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St-Georges $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF Subsidiary #ZeU #Crypto Networks Closes First Tranche of Debenture Offering $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:23 AM on Thursday, July 5th, 2018

Sx large

  • ZeU Crypto Networks Inc., closed an initial tranche of its 10% unsecured convertible debentures offering for an aggregate principal amounts of $5,063,692,
    • of which $3,708,692 was subscribed in consideration of digital assets
  • Each Convertible Debenture issued pursuant to this first tranche will have a maturity date of July 5, 2020 and be convertible into common shares of ZeU at a price of $1.00

Montreal, Quebec / July 5, 2018 – St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. (CSE: SX) (OTC: SXOOF) (FSE: 85G1) is pleased to announce that further to its press releases of January 7 and May 22, 2018 that its subsidiary, ZeU Crypto Networks Inc., closed an initial tranche of its 10% unsecured convertible debentures offering for an aggregate principal amounts of $5,063,692, of which $3,708,692 was subscribed in consideration of digital assets.

Each Convertible Debenture issued pursuant to this first tranche will have a maturity date of July 5, 2020 and be convertible into common shares of ZeU (each a “ZeU Share”) at a price of $1.00 (the “Conversion Price”).

There shall be no interest payable on the Principal Amount if ZeU effects a transaction pursuant to which it will become a “reporting issuer” under applicable Canadian Securities Laws and the ZeU Shares or the common shares of any resulting issuer would be listed and posted for trading on an recognized exchange, which may include, without limitation, an initial public offering, a reverse take-over or a merger with existing a reporting issuer (a “Liquidity Event”) on or before January 31, 2019 (the “Liquidity Event Deadline”). If there is not a Liquidity Event on or before the Liquidity Event Deadline then interest shall be deemed to accrue from and including July 5, 2018.

Upon the occurrence of a Liquidity Event, ZeU will be entitled to require the holders of Convertible Debenture to convert up to 25% of the Principal Amount outstanding, together with any accrued and unpaid interest owing thereon, into ZeU Shares at the Conversion Price.

Related Party Transaction

Mr. Frank Dumas, an officer and director of St-Georges subscribed Convertible Debentures for an aggregate $250,000 principal amount. The participation of Mr. Dumas in the First Tranche constitutes a Related Party Transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101”). The company relied on exemptions contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 for the related party transaction. The company did not file a material change report in respect of the transaction 21 days in advance of the closing of the private placement because insider participation had not been confirmed. The shorter period was necessary in order to permit the Company to close the private placement in a timeframe consistent with usual market practice for transactions of this nature.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

“Frank Dumas”

FRANK DUMAS, PRESIDENT & CEO

About St-Georges

St-Georges is developing new technologies to solve the some of the most common environmental problems in the mining industry.

The company controls directly or indirectly, through rights of first refusal, all of the active mineral tenures in Iceland. It also explores for nickel on the Julie Nickel Project & for industrial minerals on Quebec’s North Shore and for lithium and rare metals in Northern Quebec and in the Abitibi region. Headquartered in Montreal, St-Georges’ stock is listed on the CSE under the symbol SX, on the US OTC under the Symbol SXOOF and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 85G1.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.

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Posted in All Recent Posts, Bitcoin, Blockchain stocks, Blockstation, Smallcap Blockchain stocks, St Georges Eco-Mining Technologies | Comments Off on St-Georges $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF Subsidiary #ZeU #Crypto Networks Closes First Tranche of Debenture Offering $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

What you need to know about #blockchain in 2018 $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:57 AM on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018

 

  • Blockchain is gaining speed in the humanitarian sector
  • The technology is still in its early days, yet more than half of social-good blockchain initiatives are estimated to impact beneficiaries by the end of this year

By Fatima Arkin // 04 July 2018

These concepts have the potential to impact countless people. The report, which analyzed 193 organizations, initiatives, and projects that are leveraging blockchain to drive social impact, identified 20 percent of them as providing a solution that would not otherwise have been possible without blockchain, and 86 percent as providing material improvements over existing solutions.

Still, the road for blockchain integration in philanthropy and international development is not an easy one. Development organizations, nonprofits, and governments tend to be risk averse and slow to adopt innovative and disruptive technology. And there remain a slew of unanswered questions about the potential negative implications.

“Another significant barrier to wide-scale adoption is that introducing a new technology does not solve for the local economic and political forces that often impede the effectiveness and transparency of aid or philanthropic initiatives,” adds the report. “In order for blockchain to be a transformative solution, collaboration and open dialogue is required across borders and sectors to develop a sustainable and scalable solution.”

A growing number of donors are paying attention. In just the past few months, both the United Kingdom Department for International Development and Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released reports on the opportunities for blockchain in international development. The United States Agency for International Development also released a primer two months ago on how distributed ledger technologies including blockchain can help foreign aid agencies and their partners.

To keep development practitioners abreast of this rapidly evolving space, Devex rounds up the top five things you need to know about blockchain and its most publicized application, cryptocurrency, in 2018.

1. Charities and nonprofits are increasingly accepting cryptocurrency as donations

This ranges from the Switzerland-based World Wide Fund for Nature to the Australia-based Charitex. Perhaps the most notable example is the U.S.-based Fidelity Charitable, the largest purveyor of donor-advised funds and the country’s second largest grant-maker after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Last year, the charity received $69 million of various cryptocurrencies in donations, such as Bitcoin, representing a nearly tenfold increase from the previous year, according to a 2018 report published by the organization.

Despite outcry from high-profile development figures, such as World Bank President Jim Yong Kim who compared cryptocurrencies to “Ponzi schemes” earlier this year, Fidelity Charitable has been accepting cryptocurrencies since November 2015. The decision was spurred in part by requests from their clients to accept the digital asset and by favorable changes in tax regulations. The year before, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service classified cryptocurrencies as an asset similar to stocks, thereby making sales subject to capital gains.

“By donating these assets, the donors could eliminate the significant capital gains taxes on the appreciation while giving the full fair market value to charity,” noted the report.

How aid orgs are experimenting with blockchain in their HR operations

While some players in the international aid sector are capitalizing on blockchain technology to improve their programming, others in the sector are also using the groundbreaking new technology internally to create efficiencies in areas such as human resources.

In order to avoid the volatility of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which dropped to a current market value of roughly $6,600 from a record high of almost $20,000 last December, Fidelity Charitable converts the donations to dollars quickly after receiving the donation. They don’t accept Bitcoin personally, but funnel it through Coinbase, a digital asset exchange company.

