that they would lead an international research group on standardization of the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology.

Be it as it may, China is making huge leaps towards becoming a blockchain nation, although cryptocurrencies are still considered high-risk assets for the Chinese economy.

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Crypto News

About 90% of The US Blockchain Technology Initiatives Do Not Go Live Ultimately, According To Forrester Research

Around 90 percent of the blockchain initiatives of currently active US companies are ultimately abandoned.

This statistic comes from a study by Forrester Research, quoted by Bloomberg in an article dated July 31st. The US market research company Forrester Research assumes that most blockchain projects initiated by American companies will be suspended in 2018. Forrester Research concludes that in 90 percent of cases, “the project will never become part of the company.”

The researcher also claims that “some companies” that are seeking to incorporate widely advertised Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) into their companies are now withdrawing and downgrading their ambitions.

The latest study marks at least the second instance in which Forrester Research has announced a lousy future for blockchain applications in America.

90 percent of the US blockchain technology initiatives do not go live, according to Forrester Research, as companies are still testing the water

Back in 2017, the company published an article entitled “Predictions 2018: The Blockchain revolution will have to wait a little longer” and claimed that 2018 would be “the year of reckoning for blockchain technology initiatives.”

“Those who have failed to turn headlines into reality will write off and give up their investments, while others who have a deep understanding of the technology and its transformation potential, in the long run, will continue to move forward,” according to Forrester Research.

According to Bloomberg, Ron Resnick, the first Executive Director of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), argued that blockchain technology development in 2019 could still experience an upward trend as “companies are still testing the water.”

Previously, Brian Behlendorf, CEO of Hyperledger, claimed that the “upcoming wave” of blockchain applications would not come from established technology giants like Google, Amazon or Facebook, as these companies are “blind in one eye when it comes to blockchain technology.”

At the beginning of July, Mike Novogratz, former Wall Street analyst, predicted that the mass acceptance of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology would be “five to six years away.”

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