According to a report by market research firm HFS Research, blockchain technology will play a decisive role in establishing the future “hyperconnected economy.” A report excerpt recently released by HFS for Big Four auditing EY suggests that “we are hurtling toward a hyperconnected economy, and blockchain will provide the way to make it happen.” Blockchain facilitates large-scale collaboration The report explains that entire ecosystems are being developed across the services offered by different organizations. The researchers claim that “no single organization owns the entire customer experience, and competitors and peers need to figure out how to collaborate.” The tool which …

Max Crowdfund, a blockchain-powered real estate crowdfunding platform connecting property developers and investors, has received approval from the Financial Markets Authority in the Netherlands. With approval from the AFM, Max Property Group — the platform’s parent company — will commence the platform’s roll-out in partnership with distributed ledger technology provider Jelurida. Investors pay a one-time fee equal to 0.1% of their investment, in addition to monthly administration fees of 0.1%. The fees will be used to purchase and burn MPG’s utility tokens. Max Crowdfund attracts 70,000 users pre-launch The platform seeks to democratize real estate investment, with investors able to …

Platform business models have become all but the de facto business model for the digital economy. This dependence means that unsustainable practices of platform business models impact the overall sustainability of the digital economy. Regarding the generation of network effects, platform business model owners would be well-advised to consider blockchain-based tokenization. Platforms generate value by creating marketplaces where participants can easily transact. By digitally matching supply with demand, platform business models provide a scalable base for new value propositions, novel revenue models or a means to build on the assets of private individuals. Network effects are crucial to success The …

As the human race evolves, our means of exchanging value also continuously develops. From the barter system that dates back to 6,000 B.C. to the present-day use of fiat currency, the human race has been on a nonstop journey toward creating more efficient exchange methods. Factors such as convenience, availability, stability and sustainability have played crucial roles in the evolution of exchange methods. What is fiat currency? Fiat currency is essentially paper money backed solely by the government’s word and central bank regulations. It became the preferred method of exchange globally at the expense of other methods such as commodity-based …

Eftpos Australia, the country’s leading point-of-sale technology provider, has announced a partnership with distributed ledger technology (DLT) firm Hedera to conduct a micropayments proof-of-concept using an Australian dollar stablecoin. Eftpos chief executive Stephen Benton described the collaboration with Hedera as part of a broader digital payments innovation strategy intended to modernize Australia’s payment sector. The pilot aims to demonstrate how micropayments can be used to offer innovative payment solutions, such as “pay per page content or streaming services on a pay-per-second basis.” The proof-of-concept will be powered by an Australian dollar stablecoin through Hedera’s consensus service. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Robert …

Gibraltar Finance has been announced as an official partner of the upcoming Post-COVID Hackathon — a global, online initiative intended to create open-source solutions addressing the health, social and economic challenges posed by the post-COVID-19 era. The event is expected to see participation from hundreds of teams internationally building in the distributed ledger technology (DLT) sector, with over 200 industry experts slated to assist participants. Albert Isola, Gibraltar’s Minister for Digital and Financial Services, expressed pride in the government’s involvement with the hackathon, stating that “the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a range of new global challenges.” “I am …

United Kingdom cryptocurrency custodian Copper announced support for United States dollar transfers through Signature Bank’s Signet blockchain payment platform. According to an announcement on July 20, the integration of Signature Bank’s Signet will allow Copper’s customers to instantly pay and settle transactions in U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies. The integration will “vastly reduce the time and other issues that asset managers face in transferring traditional currencies” between bank accounts and trading environments. Crypto exchanges Bitstamp, Huobi, Kraken, OKCoin and LMAX are already integrated with both Signet and Copper. The collaboration is part of a broader trend Copper CEO Dmitry …

Famed Silicon Valley and crypto investor Tim Draper believes that distributed ledger technology is transforming the art industry. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Draper emphasized the benefits that many of the core utilities of DLT offer to the art sector, such as immutability, transparency, and traceability: “People are going to be able to tokenize their art, and that will make buyers of art more secure in their purchase decision, and make artists happier about knowing where their art is and who owns it.” Fractional ownership disrupts art industry Draper also noted the emergence of “a cottage industry growing for people to own …

The Technology Advisory Committee, or TAC, a technology consultative wing of the CFTC, plans to conduct a remote gathering on July 16, addressing a number of talking points, as noted in a recently-unveiled meeting agenda. "At this meeting, the TAC will hear presentations from the TAC subcommittees on Automated and Modern Trading Markets, Distributed Ledger Technology and Market Infrastructure, Virtual Currencies, and Cybersecurity," the CFTC said in a July 14 statement. The CFTC released the meeting outline The CFTC's statement included a breakdown of the July 16 phone-based meeting. "The TAC meeting agenda includes key issues that will be discussed …

Better Business Bureau, or BBB — the charity giant behind Give.org — launched a privacy-focused donation platform built on the Ardor (ARDR) blockchain. According to a July 4 announcement, BBB’s charity monitoring organization Wise Giving Alliance launched blockchain-powered donation platform, GiveSafely.io. The platform uses distributed ledger technology to facilitate donations to BBB-accredited charities while ensuring donor data is only shared when permitted: “The platform also aims to restore trust in the online donation model, address concerns people have about misuse of their personal data and potential hacks. All personal information is stored on the Ardor blockchain and is only accessible …

The world is eagerly waiting for a next-generation, high-performance, permissionless blockchain, and this blockchain should be able to industrially scale all decentralized applications. So far, the crypto community has witnessed: Peer-to-peer blockchain networks that use all the peers to validate transactions and provide computation and storage — or traditional blockchains — such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. P2P blockchain networks that shard transactions, computation and storage — or sharding blockchains — such as Ethereum 2.0 and Zilliqa. Sharding mechanisms give hope for unlimited, sustainable scalability of blockchains, but many people in the blockchain space strongly believe that the scalability or sharding …

COVID-19 has become a defining moment in the course of our society, but the impact of the pandemic can be seen through its effects on the economy and society in general. From the perspective of a Bitcoin (BTC) investor, there are many things to consider. Coronavirus emergent patterns determine how the infection spreads and sets the society on a particular course into the future. The impact of the novel coronavirus on consumer society has been tremendous. The effect has mostly been seen as the closure of workplaces, resulting in people either working from home, getting laid off or in some …