12 Apr
0
Ethereum Used for Paid Energy
An American resident used the Ethereum blockchain to sell energy to his neighbors.
The two men did the transaction through the LO3, a startup that aims at changing the energy industry.
Lawrence Orsini, founder at LO3, explained that his startup wants to show how people can use the blockchain daily to facilitate their peer-to-peer exchange.
During an intereview with Coindesk, Orsini commented:
“All the projects that we’re working on are squarely focused on the emerging distributed economy, peer to peer concepts. They’re all squarely focused on distributing and decentralizing assets into communities, into people’s hands, the new economy of the future.”
Thanks to LO3 and ConsenSys, the American resident Eric Frumin had the chance to sell renewable energy directly to Bob Sauchelli, the former program manager at EnergyStar.
The energy created by Frumin’s solar panel is tracked on the blockchain.
Sauchelli commented:
“With this arrangement, I’m going to pay him the whole premium, it won’t cost me anymore. I’m going to pay him what I’d pay the power company, but he’s going to get the whole premium, not just the wholesale rate”.
Bitcoin for Electricity
It’s not the first time we hear about electricity sold for cryptocurrencies and tracked through the blockchain.
In fact, during the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge it was presented a new startup called Usizo, a crowdfunding company who is trying to improve energy payments between users and schools in the African country.
Read more about Usizo here.
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7 Apr
0
Red Hat to help blockchain related startups
Yesterday Red Hat announced its idea to start its OpenShift blockchain that aims at helping financial companies with their initiatives related to the disruptive distributed ledger.
Thanks to OpenShift, Red Hat users can create blockchain applications using tools provided by indipendent sellers and with the support of Red Hat’s Openshift Dedicated program.
How Openshift works
OpenShift Dedicated wants to help the startups related to blockchaintech, fintech ISVs, and traditional financial companies to begin their blockchain-based projects.
“A lot of folks in the market are looking to deploy on the big cloud providers, Amazon, Google, Microsoft. There are many companies offering cloud support”, Tapia commented.
Tapia clarified that OpenShift Dedicated is available on Amazon and will soon be available on Google and Microsoft Azure as well.
During a recent interview, director of OpenShift, Julio Tapia, explained that the company wants to use its own experience in the open source sector related to blockchain technology.
These were his words:
“We want to position ourselves with not only customers and partners, but leverage solutions developed in the entire ecosystem, taking all the innovation going on in the industry, maturing it for an enterprise market and making sure all the solutions can be launched and supported.”
Red Hat with Hyperledger
Previously, in February, Red Hat announced its partnership with the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger project, “an open source platform to advance the blockchain digital technology for recording and verifying transactions”, according to the press release.
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6 Apr
0
Artificial intelligence connected to the blockchain thanks to IBM
IBM is working on an artificial intelligence that will use the blockchain.Thanks to the possibilities offered by the blockchain in terms of value exchange, the IBM artificial intelligence will be able to analyze tons of data in a small portion of time.
During the past months, IBM studied how to introduce the blockchain technology to its artificial computer called Watson.
And thanks to Tim Hahn this will happen for real. He explained to CoinDesk:
“What we’re doing with blockchain and devices is enabling the information those devices supply to effect the blockchain…You begin to approach the kind of things we see in movies.”
The blockchain applications will include the possibility to allow devices to perform tasks at a certain set time.
Also, the devices wil be registered on the blockchain and – thanks to smart contracts – different types of access will be created, allowing lots of functionalities and customization.
For example, thanks to the blockchain, Watson software could be updated remotely.
“You better be ready to actively update your devices throughout the lifecycle of your devices. Vulnerabilities will be discovered long after the device is released”, commented Hahn.
Unfortunately Watson is still in a development phase and we don’t have more details about this disruptive invention.
“Its early days and we’re just playing around with prototypes now”, explained Hahn.
IBM invests in the Internet of Things
It was March when IBM announced its decision to invest $3bn to build an entire office that would be dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT), or the smart connection between devices and Internet.
In a press release IBM explained that the company predicted to earn $235bn by the end of 2016 and an increase of 22% from 2014.
The statement also predicted 6.4 billion devices that will be used worldwide within the end of 2016, an amount that will reach 20.8 billion in 2020.
Previous statement
IBM, in fact, is also working on the Hyperledger Project, an open-source blockchain led by The Linux Foundation. Presented in December, this project stars thirty companies including ABN Amro, CME Group, Red Hat and several blockchain startups.
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5 Apr
0
BNP Paribas to develop a blockchain project
Today BNP Paribas Group has announced a new partnership that aims at allowing private companies to issue securities through the blockchain ledger.
The partnership is between BNP Paribas Securities Services and SmartAngels, a crowdfunding platform that will help BNP Paribas in a pilot project to be launched within the end of 2016.
