Blockchain weekly digest — top 3 themes this week
By Emily on The Capital
Blockchain promises so much, but as with any new technology, it can be confusing to decision-makers as this technology goes against current business strategies. So, how do you know if you are backing the right blockchain solution?
In these weekly digests, you will get the highlights of blockchain news from around the world, which will give you an insight into the themes developing with this innovation.
1. Blockchain platforms fighting COVID-19
MiPasa and Hyperledger Fabric
MiPasa using the blockchain technology of Hyperledger Fabric is aggregating COVID-19 data collected from sources like The World Health Organisation to help identify disease hotspots. This response to the pandemic is a partnership with technology giants such as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft.
Algorand creates Covid-19 Community Tracking application
Algorand, the innovative and future-proof blockchain company founded by MIT Professor Silvio Micali along with members of the Algorand community, launched the IReport-Covid app. This blockchain application allows individuals to report their COVID-19 information anonymously.
Filling in their survey can help teach us about how COVID-19 is affecting people in real-time, thereby helping inform the public and researchers on the pandemic.
2. Blockchain and Data Breaches
It is no surprise that blockchain has the most significant impact on supply chains and financial services. Both banking and supply chains spend substantial amounts per year on traceability.
A blockchain with both private and public capabilities helps businesses save costs by simplification of processes and adds transparency without compromising data or competitive advantages.
Blockchain is an innovative foundational defense at the infrastructure layer of your business. It structurally enables you to reveal what data you want, and when, to whom outside your corporate walls.
This defense mechanism helps with online attacks as blockchain is a layer of protection that is simplified compared to current methods of cyber-protection. Current security methods are like layers of an onion and very complicated as well as costly.
3. The European Banking Federation
The European Union has a five-year vision that includes aspirations to;
“seek to meet changes sparked by a mix of evolving customer needs, regulatory action, technology and innovation, and increased competition”
This recent European report on Monetary policy: the challenges ahead lays out some of the challenges ahead for blockchain and cryptocurrencies in Europe.
Panel discussion: “Monetary policy, technology and globalisation”
Chair: Agnès Bénassy-Quéré19.
Panellists: Lael Brainard20, Kristin Forbes21 and Hyun Song Shin“The potential of global stablecoins to scale rapidly is evident from the increasingly fast rates of technology adoption and the growth of large networks. Adoption rates for new technologies have accelerated over time.
In 1921, 35% of US households had telephone service, and it took 40 more years for telephone lines to reach 80% of homes. In contrast, the internet achieved the same level of adoption in only 13 years. More recently, smartphones and social media have achieved the same level of US household adoption in less than a decade.
A significant concern regarding Facebook’s Libra project is the potential for a payment system to be adopted globally in a short time period and to establish itself as a potentially new unit of account.
Unlike social media platforms or ridesharing applications, payment systems cannot be designed as they develop, due to the nexus with consumers’ financial security. This is why in many jurisdictions, including the European Union, there is a regime to oversee retail payment systems.
Without requisite safeguards, stablecoin networks at global scale may put consumers at risk. Cryptocurrencies already pose a number of risks to the financial system, and these could be magnified by a widely accepted stablecoin for general use.
Estimated losses from fraud and thefts associated with cryptocurrencies are rising at a staggering pace — from $1.7 billion (€1.4 billion) in 2018 to over $4.4 billion (€3.9 billion) in 2019, based on one industry estimate.”
Banks require personal data to open bank accounts. Know Your Customer is the process a bank uses to verify the identity of its customers, assess their standing, and identify potential risks. These checks are expensive back-office functions for banks. Blockchain could help solve costly business costs through simplification and better digital identities.
In conclusion
Blockchain’s mass adoption challenge is one faced by any fledgling industry, as it requires reskilling to enable a greater understanding of how it can benefit everyone and not just these current industries.
Still, in the next decade, blockchain will become more and more integrated into the technology fabric of businesses, and the hope blockchain will enable much needed new business models and ways of people working together across the globe.
If you liked this weekly digest, please check out my other insights here or follow me on Twitter!
Stay safe, folks!
Emily @BlockhchainScout