Some who profited from the initial Bitcoin craze have been known to be generous. Aside from Fidelity Charitable, the most striking example is the Pineapple Fund, which was started last December by an anonymous Bitcoin donor who claims to be among the 250 largest holders of Bitcoin in the world. The person has since donated most of their share, amounting to over 5,100 Bitcoin.

The more than $55 million has been distributed to 60 charities, including the Water Project, which aims to provide reliable water projects to vulnerable communities in sub-Saharan Africa, and Watsi, which strives to build technology to finance universal health care for patients around the world. Brian Armstrong, co-founder and chief executive officer of Coinbase, wrote in a Medium post last year that we will see more examples of the Pineapple Fund as “many of the early holders of Bitcoin will want to engage in philanthropy.”

And Bitcoin-related donations have taken even more novel forms. Last April, UNICEF Australia launched The Hopepage, which allows just about anyone with a computer to easily donate some of their computer processing power to generate cryptocurrency. Bitcoin in particular is notorious for the vast amounts of energy it requires to mine the cryptocurrency, but Hopepage allows users to choose how much processing power they want to donate. The organization ensures that the practice is “perfectly safe” for computers, and, to date, over 18,000 people have chosen to contribute.

2. Payments and money transfers are the largest use of blockchain

Nearly three-quarters of blockchain initiatives in the philanthropy and aid sector are used to facilitate payments and money transfers, according to the Stanford University “Blockchain for Social Impact” study.

This is of little surprise. Ensuring the effective transfer and utilization of billions of dollars of foreign aid is a major challenge for the international development community. Up to 10 percent of funds can be lost in transaction fees and fluctuating exchange rates, on top of the potential loss through intermediaries and corruption, notes the report.

One of the many groups tackling these issues is the U.N.’s World Food Programme. Last year WFP built and implemented its own blockchain system in Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp to directly pay vendors, make cash transfers easier, and inspect beneficiary spending.

WFP has since expanded its pilot project, called Building Blocks, to all 106,000 Syrian refugees living in the Azraq and Zaatari camps, so that they can now redeem their cash transfers on the blockchain-based system. This has resulted in a monthly savings of roughly $40,000 from transaction costs alone, a WFP spokesperson told Devex.

Beyond cash savings, the spokesperson said their results show that the platform is making cash transfers much more efficient, secure, and transparent — benefitting WFP, donors, and the people they serve. The organization is looking into how blockchain solutions could help in other regions.

Aside from humanitarian organizations, nonprofits, which along with foundations account for 82 percent of blockchain initiatives in the philanthropy sector, are also exploring ways to use the technology to tackle financial sustainability. The U.S.-based RootProject aims to help ease organizations’ overdependence on external funding sources with three projects: Its new crowdfunding platform, its own cryptocurrency called ROOTS, and a “pension” fund.

Through the “laborless crowdfunding” platform, anyone can initiate a social impact project and assemble a campaign to fund it. The projects will then be finished either by RootProject itself or one of its partner nonprofits, all the while drawing on paid labor from people below the poverty line.

The project’s crowdfunded proceeds are shared between token purchases, which increases currency demand, wages for those completing the project, and the rest is deposited into a pension fund-like entity. This system enables the nonprofit to raise money to finish projects, helps those less fortunate, and creates a structure to make it all financially self-sustainable.

RootProject, like 34 percent of all the blockchain projects analyzed in the Stanford University report, was started in 2017 or later, and is still in the pilot/idea stage. But the project has high ambitions. According to its business plan, the U.S.-based nonprofit aims to complete its national expansion by next year while simultaneously piloting its concept in cities internationally.

“I’ve been in this space since 2013 and in global financial services for over 25 years, and I’ve never seen a startup move this quickly — let alone a country.”

— Loretta Joseph, chair of the advisory board at ADCA

3. Bermuda approves the first set of cryptocurrency regulations in the world

In May, Bermuda became the first country to pass cryptocurrency regulations. Spurred by blockchain, countries around the world are taking note but it may be those part of the Commonwealth, including small developing states, that are poised to benefit the most.

With certain differences, Bermuda law, similar to most of the Commonwealth, is based on English law. This means that the 30 Commonwealth members that are small states with a population usually under 1.5 million, and the 24 members that are small island developing states, can theoretically adopt the same legal regulations that Bermuda just passed. One way of doing this is by creating treatises of technology, so that the laws only have to be created once and can then be shared.

Developing countries are where blockchain and regulations have the biggest potential to take off, Loretta Joseph, who is the chair of the advisory board of the Australian Digital Commerce Association and is working with the Bermudan government on cryptocurrency regulation, told Devex: “That’s because in developing countries, especially the small ones, there’s enough room to innovate, whereas it’s very hard to change laws in developed countries.”

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Joseph has been working with the Bermudan government on this project since January, after she and a group of blockchain enthusiasts were asked by the country’s premier, David Burt, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to fly to Bermuda and advise on the regulations.

“I’ve been in this space since 2013 and in global financial services for over 25 years, and I’ve never seen a startup move this quickly — let alone a country,” she said, adding that what makes Bermuda different is its strong political will and openness to collaborate among regulating banks, policymakers, and the government to create a strong act.

New initiative aims to deliver on the promise of blockchain for identity

The launch of the World Identity Network may have taken place at Sir Richard Branson’s private luxury island, but the aim is to benefit the 2 billion people living without recognized identification documents.

Still, blockchain is not for every developing country cautions Joseph, nor would they all benefit in the same way. What a developing country needs is a strong system that can harmonize laws and regulations. This is especially important in order to create and encourage the blockchain ecosystem, while setting high standards to keep out nefarious activities such as money laundering and terrorism.

For instance, in Bermuda, which has some of the world’s strongest legislation in these areas, a proposal has been put forward to increase the fine to up to $10 million per breach for people and companies caught carrying out illegal activities.

Bermuda keeps on innovating, and is setting itself up to be a global leader in the financial technology space. It recently passed a digital assets act, which regulates cryptocurrency wallets and is now looking into electronic identification legislation — all of which could one day, with the right momentum, spread through the Commonwealth’s roughly 2.3 billion people.

“Collaboration is the new survival,” said Joseph. “We are all in this together.”