According to a press release, BNP Paribas will develope and manage a ledger for shares in companies through the blockchain.
The main goal is to allow non-listed companies crowdfunded on SmartAngels to issue their shares on the primary market, and allow investors an access to the secondary market based on blockchain technology.
The BNP press release explained:
“Investor payments will be processed immediately and e-certificates will be issued to them straight away. Financial transactions made via the platform will therefore be performed simply, quickly, securely and for a lower cost.”
BNP Paribas believes in the Blockchain
BNP Paribas is not new in the blockchain sector.
A few months ago, in fact, BNP confirmed its belief in distributed ledger technology for financial purposes and announced that they were working on blockchain technology.
Also, BNP Paribas previously created their blockchain Bizhackathon, with the objectives of finding use cases for distributed ledger technology in the banking system.
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1 Apr
0
HolyTransaction Bitcoin Roundup March 2016
Welcome to HolyTransaction’s third monthly recap for the new year of 2016. This past month of March has been marked by continued interest in blockchain from everywhere; during that time, the bitcoin price rose from a high of $435.23 on March 1st to a low of $414.66 on March 31st, according to Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp.
It’s time to Blockchain-ize things like sneakers with Chronicled
A new blockchain startup, Chronicled, is planning to blockchain-ize the growing multi billion dollar industry that is sneakers. The company has raised $3.4 million on Crunchbase for its mission. The phenomenon of thousand dollar shoes for the male market has somewhat been predicted by similar economic pressures in shoes for females. Chronicled will use the blockchain to bring accountability and cleaner profits to this and other similarly affected industries.
Even Disney wants a piece of the blockchain action
The most recent surprise blockchain job opening is from Disney. While the corporate giant has many diversified products, this is a prime example of blockchain technology’s ability to help any company save in the middle and back office. Disney also probably has an interest in forever securing their rights via multiple blockchains.
VISA is planning its own blockchain for internal use. They are hiring an engineer/developer to help them and are also working with Chain.com. VISA believes that this area will have a critical impact on the future of the industry and wants to get ahead of the curve. Other companies from around the world that are creating blockchain labs and teams include Hitachi, Phillips, and even Walt Disney.
Ethereum’s newest version, Homestead, has officially launched. The price of ether was very volatile around the release of this software as new users rushed in. Homestead replaces Frontier, and allows users to begin using the smart contract technology. Already, companies are being built around the Ethereum blockchain.
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31 Mar
0
Disney wants to the develop its private Blockchain
The Walt Disney Company has announced its decision to develop a private blockchain.
Some days ago, in fact, the company published a job post for a “Disney Private Blockchain Intern” in Seattle, Washington within the Disney Technology Solutions and Services Business office.
But the job post has now disappeared, so probably this means that the position has already been occupied.
The job proposal
These are the words of the original job post.
“The Disney Private Blockchain team assists business segment users and developers research and develop software mechanisms to protect privacy in distributed ledger participation. DTSS Engineering Services (Keystone and DPBC) applications and services. We provide the support, consulting, and solutions to meet the tactical needs of our customer’s business”.
The main goal is security
So, the Disney Private Blockchain team will research and develop a software that aims at protecting privacy, but unfortunately Disney didn’t reveal more details about the blockchain network.
We only know that the project is about designing and implementing an access control using blockchain technologies for Disney Corporate, ABC, ESPN, Disney Interactive and Walt Disney Productions.
More companies studying the blockchain
Recently we read about lots of important and worldwide companies who decided to invest in the blockchain and/or in bitcoins.
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30 Mar
0
Dutch Central Bank to develop its DNBCoin Blockchain
According to a recent press release, the Dutch Central Bank planned to develop a new blockchain called “DNBCoin”.
On March 16th, De Nederlandsche Bank published the 2015 annual report where they explained this blockchain project.
For DNB the blockchain technology will be able to improve its business, but the report doesn’t give details on the project, not even a release date or the goals, yet.
DNB only describes the projects as a “prototype coin based on blockchain technology” that “aims for 2016”.
On the report the blockchain is described as a possible cost-saver in the financial industry, even if the DNB commented that it’s early to say what possible applications it could have in the future.
The report explains:
“Blockchain technologies can affect the revenue models of banking systems, they can also benefit with new ways to generate revenue and reduce costs.”
Payments and banking consultant Simon Lelieveldt commented:
“So when we now see central banks moving forward in the electronic cash domain (now conveniently labelled: blockchain/FinTech) it might be to no longer spin it off to the market, but to create a permanent digital replacement of cash. Therefore, this time it might be different.”
Banks and blockchain: love or hate?
Recently lots of central banks from all around the world are suggesting that the blockchain can be useful to release more centralized digital currencies, even if central banks declared that it is impossible to predict the development of cryptocurrencies without a proper legalization and regulation.
You can read more about central banks and blockchain by clicking on the titles below.
