blockchain

Many blockchain protocols claim to be decentralized, but industry practices show the opposite. Even Bitcoin is largely controlled by a few.

In a special Forkast.News interview, the CEO who co-founded Ethereum discusses the deal with JPMorgan, DeFi’s rise, and expectations for Ethereum 2.0.

Other top news: $50 billion in cryptocurrency leaves China. Severe flooding in Sichuan destroys bitcoin mining farms. DeFi in India.

As mass demonstrations rock the world, technologies like blockchain, social media and AI are escalating unrest and state crackdowns to the next level.

Conflux wins rare endorsements from Shanghai and Hunan provincial governments as other blockchain firms struggle for a toehold on the mainland.

Could blockchain technology and decentralized ID verification have prevented all those VIP Twitter accounts from being commandeered for a bitcoin scam?

Can blockchain stop the paid trolls, bot armies and floods of fake news that are subverting democracy through sites like Facebook?

Other top news: USPS explores blockchain for voting. Coinbase offers crypto loans. Huobi launches Global DeFi Alliance.

As Ethereum moves toward its 2.0 upgrade, here is a reflection on the open-source platform’s transformational impact on the blockchain ecosystem.

New lightweight protocol nearing mainnet launch says it is distributing six times more tokens than others to attract developers and encourage greater decentralization.

Australians can buy bitcoin from post offices and use cryptocurrency in soda vending machines. But are confusing tax policies discouraging wider adoption?

Other top news: China imposes standards for blockchain companies. Huobi launches digital asset custody business. Blockchain VC in the Middle East.

Other top news: China’s BSN blockchain network expands global reach. US lets major banks act as crypto custodians. VC in India and Singapore.

Covid is accelerating telemedicine and patient data protection needs. Here’s how digital ledger applications can take healthcare to the next level.

Cryptocurrencies are enabling illiquid assets — like real estate, art and even pro athlete contracts — to be tokenized. What does this mean for investors?

Other top news: InterContinental uses blockchain to prove hotel cleanliness. Beijing plans for blockchain in city services. VC in India and Israel.

The UN, which now has a CryptoFund, wants to incubate new technology that would benefit children around the world. Apply now, or help get the word out!

Management guru Don Tapscott and his son Alex Tapscott — co-authors of the best seller, “Blockchain Revolution” — explain how blockchain’s “internet of value” can transform healthcare, the economy and more.

Social media platforms like Twitter need more advanced technology, like blockchain, to protect user accounts from attacks, says Voice CEO Salah Zalatimo.

Brian Behlendorf, a longtime open-source evangelist, discusses China’s adoption of Hyperledger Fabric for its Blockchain Service Network (BSN), blockchain trends to watch, and more.

Other top news: Alibaba to help Cosco deploy blockchain technology for Chinese shipping industry. Fintech investment in Saudi Arabia.

The US is gold standard for global financial regulations. But if US does not get its act together over crypto, other nations will emerge as leaders in this growing space.

Robot nurses, machine attendants and cleaning bots are increasingly replacing humans in and out of hospitals, to protect front-line medical staff from deadly infections. Is this a good thing?

The former International Space Station commander also discusses how blockchain can lower space exploration costs, and more. Bonus: advice on enduring Covid and social isolation with grace.

Other top news: US still dominates blockchain patents globally. First court case in China litigated with blockchain. VC in Indonesia and Singapore.

SCMP’s China Internet Report 2020 shows healthy fundraising and investment activity in tech sector despite ravages of Covid and US-China trade war.

Mike Cagney, co-founder of Figure Technologies, explains how blockchain and digital assets are transforming consumer loans, banking, and more.

Other top news: Chainlink embraced by China’s blockchain network. Could Justin Sun’s infamy outshine TRON 4.0? Fintech in Thailand and Singapore.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency companies are rapidly expanding, and there’s a shortage of talented hires. That makes it a great time to consider a career in crypto.

Other top news: China’s new blockchain cross-border payment platform for Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong. 5G for all in Shenzhen. Fintech VC in India.

Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong have three legal and monetary systems. A new blockchain banking platform would unify the area into an economic hub.

White paper by global blockchain payment platform urges Indian lawmakers to make cryptocurrency legal while providing mechanisms to root out bad actors.

Other top news: Chinese high schoolers cram-studying bitcoin mining. Blockchain-powered lotteries in Cambodia. Startups in India, Singapore and UAE.

10 million Chinese high schoolers will soon take the equivalent of the SAT or A-Levels, and it looks like they better study up on how crypto gets made.

Other top blockchain news: China sounds new warning against crypto. Brave browser brouhaha. Startups in Japan and Malaysia.

How Visa, M-Pesa and Binance became wildly successful — and why even the greatest technology still requires thinking through how to get your product into the hands of your customers.

Covid stimulus needs and China’s new CBDC have heightened interest in digital assets, but US lawmakers are still trying to make sense of new technologies. In an interview with Forkast.News, Perianne Boring of Chamber of Digital Commerce also discusses prospects for a U.S. digital dollar, and more.

More top news: China exploring blockchain to cure gaming addiction. LG joins Hedera Hashgraph. Startups in Japan, Singapore and the Philippines.

More top news: China pours billions into blockchain and other infrastructure. Ant Financial’s new smart contracts. VC in Singapore and India.

The central bank’s cash-like DCEP sets the stage for China’s next-gen financial infrastructure. Will it threaten the US dollar’s global supremacy? A University of Chicago Booth professor explains.