4. China is reportedly exploring blockchain for One Belt, One Road

Last October, the Hong Kong-based blockchain startup, Matrix AI Network, signed an exclusive partnership with the Chinese government-affiliated Belt and Road Development Research Center making it the institution’s first blockchain and artificial intelligence technology supporter.

The research center supports the Chinese government’s One Belt, One Road initiative, which aims to foster ties through over $1 trillion in infrastructure projects in more than 60 countries. Given the scale of this policy, there are many public and private groups working on it. The center is one of them, and is affiliated with China’s National Reform and Development Commission, which steers policy on industry, energy, and many other sectors.

Matrix is positioning itself to be a key part of the team. It provides the center with overall blockchain and artificial intelligence support that has the potential to be used in any of OBOR’s many projects based locally and internationally, including in the fields of agricultural and animal husbandry cooperation, energy, and free trade zone construction.

According to Owen Tao, Matrix’s CEO, what makes his open source platform different from traditional asset management, or even other blockchain projects such as Ethereum that are active in the same market segment, is multifold.

“Matrix provides various development tools, easy-to-use interfaces, and solutions from other areas in order to help developers easily release applications on the platform,” he told Devex.

These applications can be implemented within any industry, and can be utilized by both small and medium businesses. For example, Matrix’s “smart contract” function can reduce the time developers spend on contract writing, while simultaneously making it easier for individuals without programming skills to implement them.

The platform also aims to solve what Tao calls “the most serious problem” that many digital assets face: Security. The last few months have seen increasing reports of personal accounts being stolen and exchanges being attacked by hackers. To combat this issue, the Matrix system aims to enhance security by providing a channel where all terminals have no IP address, which could otherwise be used to track a user’s online activity.

While Matrix is still a young startup, it is already receiving praise from its colleagues.

“Matrix offers outstanding technology solutions with the remarkable and legit team from China top research centers and universities behind it,” said Kai Dong Zhu, a project expert at the Belt and Road Development Research Center since 2016, prior to joining Matrix as senior vice president.

In addition to working with the government, Matrix is also collaborating with private sector companies on projects tied to OBOR. This year, the blockchain startup signed on to what is known as the China-Laos project, which will focus on the digitization, management, and exchange of tangible assets from the timber industry in the Southeast Asian country.

If all goes well, the outcome will be a “shared public-private platform that will advance environmental protection, cross-border supply chain and regulatory oversight between China and Laos,” explained Tao.

Matrix will contribute key technologies — artificial intelligence, the internet of things, which creates a digital network for all sorts of physical devices, and blockchain — for this project. They expect that the first digital assets transaction could happen by the first half of 2019.

5. Financial inclusion

Financial inclusion is one of the most mature applications of blockchain, with more program-stage projects than any other sector, according to the Stanford University report.

The opportunities in this area are enormous. While financial inclusion is on the rise globally, 1.7 billion adults still remain unbanked — with men in developing economies 9 percent more likely to have an account than women, noted the World Bank. Fortunately, many of the challenges in this space, such as a lack of digital identity and of property registration, happen to also be some of the greatest strengths of blockchain.

“A lot of governments globally are looking at land titles as a first step to start [in blockchain] because land titles in certain countries can be tampered with.”

— Katrina Donaghy, co-founder and co-CEO of Civic Ledger

“A lot of governments globally are looking at land titles as a first step to start [in blockchain] because land titles in certain countries can be tampered with, which can take away an economic proposition of its citizens,” Katrina Donaghy, co-founder and co-CEO of the Australian startup Civic Ledger, told Devex.

Also, for poor people in the developing world who own land or property, such assets are among the easiest to leverage for credit in order to help pull themselves out of poverty. Clear land boundaries and entitlement are expensive to obtain, however.

One of the most forward-looking developing countries in this space is Georgia, which launched a project with the Amsterdam-based Bitfury Group in 2016 that has secured more than 300,000 Georgian land titles on the Bitcoin blockchain to date. The project is now in phase two, which was designed to include a private blockchain anchoring the public Bitcoin blockchain, and has “smart contract” capabilities, which are programmable contracts that self-execute when select conditions are met.

“We’ve now introduced other agencies to the conversation, so that phase is being redesigned as we decide how to move forward,” Kathleen Collins, communications associate at Bitfury, told Devex.

The other main challenge is digital identification, which a 2014 World Bank survey noted as the reason why 18 percent of the unbanked cannot access financial services. But, several humanitarian and nonprofit groups are looking into this issue. WFP told Devex that for the aforementioned pilot project in Jordan, each participating refugee has an identifier on the blockchain, which could be enriched with data such as health records, education, and which supports full ID “cards.”

Given the wide range of blockchain projects, perhaps it’s no surprise that 44 percent are financial inclusion initiatives, which while still in early development, are on track to reach more than a million people each before 2020, noted the Stanford University report, adding that for almost half of the projects in this sector, reaching more people is a primary benefit of using blockchain.

The focus is now on moving from proof of concept to scale, not just in financial inclusion, but for blockchain technology in general, Jane Thomason, global ambassador and advisory board member at the British Blockchain Association, told Devex.

With the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development hosting a conference on blockchain this September in Paris, donors and the international development community continue to demonstrate that they understand the huge potential, but they still need to do more to accelerate the uptake of blockchain for development purposes, said Thomason.

“It is not time to stand back and be an observer, it’s time for donors to lean in and shape this technology and be part of shaping the future,” she added.

Source: https://www.devex.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-blockchain-in-2018-93007

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Posted in Bitcoin, Blockchain stocks, Blockstation, Canadian Blockchain Stocks, Smallcap Blockchain stocks, St Georges Eco-Mining Technologies | Comments Off on What you need to know about #blockchain in 2018 $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

3 Ways #Blockchain Is Already Delivering Real-world Results $IDK.ca $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:39 AM on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018
  • Most people are familiar with blockchain technology in relation to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
  • The two are inextricably linked in the minds of everyday people. It’s fair to say that the bitcoin market has flourished in recent years, with the price of bitcoin peaking at nearly US$20,000 in December 2017.

By Ben Beard

However, cryptocurrency is a volatile commodity as the recent US$17 billion market collapse illustrates all too well. The cryptocurrency market had seemed more stable in recent months, but it was the calm before the storm, and the hack of South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange triggered a huge market decline as investors sought to offload their crypto assets.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies notwithstanding, blockchain is, nevertheless, an exciting technology. It has the power to change the world as we know it, in many exciting areas.

