The average earnings of a blockchain engineer have soared to between $150-175,000 per year, CNBC reported Oct. 21, citing Hired’s 2018 State of Salaries Report. Far higher than the $135,000 average software engineer salary, the figure puts blockchain engineers in the same pay bracket as artificial intelligence (AI) specialists, as the pace of blockchain recruitment demand gathers pace. The figure is also notably higher than other specialized tech engineering roles; Hired CEO Mehul Patel told CNBC that: "There's a ton of demand for blockchain. Software engineers are in very short supply, but this is even more acute and that's why …

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is forming a dedicated focus group for blockchain exploration made up of both big business and cryptocurrency players, Indian daily newspaper Economic Times reported Monday, Oct. 15. Confirmed in a tweet Tuesday, the IAMAI, whose remit is to “expand and enhance” the online and mobile sector, will use its “Blockchain Committee” to “identify opportunities and challenges and work with government, industry and startups” to develop a blockchain “ecosystem.” The move comes amid testing times for cryptocurrency in India, with the country’s supreme court still deliberating on the legality of the Reserve Bank …

The adoption of blockchain technology is slowly taking shape across a multitude of industries. At the forefront of the amalgamation of payment systems and logistics is US tech giant International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), which has established itself as a leader in terms of blockchain-based products and offerings. The latest developments aim at the logistics sector – but IBM has been keen on blockchain for over 5 years that reveals a slow and steady approach to the adoption of enterprise-scale blockchain solutions. Exploring the Internet of Things Their beginnings in the space were focused on research on the capabilities of …

Coming every Sunday, the Hodler’s Digest will help you to track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions, and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week CNBC’s Ran Neuner Claims Bitcoin’s Price Is Set To “Explode” Ran Neuner, crypto analyst and host of CNBC’s show Cryptotrader, said this week that the price of Bitcoin is “about to explode.” In a series of tweets, the trader predicted that a notable Bitcoin rally could be tied to the SEC’s upcoming decision …

IBM and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) will reportedly collaborate on implementing blockchain technology in the country’s economy, Central Asian-focused Trend News Agency reports October 9. Trend News Agency is an established news service provider spanning the Caucasus, Caspian region and Central Asia, with dedicated news platforms in Azerbaijani, Russian, Turkish and Persian, alongside an English-language platform The agency states that the director of the Information Technology Department at the CBA, Farid Osmanov, revealed news of the five-year program for the digital transformation of the economy at the Azerbaijan-Germany Business Forum on Energy and ICT in Baku earlier today. …

U.S. tech giant IBM has officially launched its blockchain-based food tracking network, Food Trust, after 18 months of testing, the company revealed in a press-release Monday, October 8. In the same announcement, the corporation revealed that another major food retailer Carrefour is joining their ecosystem. The France-based company that operates more than 12,000 stores in 33 countries will first test blockchain on their own stores. As IBM’s press release reports, by 2022 Carrefour is planning to expand blockchain to all of its brands around the world. IBM Food Trust was first announced back in 2016 as a blockchain solution that …

Tech conglomerate IBM has recently been awarded a patent for a blockchain-based secure system. The patent filing was published on U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website Tuesday, October 2. As IMB explains in a document first filed in September 2017, the technology enables the detection of security breaches within a network by connecting all the monitors to a chain configuration, which registers all events in the network. This, in turn, might help to prevent different sorts of hacks. According to a detailed explanation provided by IBM, a monitor can be easily intruded upon in a regular system as "none …

The Bank of America (BoA) has estimated that blockchain could be a $7 billion market and provide a major boost to corporate giants such as Microsoft and Amazon, CNBC reports Oct. 2. While BoA’s analysts refrained from putting “a time stamp” on the industry becoming a major, multi-billion dollar addressable market, they reportedly based their estimates on a ballpark figure that two percent of corporate servers would be used to run blockchain at a cost of $5,500 annually. BoA research analyst Kash Rangan told CNBC that the technology is well-suited to some of the world’s largest corporations, noting for example …

“Big Four” audit and consulting firm Deloitte has outlined five basic areas of development for blockchain technology in order achieve widespread adoption, according to a study published September 28. According to Deloitte, in order to be adopted by enterprises on a mass scale, blockchain technology should overcome five major obstacles – the possibility of time-consuming operations, lack of standardization, high costs and complexity blockchain applications, regulatory uncertainty, as well as the absence of collaboration between blockchain-related firms. Identifying the area that needs the most development, Deloitte singled out the problem of possible operational delays on a distributed ledger network. The …

Global insurance brokerage and risk management firm Marsh announced it would extend its partnership with IBM as part of its proof-of-insurance blockchain solution, a press release confirmed Wednesday, September 26. Marsh, which began working with IBM in April this year to develop the blockchain service, will now take advantage of IBM’s links with customer relationship management giant Salesforce. The release notes that “Marsh will work with IBM to extend its commercial proof of insurance blockchain solution to be directly accessible to Marsh clients through the Salesforce Platform.” In April of this year, Salesforce had noted that it hoped to include …

U.S. telecommunications giant AT&T has announced the creation of a suite of blockchain solutions designed to work with tech from IBM and Microsoft, according to AT&T’s September 26 press release. AT&T’s blockchain solutions — which will work with the IBM Blockchain Platform for data recording and Microsoft Azure’s blockchain technology — aim to “bring additional transparency and accountability to even the most complex supply chains” for its enterprise customers. The telecoms company’s blockchain-based suite plans to develop the digitalization of enterprise customers’ business processes, noting that industries including manufacturing, retail, and healthcare can utilize the solutions. Andy Daudelin, vice president …

IBM and members of the U.S. Congressional Blockchain Caucus discussed the use of blockchain for ID systems, payments, and supply chains during a meeting today, September 24, according to a press call attended by Cointelegraph. IBM recently published a report entitled “The Impact of Blockchain for Government: Insights on Identity, Payments, and Supply Chain” made in collaboration with the U.S. Congressional Blockchain Caucus. The report summarizes a series of roundtable discussions between U.S. Representatives Jared Polis (author of “The Cryptocurrency Tax Fairness Act,” which proposes to abolish crypto taxes below $600) and David Schweikert, along with Thomas Hardjono, technical director …