Cinemas are closed, Netflix is here, but torrent providers renew their careers!

Other top news: TRON snags Covid aid. Free Telegram Open Network. China builds tech talent database. Bitmain’s civil war. Another win for Ripple.

Blockchain education conundrum: China wants blockchain growth, but its tech labor supply “quality” falls short of high employer demands. A Forkast.News exclusive report on a new program in Chengdu and clues to what might be holding China back.

Other top news: IBM’s Covid medical supply network. China now has over 1,000 blockchain firms. Startups in Japan, India and Singapore.

What can the blockchain industry do to adapt its work to the current crisis? Acknowledging the widening socio-economic divide would be a good start.

Other top news: Courier giant YTO forms blockchain logistics lab. 224 more blockchain firms get official thumbs up. VC in Singapore, UK and US.

A co-founder of the original Earth Day urges world leaders to not be complacent about the temporary dip in emissions and lose sight of urgent climate goals.

Other top news: Bitcoin halving frenzy. New Huawei tech zone. Blockchain company busted for defective face masks. VC in Hong Kong and Canada.

Forkast.News explains ‘proof of work’ — the DNA of Bitcoin — and and why most of the world’s cryptocurrency miners will soon be sweating a lot more for their coins.

Companies are decentralizing into purely digital workplaces to survive the pandemic. What are the long-term implications on the structure of employment and the technologies required for working from home?

Also: Dozens of crypto firms sued in 11 class-action lawsuits. Bitcoin mining company Canaan bleeds red ink. Fintech funding in India, and more.

Distributed ledger technology can help flatten the curve of Covid-19 through telemedicine, supply-chain security, rapid payments and more.

China is trying to grow its blockchain industry, but are all these startups for real? Forkast.News dives into the data to find the truth behind the numbers.

Other top headlines from around the world: Microsoft wants to power mining with brain waves. Crypto exchanges Huobi and OKEx under fire. China shifts to digitally sweep ancestral graves.

In this newsletter and podcast, we bring you top headlines around the world, including: A new proposal to create a digital dollar. Coinbase’s legal chief heading U.S. Treasury. A Bitcoin-Red Cross coronavirus fundraiser in Italy. Universal basic income’s revival. Steem’s hard fork into Hive, and more.

Also: Blockchain voting after the Voatz debacle, IOTA limps back after cyber attack, smart cities in China, and Forkast.News insights to help you make sense of the top headlines.

In the third installment of this special three-part Forkast.News series, we look at some phones on the market that bill themselves as ‘blockchain’ but are only doing a disservice to the industry.

As increasingly useful and potentially destructive data migrates onto the internet, more and more countries will deploy cyber weapons. Could blockchain provide a defense against future incursions?

SIX Digital Exchange’s blockchain-based digital assets platform and distributed central securities depository are designed to democratize investment. The digital exchange platform is a subsidiary of leading Swiss stock exchange SIX.

Although Switzerland’s Crypto Valley may seek to become a global blockchain hub, its government is too slow to adopt the technology even as Facebook’s Libra incorporates in the country, according to Trust Square cofounder Daniel Gasteiger.

Getting blockchain right is hard enough – not to mention building consortium, says Steve Cerveny, founder and CEO of Kaleido, a Consensys Enterprise Business that offers blockchain as a service.

Blockchain technology and digital assets have the potential to change the entire finance industry. These blockchain-powered payments networks enable cross-border payments to be hassle-free by having a standard set of technical specifications and standards – reducing confusion and ensuring that all members of the network have access to the same technology, says Ripple’s Navin Gupta.

The central bank’s digital currency efforts, ironically, would give it more control over the economy.

Identification on a protocol level could help blockchain become mainstream for blue-chip companies like MasterCard, Volvo and Geely if international regulations are met. Anonymity is “exactly what is hindering wider use of blockchain,” said Concordium CEO Lone Fonss Schroder.

Using blockchain and encrypted computing in smart cities can protect user privacy as China builds out a new data infrastructure, says Vincent Wang, chief innovation officer at Wanxiang Group.

China’s enormous market of 1.4 billion people means there is a large pool of human resources that can drive blockchain development and adoption, especially in the wake of endorsement from President Xi Jinping. Blockshine founder and CEO Layla Dong explains how China’s burgeoning market can boost blockchain development.

And that’s a good thing for legitimizing blockchain and paving the way to tokenize real assets across industries, the enterprise blockchain creator said at Hong Kong FinTech Week 2019.

The Fintech Advisory Services monthly report details the main crypto-metrics and indicators for the past month: News, Market Performance, Networks, Mining Activity, Public Sentiment, and Academic Publications. The report also covers the latest “Hot Topics” in the crypto space. This month: Facebook’s Libra, Telegram’s TON, China’s CBDC, and quantum computing.

Investment in Chinese blockchain projects reached USD$367.7 million in the first half of 2019. Blockchain Global CEO Sam Lee says Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have fueled a breadth of tech talent.

Despite prolonged social and political turmoil a slowing economy and record cash outflows, Hong Kong continues to serve as an important technology and financial hub, says Hong Kong Stock Exchange CEO Charles Li.

Building artificial intelligence is a game of “surveillance machine learning” that exploits common users’ data. But blockchain technology systems promise to help compensate users for it.

Startups are aiming to apply blockchain technology to help everyday consumers track the meat they buy at supermarkets back to the source.