The internet has reshaped society over the past 40 years, and experts are predicting that digital technologies and artificial intelligence will continue to transform how humans interact with data for the foreseeable future. One AI-focused cryptocurrency project that has seen tremendous growth since the beginning of 2021 is SingularityNET and its talented humanoid robot named Sophia. AI developers can utilize the SingularityNET platform to create, share and monetize their services through its AI marketplace, which allows users to browse, test and purchase those services using SingularityNET's native AGI token. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of …

South Korea, which has begun its COVID-19 vaccine rollout for residents over 75 years of age, has revealed plans to use blockchain technology to certify forthcoming vaccine passports for immunized citizens. According to Reuters, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a government meeting that a new mobile app will be used to manage digital proofs of vaccination, and is expected to launch later in April. Blockchain technology will be used to ensure that citizens are not able to forge evidence of having ostensibly received a jab. “The introduction of a vaccine passport or ‘Green Pass’ will only allow those who have …

A sense of relief has begun to emerge as COVID-19 vaccinations continue to be administered across the world. While hopeful, a new challenge remains: distinguishing between individuals vaccinated and those unvaccinated. Various statistics claim that very little of the world’s population has been fully vaccinated as of the start of March 2021. While this number is still low, some regions like Texas have optimistically begun lifting mask mandates in hopes of resuming normal lifestyles. Other states across America, however, have started taking safer precautions to ensure normalcy following the COVID-19 vaccination rollouts. For example, New York governor Andrew Cuomo recently …

The new applications and measures being implemented by public health authorities across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic have sparked debate over how to balance biosurveillance with individuals' right to the privacy of their personal information. In California, the Collaborative Charter Services Organization, which provides administrative support services to charter schools, has chosen to roll out a pandemic management system that prioritizes its users' data privacy. Called "Team.Care Network," the blockchain solution was developed by healthcare startup Solve.Care and runs as a mobile application. Solve.Care said the solution will help schools to track possible COVID-19 exposure in their community and …

Over the past decade, blockchain has surpassed the hype realm into a real transformative solution for industries. Several companies are investing billions of dollars on the network; it topped LinkedIn’s list of in-demand hard skills in 2020, and articles about its potential are now littered on every finance blog. Ask those who had experienced the early internet days, and they will certainly have a lot to tell you about the feeling of deja vu that has diffused the tech space. Mainstream maximalist circles have touted blockchain as the magic solution for many industries — healthcare probably being the neediest. Forbes’ …

Data is becoming one of society’s most valuable resources. And yet, our existing approaches fail to unleash its massive intrinsic value. Why is this the case? The issue is that our data — who we are, and what is relevant about us — is defined and collected by corporations and governments. Consumers were alarmed to find their phones were being tracked by the government , for example. These organizations, whether private or governmental, seem interested primarily in using your personal identity and your data streams to enhance their power. If you are an average user, this means you are missing …

As the first vaccines against COVID-19 roll out, governments and institutions across the world are scrambling to figure out how to provide proof that someone has been vaccinated. Paper certificates, PDFs, wristbands and mobile apps have all been suggested — and the former director of the Centers for Disease Control, Tom Frieden, and international human rights attorney Aaron Schwid urged the adoption of digital “immunity passports” as a way to reopen the world. In theory, their idea is great. In practice, it’s terrible. Or, as the Daily Beast put it: “Vaccine Passports Are Big Tech’s Latest Dystopian Nightmare.” As a …

Public distributed ledger network Hedera Hashgraph is being used by a United Kingdom-based digital asset tracking provider called Everyware to provide the country's National Health Service with a system for managing its COVID-19 vaccine storage. Several of the widely-used COVID-19 vaccines being administered at present require ultra-cold storage conditions in order to remain effective, presenting a significant challenge for public and private health services around the world. To ensure that COVID-19 vaccine maintenance can be securely and transparently monitored by participants in the distribution process in the U.K., Everyware will provide several NHS facilities with its asset tracking and monitoring …

Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, the heightened need for various biosurveillance measures sparked interest in the relevance of privacy-enhancing technologies such as blockchain that could protect public health data amid the crisis. A Twitter user claimed last week that Frankfurt Airport's coronavirus testing center appeared to be using Iota blockchain technology to manage passengers' health stats, and this fact has now been confirmed to Cointelegraph by the technology provider. Ubirch, a blockchain-based cybersecurity technology provider based in Cologne and several other locations, has developed the IT infrastructure for a solution it calls the "Digital Corona Test Certificate." The solution …

It would be fair to admit that after 2020 and all it has put us through, making any predictions for the upcoming year is most likely to be a game of blindfold. Meanwhile, I am certain that humanity has much to learn from its past transgressions, and will move forward by correcting our mistakes and weaknesses. That’s what we always do. Undoubtedly, the major driver of our development this year was the COVID-19 outbreak. The effects of the ongoing global pandemic on every aspect of our lives will form our future, and there are some tendencies we started last year …

Open The New York Times' rolling survey of coronavirus cases on United States college campuses, and the picture looks bleak: As of Nov. 5, over 252,000 cases had been confirmed across 1,600 colleges nationwide. The spread of infection, combined with an at best incompetent and at worst cynical and exploitative policy toward college students and staff has resulted in university communities facing stringent quarantines in unsafe accommodations or being summarily sent home. All the while, students are expected to foot the bill for the full cost of their tuition fees. With over 2,500 reported cases as of Nov. 5, Arizona …

Chinese nonprofit blockchain consortium FISCO BCOS reports that blockchain-based health records have successfully enabled China to resume mainland tourism to Macau. From May, Macau’s blockchain-powered medical data system has recognized ID codes of the Guangdong health system on the mainland, allowing mainland Chinese tourists to verify their health status using the DLT-powered system when entering the autonomous region. To date, more than 17 million tourists have cleared customs between Macau and China’s mainland using Macau’s blockchain health code. The announcement boasts that it takes just 100 seconds for mainland Chinese to generate a Guangdong health code for the first time, …