Tag: blockchain designer

China’s Central Bank Proposes a Blockchain-Based Trade-Finance Platform

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The People’s Bank of China proposed a blockchain trade financing information platform for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

A number of governing entities in China recently came together to issue an official document, proposing the development of a blockchain-based trade finance platform.

Contributors included the People’s Bank of China, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the Foreign Exchange Bureau.

In the document, the four organizations submitted their opinions on how best to finance the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with an emphasis on global trade and finance.

Disrupting how cross-border trade info is shared

In an attempt to develop and implement better financial technology in the region, the proposal states that the country should build a blockchain-powered trade financing info service platform “under the premise of legal compliance and commercial voluntariness.”

The platform, they stated, would help participating banks securely share information pertaining to cross-border traders through a reliable source.

Blockchain’s decentralized infrastructure makes third-party intervention unnecessary when sharing trade info between members. This makes for a highly secure foundation for a trade finance information platform.

They further proposed the use of artificial intelligence and big data in marketing, risk prevention, and financial supervision.

China is going both local and global on blockchain

China is spearheading blockchain innovation faster than most other countries. Both its local and central governments are consistently experimenting to disrupt various industrial sectors.

A Cointelegraph report from April cited that the government launched its first blockchain platform for providing government services in the eastern China province of Anhui. The platform was intended to provide electronic certificates and licences.

China also recently launched a Blockchain-based Service Network that allows companies from all over the globe to develop and run blockchain applications.

Additionally, during a meeting with the Financial Technology Committee yesterday, the People’s Bank of China deputy governor, Fan Yifei, urged China to accelerate its blockchain adoption strategy.

By: Mohammad Musharraf

Source: https://cointelegraph.com

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Why Use a Blockchain? By Maria Kuznetsov

As the implications of the invention of have become understood, a certain hype has sprung up around blockchain technology.

This is, perhaps, because it is so easy to imagine high-level use cases. But, the technology has also been closely examined: millions of dollars have been spent researching blockchain technology over the past few years, and numerous tests for whether or not blockchain technology is appropriate in various scenarios have been conducted.

Blockchain technology offers new tools for authentication and authorization in the digital world that preclude the need for many centralized administrators. As a result, it enables the creation of new digital relationships.

By formalizing and securing new digital relationships, the blockchain revolution is posed to create the backbone of a layer of the internet for transactions and interactions of value (often called the ‘Internet of Value’, as opposed to the ‘Internet of Information’ which uses the client-server, accounts and master copy databases we’ve been using for over the past 20 years.)

But, with all the talk of building the digital backbone of a new transactional layer to the internet, sometimes blockchains, private cryptographic keys and cryptocurrencies are simply not the right way to go.

Many groups have created flowcharts to help a person or entity decide between a blockchain or master copy, client-server database. The following factors are a distillation of much of what has been previously done:

Is the data dynamic with an auditable history?

Paper can be hard to counterfeit because of the complexity of physical seals or appearances. Like etching something in stone, paper documents have certain permanence.

But, if the data is in constant flux, if it is transactions occurring regularly and frequently, then paper as a medium may not be able to keep up the system of record. Manual data entry also has human limitations.

So, if the data and its history are important to the digital relationships they are helping to establish, then blockchains offer a flexible capacity by enabling many parties to write new entries into a system of record that is also held by many custodians.

Should or can the data be controlled by a central authority?

There remain many reasons why a third party should be in charge of some authentications and authorizations. There are times when third-party control is totally appropriate and desirable. If privacy of the data is the most important consideration, there are ways to secure data by not even connecting it to a network.

But if existing IT infrastructure featuring accounts and log-ins is not sufficient for the security of digital identity, then the problem might be solved by blockchain technology.

As Satoshi Nakamoto wrote in his (or her) seminal work, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”: “Merchants must be wary of their customers, hassling them for more information than they would otherwise need. A certain percentage of fraud is accepted as unavoidable.”

Private key cryptography enables push transactions, which don’t require centralized systems and the elaborate accounts used to establish digital relationships. If this database requires millions of dollars to secure lightweight financial transactions, then there’s a chance blockchains are the solution.

Is the speed of the transaction the most important consideration?

Does this database require high-performance millisecond transactions? (There is more on this point in our guide: “What is the Difference Between a Blockchain and a Database?”).

If high performance, millisecond transactions are what is required, then it’s best to stick with a traditional-model centralized system. Blockchains as databases are slow and there is a cost to storing the data – the processing (or ‘mining’) of every block in a chain. Centralized data systems based on the client-server model are faster and less expensive… for now.

In short, while we still don’t know the full limits and possibilities of blockchains, we can at least say the use cases which have passed inspection have all been about managing and securing digital relationships as part of a system of record.

Authored by Nolan Bauerle; images by Maria Kuznetsov

Source: Why Use a Blockchain? – CoinDesk

Rakuten Taps Chinese Blockchain Firm for $60 Billion Authenticity Market

In 2008, at least 54,000 Chinese babies suffered after ingesting formula that had been contaminated. Demand for safe products has grown year over year, every year, since then. Companies like blockchain-centric Techrock have capitalized on this market by finding unique solutions to the authenticity problem. Techrock uses the blockchain to track every step of a product’s lifecycle and rewards consumers for verifying it through their mobile phones.

