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Bitcoin has seen its value rise from a few pennies to almost $20,000 at one point, but does it have the “status quo” around American financial markets concerned? Some might say yes, and clearly, there’s been more acceptance of digital currency these days, but is it causing the disruptions that many thought would happen by this time? There’s been a fair amount of lip service being paid to Bitcoin these days by companies that comprise the current financial status quo. Much of this has to do not with their direct interest in Bitcoin, but in the blockchain, which is the underlying infrastructure of the digital currency. Why U.S.-Based Financial Companies Are Investing in Blockchain Technology It’s clear that many U.S.-based financial companies are investigating how blockchain technology can streamline their current work processes and create more efficient networks to process financial transactions. The investments and efforts of groups such as the R3 Consortium, the introduction of r...

A Bitcoin is created every time a puzzle is solved by a program designed to solve the puzzle, called a miner. Bitcoin becomes increasingly difficult to mine as more people join, which lowers the chances of a puzzle being solved by one program, person, or group. Mining pools were created to share the computing power across many miners to increase the chances of solving a puzzle. Pools split the profits when a Bitcoin puzzle is solved, but this reduces the payout for everyone in the pool. What Is Bitcoin Mining? Bitcoin mining refers to the process of digitally adding transaction records to the blockchain, which is a publicly distributed ledger holding the history of every Bitcoin transaction. Mining is a record-keeping process executed through immense computing power. Each Bitcoin miner around the world contributes to a decentralized peer-to-peer network to ensure the payment network is trustworthy and secure. Basics of Bitcoin Mining There are three ways to acquire Bitcoin: ...

Ever since its initial release, blockchain has proven to be worth adopting across many industries. It is a decentralized ledger technology that is not handled by a single person or community. Blockchain technology works by storing data records in the form of a chain of blocks without any middleman’s need. Since the records stored in blockchain are immutable, it becomes one of the most secure technologies the world has ever seen. This security is what the fintech sector has always been longing for. The fintech sector has been pioneering to reduce transaction costs. Blockchain is the perfect recipe for eliminating middleman transaction costs. That’s not just the only blockchain application in fintech; there are many more. What are the Different Blockchain Applications in Fintech? With such trust and security, the blockchain applications in fintech are capable of completely revolutionizing the industry. Here are some of the primary use cases that can be easily incorporated into the fi...

COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore the importance of authoritative data and authenticated data sources in the medical field. From the early days of reporting on cases and hospitalizations around the world, individual test results reported by test providers in and outside the regular labs, to vaccine supply chains and vaccination records as shots-in-arms ramp up the health authorities, researchers, pharma industry, and regulators depend on accurate, real-time, trusted data from a vast number of diverse government and commercial organizations. And in some cases, distrust of government authorities makes it vital that the data is stored in a tamper-evident manner so that its integrity can be audited and proven. Perhaps then it’s not surprising that blockchain solutions have been used to enable these capabilities. Customers have been using enterprise blockchain to address similar requirements in financial services, supply chains, and other sectors for a few years. Embracing the needs ...

The Ethereum blockchain enables more open, inclusive, and secure business networks, shared operating models, more efficient processes, reduced costs, and new products and services in banking and finance. It enables digital securities to be issued within shorter periods, at lower unit costs, with greater levels of customization. Digital financial instruments may thus be tailored to investor demands, expanding the market for investors, decreasing costs for issuers, and reducing counterparty risk. Over the last five years, the technology has matured for enterprise-grade use demonstrating the following benefits: Security : Its distributed consensus-based architecture eliminates single points of failure and reduces the need for data intermediaries such as transfer agents, messaging system operators, and inefficient monopolistic utilities. Ethereum also enables the implementation of secure application code designed to be tamper-proof against fraud and malicious third parties— making it ...

Blockchain tokens are the digital representation of complete or shared ownership in anything of value. Blockchain tokens are commonly leveraged in payments and settlements between participants. The tokens also enable representation of multi-party ownership of an indivisible asset, such as a work of art, and ease the exchange of such ownership between parties in a blockchain network. Tokenization introduces new avenues to optimize business processes involving multiple partners and bring in new business models. The IDC predicts that by 2025, the worldwide tokenized asset market will reach USD 500 billion. Interoperability of networks and the ability to use tokens across networks and industries ushers new business models and newer ways to improve business processes. InterWork Alliance (IWA), an association of industry leaders, academics, and the government is working towards developing some standards and governance framework around tokens and has introduced a taxonomy called the Token ...

