The internet is buzzing over recent developments in decentralized finance, or DeFi — smart contracts are hotter than ever. You might think you missed the coronation ceremony, but smart contracts are actually used in only a small corner of the crypto world, albeit a corner worth billions of dollars. It’s a promising concept that has gone widely unused in the business world. Despite the headlines and in spite of crypto-cloistering, smart contracts are not overhyped. The ability to execute secure and complex business transactions is a barrier that keeps plenty of people out of business altogether. Moreover, every major company …

The Australian government has opened applications for grants up to $3 million each in funding to blockchain projects targeting supply chain tracking in the minerals industry and tax tracking in the food and beverage sector. Applications are open until April 29, with any sole trader, partnership, publicly-funded research organization, or entity incorporated in Australia that possesses an Australian Business Number eligible to apply. The money will be used to fund two distinct pilots. The Food and Beverage Provenance pilot hopes to support a team addressing the complexities associated with spirits producers complying with excise taxation. The Critical Minerals Pilot will …

Standard Bank Group — Africa’s largest bank by assets — has partnered with enterprise-grade distributed ledger technology project Hedera Hashgraph. According to a joint announcement, the African banking giant now joins other major corporations like Google, LG, and IBM as a member of the Hedera Governing Council. Standard Bank will also become a Hedera node operator, the first in Africa with a focus on utilizing DLT to ease bottlenecks in cross-border trade on the continent. Across Africa, innovations in domestic payment rails have created faster and efficient transaction systems. However, this advancement is yet to translate to the cross-border payment …

Bosch Group, the global technology supplier, is teaming up with Fetch.ai to launch a multi-purpose blockchain network that can further advance Web 3.0 capabilities like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. The blockchain network, which is in testnet until the end of February, seeks to bring distributed ledger technology to several industries. Specifically, the network is developing machine learning applications for blockchain governance, which can be applied to various use cases. The testnet program was launched by Fetch.ai in Oct 2020, with Bosch Research’s Economy of Things team contributing to its development. Bosch’s participation will continue after the mainnet …

What was blockchain technology originally intended for? It’s generally presumed that it was created in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto as part of his white paper, creating Bitcoin (BTC). Since Bitcoin would be built on decentralized ledger technology, a blockchain needed to be established as the foundation for the cryptocurrency. Since 2008, blockchain technology has expanded well beyond cryptocurrency usage and is now being applied in a variety of use cases from healthcare to finance to green tech and more. But blockchain tech didn’t start with Satoshi’s white paper. It was actually invented in 1991 as a way to verify and …

The main challenge companies face when testing and implementing innovative technologies is the need to amend existing legislation. Developing and testing new products based on distributed ledger technology requires special conditions that are often inconsistent with existing regulations. The solution to this problem would be the introduction of a special “regulatory sandbox” regime. It means the creation of an ecosystem within which companies and state-owned enterprises can test their developments without legislative obstacles. Federal law No. 258, “On Experimental Legal Regimes in the Field of Digital Innovation in the Russian Federation,” came into effect on Jan. 28. It allows new …

Face-to-face transactions are starting to seem quaintly archaic as many countries continue or even expand lockdowns due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Since the start of the crisis in early 2020, digital transactions have surged, particularly in e-commerce and digital banking. In contrast with face-to-face transactions, such as a direct payment of cash in exchange for a product or service, digital financial transactions typically require an intermediary, such as a credit card agency, payments processor or bank. This intermediary slows the process and, naturally, adds a cost to the transaction. Distributed ledger technology is taking on a greater role in …

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres estimates trillions of U.S. dollars per annum is needed to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The question is: “Where would it come from?” Official development aid, philanthropy and public finances cannot suffice, which means the needle is moving toward private capital to fund sustainable development projects. Related: The UN’s ‘decade of delivery’ needs blockchain to succeed But the gap between financing and the environmental impact does not exude the confidence of private investors to fund development projects. India, a center of sustainability risks and innovative interventions, offers an example of this gap. Between 2014–2015 …

The year 2020 has been monumental for the blockchain sector, especially in regards to financial markets. Yet, while the price of Bitcoin (BTC) reached new all-time highs this year, the enterprise blockchain space also welcomed in public networks, open-source code and a number of other elements not seen in previous years defined by private, closed networks. Listed below are five enterprise blockchain trends seen in 2020 that can drive mainstream adoption of blockchain moving forward. Tokenization will drive the internet of value “The Internet of Value” is a term coined by Don Tapscott, author and founder of The Blockchain Research …

Blockchain for supply chain management is one of the most practical business applications for large, multi-party sectors seeking trust and transparency across daily operations. As such, the mining and metals sector has now started to leverage blockchain technology to effectively track carbon emissions across complex, global supply chains. This month, the World Economic Forum launched a proof-of-concept to trace carbon emissions across the supply chains of seven mining and metals firms. Known as the Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative, or MMBI, this is a collaboration between the WEF and industry companies including Anglo American, Antofagasta Minerals, Eurasian Resources Group, Glencore, …

Enterprise blockchain started gaining traction in 2017 shortly after Bitcoin had reached its all-time high of nearly $20,000. Since then, enterprise blockchain has mainly been defined by private blockchain networks used by businesses for things such as supply chain management. The enterprise blockchain space has changed quite a bit since 2017. For instance, 2020 has brought in a number of enterprise blockchain use cases that leverage public networks rather than private ones. The COVID-19 pandemic has also driven many companies, both large and small, to use blockchain for guaranteeing proof-of-health or to revive tourism. Finally, some blockchain companies this year …

The problem of spreading cybercrime is becoming more acute today, and developed countries with high gross domestic product rates suffer from it to a much greater extent than developing countries. This is due to the fact that the more advanced technologies are used by society, the stronger its dependence is on digital structures. And this, in turn, creates more opportunities for cybercriminals. In 2021, the damage from cybercrime is predicted to be $6 trillion — twice as much as in 2015. Meanwhile, the terms cybercrime and cyberterrorism differ in various legal systems. Some criminologists divide these concepts; others consider them …