Distributed ledger technology is poised to change the world. Blockchain, as it’s better known, is being rolled out over numerous industries. Blockchain technology is scalable. It can be used to create a worldwide ledger, with data stored on thousands of servers. This information is accessible to everyone, in real-time. The blockchain is virtually incorruptible. Every single transaction is given a timestamp that can’t be altered. It’s already having an impact on industries where efficiency matters the most.

The following three sectors are where blockchain is already having a major ripple effect.

Logistics

Blockchain technology is changing the face of modern logistics. Fifty years ago, very few businesses traded on a global scale. Today, international trade is not just for Fortune 500 businesses. It’s now easier than ever to unlock your business’s global potential thanks to cloud technology, innovative fintech, and e-commerce solutions. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) now has 340 million online buyers in Europe alone. It’s clear that trading online is more profitable than ever, but no matter what niche you are in, you have to take care of your bottom line.

This is where blockchain comes in. Blockchain makes the logistics of transporting goods from A to B more efficient. Existing technology can already track shipments, but this data is vulnerable to misinterpretation and tampering. Blockchain applications solve the problem of authenticity, adding a layer of accountability and trust to global logistics. Companies save money and customers enjoy a better service. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Healthcare

Healthcare is already benefitting from blockchain technology, especially in pharma and biotech, but it has the potential to do so much more. Healthcare generates a huge amount of data. There are approximately 325 million US citizens with medical records. Then we have medical research, assorted information, and a host of other data. It’s hard to keep track of all this data, so the system has become incredibly cluttered over the years.

Blockchain is changing the face of modern healthcare, by offering a safe and secure third-party mechanism for storing data. 86.9% of physicians now use electronic medical records, but the system is still fragmented, and mistakes cost lives. Blockchain has the potential to unify the EMR system, making data more accessible and easier to track across different platforms. The blockchain is also a solution to the problem of reconciliation and fraud within a bloated healthcare system. It’s impossible to alter data in the blockchain, which in the long-term, should save money and improve patient care.

Finance

Finance is probably the best-known application for blockchain technology since most people associate it with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, bitcoin and blockchain are not the same thing. Bitcoin transactions are stored on the distributed ledger, but bitcoin blockchain is different to that used in other applications. However, whilst Bitcoin is still viewed with suspicion by governments and financial institutions, the underlying blockchain technology is being adapted to revolutionize the banking sector.

In 2016, Goldman Sachs estimated that blockchain technology could potentially save them $6 billion a year by 2020, by eliminating additional costs. They also predicted that blockchain would reduce the number of errors and fraudulent transactions, thus saving even more money.

Banks traditionally use secure databases for transactions. Banks need to establish a secure connection to send and receive money, which is time-consuming and expensive. Blockchain technology allows transactions to happen instantly, regardless of the location. Global payments are cleared within seconds, instead of days. IBM (NYSE:IBM) is already working in blockchain global payment solutions, so it’s only a matter of time before global currency transactions move on to the blockchain.

Blockchain technology is still in its infancy, so we have yet to see what distributed ledger tech is truly capable of.

Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!

Securities Disclosure: I, Ben Beard, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in contributed article. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.

Source: https://investingnews.com/daily/tech-investing/blockchain-investing/blockchain-already-delivering-real-world-results/

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Posted in All Recent Posts, Augusta Industries, Bitcoin, Blockchain stocks, Canadian Blockchain Stocks, HPQ-Silicon Resources Inc., Smallcap Blockchain stocks, St Georges Eco-Mining Technologies, ThreeD, ThreeD Capital | Comments Off on 3 Ways #Blockchain Is Already Delivering Real-world Results $IDK.ca $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Microsoft $MSFT and EY Are Rolling Out #Blockchain Technology for #Xbox $SX $SX.ca $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 3:47 PM on Friday, June 29th, 2018

It will expand to other products including Bing, MSN

4 hours ago

  • Microsoft and EY are partnering on a blockchain platform for publishing royalties.
  • If Microsoft and EY’s blockchain product is successful, it should shape the way video game developers, creators and publishers of all types earn money online

Last week, the companies debuted a content rights and royalties platform built on the blockchain, which will allow Microsoft and its partners to process millions of transactions in a faster and more reliable way.

Working with Microsoft and EY’s platform, publishers in music, gaming, television and other entertainment industries will someday be able to connect to the blockchain, where they can create and agree on business terms. When users buy content, those royalties are coded onto the blockchain based on the previously agreed upon conditions before the money is reviewed and distributed to the proper publishers. And it would all happen at a rapid pace. While it currently takes some businesses 45 days to translate clicks to money owed through a manual process, the blockchain program could process millions in a more automated fashion.

“Microsoft has an amazing experience if you buy a game on the Xbox,” Paul Brody, EY’s global innovation leader for Blockchain, said in an interview. “It’s pretty much a straightforward kind of click-and-buy activity for the end user.”

Behind the technology, however, is a lot of complexity, as there are thousands of different software vendors and publishing houses that have thousands of titles. These products are sold all around the world in different jurisdictions with all kinds of tax rules and different rules in the purchasing of contracts and payment agreements.

According to Brody, the system reduces the transaction cost for publishers by 99 percent and cuts Microsoft’s own operating costs in half.

“If you care about how your business is doing and you want to manage by how you’re actually driving the car and not looking 90 days back in the rear-view mirror, the value proposition is just incredibly compelling for the publishers,” he said.

The system is built on top of the Quorum blockchain, a blockchain protocol that has additional layers of privacy controls for enterprise businesses. The network is also built using Microsoft’s Azure Cloud.

For starters, the companies have partnered with Ubisoft and several other video game publishers to roll out the blockchain for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console. However, if all goes well, that could later be rolled out to other Microsoft properties including hardware, Bing search and the Azure marketplace. It could also even work for movie royalties.

“All these contracts—content contracts, search contracts, the hardware, intellectual property contracts—all of these are already managed by my team,” said Rohit Amberker, director of royalties and content operations at Microsoft. “So we’ve started with the gaming portfolio, but we will be expanding this to Bing, MSN, Surface and many others … So any time you have this intellectual property licensing contracts, this will eventually support all of those businesses.”

The transaction process currently used by Microsoft and its partners is very “painful,” said Amberker. That’s partially because of how complex and slow it is—each transaction without the blockchain takes a minute to complete. And when you have millions of transactions, that time quickly ads up.