The thought of Bitcoin as a way to change the way we vote was considered during the early days of the new technology. In 2012, computer scientists in Canada were looking to exploit the capabilities of Bitcoin as “a form of ‘carbon dating’ for digital information and something that would make electronic voting more secure.” Blockchain-Related Voting System Startups Among the startups that followed in an attempt to build upon the blockchain infrastructure to create a secure voting system was a Virginia-based company called FollowMyVote. Adam Ernest, the company's CEO, stated that “there is a common misconception that voting cannot be done online in a secure way. However, the introduction of blockchain technology is changing the conversation.” Another company working on creating a platform that uses blockchain technology to replace or enhance the current voting methods used today is BitCongress, which released a White Paper on its approach. The company uses blockchain technology...

Public works projects are typically large and involve mountains of paperwork and certifications around legal, financial, and ethical standards. In Italy, companies tendering bids for public works contracts of more than EUR 150,000 must be certified through a process that entails reviewing 10 years’ worth of an applicant’s business records. Much of this is done through manual workflows. This makes collecting, organizing, reviewing, and storing documents slow and tedious, with a lot of back-and-forths. Once documents are filed in a management system, they’re inaccessible to outside stakeholders, leading to uncertainty about their correctness, completeness, and authenticity. To compound matters, the process lacks a documented audit trail — traceability now required by the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC). Challenges to modernize this certification process led UNIONSOA (The National Association of Certification Bodies Society as known as SOAs) to identify an opportunity for gr...

Blockchain is arguably the most significant innovation since the internet with individuals, companies, and even governments embracing the technology. An appealing feature of blockchain technology is smart contracts. Smart contracts are gaining widespread use and ease of creation as global processes are becoming increasingly digitized. They serve as an alternative to traditional contracts which are often slow and expensive. Today, smart contracts are available to optimize many financial and business processes. In essence, they are self-executing, self-enforcing protocols that are governed by explicit terms and conditions. Key features of smart contracts Smart contracts represent a completely different way of approaching contracts. Instead of two parties signing duplicate copies of a paper agreement, smart contracts ensure compliance through blockchain technology. This reduces costs and simplifies the contract negotiation process. A smart contract works through an executable code...

Smart Contracts are a leading trend in Blockchain technology today. If you are thinking of building a career in the field, this article will help you with all that you need to know to write your first smart contract! Today’s digital age has allowed two parties to enter into agreements without third-party involvement. These digital contracts are processed by the blockchain and stored on a public database. So, the transactions are trackable and irreversible. Defining smart contracts The term ‘Smart Contract’ was first proposed by American computer scientist Nick Szabo back in 1996. It is a computer or digital protocol that facilitates, verifies, and enforces the performance of a contract. As a general-purpose computation, a smart contract resides on a Blockchain or distributed ledger. In other words, the contract is built into the code in the form of a computer program. And the designated actors receive permission to execute the function of the program. The predefined rules shoul...

Bitcoin’s effect on the environment has been a hotbed of discussion, dating almost all of the way back to when the cryptocurrency first launched in 2009. And now, over ten years later, researchers are still having trouble agreeing on an answer. What is Bitcoin’s carbon footprint, anyway? Depending on which study you cite, Bitcoin’s carbon footprint ranges from as little as 22 annual megatons of CO2 to estimates of over 50 megatons each year. Although numerous factors contribute to Bitcoin’s carbon footprint, it’s the network’s mining activities that have the most substantial effect. Thankfully, there are some solutions Bitcoin’s carbon footprint is undoubtedly nothing to shrug at. And as the mining difficulty continues to increase, miners will need to expend more energy to remain profitable. If they don’t find solutions to operate more efficiently, Bitcoin’s carbon footprint will continue to grow. As the rest of the world is moving toward renewable energy sources, Bitcoin m...

Many of us in the technology field are reflecting on how we can help build a stronger, more resilient future for healthcare. As the industry focuses on digital transformation, there is a greater appetite to solve business challenges with emerging technologies, such as blockchain. This is because, by definition, blockchain technology empowers organizations to digitize transactions through a secured, shared, and distributed ledger, improving efficiency and security. Blockchain is the trigger that can help reinvent entire business models. A recent survey across industries found that 60 percent of blockchain early adopters are experimenting with a radically different business model or business process. This reinvention should include both back-end and consumer-facing processes. Organizations should not limit themselves to one or the other, but rather pursue both. For us in healthcare, the opportunities to improve care management, patient outcome, and patient engagement are significant...

