Walmart, AmerisourceBergen, JD.com, UPS, FedEx, Maersk and many other global giants in the supply chain industry have begun exploring the blockchain to solve their supply challenges. From automation to efficiency and speed, the benefits of doing so have been immense. However, these benefits are not uniform in every field, and neither are the blockchain solutions being pursued. Autonomy Through Smart Contracts Smart contracts have been revolutionary and are transforming many industries including insurance and legal services. The supply chain industry is benefiting as well, with smart contracts making autonomy a reality. The supply and distribution industry has tedious and time-consumingPowered by WPeMatico
With the advent of smartphone-enabled payment portals and finance apps, the landscape of the payment market has been changed irreversibly. Experts suggest that this trend is here to stay, especially since blockchain technology has become increasingly prevalent. Xaurum can be thought of as a representative cryptocurrency that is based upon a gold reserve model and is ever-increasing in its value. To be more specific, this alt-currency is designed to be a value storage entity that distributes profit obtained from created money (seigniorage), thereby allowing investors to earn steady revenue streams on the side. Xaurum brings together a host of different financial entities to
It was only a matter of time until things took another turn in the world of cryptocurrency. We have seen so many connections already between blockchain technology and Pokemon-like projects. Indeed, we now have a project called CryptoPokemons. It’s not necessarily the best idea, considering that Pokemon itself is a major brand and registered trademark. CryptoPokemons is a Thing now Given the success of CryptoKitties and similar projects over the past few months, it has become evident that there will be a lot more of these platforms in the future. We have already seen tanks, dancing pandas, and cars use the same business model. To the trained eye, there
As things currently stand, the data market is hindered by increasingly stringent regulations as well as a lack of trust from everyday internet users. However, with the introduction of blockchain technology, credibility, traceability and decentralization are helping to remake the traditional data value chain in a big way. Banyan Network is an all-new data value network that has been built using blockchain technology. It is also touted as the world’s first distributed ecosystem of data economies that has been developed by individuals who have been in the field of data analytics for many years. This platform makes use of a Data
Once your attention flips from the dramatic drops and rises in bitcoin’s value and you’ve gotten over the marketing hype about blockchains and ICOs, your thoughts may eventually turn to how the whole thing works. Terms like “bitcoin mining” and “digital gold” conjure up images of men with hardhats descending into dimly-lit caves, but that’s obviously not how this commodity is mined. That begs the question of how it is. Can anyone mine bitcoin? And what is MaaS? Bitcoin Mining Basics We know that it doesn’t take a flashlight and a pick to mine bitcoin. A computer science degree and
Blockchains are being explored by many industries, from cloud storage and healthcare to insurance and legal services. The supply chain management industry hasn’t been left behind, and it’s leading the world in research and development of blockchain technology to solve some of the challenges that have plagued this industry for so long. But how exactly will blockchains impact the supply chain industry, and will they finally bring an end to inefficiencies in this sector? THE HISTORICAL CHALLENGES To understand why the blockchain is a godsend for supply chain management, one has to understand the challenges faced by the industry. Top among them is
We’ve heard a lot about how blockchain technology can help serve the unbanked and the underbanked by making microtransactions possible. But in the Western world, that often refers to a small minority. Yet according to global economist and Babson College Professor of Finance Dr. John Edmunds, in many parts of the world, we’re talking about the sweeping majority. As a leading world economist, Edmunds has made a career out of studying and traveling to developing countries across continents. He says, “In some countries, only the top five percent of the income distribution, or even less, can really gain access to financial
Ripple was the best-performing cryptocurrency in 2017, having seen an extraordinary rise of over 30,000% in the price of its native digital asset, XRP. The year also saw Ripple make great progress in signing up banks and financial institutions to the platform. According to the San Francisco-based company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, it’s now signing up an average of one bank per week. Some of the more renowned members of RippleNet include MoneyGram, American Express, Western Union, Standard Chartered, Santander, Unicredit, MUFG and BBVA. RIPPLE vs. SWIFT In its mission to save the world from financial exploitation by the big banks and payment
After Bitcoin showed the world what blockchain technology could do, many projects began thinking about how to incorporate blockchains into every part of our lives. One such project is SolarCoin, a cryptocurrency focused on the solar power industry and offsetting the large costs associated with the installation of such systems. What is SolarCoin? SolarCoin (SLR) is a cryptocurrency designed to incentivize decentralized solar power generation by rewarding solar electricity generators per megawatt hour. Launched in early 2014, SolarCoin has similar code to Bitcoin, but implements two ways of minting SolarCoin and distributing it within its ecosystem. The first is the familiar Proof-of-Staking consensus algorithm that
There are a lot of innovative projects in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. ArcBlock is trying to do something different, which is always a positive sign. This open chain access protocol is designed to provide an abstract layer for accessing underlying blockchains. As such, the applications built on top of this new chain are cross-compatible. How Does ArcBlock Work? Bridging the gap between different blockchains and their respective ecosystems has not been easy. There are some solutions which attempt to solve this problem, but it is evident there is plenty of room for competition in this regard. Building an open