The plan is to first take the software to larger publishers, which can in turn do the same with game developers, who will then be able to work with audio and video artists whose intellectual property goes into the games.

This isn’t Microsoft’s first foray into the blockchain. In February, the company debuted a blockchain-powered identity management software to help consumers maintain control of their own personal data rather than entrusting it to third parties.

Microsoft and EY also aren’t the only companies seeking to make transactions more trustworthy and efficient using the blockchain. Last week, IBM and Mediaocean debuted a blockchain-enabled ad network for tracking advertising transactions.

Source: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/microsoft-and-ey-are-rolling-out-blockchain-technology-for-xbox/

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Posted in All Recent Posts, Bitcoin, Blockchain stocks, Canadian Blockchain Stocks, Smallcap Blockchain stocks | Comments Off on Microsoft $MSFT and EY Are Rolling Out #Blockchain Technology for #Xbox $SX $SX.ca $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca

Major bank CEOs say #blockchain will underpin the financial industry ‘in five years’ $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:28 AM on Monday, June 4th, 2018
  • Banks have invested millions in developing blockchain applications in recent years, as part of a broader industry effort to try to cut costs and simplify their back-office processes.
  • Rather than a centralized system, blockchain allows multiple parties to have simultaneous access to a constantly updated ledger that cannot be changed.
  • “We believe there is huge promise in blockchain. It is early times in this technology but it can bring about more efficient processes,” Carlos Torres Vila, CEO of BBVA, told CNBC on Monday

Sam Meredith | @smeredith19

Apple, Facebook and other big tech can be a threat — or a partner: ING CEO   7 Hours Ago | 02:48

Blockchain technology could soon revolutionize the global banking industry, according to the chief executives of two major European lenders.

Banks have invested millions in developing blockchain applications in recent years, as part of a broader industry effort to try to cut costs and simplify their back-office processes. The technology, which is perhaps better known as the software powering cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, was initially treated with skepticism by international lenders.

However, the use of blockchain in the banking industry is increasingly viewed as a proficient way of reducing the risk of fraud, with some banks now hailing its potential.

“So, if you look at blockchain… I think the banks are really working on this now because the potential is so huge and if the top five, six global banks would put their minds to it and agree on a standard, you could force (that) standard onto the globe,” Ralph Hamers, chief executive of ING Group, told CNBC’S Arjun Kharpal at the Money 2020 fintech conference in Amsterdam on Monday.

“And I think that you can actually then get to a timeframe of five or six years in which this will work,” he added.

‘Huge promise’

Rather than a centralized system, blockchain allows multiple parties to have simultaneous access to a constantly updated ledger that cannot be changed. That makes cheating the system by faking documents, transactions or any types of information, nearly impossible.

Fascinating to see crossborder M&A in European banking back on center stage: BBVA   4 Hours Ago | 02:56

“We believe there is huge promise in blockchain. It is early times in this technology but it can bring about more efficient processes,” Carlos Torres Vila, CEO of BBVA, told CNBC on Monday.

When asked whether he was as optimistic as ING’s Hamers in predicting that blockchain technology could be rolled out throughout the industry over the next five years, Torres Vila replied: “I am, I think it does have that promise and I think that timeframe should be about right… but we will see how it develops.”

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/04/major-bank-ceos-say-blockchain-will-underpin-the-financial-industry-in-five-years.html

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Forget #Bitcoin: #Blockchain is the Future $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:52 AM on Tuesday, May 29th, 2018
By Nathan Reiff | May 27, 2018 — 5:55 AM EDT

Cryptocurrencies of all types make use of distributed ledger technology known as blockchain. Blockchains act as decentralized systems for recording and documenting transactions that take place involving a particular digital currency. Put simply, blockchain is a transaction ledger that maintains identical copies across each member computer within a network.

Any party is able to both review previous entries and record new ones, although most blockchain networks have complex rules for the addition of new groups of records, “blocks,” to the chain of previous records. The blocks and the contents within them are protected by powerful cryptography, which insures that previous transactions within the network cannot be either forged or destroyed. In this way, blockchain technology allows a digital currency to maintain a trusted transaction network without relying on a central authority. It is for this reason that digital currencies are thought of as “decentralized.” (See also: How Does Blockchain Work?)

While blockchain is most famous for its role in facilitating the rise of digital currencies over the past several years, there are also many other non-cryptocurrency uses for this technology. Indeed, some blockchain proponents believe that the technology could far outpace cryptocurrencies themselves in terms of its overall impact, and that the real potential of blockchain is only just now being discovered. As such, it’s likely that financial advisors and many others in the investing world will encounter blockchain technology much more in the years to come, whether it is linked with a specific cryptocurrency or if it’s being utilized in any number of other applications. Below, we’ll explore some of the most exciting and popular use cases likely to bring blockchain further into the world of mainstream business and finance.

Cross-Border Payments

Traditionally, the transfer of value has been both expensive and slow, according to a report by Deloitte, and especially for payments taking place across international borders. One reason for this is that, when multiple currencies are involved, the transfer process typically requires multiple banks in multiple locations before the intended recipient can actually collect his or her money. There are existing services to help facilitate this process in a faster way, but these tend to by quite expensive.

Blockchain technology has the potential to provide a much faster and cheaper alternative to traditional cross-border payments methods. Indeed, while typical money remittance costs might be as high as 20% of the transfer amount, blockchain may allow for costs as low as 2%, as well as guaranteed and real-time transaction processing speeds. There are hurdles to be passed, including regulation of cryptocurrencies in different parts of the world and security concerns. Nonetheless, this is one of the most promising and talked about areas of blockchain technology application. (For more, see: Bitcoin’s Most Profitable Use: the $600 Billion Overseas Remittance Business?)

Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are often seen as a highly powerful application of blockchain technology. These contracts are actually computer programs that can oversee all aspects of an agreement, from facilitation to execution. When conditions are met, smart contracts can be entirely self-executing and self-enforcing. For proponents of smart contracts, these tools provide a more secure, more automated alternative to traditional contract law, as well as an application that is faster and cheaper than traditional methods.

