Despite its ongoing crackdown on crypto, China continues to embrace blockchain technology — up to the point of launching the National Blockchain Technology Innovation Center in the capital city of Beijing. According to the China Daily’s report from Feb. 8, the Center will create a research network with the local universities, think tanks and blockchain businesses to carry out the inquiries into core blockchain technologies. The fruits of this research will be used for further digitalization of China and, as emphasized in the report, its industry in particular. In charge of the new institution is the Beijing Academy of Blockchain …

China accounts for 84% of all blockchain applications filed worldwide, according to the latest data shared by the country’s government official. China has steered clear of the cryptocurrency market. However, the Beijing government has been supportive of the underlying blockchain technology. The country has actively promoted the use of blockchain tech over the years, and thus the high percentage of blockchain patents isn’t surprising. President Xi Jinping has also played a key role in promoting the nascent blockchain technology. In 2019, the President called upon citizens, tech companies and stakeholders of the ecosystem to actively participate and innovate with the …

Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer has dismissed sensational allegations from CryptoLeaks that his company used litigation to “harm” competitors and fool regulators, labeling it as “conspiracy theory nonsense.” Sirer made the comments in an Aug. 28 Twitter post to his 280,500 followers, referring to an Aug. 26 article from CryptoLeaks alleging the company formed a “secret pact” with U.S. law firm Roche Freedman to use the American legal system “gangster style” to “attack and harm crypto organizations." How could anyone believe something so ridiculous as the conspiracy theory nonsense on Cryptoleaks? We would never engage in the unlawful, unethical …

Since 2020, miners on the Ethereum blockchain have extracted around $600 million from other investors by miners, according to a new report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) focusing on common malpractice in the crypto mining industry. The June 16 bulletin, “Miners as intermediaries: extractable value and market manipulation in crypto and DeFi,” suggests three key takeaways from the BIS' research on the functioning of the Ethereum protocol. The first is hardly surprising, which observed that Ether (ETH) and the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols built on it “rely on validators or "miners" as intermediaries to verify transactions and update …

The Hedera Governing Council has accepted cloud-based digital workflow platform ServiceNow as its newest member. Hedera intends to integrate the Now Platform to create a new level of trust and accountability in digital transformation transactions. Hedera and ServiceNow will develop trusted processes based on digital ledger technology, or DLT, for interactions that span multiple companies, according to the company’s press release. ServiceNow is a cloud-based digital workflow platform that delivers outstanding customer experiences and unleashes employee productivity while also increasing business efficiency. Hedera “provides the most secure network connectivity and transaction processing in the world,” according to a company press …

Aleph.im, a blockchain-based storage and computing startup, has been selected to participate in the sixth season of Ubisoft’s Entrepreneurs Lab, offering further exposure to the emerging blockchain industry. The French video game developer has been running the Entrepreneurs Lab for the past six years, offering startups and entrepreneurs the ability to access company resources and expertise as they scale up and commercialize their products. This season’s focus is “blockchain and positive entertainment.” In addition to Aleph.im, 11 other startups from Canada, Europe and Australia have been selected to participate. “We are very proud to be welcoming all of these talented …

Singapore’s burgeoning blockchain industry has identified asset tracking and traceability as the top use case for distributed ledger technology, underscoring the need for better supply chain management in a post-pandemic world. The findings were presented Monday in the "2020 Singapore Blockchain Ecosystem Report" by PwC in collaboration with OpenNodes, IBM, Ernst & Young and others. The report, which is based on a July survey of industry players, “gives a qualitative overview of the key developments and trends in Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem.” When asked about the various applications of blockchain technology, 52% of respondents identified asset tracking and traceability — more …

Polkadot doesn’t have to be an “Ethereum killer” to succeed, according to protocol founder Gavin Wood. In a “fireside chat” with podcaster Laura Shin during the Polkadot Decoded business summit on Thursday, Wood was asked whether his protocol could exist alongside Ethereum given its lofty development goals and growing success in bringing on new developers. Wood acknowledged that the blockchain ecosystem is big enough for both protocols, but said Polkadot is essentially a “bet against blockchain maximalism.” He said the narrative surrounding Ethereum today is that “there only needs to ever be one blockchain,” but he added that he never …

IBM’s foray into the blockchain ecosystem is deepening with a new partnership to track supply chains in the textile and fashion industries. The Armonk, New York-based tech giant announced Monday that it’s teaming up with German textile manufacturer Kaya&Kato to develop a blockchain network that tracks the origin of fabrics used in the fashion industry. The new application will allow Kaya&Kato’s suppliers and customers to identify where their fabrics are processed, as well as understand each step of the production and distribution processes. IBM said: “The network is designed to create transparency about the origin of garments, from the fiber …