Also, here you can read the ISITC Survey Results about the the financial services progress which gives also a specific forecast on how the industry will be during the current year.
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25 Mar
0
How the blockchain could help email security
BitMessage
Every day we send thousands of emails and such communication has become a daily routine and a MUST for any person and company.
But options to secure communications are not so common and strong. Also, the existing services are too difficult for people to use and they should use a trusted channel.
This is the reason why it has been opened the open source project called BitMessage, a service who helps to decentralize and encrypt messages and solves the problem of trusting a third party security authority.
But BitMessage doesn’t use the bitcoin blockchain, but a distributed ledger created by the BitMessage Community itself.
How it works
Thanks to BitMessage and its wallet, you will be able to create a private key and your contacts will receive a string that look like a bitcoin address.
This way you will have a long alphanumeric string among your contact lists instead of email addresses, and you need a proof-of-work to send your message, even offline.
In fact, BitMessage proposes a system where customer uses a hash of a public key that it is the same as the user’s address. “If the public key can be obtained by the underlying protocol, then it can easily be hashed to verify that it belongs to the intended recipient. The data exchanged by the user can also include a version number for forwards capability, a stream number and a checksum”, explained the whitepaper.
Here you can read the full whitepaper, in which BitMessage is described as a “peer-to-peer message authentication and delivery system” platform.
The invention
BitMessage was opened in November 2012 by Jonhatan Warren, who also created PyBitmessage, or the official instant messaging client for BitMessage.
Technical details
Its source code use Python as a language and the Qt cross-platform application framework; OpenSSL allows its cryptographic functions. BitMessage is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
Unfortunately, it is not available for mobile devices.
Download the latest version here !
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24 Mar
0
Chronicled will Blockchain-ize the sneakers market
One of the most interesting blockchain applications is the proof-of-ownership, and in this sector there is an always increasing number of new startups.
One of the latest to stand out in this scenario is called Chronicled that works in the sneakers market for collectors of this kind of product.
To do so, recently Chronicled raised $3.4 m in two rounds from seven investors on the Crunchbase platform.
According to some estimates, the collectible shoes market has a value of $1.2 billion in the US, even if the most part of users is composed by teenager males.
Ryan Orr CEO at Chronicled said to CoinDesk:
“The challenge with an authenticity platform lies in getting to scale. Clearly customers could scan collectible items, men’s fashion, women’s fashion, with their smartphone, and know they would be getting a legit item. But how do you build a niche? We reviewed about 30 different market verticals when we launched the company.”
How it works
Chronlicled provides a custom chip, which has a private key that provides a blockchain-based record.
“With the encrypted chips we put into the luxury items, we have an unhackable link between the blockchain and the physical item. Whereas as if you just have a digital record of an item without a unique ID, without encrypting a link between the item and the record, you really haven’t solved the problem,” explained Orr.
Chronicled’s goal is to sell the chips and also analytics about products and customers, that both producers and distributors sellers can use for their objectives.
Chronicled can also be helpful during sneaker conventions, where the company will be able to have some authenticators that can identify counterfeited shoes and help customers to transfer their authentic sneakers through the Chronicled app.
What kind of Blockchain?
Ryan Orr commented that Chronicled has not yet chosen the blockchain platform it will use to support the service.
Orr said that Chronicled has done tests on the bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains, but they are still exploring other distributed ledgers.
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22 Mar
0
Smart Contracts through Rootstock, Ethereum and Bitcoin thanks to RSK Labs
Some days ago Rootstock received $1m in seed funding for its own blockchain startup called RSK Labs who provides smart contracts through the bitcoin distributed ledger and compatible with the Ethereum platform.
The funding came from the bitcoin mining company Bitmain Technology and from the bitcoin companies Coinsilium and Digital Currency Group (DCG).
During a recent interview, Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, CEO at RSK Labs, commented they aim at building a blockchain platform for bitcoin miners and for developers.
Zaldivar said to CoinDesk:
“Our idea is to leverage everything that has been built by the community so far. Not only on the network effect of bitcoin, because the miners will have an additional revenue stream by merge-mining Rootstock, but by providing Ethereum developers a place to build their applications.”
Probably RSK Labs will launch its platform within the end of 2016.
Smart contracts with the Blockchain
Even if the RSK Labs is very good news, the most important thing we can learn from this event is the interesting development of contracts managed through the blockchain.
Smart contracts were originally proposed 20 years ago by the famous cryptographer Nick Szabo.
A decentralized blockchain with smart contract applications can allow a global financial inclusion, new democratic political systems and the improve of the Internet of things.
In fact, smart contracts are technology protocols that verify and ease the stipulation of a contract.
This way smart contracts can provide a better security compared to a traditional contract and allow a significant reduction in transaction fees. Also, smart contracts can provide a service with less risks and without central counterparties.
To know more about smart contracts and RSK, read this article.
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