The potential applications of smart contract technology are essentially limitless and could extend to almost any field of business in which contract law would normally apply. Of course, while highly touted, smart contracts are not a magical substitute for old-fashioned diligence. In fact, the case of the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is a cautionary tale and a warning to investors to not assume that smart contracts are any better than the information and organization that a user puts into them. Nonetheless, smart contracts remain one of the most exciting ways that blockchain technology has already extended beyond the cryptocurrency space and into the broader business world. (See also: Understanding Smart Contracts.)

Identity Management

One of the most problematic results of the internet age has been identity security. As diligent as many individuals and organizations are in maintaining their online identities and securing private information, there are always nefarious actors looking to steal and profit off of these digital items. Blockchain technology has already demonstrated the potential for transforming the way that online identity management takes place.

Blockchain offers a tremendous level of security, thanks to independent verification processes that take place throughout member computers on a blockchain network. In digital currency cases, this verification is used to approve transactions before they are added to the chain. This mechanism could just as easily be applied to other types of verification procedures, including identity verification and many other applications as well.

At this point, blockchain is a technology with an exceptionally broad set of potential uses. Although blockchain is most famous for its connections to the blossoming cryptocurrency world, several other applications have already been explored. Perhaps even more exciting, though, is that new ways of utilizing blockchain emerge every day. As such, whether you are directly involved in the digital currency space or not, it’s essential to develop an understanding of blockchain and how it may be used to transform the business and investment worlds. (For additional reading, check out: All About Amazon’s New Blockchain Service.)

Read more: Forget Bitcoin: Blockchain is the Future | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/tech/forget-bitcoin-blockchain-future/#ixzz5GtuZEx4l

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St-Georges’ $SX.ca $SXOOF subsidiary, #ZeU Crypto Networks, Appoints Chief Architect $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:24 PM on Thursday, May 24th, 2018

Sx large

  • Subsidiary ZeU Crypto Networks Inc. has appointed Oliver Qian as Chief Architect
  • While serving as Chief Architect at ZTE Corporation since 2011, Mr. Qian led the 3,000-person CTO development department that was responsible for Cloud Computing, Data Platform and Mobile Internet platform projects
  • Blockchain is now in use in ZTE’s supply chain financial services, as well as, Nanjing City for government certificate verification and exchange

Montreal, Quebec / May 24, 2018 – St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. (CSE: SX) (OTC: SXOOF) (FSE: 85G1) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary ZeU Crypto Networks Inc. has appointed Oliver Qian as Chief Architect. While serving as Chief Architect at ZTE Corporation since 2011, Mr. Qian led the 3,000-person CTO development department that was responsible for Cloud Computing, Data Platform and Mobile Internet platform projects. During his tenure at ZTE he led the blockchain development team that implemented multi-chain smart contracts enabling two end users to use each other’s data without acquiring the data. The blockchain is now in use in ZTE’s supply chain financial services, as well as, Nanjing City for government certificate verification and exchange.

Prior to his tenure at ZTE, Mr. Qian served as a Director of Alibaba.com where he led a 200-person development team that was responsible for Alibaba’s technology platform. His key developments include the first generation of Alibaba’s distributed database middleware and a distributed micro service framework called Dubbo that was one of the most successful open source micro service frameworks in China.

Frank Dumas, President & Interim CEO of ZeU Crypto Networks stated “The appointment of Mr. Qian is a major first milestone for ZeU and serves as high level validation of both the quality of our blockchain technology and its capabilities. We look forward to watching him lead our current team of great developers towards building world class products.”

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

“Frank Dumas”

 

FRANK DUMAS, PRESIDENT & CEO

Medias & Regulators Only 514.295.9878

About St-Georges

St-Georges is developing new technologies to solve the some of the most common environmental problems in the mining industry.

The Company controls directly or indirectly, through rights of first refusal, all of the active mineral tenures in Iceland. It also explores for nickel on the Julie Nickel Project & for industrial minerals on Quebec’s North Shore and for lithium and rare metals in Northern Quebec and in the Abitibi region. Headquartered in Montreal, St-Georges’ stock is listed on the CSE under the symbol SX, on the US OTC under the Symbol SXOOF and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 85G1.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.

The release contains forwarding looking information and statements as defined by law including, without limitation, Canadian securities laws and the “safe harbor” provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“forward-looking statements”), respecting St-Georges’ plans to spin-out its subsidiary ZeU. which is intended to be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements including that the spin-out may not be completed as planned or at all due to failure to obtain shareholder or regulatory approval ,the inability to complete the Acquisition, raise sufficient capital to adequately fund ZeU or a decision of the board of St-Georges not to proceed, which decision can be made at any time prior to closing. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including, without limitation, assumptions about general business and economic conditions, the timing and receipt of required approval and continued availability of capital and financing. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained herein. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and St-Georges undertakes no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law.

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Why #Blockchain, Why Now? $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:17 AM on Friday, April 27th, 2018
  • Blockchains record trust like an atomic clock records time
  • Unlike trust, time marches ever forward and is irreversible 

Dante Disparte , Contributor

Burkley. Washington state. USA USA dollars bills in God we trust 29 December 2014. hoto by Francis Joseph Dean/Deanpictures) (Photo by Francis Dean/Corbis via Getty Images)

Blockchains record trust like an atomic clock records time. Unlike trust, time marches ever forward and is irreversible.  What if trust could be recorded in the same manner, with exactly the same accuracy and fidelity? Trust can be lost just as soon as it is gained because of our reliance on experiential, opaque and analog methods of recording it.  When someone says “trust me” it usually engenders doubt.  Blockchain technology can change that.  Each year for the last 18 years, Edelman, a global public relations firm, has issued a report called the Trust Barometer. While the study is a compelling snapshot in time of global attitudes and perceptions of trust in public and private institutions, the more interesting insights are gleaned by looking at this body of work longitudinally. By this measure, Edelman’s most recent Trust Barometer confirms the sentiments we have seen driving unprecedented outcomes in ballot boxes, on streets and in the market.

The surprising Brexit vote and the election of President Trump, which was a veritable trans-Atlantic echo where voters sowed the seeds of their distrust in status quo irrespective of the consequences, are two macro-level examples of the trust deficit.  Indeed, following the Brexit vote, search terms for “what is Brexit?” and more troublingly, “what is the EU?” spiked in the U.K., showing the combustible political mix of antiestablishment tendencies, blended with populism and two-speed economic recovery.  Many pollsters and analysts missed just how deep this wellspring of mistrust really is and only six newspapers in the U.S. were in favor of the antiestablishment candidate Trump. The erosion of institutional trust is borne, in no small measure, out of opacity, informational asymmetries and agency issues that prop up status quo and friction-laden institutions.  Other than climate change, extreme income inequality and pandemics, the global trust deficit may be one of the world’s direst challenges – noting that they are all interconnected.  The trust deficit is the wellspring that irrigates the seeds of political risk and social polarization reversing the course on globalization and multilateralism.

