China Launching Blockchain Network April 25th & Now Trialing Digital Currency / Tesla Completes Blockchain Pilot / Gamers Straining MSFT Azure Blockchain
April 16, 2020
This week in the landscape the game has shifted as China is set to launch its Blockchain Service Network (BSN) for domestic commercial use Wednesday (April 22) and globally on April 25, 2020. Additionally, China has begun trialing a test interface for the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) with the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC). If both initiatives are successful, the industry will be forever changed and we may see an even more aggressive innovation race. Quarantined gamers are training Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and backbone for its Blockchain As a Service (BaaS). Tesla working with the Shanghai Port Group completes a blockchain pilot to speed China import process. 35 multinationals, including Microsoft, Walmart, Mastercard, Sony, and Intel, had applied for a total of 212 blockchain patents in China at the end of March 2020. Dapper Labs announces tech-sharing partnership with Libra as Dapper’s Flow blockchain will adopt Libra’s Move as it’s virtual machine (VM). Libra confirms shift to multi-currency model. Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) targets $450M for a new crypto fund. Plus, Q1 2020 DApps reports from Dappreview and Dapp.com, a Chasm to Web 3.0, podcasts galore and much more. Have a great week! Enjoy!
BONUS: I recently released the latest Q1 2020 edition of my Blockchain Landscape Map (included below for download) that provides an overview of the industry highlighting over 900 global companies, venture funds, and working groups. If this is the first version you’ve seen of the landscape, consider it your guiding roadmap to further navigate the industry. Get it here in Hi-Res for free!
🇨🇳 Inside China’s Plan to Power Global Blockchain Adoption
Led by the State Information Center, the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) is poised to launch for domestic commercial use Wednesday and globally on April 25, 2020. If it works as envisioned, companies and software developers will be able to plug into the BSN and build blockchain-based applications as easily as assembling Lego sets. “As the BSN takes hold in worldwide countries, it will become the only global infrastructure network that is innovated by China, whose gateway access is controlled by China,” declares the latest white paper penned by the BSN Alliance, led by the government agency, several state-owned entities and blockchain firms…read more
Related: 🇨🇳 These Chinese Blockchain Platforms Are Launching Soon, Here Is Why by Biser Dimitrov
🇨🇳 Chinese State-Owned Bank Offers Test Interface for PBoC Central Bank Digital Currency
The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), one of the nation’s four state-owned banking giants, is trialing a test interface for the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). Screenshots of an internal mobile application developed by the ABC, initially seen circulating on WeChat on Tuesday and later verified by CoinDesk, shows the banking giant has already developed a front-end interface of how users could potentially interact with China’s CBDC — also known as DC/EP…read more
Related: 🇨🇳 Blockchain Tech in China Gets a Boost as Huawei, Tencent, JD.com
🎮 Quarantined Gamers Are Straining Microsoft Azure-based Blockchain Platform
Quarantined gamers are putting a strain on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, which is the backbone of the company’s Blockchain As a Service (BaaS) offering. The company admits that in certain regions, “deployments for some compute resource types drop below our typical 99.99% success rates”. Further, Microsoft confirms that “Xbox Live is putting a strain on overall Azure capacity:” The company has not been forced to change its prioritization criteria and still to give precedence to emergency services…read more
Related: 🎮 Blockchain Gaming Platform Enjin Updates Wallet Ahead of China Expansion
📖 Tesla Completes Blockchain Pilot to Speed China Imports Process
Tesla is working with the Shanghai Port Group to test if blockchain can make the process of importing goods into China any easier. Tesla and Chinese cargo ship operator COSCO trialed a blockchain app that shortened the cargo release time and made it easier for Tesla’s logistics teams to take ownership of goods once they are offloaded. The completion of the pilot announcement doesn’t say about the type of blockchain used in the pilot, nor the sort of products Tesla imported into China…read more
Related: 📖 How Tesla And BMW Are Leading A Supply Chain Renaissance With Blockchain by Biser Dimitrov
📖 Sony and Other Major Multinationals File 212 Blockchain Patents in China in 2020
The latest Global Times report suggests that 35 multinationals, including Microsoft, Walmart, Mastercard, Sony, and Intel, had applied for a total of 212 blockchain patents by the end of March 2020. Among all the foreign companies with blockchain patents in China, Mastercard tops the list with 46 such patents to its name. Nokia, Intel, and Oracle are next on the line with 13, 12, and 9 blockchain patents respectively in China. Although these companies are filing for blockchain patents in China, all of them are yet to start a blockchain-related business in China…read more
🇨🇳 Blockchain to Authenticate Coronavirus-Response KN95 Face Masks From China