Chinese Consumers Increasingly Willing to Pay a Premium for Authentic Imported Food

In China, it is reportedly difficult to get authentic products. Some researchers have found that more than 90% of the food sold in China is faked in one way or another.

For non-food products, this isn’t such a big deal; but there are some markets where it’s life and death – such as baby formula and other food products, which can have deadly side effects. According to Techrock, which spoke to CCN about their recent partnership with Rakuten, the situation has created a market for authentic goods as large as $60 billion per year.

Techrock uses blockchain technology in two aspects of its business. On the one hand, it offers a loyalty program for customers who use the service to purchase authentic products. On the other, it creates a permanent record of a product’s authenticity.

From Supply Chain to Reward Points, Blockchain’s Role

Every product in Techrock’s store has a digital representation on the blockchain. The company has developed a reputation for delivering high-quality, authentic goods, and it’s applying the same process to its Rakuten “zone.”

Their target market is less about authentic shoes or electronics and more about health supplements and other things which people prefer not to risk. The loyalty program helps them retain customers, and using the blockchain for it, the points have no expiration date. A side effect of Techrock’s Tael loyalty program is that it introduces many people to blockchain for the first time.

Techrock recently entered a partnership with Japanese retail giant Rakuten to get authentic Japanese goods to customers. Rakuten has long had an interest in blockchain companies, but it only touches the technology in a tertiary way here.

Rakuten is looking to expand its reach in China, where it is far from the leading retailer. By contrast, Alibaba is the boss in China – but Alibaba’s eBay-style product suffers a lot of knock-off problems that the rest of the Chinese market does.

Growing Year-Over-Year

Built on Hyperledger, Techrock’s labeling technology ensures that products are real. The customer can verify this with an app on their phone, and once they do so, they earn their reward points at the same time. The rewards can be used to purchase more goods in the store, which encourages customers to keep using Techrock.

Techrock’s partnership with Rakuten means that Chinese customers don’t have to worry about fakes, and they have streamlined access to authentic, safe products. Techrock Co-Founder Alexander Busarov told CCN:

“We already sell in over 220 or 230 cities where our consumers are located. It’s all sent by the local dealer companies. We think our business will grow as the demand grows.”

China is reportedly the largest market for both food and firms that verify the safety of food. Consumers have been driven online as they continually lose trust in local vendors. Regulations and other issues make it such that local companies, like Techrock, will ultimately supply the demand.

Techrock’s partnership with Rakuten is notable because they’re the third to secure such a partnership – JD.com being one of the first – and they are built entirely on blockchain.

P. H. Madore has written for CCN since 2014 and is currently Head of Crypto. Please send breaking news tips or requests for investigation to [email protected] His website is http://phm.link
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Source: Rakuten Taps Chinese Blockchain Firm for $60 Billion Authenticity Market

Report: Blockchain Startup ConsenSys Seeks $200 Million From Outside Investors

New York-based blockchain company ConsenSys is reportedly seeking investors to raise $200 million, technology media outlet The Information reported on April 15.

According to sources familiar with the matter, ConsenSys is trying to attract outside investors to raise $200 million. The company’s executives reportedly talked to investors in Hong Kong and South Korea, however as of early April ConsenSys had purportedly not yet found a lead investor.

The Information cited fundraising documents, revealing that ConsenSys closed 2018 with just $21 million in revenue coming mostly from its enterprise consulting business. Per the documents, ConsenSys is planning its revenue to be more than $50 million in 2019, with around $40 million coming from its services business.

The documents reportedly reveal that ConsenSys has a considerable share in blockchain companies that it has incubated. ConsenSys has reportedly been seeking a valuation of at least $1 billion, which The Information reports is too high, given the company’s revenue and investors.

Last December, anonymous sources stated that ConsenSys could lay off up to 60 percent of its staff as the blockchain space had become more competitive and “crowded.” The company was reportedly spinning out startups it had previously backed, some of them without financial support.

Later in January, ConsenSys’ Executive Director of Enterprise and Social Impact Vanessa Grellet told Cointelegraph that the layoffs did not exceed 13% of staff. All teams at the firm were purportedly reevaluated including technical and non-technical staff.

When asked about signs of crisis in the blockchain industry and criticism of ConsenSys not being able to deliver on its promises, Grellet said that she still sees huge interest in blockchain technology.

Source: Report: Blockchain Startup ConsenSys Seeks $200 Million From Outside Investors

SendFriend gets $1.7M for blockchain-based remittance led by MIT, Mastercard

SendFriend, a New York-based blockchain startup specializing in international money transfer to the Philippines, has raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding from a group led by MIT Media Lab, Mastercard Foundation, Ripple and Barclays. Other investors include Techstars, Mahindra Finance, 2020 Ventures and 8 Decimal Capital. The blockchain-based platform, set to launch service from New Jersey and expand to other U.S. states, will allow customers, mostly overseas Filipino workers, to transfer funds back home for about 65 percent less than what is currently on the market, according to David Lighton, co-founder and CEO………………

Source: SendFriend gets $1.7M for blockchain-based remittance led by MIT, Mastercard

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