Against this complex backdrop, blockchains are no panacea, but with the right blend of leadership and institutional shifts from analog to digital, and eventually to decentralized structures, we can begin arresting the trust deficit.  Markets, customers, investors and other stakeholders have all grown tired of learning about the misdeeds of large organizations during rare glimpses of sunlight that creeps through the crevices. Recent examples include Equifax executives selling stock days after a massive breach was discovered that exposed nearly the entire U.S. workforce to a lifetime of identity and financial risk. The massive account rigging scandal at Wells Fargo is another recent example that conspired to fuel growing distrust and anger in the market. Companies and institutions are responding to this trust deficit in many ways, often with the opposite expected outcomes. Starbucks’ recent decision to close 8,000 its U.S. stores on May 29 in response to the wrongful arrest of two black patrons at a store in Philadelphia may be such an overreaction to regain trust. The slow and somewhat tone-deaf response from Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s media-shy CEO, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which may have had election-swaying impacts, certainly contributed to Facebook’s trust deficit.  Although counter-intuitively Facebook has enjoyed a 50% quarterly revenue gain, showing that the platform may be too big to avoid or there is a lag effect in the market.

This corporate trust deficit is not singularly a U.S. phenomenon, as the Volkswagen emission-rigging scandal confirmed the cynical view that in the pursuit of growth there is no triple bottom line.  Indeed, institutional misdeeds have shown that there may be no ethical lines at all in the pursuit of profit, power maximization and preservation.  From finance, to elections, to combating fake news or guaranteeing supply chain provenance, market participants are desperately searching for ways of asserting how trustworthy they are beyond corporate social responsibility, marketing initiatives and executive promissory statements. With the impressive wave of blockchain prototyping taking place in many sectors, the solution to this global trust deficit is beginning to see the light of day.  Indeed, some are beginning to argue – perhaps to blockchain’s detriment – that the mere mention of the technology confers a good housekeeping seal of trustworthiness – a veritable LEED certification of trust.

When blockchain, like the internet before it, fades to the background, it can begin changing the world.  For this to take place, many entrenched and centralized institutions, which have become the single points of failure in the global economy accruing an embarrassment of power and riches, will need to be transformed.  Blockchain will not take these bricks apart one by one, contrary to the whims of technology investors, crypto-utopians and speculators.  Rather, these groups will be forced to change by the growing trust deficit that is sandblasting the veneer from even the most sacrosanct institutions. If the internet created a world of low fiction communication, blockchain can create a world of low fiction value transfer, in no small measure because of the irrevocable way in which it records trust.

It is worth noting that bitcoin and the rise of cryptocurrencies as a trillion-dollar asset class in 2017, was spurred without the oversight of a central bank or monetary authority guaranteeing trust or market conduct. Code and the bitcoin blockchain achieved a level of trust that millions of people, thousands of regulators and hundreds of enforcement agencies around the world struggle to maintain – all in a fraction of the time, with a higher degree of security and an infinitesimally lower cost.  However, for the true impacts of this technology (like the internet before it) to take hold, the conversation needs to shift from how to why and the technology must recede. We are at the very crest of the blockchain hype cycle where there is a lot of sizzle, little steak and the occasional setback or indictments.  All of this denotes progress.

Unfortunately, entrenched centralized institutions from politics, business and civil society, have little interest in truly deconstructing their business models to withstand the trust age. This is a similarly perilous play as the traditional media firms that ignored the rise of their digital twins, or the box retailers that ignored the rise of Amazon – same outcomes, more efficient delivery.  Ever since the Bretton Woods system pegged the global economy to promissory statements made behind closed doors and affixed on physical currencies emblazoned with words like In God We Trust, trust became the world’s thrift.  This rules-based system is being challenged by the return of economic nationalism and trade wars.  Indeed, proto-currencies that predate their pecuniary and digital twins by many thousands of years relied on many of the same mechanics as the cryptocurrencies that are the latest offshoots of our need for trust-based value exchange.

The world is facing many deliberate and unintended distortions of our social, economic and political order.  In short, complex forces are arrayed against the institutions that sowed post-war stability and trust is the first casualty in this war.  Social media platforms, such as Twitter, which the U.S. president has come to rely on almost singularly to convey his political, military and economic messages, is rife with fake news inducing bots, which comprise nearly 50 million of the platform’s users driving an outsized volume of site traffic.  Facebook proved to be an efficient backdoor for micro-targeting the minds of millions of voters, further isolating people in information bubbles of their own “truth.”  An equally unprecedented wave of complex risks, from climate change to cyber threats, calls into question the value of citizenship in even the most powerful economies in the world.  Puerto Rico’s plight is very much the canary in the climate change coal mine.  60% of FEMA claims being denied to households in Puerto Rico due to challenges evidencing property ownership highlights the critical flaw of relying on paper-based analog records in a risk-prone digital world.  In this world, a dollar may be worthless, a vote uncounted, a politician unaccountable and a contract unenforceable.  Blockchain can bridge these gaps and shore up the erosion of trust.  To do this, adopting blockchain technology in large institutions that benefit from status quo is more about leadership and a frame of mind, than it is about technology or digital transformation.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dantedisparte/2018/04/26/why-blockchain-why-now/#db0fb1b4f428

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China And #Blockchain: Most Patents And More Governmental Funds $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:20 AM on Wednesday, April 11th, 2018
  • China already has the largest number of Blockchain patents in the world, beating global economies such as the US and Japan.
  • Moreover, the Chinese government has just funded another $1.6 bln Blockchain fund to finance more projects in the cryptocurrency space

Chinese government funds $1.6 bln Blockchain Initiative

On April 9, Chinese publication Sohu reported that the government of Hangzhou has decided to invest more than $400 mln in a Hangzhou-based venture capital firm known as Tunlan Investment, to facilitate the growth of Blockchain startups and projects.

