A recent report from the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA) highlights how the Ethereum ecosystem has matured to a point where the network can be used by businesses to solve real-world problems. From supply chain management use cases to payment solutions utilized by companies like Visa and PayPal, the report demonstrates how the Ethereum network has grown to become one of the most valued public blockchains. Although notable, the EEA report also points out that the rapid growth of the Ethereum ecosystem has created a number of challenges for companies, specifically regarding energy consumption, scalability and privacy. For example, the document …

Companies on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) could be able to trade tokenized bonds, equities, funds, or carbon credits after a successful proof-of-concept trial led by the digital asset investment platform Zerocap. On Monday, Melbourne-based digital asset investment platform Zerocap told Cointelegraph it had successfully used Synfini to bridge over its custody infrastructure onto the platform as part of a trial program, allowing for the trading and clearing of Ethereum-based tokenized assets. The trial is part of ASX’s distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based settlement project Synfini which was launched in November. The platform offers clients access to ASX’s DLT infrastructure, data …

Developers and communities will be able to deploy their own sovereign, custom-made blockchains at the “click of a button” says Celestia co-founder Ismail Khoffi. Speaking with Cointelegraph at Korean Blockchain Week 2022 last week, Khoffi said that the project’s vision is to decouple the consensus and application execution layers to unlock new possibilities for decentralized app builders. Celesita is basically a stripped back minimalist layer one blockchain that offers users the infrastructure that makes it easy to deploy their own blockchain, or layer two rollup. in the future, we’ll all be able to have our own blockchains. and it represents …

Natural disasters in the United States are becoming more prevalent, resulting in increasing costs, a lack of transparency between state and government organizations, and a slew of other issues impacting relief systems. The Pew Research Center found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) public assistance program spent 23% more on natural disasters between 2010 and 2019 than it did from 2000 to 2009. Data from Climate.gov further shows that 2021 was the third-costliest year in history for natural disasters in the U.S., totaling over $145 billion in damages from 20 weather-related incidents. But as disasters become more common and …

One reason is that blockchain’s use of a decentralized ledger offers insight into the workings of AI systems and the provenance of the data these platforms may be using. As a result, transactions can be facilitated with a high level of trust while maintaining solid data integrity. Not only that, but the use of blockchain systems to store and distribute AI-centric operational models can help in the creation of an audit trail, which in turn allows for enhanced data security. Furthermore, the combination of AI and blockchain, at least on paper, seems to be extremely potent, one that is capable …

Ankr, one of the industry’s fastest RPC providers and web3 developer toolsets, has announced that it will become a remote procedure call provider for Optimism. Optimism is an open-source layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that focuses on speed and efficient transactions across the network. It has caught the eyes of many in recent months, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. This is a great example of why I'm so proud of @optimismPBC for adding non-token governance (the Citizen House). Optimism explicitly has goals *other* than just "make OP go up", and the only way to do that long-term is with explicit …

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of both Ethereum & Bitcoin Magazine, took to Twitter to share his thoughts on non-financial use cases for blockchain technology. In a paper titled “Where to use a blockchain in non-financial applications?” Buterin expressed a growing interest in using blockchain technology outside of the financial industry. He noted that while other industries have been slow to adopt the technology, he can “see the value of blockchains in many situations.” Where to use a blockchain in non-financial applications?https://t.co/T6jlAzCvew Big thanks to @pujaohlhaver @shreyjaineth for review! You should also check what they have to say; they have some unique …

An International Monetary Fund study on energy consumption has reveale the importance of design choices within the crypto ecosystem to build an environmentally friendly mainstream payment system. In the study, titled “Digital Currencies and Energy Consumption,” the IMF examines the energy consumption of crypto assets based on their distinct design elements to evaluate the ideal mechanism for developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Sharing the groundwork for policy discussions around the environmental impacts of digital currencies, the IMF recommends moving away from proof-of-work-based distributed ledger technology applications, adding: “In particular, Bitcoin, the best known application of this type, is estimated …

The United Nations is smitten with distributed ledger technology (DLT). In a conversation with Cointelegraph at WEF 2022, United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC) director Sameer Chauhan explained the “massive opportunities” he sees in cryptocurrencies. A former traditional finance executive and head of the UNICC since 2018, Chauhan has seen the rise and fall of cryptocurrency markets. He shared that groups such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) do not want to “miss the boat” when it comes to DLTs. Chauhan explained that cryptocurrencies are neutral technologies: “It’s a tool. You could use it for good or you could …

A Dutch regulator stated that the crypto derivatives market should be restricted to wholesale trade. The reasons are not unfamiliar — lack of transparency, market manipulation and “other forms of criminal activity.” On Thursday, the head of Capital Markets and Transparency Supervision at the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM), Paul-Willem van Gerwen, shared his opinion on the crypto derivatives trade at the Amsterdam Propriety Traders Managers Meeting. Van Gerwen highlighted, that despite (or perhaps because of) the market’s rising interest in crypto derivatives trading, the AFM regards “such trade as entailing risks” and considers this market to be less …

The National Securities Depository (NSDL), India’s central securities depository based in Mumbai, launched blockchain-based security and covenant monitoring platform. NSDL officially launched the distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform on Saturday during its 25th-anniversary presentation, alongside the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The platform is expected to strengthen the monitoring of security and governance in the corporate bonds market to bring “further discipline and transparency to the market.” SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch underscored the blockchain’s transparency as the key reason for the technology’s popularity but made a reservation regarding its current cost-effectiveness, remarkin that the anonymity feature remains …

The capital of Argentina and an agglomeration with more than 12 million citizens, Buenos Aires will make blockchain a vital part of its digitalization drive. Specifically, the city will accept public financial transactions in crypto. As city Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta revealed in his Steve Jobs-styled presentation on April 25, the 12-step development plan titled “Buenos Aires +” envisions a significant increase in crypto and blockchain adoption. Con Buenos Aires + vamos a dar un paso más en el camino hacia un Estado facilitador que desburocratice y agilice los procesos. Un camino en el que el Estado sea el que …