March 13, 2019 Weekly Crypto Round Up
Amazon patent application expected to help prevent counterfeits and Brave users begin receiving BAT in exchange for their attention
Alexa, Eliminate All Counterfeit Items
More information is coming out about an Amazon patent application that was published in late January. The patent was initially applied for in July 2017 and details a distributed ledger certification system used to verify and track an item through the supply chain.
Based on the timing of the application, some believe the patent is related to Amazon’s Project Zero Initiative. Announced at the end of February, Project Zero gives brands the ability to flag and remove counterfeit listings of their products themselves. Previously, brands would need to submit a request to Amazon and the tech behemoth would review the claim and remove the product if deemed counterfeit. To join the program, companies will need to be invited to sign up, complete a training, and maintain a high accuracy of marking products to prevent abuse.
More specifically, many see the distributed ledger certification interface being applied to Project Zero’s optional product serialization service. The service would give companies an Amazon serial code to put on their products during manufacturing. Amazon could then scan the code and confirm the product’s authenticity before it left the warehouse. While Project Zero enrollment is free, the product serialization service will incur a $0.01 to $0.05 fee per unit.
BATter Up
On Friday, the team behind Basic Attention Token (BAT) and the Brave browser announced the Brave Ads Developer Channel Preview has entered the second phase. The first phase introduced the Brave Ads experience to brands, marketers, developers and the community via the Developer channel. The second phase will reward users with Basic Attention Tokens in exchange for viewing ads. At the end of each month, users can withdraw any tokens they’ve earned during that time period
At current prices, users are rewarded with 0.05 BAT per viewed ad or about one US cent. These rewards are subsidized by the User Growth Pool established during the BAT ICO and future prices may change as advertisers bid to capture attention. If a user is not interested in the small revenue stream generated by viewing ads, they can still opt out of all ads and trackers.
The Other News We’re Following
- Colorado governor Jared Polis signs Colorado Digital Token Act providing cryptocurrencies with limited exemptions from securities laws
- SEC Chairman Jay Clayton reiterates Ether is not a security
- Monero hard fork declared successful and hash rate drops after impact to ASIC mining
50banks are expected to use the Stellar-based IBM World Wire service in the near future according to IBM’s head of blockchain Jesse Lund (although video of the interview at IBM Think 2019 has since been taken down)
“Sure there are illicit Bitcoin transactions but nowhere near the volume conducted with the US dollar.”
— Tom Emmer, US Representative from Minnesota