Tunlan Investment, in cooperation with the Chinese government launched the Blockchain Industrial Park in Hangzhou, in an effort to spend over $1.6 bln on Blockchain projects, 30 percent of which will be funded by the local government. The initiative has already attracted advisors such as Zhenfund founder Xu Xiaoping, who has invested in projects like the Ethereum-based content distribution platform Steem and Lino.

The funding of the Blockchain Industrial Park in Hangzhou is the latest effort by the Chinese government to fund and grow Blockchain projects.

In Sept. 2017, the Chinese government imposed a complete ban on cryptocurrency trading and investment, terminating the relationship between financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges, and requesting local exchanges to move out of the country after seizing their services.

Consequently, Huobi and OKCoin rebranded to Huobi Pro and OKEx, as they relocated to Hong Kong. In April the two exchanges, which were formerly the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges in China prior to the cryptocurrency trading ban, expanded into South Korea, a market that has been rapidly growing over the past six months.

The recent initiative introduced by the Chinese government to finance Blockchain projects within China directly contradicts its decision to ban cryptocurrency trading seven months ago. At the time, the Chinese government stated that it considers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum as a threat to the central bank and the current financial system of China.

People’s Bank of China (PBoC) researcher and Central University of Finance and Economics professor Huang Zhen explained:

“The sovereign state is still the fundamental player in global politics, and carries with it the characteristics of the world financial system. Cryptocurrencies and other virtual currencies attempt to challenge the sovereign state’s right to issue currency, requiring the nationalization of currency issuance. China has a clear understanding of digital forms of money, and is actively engaging in relevant work. The central bank has set up a research group and a digital money research institute to explore the digitization of sovereign money.”

China is positive towards Blockchain technology

Despite the government’s acknowledgement of decentralized cryptocurrencies as a threat to its financial and monetary system, the Chinese government is leading efforts to fund local Blockchain projects because they have embraced the technology behind Bitcoin. The Chinese government emphasized on several occasions that Blockchain technology has potential to disrupt the global financial structure.

A recent paper released by state-owned newspaper The People’s Daily noted:

“The mainstream Blockchain technology platforms all originated from abroad. The domestic Blockchain technology service providers should patiently start from the ground floor to make technologies independent and controllable, and strive to lead global Blockchain technology development.”

Over the past year, the Chinese government has followed the roadmap by allowing domestic Blockchain projects to start from the ground floor to commercialize the Blockchain. This positive stance towards Blockchain technology also explains the recent effort by the government of Hangzhou to provide $400 mln to Blockchain projects.

Patents

According to Thomson Reuters and the World Intellectual Patent Organization, China has about 400 Blockchain-related patents, which it has garnered within the past two years. The US and Australia have the second largest number of blockchain patents with 110 and 40 respectively.

As Cointelegraph reported on April 1, Chinese companies have been utilizing Blockchain technology to lead pilot tests and process data in real-time and in a decentralized manner. AliPay and TencentPay, two of the biggest FinTech applications in China, have expressed their optimism towards implementing Blockchain-based payment systems, and some insurance companies have already started to use Blockchain.

JD.com, a major Chinese retailer is currently using Blockchain technology to track the shipping of domestic and international beef products, and insurance firm ZhongAn have been utilizing Blockchain-based systems to trace and monitor the life cycles of poultry.

“[JD.com plans to] partner with innovative Blockchain startups to build new businesses and create and test real-world applications of their technologies at scale. We are excited to work with some of the world’s most innovative startups to explore ways we can scale these cutting edge technologies for the future of retail and other industries, as well,” said JD.com in a statement.

The Chinese government is undergoing a learning curve. It has acknowledged that the Blockchain is a disruptive technology that could revolutionize a wide range of industries including finance. The government’s positive viewpoint towards Blockchain technology could potentially lead to friendlier cryptocurrency regulations.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/china-and-blockchain-most-patents-and-more-governmental-funds

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The Problems With #Bitcoin And The Future Of #Blockchain $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $AAO.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:10 AM on Thursday, March 29th, 2018

Saeed Elnaj , Forbes Councils

The author Henry Miller once said, “Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood.” And confusion seems to run rampant in many articles that criticise of blockchain, while the real problem is with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

There are key differences between Bitcoin and blockchain. Blockchain is a digitized, distributed and secure ledger that guarantees immutable transactions and solves the trust problem when two parties exchange value. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rely on blockchain to conduct transactions. Yet blockchain transcends cryptocurrencies and offers many solutions that are likely to disrupt numerous industries with some profound implications.

In a simple metaphoric comparison, blockchain is like an engine that can be used in airplanes, vehicles, elevators, escalators, washers and dryers. Bitcoin, meanwhile, is like the first Ford Model T that was manufactured in 1908. This fundamental difference helps in understanding the polymorphic value of blockchain and the problems with bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies.

One area of confusion about blockchain is the perceived negative environmental negative impact, but this is a problem specific to bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies. It is caused by the limitations of the decade-old design of bitcoin and due to Bitcoin’s mining process that requires a “proof of work” to validate transactions. Proof of work is a mathematical algorithm that is essential to validate transactions in the Bitcoin blockchain and consumes huge computational power and energy close to what Denmark consumes annually. Other cryptocurrencies operate differently. Ether, for example, uses the proof-of-stake concept, which is energy efficient, while the cryptocurrency ripple does not require mining.

Another misconstrued problem is blockchain’s slow performance, which is, again, a Bitcoin issue. Bitcoin’s network requires an average of 10 minutes to create a block, and it’s estimated that it can only manage seven transactions per second (TPS). Ethereum does better (20 TPS), and the IBM blockchain (1,000 TPS) and Ripple (1,500 TPS) are even more impressive.

There’s also discussion about the inability of financial institutions to adopt the blockchain technology, which is an issue with the financial institutions — not the technology.

But what is interesting is that there are additional and bigger problems specifically with regard to Bitcoin.

First, Bitcoin has a limited number of “coins” that amounts to 21 million BTCs when all the coins are mined by the year 2140. It’s likely that way before then, Bitcoin mining will not be profitable due to the high energy cost and expensive hardware needed for mining. The Bitcoin transaction fees will not be sufficient to keep the network going either. There are many theories in terms what might happen when mining stops, but the likely scenario could be that Bitcoin will not have the computing power needed to assure transactions, grinding the network to a halt. The question then, is, what will happen to the value of Bitcoin?

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/03/29/the-problems-with-bitcoin-and-the-future-of-blockchain/#3695222868dc

 

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