Tag: Blockchain Technology

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Blockchain Technology Attracts 75% Of Large Corporations, According To A Deloitte Study

According to a Deloitte study conducted on more than 1,000 executives in seven countries, the consulting firm found that three-quarters of companies see blockchain as an “irresistible business case. Even if it’s not in its prime, blockchain is close to its tipping point,” as reported.

Deloitte’s units dedicated to global practices of blockchain technology, conducted the study between March 26th and April 5th, as “an investigation to obtain more visibility on attitudes and investments in blockchain as a technology.” Online interviews were conducted with 1,053 executives in management positions in companies with annual revenues of $500 million or more. The study was conducted in 7 countries, such as Canada, the United States, Mexico, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and China.

Interest in blockchain technology is undergoing a transition from a focus on education and exploring the potential of technology to the identification and development of practical business applications, says Deloitte. Executives with more knowledge about blockchain technology, the study says, have more pragmatic positions and are interested in investing in a wide range of cases over the next 12 months.

For example, 74% of respondents report that their organizations see an “irresistible business case” for using blockchain, and many of these companies are already moving with the technology. Nearly half (34%) say their companies are already advancing with technology. Additionally, about 40% of respondents reported that their organizations will invest $5 million or more in blockchain technology next year.

Deloitte Consulting

Deloitte revealed differences in the attitudes regarding blockchain technology from one country to another

When comparing the proportions of companies surveyed by country and by income level, Mexico shows the highest percentage of large organizations. For example, 61% of the Mexican companies involved in the study have an income of more than $5 billion, compared to 39% in China, and 33% in the United States.

Regarding investments in the recruitment of specialized personnel in blockchain technologies, China is the one that stands out, with 86% of the organizations that are currently investing, followed by Mexico with 56%, and Canada with 51% of current investments.

In a similar study carried out by Deloitte in 2016, which included 522 senior executives, 39% of respondents said they had little or no knowledge of blockchain technology, while in this year’s study, when asked to assess their knowledge level on this technology the percentages are very high, suggesting that blockchain technology is slowly but steadily becoming essential for businesses worldwide.

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European Commission Gives 5 Million EUR For The Best Social Projects Based On Blockchain Technology

The European Commission opened the international call for applications for the Blockchain Horizon Award, an award that encourages the development of social projects based on blockchain technology.

The call to participate is for startups, independent entrepreneurs, developers, researchers or anyone who shows interest in the potential of the platform. In total, 5 awards of 1 million EUR each will be given to the most innovative solutions that have a social impact, according to the European Commission.

“The challenge is to develop scalable, efficient and high-impact decentralized solutions to the challenges of social innovation. To this end, we seek to take advantage of blockchain technology,” the institution stated.

According to the European Commission, the potential to generate social change through the decentralization of processes, related to the challenges of local or global sustainability, has not yet been realized.

Decentralized solutions in the social area are based on innovations in different fields. The organization cites examples such as projects that are implemented to achieve fairer trade, better monetization of work, greater visibility of public spending, and greater transparency of administrative processes.

The projects based on blockchain technology to be presented at Blockchain Horizon Award must be pioneering decentralized solutions

The plans to be displayed must be pioneering decentralized solutions that serve to meet the challenges of local and global sustainability. According to the institution, the proposals must demonstrate feasibility, information exchange, resources that respect privacy, high levels of transparency and more equitable distribution.

One of the essential requirements is that, while participants are free to commercially exploit applications or services based on the blockchain technology, their source code must be published under an open source license.

The final mission of this contest is to stimulate the application of blockchain technology in fields that go beyond the financial world, which translates into multidisciplinary approaches that seek to have a positive impact on modern society. The European Commission, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, in the Berlaymont building, announced that the deadline for entering the Blockchain Horizon Award is April 2019.

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Alipay Payment Service Of The Alibaba Group To Adopt Blockchain Technology

Ant Financial’s online payment processor Alipay announced the future launch of a remittance service based on its own blockchain. The cross-border payments platform is primarily intended to process transactions from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Philippines.

According to Ant Financial’s official website, this Alibaba subsidiary company bets on Distributed Accounting Technology (DAT) to allow Alipay users to send and receive transactions in real time.

At the moment there are no details on the characteristics of the blockchain that will be developed to support the transactions, as no technical details were disclosed in the press release published today by the company. However, it was announced that the initiative has Standard Chartered Bank as its banking business partner and the GCash digital wallet as its Philippine partner.