On April 3, FDA announced that it had approved the use of KN95 masks in the country. Unlike N95 masks, KN95 masks are regulated by the Chinese government. An FDA spokesperson stated that KN95 masks were not listed in its initial FDA emergency use authorization because of “challenges in determining the authenticity” of the imports coming from China. Real Items is working directly with production factories in both China and Seattle, WA to ensure that boxes of KN95 masks are shipped with a sticker containing a two-factor authentication QR code, which is an immutable and transparent record on the VeChain Foundation blockchain and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS)…read more
📖 Cardano Partners With South African Blockchain Alliance To Boost Adoption
Cardano is going into partnership with the South African Blockchain Alliance (SANBA) to explore further ways to strengthen technology’s adoption throughout South Africa. Through SANBA, the government can harness Cardano’s technology for use in several areas such as to develop greater transparency in governance to reduce fraud, building digital identities for municipal services, and bolstering developing economies with virtual currencies such as ADA…read more
📖 Dapper Labs Announces Tech-Sharing Partnership With Libra
Dapper Labs’ CTO Dieter Shirley revealed that Dapper’s Flow blockchain will adopt Libra’s Move as it’s virtual machine (VM), while Libra will utilize Dapper’s smart contract programming language Cadence in a technology-sharing partnership. Shirley stated that Flow will benefit from Move’s performance efficiency, while Libra benefiting from Cadence’s developer-friendly design.…read more by Dapper Labs
Related: 💸 Libra confirms shift to multi-currency model, points to support for central bank digital currencies
More For Your Week:
📈 Blockchain Tech Used to Trace Ethical Eggs Sold at Target
📈 $12 million wheat trade between the U.S. and Indonesia has been settled using blockchain
📈 Vinay Gupta’s Big Idea: An Identity Layer for Your Things
📈 Grayscale reports record Ethereum inflows in 2020
📈 Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly raising as much as $450M for new crypto fund
📖 Bridges across the Chasm to Web 3.0 by Wendy Xiao Schadeck
📖 Think a Privacy Law Will Stop Surveillance Capitalism? You Don’t Know Google by bicameral.ventures
📖 Crypto’s Next Big Catalyst: India
📖 Blockchain Startup Wants to Bring Women Into the Technology Fold
🎙️ Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) Session with Equilibrium_EOSDT
💸 Crypto Was Meant to Democratize Finance, And It’s Finally About To
📖 Status wants to be the world’s most private instant messaging app
DApps (Decentralized Apps) Watch
📖 2020 Q1 Dapp Market Report by DappReview
The crypto markets tumbled sharply during two consecutive days in March 2020 following the coronavirus outbreak spread rapidly around the world. The report analysis of the DApps market in Q1 2020 can be highlighted as a total transaction volume of $ 7.9 billion across 13 blockchains, increased by 82.2% compared to 2019 Q1. During the quarter, 254 new dapps were launched, 60% lower than Q1 2019. The top three sectors in terms of active addresses were gaming, exchanges, and casinos…read more and for more from DappReview
Related: 📖 Quarterly Dapp Market Report Q1 2020 by Dapp.com
📖 Crypto’s Business Model is Familiar. What Isn’t is Who Benefits
Many entrepreneurs and investors think that crypto projects can’t capture value because they are based on open source code, so someone will come along and copy it, luring away business users and any potential for revenue. But the principal innovation of crypto networks is their ability to grow network effects by enabling users to share in the value they create. It also adheres to a sustainable business model and will be quickly familiar to those who understand the dynamics behind valuable Web 2.0 marketplaces…read more by Jesse Walden of Andreessen Horowitz
📖 Forbes Blockchain 50 — Products data deep dive by BLOCKDATA
📖 Ren Ecosystem Update by Michael Burgess
📖 Fantasy Football Startup Sorare Is Bringing Blockchain to the Masses
🎙️ Talking Open Finance W/ Tokyo FinTech Podcast:
Recently I joined Norbert Gehrke of Tokyo FinTech Podcast for an in-depth and extensive conversation about the evolution of the FinTech and Open Finance ecosystems over the last decade, the case for targeted efforts on financial literacy, and the urgent need for a reliable digital identity. Part 1 and Part 2 are now live!
🎙️Check out the newly launched Defiant Podcast by Camila Russo
🎙️Mark Cuban on What He Would Do As President by Anthony Pompliano
🎙️The $20,000 Human IPO & 5 Other Stories That Have Nothing to Do With COVID-19 by Nathaniel Whittemore
🎙️ State of the Blockchain Industry Q1 2020:
Available now, download your hi-res copy of the Q1 2020 edition of the Blockchain Landscape Map. This is now the fifth edition of the landscape I’ve released and includes 747 companies (900+ total unique companies including broader key Ecosystem players) and more than $22 bn in funding raised across the landscape from 2010–2020 — over $18 bn invested since 2017! — Noticeable cycles emerging and full breakdown available.
A full 60 min video overview of the landscape is now available here and free for all. In the video, I breakdown the 2020 landscape, provide a summary of 2019, emerging trends for 2020, DeFi, Libra, CDBCs, Stablecoins, DApps, and more!
👉 Download the NEW Blockchain for Infrastructure Landscape Q1 2020 edition for insights on DeFi, DApps, Infrastructure, Digital Currencies, and more!
Don’t want to wait until next week, Subscribe Now 📥 for real-time industry insights around Blockchain, DApps, and more!
