CIP, a facilitator of Brazilian banking and financial infrastructure, has officially launched its blockchain ID platform via a partnership with IBM using Hyperledger Fabric, Cointelegraph Brazil reported on June 12. The identity solution, dubbed “Device ID,” will see participation from nine banks, and is reportedly integrated into Brazil’s domestic clearing system, the Brazilian Payment System (SPB). Its aim is to authenticate and verify digital signatures using mobile devices, ostensibly to guard against financial crime and unauthorized use of the financial system. “Brazilian banks have been studying blockchain technology applications for a long time, but they weren't all together. So we …

Russian authorities have signed an agreement with Danish logistics giant Maersk to officially launch blockchain shipping platform TradeLens, according to a press release on June 6. As a part of the agreement, the port at Russia’s second-biggest city, St. Petersburg, will pilot the blockchain-powered logistics tool co-developed by Maersk’s tech subsidiary Maersk GTD and global tech giant IBM. The agreement was signed in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Maersk CEO Søren Skou and Yuriy Tsvetkov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and Head of the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency, the press release …

IBM is expanding its partnership work with Azerbaijan’s government to bring blockchain technology to customs procedures, Central Asian-focused Trend News Agency reported on June 12. Following a reported deal with the country’s central bank in October 2018 — which should see blockchain deployed in various areas over a five-year period — IBM will now use the technology to target cargo transportation. The news came from Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee, the chairman of which, Safar Mehdiyev, spoke about the plans at a press conference during the ongoing IT/TI Conference and Exhibition of the World Customs Organization. “It will be possible to …

United States’ payment giant Visa has launched a cross-border payment network derived from some aspects of blockchain technology, Reuters reports June 11. The network, called “Visa B2B Connect,” is designed to facilitate international payments made by global financial institutions by enabling direct interbanking transactions between businesses and beneficiaries. According to the report, the network already covers 30 trade channels worldwide to enable faster and cheaper cross-border payments, and is expected to expand to 90 markets by the end of 2019. Visa B2B Connect is partially based on blockchain technology, containing elements of Hyperledger, the open source distributed ledger technology (DLT) …

Although once confined largely to agriculture, blockchain technology is now making major inroads into the luxury goods supply chain market. Thus, Consensys recently announced a new platform with French multinational luxury goods conglomerate LMVH and the technology behemoth Microsoft to verify the authenticity of luxury goods. Luxury brands trial blockchain Although many products in the luxury goods market are renowned status symbols found in expensive city center stores the world over, the components of their products can originate in the most far-flung corners of the globe. The nature of globalized trade means that raw materials can be sourced in one …

Global tech giant IBM has entered a partnership a Russian metal producer to launch an educational program in blockchain, local news agency TASS reports June 6. Nornickel, a Moscow-based globally leading producer of nickel and palladium, has signed an agreement with IBM and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) to set up a study and training center for specialists to develop digital technologies for the mining and metals industry. According to the report, the agreement was signed on June 6 at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum by Nornickel’s VP Sergey Batehin, IBM’s general manager in Russia and …

Cryptocurrencies have gone a long way since the day when, nine years ago, Laszlo Hanyecz had paid 10,000 bitcoins for two large Papa John’s pizzas, marking the first purchase of tangible goods for digital money. Although bitcoin is still far from being universally accepted by retailers, thousands of merchants around the world are taking crypto in exchange for goods — and their ranks grow daily. The latest of the big developments in this vein came up at this year’s Consensus conference, as blockchain startup Flexa made public its partnership with a number of major U.S. retailers. Flexa’s payments app, Spedn, …

French retail giant Carrefour has seen an increase in sales after the implementation of a blockchain-based tracking system, Reuters reported on June 3. Carrefour’s blockchain tracking system enables customers to track the supply chain of 20 items, including meat, milk, and fruit from farms to stores, thus avoiding products with genetically modified organisms, antibiotics, and pesticides. This year, the company reportedly plans to add 100 more products, including non-food lines, to the system. Emmanuel Delerm, Carrefour’s blockchain project manager, told Reuters that “the pomelo sold faster than the year before due to blockchain. We had a positive impact on the …

Brazilian banks will be implementing a new standardized blockchain identity solution powered by the Hyperledger Fabric-platform, Cointelegraph Brazil reported on June 2. The identity solution — co-developed by IBM and the country’s central bank, CIP — is reportedly to be integrated into the Brazilian Payment System (SPB) — a system used by all banks and financial institutions in the country. The new blockchain platform has reportedly been designed to authenticate and verify digital identities for users’ bank accounts by using an individual’s mobile phone and SIM card information in combination with other smartphone-derived personal data. Cointelegraph Brazil reports that the …

Two leading global shipping firms, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and CMA CGM, have joined blockchain shipping platform TradeLens, Reuters reports on May 28. Switzerland-based MSC, the world's second-largest shipping company, and French CMA CGM, reportedly the fourth-largest container shipping firm, have joined the blockchain platform developed by the world’s largest logistics company Maersk and tech giant IBM. As previously reported, blockchain-powered shipping solution TradeLens intends to reduce paperwork and associated costs and time in the logistics industry — which reportedly accounts for $4 trillion — with over 80% of the goods carried by the ocean shipping sector. According to Reuters, …

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI), via its Informatics and Services Corporation (ISC) and in conjunction with Areatak — a Tehran-based blockchain solutions provider — is developing a national blockchain project for its banking and financial sector. Called the Borna platform, Iran hopes to use the project to revamp its banking ecosystem, creating a digital financial economy that will replace the current legacy system. There are also future plans to open up the platform to local private establishments, creating a unitary monetary and banking system for the country. Given the country’s current standoff with the United States and the renewal …

United States telecom and media giant AT&T now accepting cryptocurrency for paying phone bills online, according to an official press release on May 23. AT&T will process bills paid in cryptocurrency using crypto payments platform BitPay. BitPay is a platform that converts cryptocurrencies to fiat and is used by over 20,000 businesses. AT&T is reportedly the first United States-based business in the wireless network industry to offer bill payments with BitPay. Kevin McDorman, vice president of AT&T Communications Finance Business Operations, said, “We have customers who use cryptocurrency, and we are happy we can offer them a way to pay …