Alipay, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, to launch a cross-border payments platform based in blockchain technology

It is important to note that Alipay is led by Jack Ma, the founder and CEO of the Alibaba Group, who stated during the announcement that the position of the three mentioned companies with respect to DLT is favorable, even considering that “it could change the world more than people think”, according to Bloomberg.

However, the story is different when mentioning cryptocurrencies, as for Jack Ma “Bitcoin (BTC) may be a bubble.”

The blockchain is common among the significant figures of the global financial ecosystem, and both Ma and some influential Wall Street figures have been researching and testing distributed accounting technologies for a couple of years now. This position has been criticised by members of the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem, as sometimes these appear to be maneuvers to conduct market manipulation.

In the particular case of Alibaba Group, this was one of the first Asian companies to adopt blockchain technology to ensure the origin of the food offered on the Alibaba website. Also, other subsidiaries linked to Alibaba and Ant Financial, such as TMall, an electronic payment platform such as Alipay, have adopted blockchain to optimize their operations.

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Blockchain Technology In South Korea Receives A $210 Million Boost From The South Korean Government

The South Korean government announced on Thursday its “Blockchain Technology Development Strategy” to ensure a level of global competitiveness in this technology and to boost a market with enormous growth potential, as reads the official documentation. The strategy calls for an investment of about $210 million over the next four years.

According to the ministerial document, the market for blockchain technology is expected to grow, and South Korea wants to be part of it and become a “Blockchain Nation.”

The South Korean government will promote blockchain technology in the management of livestock products, personnel authorization, real estate transactions, online voting, international distribution of electronic documents, and shipping logistics.

The South Korean government wants to exploit the blockchain technology benefits to the maximum

In the project for the management of livestock products, developed in collaboration with a nutritional products division, the South Korean government aims to ensure access to a historical product dossier, so that “meat can be consumed with confidence.” To this end, they plan to share in a blockchain technology the information from the entire cycle, from breeding to the beneficiary process, so that the supervision and approval time is reduced from a maximum of 6 days to 10 minutes.

In the case of shipment management, all shipment orders, shipping manifests, and customs formalities will be stored in a blockchain, allowing for reduced customs clearance and logistics costs.

As for the procedures for processing a real estate mortgage, the South Korean government hopes to facilitate them by eliminating the process of moving to different public offices when a financing application is submitted. Also, it introduces an element of greater confidence for buyers, as the property records, once validated and stored in the blockchain technology, are unalterable.

Blockchain-As-A-Service (BaaS) is also wanted

In addition to establishing a roadmap for blockchain technology standardization, the South Korean government strategy also considers the development of Blockchain-As-A-Service (BaaS) service providers, so that small and medium-sized enterprises can quickly implement these subscription-based services.

In mid-April, South Korean entrepreneurs and academics called for less regulation and more support for blockchain technology, a request that is mostly met through the definition of this strategy by the South Korean government.

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Blockchain Technology Market To Exceed $10 Billion By 2024, But Security Risks Will Also Get Higher, According To McAfee

The blockchain is set to become one of the technologies of the future. By 2024, the blockchain market is expected to exceed $10 billion, according to the McAfee IT security firm. However, the same company warns of a possible increase in security risks, which could put the evolution of this phenomenon in jeopardy.

McAfee especially pointed out that the danger would come from the blockchain technology’s relationship with cryptocurrencies that are also booming at this moment, but that can hide identities.

Experts talk about four different attack vectors, from phishing or malware fraud to exploits and technology vulnerabilities.

McAfee IT security firm is optimistic the blockchain technology will reach $10 billion by 2024, but the price for this would be security risks

Cryptojacking or illegal cryptocurrency mining, for example, is already a headache. McAfee estimates that mining malware skyrocketed 629% in the first quarter of 2018, from 400,000 such malicious programs recorded in the last quarter of 2017.

Accordingly, now there are over 2.9 million cryptojacking malicious programs.

“Like other great technologies, blockchain technology can have a huge impact on solving real business problems, as long as security is not addressed urgently,” said Raj Samani, the chief security researcher at McAfee.

“Given the potential of blockchain to create value and the tremendous enthusiasm for implementing this technology, cybercriminals will look for every possible opportunity to attack any human and technical vulnerability in the blockchain ecosystem,” added Samani.

On the other hand, Samani thinks that all those involved in the blockchain technology, as well as those who adopt it and rely on it, should work together to minimize the security risks.

“Governments, security providers, and businesses must be aware of these threats and try to minimize the risks,” says Samani. “Without proper education, the adoption of blockchain technology by major industries and governments could end up costing billions of dollars and affecting millions of people.”

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