What does it mean to “own a Bitcoin?” It means there is a recorded transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain where someone sent one Bitcoin to your public key address and that you (and you alone) know the address’s private key. Even if that terse description explains things, it does not help with the logistic details of how you go about doing this. It is complicated. But it is also complicated to physically buy and hold a bar of gold or a barrel of oil. Bitcoin , like many commodities, has been “financialized.” There are now financial contracts you can buy and trade that might be just as good as (or better than) having an entry on the Bitcoin blockchain. What do financialization and the growing role played by centralized cryptocurrency exchanges mean for everyday investors? Investing in Bitcoin by directly owning a Bitcoin on the blockchain creates a long position that appreciates as the value of Bitcoin (in US dollars, say) increases. If you owned a coin, you could sell it. There is n...

In building a blockchain platform-centric business network, it is very important to define and build a network with operational efficiencies for sustainability. In our previous post, we discussed how important trust is to build these networks and the key role blockchain plays to enable trust and transparency for all participants. We also laid out the four dimensions which are key considerations to building effective business networks. To be successful, business platforms must focus on all four of these dimensions — business, operations, legal, and technology (BOLT) — at the same time from the early stages of development. We want to take this opportunity to look at the operations dimension in more detail. In building blockchain platform-centric business networks, operability plays a key role in the success of the blockchain business network execution. Most of the time user reflection about the network is based on its operability. Hence, it is paramount important to define and build...

Paper-intensive financial instruments, especially those that require back-and-forth negotiations between parties, are ripe for digitization and blockchain. Add in the potential for fraud with paper processes, and the rationale for blockchain is even greater. The bank guarantee, or letter of guarantee, is just such an instrument. Bank guarantees facilitate doing business by adding trust to a contract between two parties, such as a seller and a buyer or a landlord and a tenant. The bank guarantees that the beneficiary — the seller or the landlord — will get paid if the buyer defaults or the tenant fails to meet the rent. A letter of guarantee can also cover performance, protecting the beneficiary if the other party fails to deliver a product or provide satisfactory services. While the concept of a bank guarantee is standard across the industry, the execution is anything but. Individual banks have their own standards, forms, and processes. There can be numerous drafts and negotiation...

Business law, legal considerations, and regulatory compliance are important to setting up and running an enterprise business. The blockchain business network enables enterprises to interact among their stakeholders across geography with trust and traceability. Hence, the blockchain business network must comply with a required set of business laws, geography-specific standards, and a global set of standards, government regulations, taxation, and other rules. We have previously laid out the four dimensions framework — business, operations, legal, and technology (BOLT) which are key considerations to building effective business networks. We want to take this opportunity to look at the legal dimension in more detail. While building a network it is important to adhere to data privacy, legal aspects of using smart contracts, geography-specific legal considerations are distributed as nodes across different geographies. Cross-border regulatory and governance plays a key role in the succes...

Blockchain is arguably the most significant innovation since the internet with individuals, companies, and even governments embracing the technology. An appealing feature of blockchain technology is smart contracts. Smart contracts are gaining widespread use and ease of creation as global processes are becoming increasingly digitized. They serve as an alternative to traditional contracts which are often slow and expensive. Today, smart contracts are available to optimize many financial and business processes. Smart contracts are self-executing, self-enforcing protocols that are governed by explicit terms and conditions. On the blockchain, smart contracts can streamline complex processes that involve several intermediaries and this has led to them becoming one of the most popular and talked about subjects in the blockchain industry. They allow the performance of dependable transactions without the engagement of third parties. Benefits of Smart Contract Transparency Smart cont...

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic span the globe, and no one has been untouched by the impact of this disease. Fortunately, the last five months have brought hope, with vaccines from multiple companies proving to be highly effective and the distribution of doses steadily ramping up. Both private and public sectors have pivoted and worked diligently to assuage the challenges we have all endured. The exponential power of people and machines is changing healthcare as we know it. Intelligent automation is making care delivery and administration more seamless across the health ecosystem. From robots performing housekeeping duties to avatars streamlining the patient intake process—it’s not about replacing people, it’s about allowing people to work more efficiently, and where they are needed most. As the rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 gathers pace, countries are exploring how documents, mostly digital, could help reopen borders by identifying those who are protected against the virus...

According to the 2020 Global Trade Survey from the International Chamber of Commerce, trade and trade finance are in a state of global uncertainty, in part due to COVID-19. While many banks surveyed expressed concern over pandemic-related declines in trade flows and revenues, the survey also found that lockdowns and working from home are hastening the shift to digital solutions in trade, including blockchain . Fifty-four percent of banks surveyed say that transformative technologies like blockchain, digital trade, and online trade platforms are priority areas of development and strategic focus in the near term as they look to secure future growth. More than 50 percent also agreed that a growing number of document types used in trade could be paper or digital. Proven benefits of a blockchain-based solution for trade finance Pursue new revenue streams through new financing products and alternatives to letters of credit Offer banking services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a...