Illinois Blockchain Strategy: a new working group
The U.S.A. State has created a new Illinois Blockchain Working Group for integrating the technology within the government.
This working group, created at the beginning of 2016, includes several representatives from public agencies, including the Department of Innovation and Technology, Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the Department of Insurance.
Its main goal is identifying how the distributed ledger can improve government services and making it easier for users doing business with State agencies.
Director of the state’s Department of Insurance, Anne Melissa Dowling says her office is involved in a strong education campaign, to be the first agency in the U.S.A. to use the blockchain.
“Right now we’re trying to determine if we become a first mover in this space by developing a distributed ledger vision for government. But we’re doing a lot of listening and learning.”
During an interview, she explained that the distributed ledger can be used to make it easier relationships among Illinois insurance companies, regulators and policy holders.
So, the state wants to explore how the ledger can help to speed up this process.
“In concept its an absolutely beautiful thing. But we need to have a little more experience we need to spend a little more time with the data.”
Illinois Blockchain and Regulators
William Mougayar, author of “The Business Blockchain”, said that a semi-private blockchain developed by the state would be a strong basis to welcome in market stakeholders. According to him, the real challenge will be getting regulators on board, or the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
“I suspect that the regulatory aspect is a more critical hurdle that will need to be addressed,” he said.
At the moment Dowling and her group are still thinking about the options they have. She explained that she studying the technology and its potential use cases for her agency, so she’s still learning more and more about the blockchain.
As part of that process, Dowling will participate in a blockchain regulatory panel held in Chicago on November 8th and she says that her first goal will be learing as much as possible.
Also, Dowling comments she is observing working models that can explain how blockchain can be implemented in insurance groups.
These were here words:
“These efforts are really on behalf of consumers to ensure we can serve them in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Illinois wants to look at everything possible to achieve that goal.”
Credit: Coidesk.com
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Blockchain Insurance: applications for insures
Five major European companies will work on a blockchain insurance project to provide faster and safer services to their clients.
This project, called the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative (B3I), has the goal of testing use cases that could help the insurance sector.
To do so, in fact, Allianz, Aegon, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich, or the biggest companies of this field, are working to provide a meeting ground to exchange ideas with this objective: improving the insurance service and creating a new method of doing business.
“We want to be at the heart of these developments and see Blockchain as one of those potential catalysts for change. By actively creating partnerships and making strategic investments we can build smarter solutions together with our clients,” explained Mark Blook, chief technology officer at Aegon.
Allianz – which has already explored smart contracts for catastrophe bonds exchange and has already worked with fintech startups – belives that the distributed ledger can allow them to help transparency for their users.
“This initiative, enabling alternative operating models based on the Blockchain technology, can help us increase transparency and efficiency and deliver a better experience to our customer,” commented Allianz Group COO Christof Mascher.
Those 5 companies said they hope that other brands in the insurance and reinsurance industries will join the project with them.
According to a press release, the mai objective is taking advantage use cases “across the entire insurance value chain”.
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Bitcoin Segwit: scaling solution in November
Bitcoin Segwit was announced in December and it was one of the most awaited software versions since the beginning of the bitcoin creation.
And it is likely to happen on November 15th.
The Bitcoin Segwit, in fact, could solve the block size debate as the block size will become bigger and the bitcoin scalability could improve.
Ciphrex CEO and Bitcoin Core spokesman, Eric Lombrozo explained that users can expect an increase of capacity of 1.8 times.
However, bitcoin segwit main goal is to solve the malleability of transactions, one network aspect that has been controversial since the Mt Gox collapse back in 2014, when this “malleability” problem was used as a scapegoat.
Bitcoin segwit could solve a major part of the block debate, without a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol. Transactions would tell miners that anyone can spend them, no signature required, while also including strings of seemingly meaningless text.
Old nodes confirm these transactions, ignoring these odd directions and gibberish.
Newer nodes would translate the extra text into instructions, telling them to collect signatures and store them in a completely new part of the transaction, called the Segregated Witness.
Lombrozo, in fact, believes that the benefits of switching to segwit are sufficient to encourage developers to adapt their own software to the new segwit solution.
“Not only they will be able to use the increased capacity offered by segwit and pay lower fees, but also they will be able to support other functions that will be enabled later by segwit with minor updates,” he said.
To better understand what the Bitcoin Segwit is, read here an insightful infographic.
