Don Tapscott: “We Need Microsurgery on This New Economy” | News | Cointelegraph

January 30, 2018

But you know, if you’re doing an ICO and the token represents a share in the company that’s called a security, it should fall under securities legislation. But we need microsurgery on this new economy. We don’t need to bring a chainsaw to it. This would be one of the three most important rate determining factors in terms of what countries emerge not just with the Blockchain industry, but with the whole new innovation economy. Do governments do the right thing and implement sensible legislation or did they mess it up?

The supply chain industry globally is a $64 trillion industry and supply chains are going to move to Blockchain. You can see that with Foxconn doing this now, we’ve done a case on that. On the Walmart food sale they use Blockchain for food safety. The biggest supply chain in the world ever is the ‘One Belt One Road’ project linking Hong Kong and Rotterdam. All the trade and finance and a lot of the supply apps on that are being done via Blockchain.

Blockchain is perfect for situations where you have a buyer and a seller and escrow agent, and governments, and various shippers, and tax authorities and so on. Instead of passing pieces of paper and faxing, and emails and so on, they have a single shared network state where they can all instantly see what’s going on. It turns that supply chain into something we call an asset chain. And ultimately, this thing becomes cognitive. It really becomes a new cognitive computer. That’s where the supply chain will be.

Source: Don Tapscott: “We Need Microsurgery on This New Economy” | News | Cointelegraph | News | Cointelegraph, January 29, 2018

Thanks, Ahmed!

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Canada trialing use of Ethereum blockchain to enhance transparency in govt funding – National | Globalnews.ca

January 22, 2018

Every time the NRC gives a grant to a company or individual, it shares that information with Bitaccess, which stores the data on the secure and tamper-proof Ethereum blockchain. Individual grant information is then posted online.

Canadians can peruse grant information by monetary value, date, recipient and region. They can also verify grant information by clicking on the Transaction ID link, which takes them to the unique transaction listing on the online Ethereum transaction database Etherscan.io.

As of Saturday, Jan. 20, the biggest grant listed on the database was an $11,849,901 contribution to an industry R&D project at Ryerson University.

In November, Buterin tweeted out a poll asking his half a million followers to vote on which institutions they would most like to see adopt blockchain storage.

With 44 per cent of the vote, the “government” option easily won out.

Source: Canada trialing use of Ethereum blockchain to enhance transparency in govt funding – National | Globalnews.ca, Rahul Kalvapalle, January 20, 2018

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Blockchain reinvents the consumer experience | IBM

January 16, 2018

Executive summary

The IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed executives from 203 organizations in the consumer industry – which includes both retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) organizations – from 16 countries. We found that 7 percent expect to have a commercial blockchain solution at scale in 2018. Even more are working with and investing in blockchain now – a total of 18 percent.

These “First Movers” expect blockchains to take down the frictions that hold them back. Three-quarters of them have their eyes on new markets, while 69 percent expect to strip away information risks and 64 percent to better navigate the regulatory environment.

First Movers see broad benefits from blockchains across six areas: product safety and authenticity, supply chain optimization, finance, operational processes, promotional strategy management, and customer engagement and co-creation. In each case, they don’t just expect targeted business benefits, such as time and cost savings or risk reduction, but the opportunity to create new business models or disrupt the industry. Ultimately, no matter where they start, they aim to expand new blockchain solutions to cover virtually every aspect of their value chains.

First Movers recognize that the opportunity introduced by blockchain covers both the supply side of their businesses and customer-facing interactions. They can use blockchain to dynamically reconfigure networks for real-time optimization or, in collaboration with other institutions, to gain deeper insights into their consumers. They can better assure the safety and quality of goods and also establish new markets, enabling them to transform the way they see and do business.

Source: Blockchain reinvents the consumer experience | IBM

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Canadian Spy Agency CSIS Labels Blockchain a ‘Mega Trend’

January 16, 2018

CSIS expressed a view that, if approached correctly, blockchain could become the “plumbing” for all transaction-based systems. This would include government services, healthcare records, and real estate.

This presents a huge opportunity for blockchain, as it shows that government agencies want to engage with its underlying mechanisms. We’ve grown accustomed to companies having perspectives on the blockchain, but adding more government agencies into the mix is a strong signal.

CSIS expects technology-minded millennials to play a key part in the upcoming social, political and technological disruption in society. Further, the agency expects that millennials could be the conductors for the next industrial revolution and a major economic boom.

Source: Canadian Spy Agency CSIS Labels Blockchain a ‘Mega Trend’, Melanie Clay, January 15, 2018

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Enterprises Have Extremely High Hopes For Blockchain Technology

January 10, 2018

This is the key takeaway from a study of 3,000 executives, conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, which looked at the enterprise potential of blockchain, a distributed global ledger or database that facilitates and tracks “smart contracts” between people, systems and organizations. Blockchain has no single owner or centralized hub, and it has potential to enable direct and secure management of engagements with customers and partners over the Internet, without the need for third parties or intermediaries.Overall, the survey finds, 33% of executives are already “actively engaged” or are “considering” using blockchain. A handful, 8%, are among those already working with the technology approach. Among members of the 33% using or considering blockchain, 100% expect it to support their enterprise strategy in some way. The vast majority, 78%, are investing in blockchain in hopes of responding to disruptions in their markets — financial shifts or developing new business model. Close to two-thirds see it as a way to increase the transparency of their transactions.

Source: Enterprises Have Extremely High Hopes For Blockchain Technology, Joe McKendrick, May 22, 2017

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How blockchain will underpin the new trust economy | Computerworld

December 19, 2017

“The blockchain/trust economy trend represents a remarkable power shift from large, centralized trust agents to the individual,” Deloite stated. “And while its broader implications may not be fully understood for years to come, it is hardly a death knell for banks, credit agencies, and other transactional intermediaries. It may mean, however, that with blockchain as the gatekeeper of identity and trust, business and government will have to create new ways to engage the individual – and to add value and utility in the rapidly evolving trust economy.”

Source: How blockchain will underpin the new trust economy | Computerworld, Lucas Mearian, December 7, 2017

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Someone Figured Out How to Put Tomatoes on a Blockchain – Bloomberg

November 10, 2017

“It’s a tool, and you have to apply it to the right set of problems,” he said. “What it tends to be very good for is knowing who owns what and when,” Cascarilla added. “It’s not a magic bullet.”

“There’s a lot of fraud in food origins, especially now that it’s hot,” Myran said. “People say ‘this is local,’ or ‘this is organic,’ or ‘this is grown using certain practices.’ With this system, you can prove it.”

Source: Someone Figured Out How to Put Tomatoes on a Blockchain – Bloomberg, Annie Massa
November 9, 2017

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Deloitte Report: Over 26,000 Blockchain Projects Began in 2016 | CoinDesk

November 8, 2017

“The stark reality of open-source projects is that most are abandoned or do not achieve meaningful scale. Unfortunately, blockchain is not immune to this reality. Our analysis found that only 8 percent of projects are active, which we define as being updated at least once in the last six months.”

The authors add that organizations are a “positive differentiator” in the data, saying “while 7 percent of projects developed by users are active, 15 percent of projects developed by organizations are active.”

Source: Deloitte Report: Over 26,000 Blockchain Projects Began in 2016 – CoinDesk, Stan Higgins, November 8, 2017 at 13:30 UTC

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