Blockchain projects continue to experience failure rates in excess of 90%, and it seems that with every passing moment, more and more “successful” companies add their underperforming blockchain project to the graveyard. One of the most recent blockchain failure victims was Moller-Maersk, which recently announced the termination of its highly publicized TradeLens offering — a global trade platform built on IBM blockchain technology. These failures, however, were totally predictable and, in many cases, would be avoidable if companies more closely observed certain lessons in innovation diffusion. Lesson 1: Innovation is not monolithic. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is …

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes that digital wallets and blockchain tech were among “game-changing innovations” that the equity markets largely ignored in 2022. In a Jan. 12 blog post on the ARK Invest website, Wood suggested that the equity market faced a “wall of worry” in 2022, caused by fears of entrenched inflation and higher interest rates, and largely ignored a number of innovative technologies. Wood highlighted that digital wallets are “replacing cash and credit cards,” noting that they overtook cash as the top transaction method for offline commerce in 2020. Further arguing that digital wallets should not be …

Just days after Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao warned about the onset of greater regulatory scrutiny amid the FTX collapse, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong called for a stronger focus on transparency and proper supervision when dealing with virtual assets. Financial Secretary Paul Chan highlighted the importance of being “steady and cautious” when promoting the development of the virtual asset industry in Hong Kong. A poster accompanying Chan’s post, roughly translated to: “While actively embracing innovation, there must be a regulatory package that adapts and keeps pace with the times to properly manage risks, create prerequisites for the orderly …

On Oct. 28, NFT Steez, a bi-weekly Twitter Spaces hosted by Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond, met with Web3 content writer, Julie Plavnik to discuss the importance of self-sovereignty while building a digital identity in Web3. Plavnik references author Gavin Wood when describing Web3 and says that “communication” is a core tenant in the subsequent iteration of the internet. “Web3 is the communication of encrypted channels between decentralized identities,” Plavnik affirms. According to Plavnik, the emerging concept of Web3 placed a magnifying glass on user data and ownership, especially concerning the creator economy. Plavnik describes the creator economy as a …

Bertrand Perez, chief operations officer of Web3 Foundation, one of the firms behind the Polkadot blockchain, said a certain level of regulation was necessary in the crypto space as long as those responsible left room for innovation. Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Paris Blockchain Week on Wednesday, Perez said he saw a few areas of concern when it comes to regulating the space, including a recent draft bill from the European Parliament on noncustodial wallets, but overall those in the industry are trying to help policymakers to understand Web3. According to the Web3 Foundation COO, some lawmakers are still making …

Innovative cities across America are racing to become the next hot spot for cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption. Miami was the first city to adopt its own part of CityCoins last year, allowing it to implement its own cryptocurrency called “MiamiCoin” to be used for civic engagement. New York City has also made a name for itself as a crypto-friendly city by implementing educational initiatives and with Mayor Eric Adams receiving his paycheck in Bitcoin (BTC) in January this year. Austin takes a strong stance Most recently, Austin — the state capital of Texas that goes by the slogan “Keep Austin …

United States cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced a new project aimed at increasing innovation in the nascent blockchain industry. Project 10 Percent will see Coinbase divert 10% of its resources to supporting innovative ideas within the company. The project aligns with the exchange’s philosophy that “70% of our time should be focused on core work, 20% on strategic bets, and 10% on innovative experimentation,” the company said Wednesday. The project is being rolled out internally by asking Coinbase employees to complete a two-page submission about their potential ideas, followed by a pitch-off style event every year. Projects are considered “disruptive …

Nonfungible tokens are being used to explore a new business model that puts music makers back in control of sales and copyright issues. Grammy-winning producer Illmind released what he calls the “first ever NFT-backed sample loop/melody pack” on Thursday, putting a collection of 10 “melody compositions” up for auction on the Mintable NFT market app. Based on Ethereum, the NFT is titled "Alorium" and contains an exclusive link to a file containing individual audio tracks of the compositions. It also comes with a “royalty-free guarantee” and a contract that gives the NFT owner rights to use the audio files for …

Cointelegraph's head of news, Dylan Love, is hosting three guests for a livestream on our YouTube channel about blockchain technology’s impact on the music industry. The event starts right now: check it out above, or head over to our YouTube page to watch it live. It’s increasingly difficult for musical artists to navigate promotion, distribution and getting paid after they record their music, but each of the guests on today’s show run blockchain companies that stand to change a little bit of everything for working musicians today. We are pleased to welcome: Daniel Dewar, the founder and CEO of Paperchain, …