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How to convert bitcoin into euro in a few steps
How does funding for Holytransactions work?
HolyTransaction is a multi-currency wallet that allows you to store, send, receive, and exchange numerous cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. To utilize HolyTransaction, you must first fund your wallet with the cryptocurrency of your choice.
You may fund your HolyTransaction wallet in two ways:
Depositing cryptocurrency: You can deposit cryptocurrency into your HolyTransaction wallet by sending it from another wallet or exchange. To do so, go to your HolyTransaction account’s “Wallet” section and select the cryptocurrency you want to deposit. Finally, select “Deposit” to obtain the wallet address for the desired coin. Copy this address and use it to transfer funds from another wallet or exchange to your HolyTransaction wallet.
Bank Transfer: To do so, go to your HolyTransaction account’s “Deposit” section and select the currency you want to deposit. Finally, select “Bank Transfer” and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the transfer. You must give personal information such as your name, address, and bank account information.
How to convert Bitcoin into Euro using HolyTransaction:
- Go to the HolyTransaction website at https://holytransaction.com/ and log in to your account. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up for one by clicking on the “Sign up” button on the top right corner of the website and filling in the required details.
- Once you’re logged in, click on the “Wallet” button on the top left corner of the website. This will take you to your wallet page where you can see your Bitcoin balance.
- Click on the “Send” button next to your Bitcoin balance. This will take you to the “Send Bitcoin” page.
- In the “Send Bitcoin” page, enter the amount of Bitcoin you want to convert into Euro in the “Amount” field. You can also select the currency you want to convert your Bitcoin into by clicking on the “Currency” dropdown menu and selecting Euro.
- Next, enter the recipient’s wallet address in the “To” field. If you’re not sure about the recipient’s wallet address, you can click on the “Address Book” button to select an address from your saved addresses.
- Review the transaction details to make sure everything is correct, including the amount, recipient’s address, and currency conversion rate.
- Once you’re ready to complete the transaction, click on the “Send” button. HolyTransaction will deduct the Bitcoin from your wallet and convert it into Euro at the current exchange rate.
- Your Euro balance will now be visible in your HolyTransaction wallet. You can use this balance to send Euro to other wallets or withdraw it to your bank account.
That’s it! You’ve successfully converted your Bitcoin into Euro using HolyTransaction.
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US Federal Reserve studies Blockchain
The US Federal Reserve studies Blockchain as “this may represent the most significant development in many years in payments, clearing, and settlement.”
According to governor Lael Brainard, in fact, this technology could be very disruptive for the financial system.
During her speech at the Institute of International Finance in Washington, D.C., she explained that the Federal Reserve studies Blockchain to study and test the technology for a next-generation payment and settlement system.
“We are paying close attention to distributed ledger technology, or blockchain, recognizing this may represent the most significant development in many years in payments, clearing, and settlement.”
Brainard’s speech came a week after Janet Yellen commented that the distributed ledger could have a “significant impact” on the fintech industry. Also, she explained that the central bank is “trying to understand digital currencies and other blockchain applications”.
During her speech, Brainard commented on the various use cases of the blockchain in financial field, as well as talked about the potential risks.
“Like many new financial technologies, distributed ledgers could ameliorate or exacerbate traditional financial risks,” she explained.
Federal Reserve studies blockchain: a whitepaper will be published soon
Also, Brainard said that the Federal Reserve will publish a whitepaper on the blockchain by the end of this year.
Furthermore, the central bank will continue to study and discuss the tech with both private and public sector stakeholders.
To read more about Federal Reserve involvment in the fintech field, click here.
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Blockchain Europe: Europol studies the ledger
Blockchain Europe
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Bank of England Blockchain: how to explore fintech
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Hong Kong Central Bank will test Blockchain
“Neutral ground” Hong Kong central bank will test blockchain
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Why governments should embrace the Blockchain
How governments should embrace the Blockchain
- Verification: licenses, proofs of records, transactions, processes or events.
- Movement of assets. E.g. Transferring money from one person/entity to another.
- Ownerships: the blockchain is a perfect ledger to custody any asset.
- Blockchain can be used to give e-identities to its citizens, enabling a safer kind of voting.
- Study the blockchain and explore its potential.
- Let people develop a blockchain strategy.
- Start experimenting with blockchain technology
- Develop new ideas to improve the quality of life of the citizens
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