DHL, Accenture Reveal Blockchain Prototype To Tackle Pharmaceutical ‘Tampering’

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Logistics giant DHL announced it had partnered with Accenture[1] and created[2] a Blockchain-based supply chain prototype March 12.

In a joint press release, the two companies presented a trend report for Blockchain[3] in tandem with what appears to be ongoing plans to introduce the technology to global pharmaceutical supply.

“DHL and Accenture created a blockchain-based serialization prototype with nodes in six geographies to track pharmaceuticals across the supply chain,” the release reports.

“The ledger tracking these medicines may be shared with stakeholders, including manufacturers, warehouses, distributors, pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors. Lab-simulations show how blockchain could handle more than seven billion unique serial numbers and 1,500 transactions per second.”

Permissioned Blockchains have formed a continuing area of interest for Accenture over the past year.

In September 2017, the company filed a patent[4] for a so-called ‘editable Blockchain,’ allowing “enterprises to resolve human errors, accommodate legal and regulatory requirements, and address mischief and other issues, while preserving key cryptographic features.”

While the concept of manually altering Blockchain data sounds counterintuitive for a technology in which an immutable ledger lies at the heart of its effectiveness, the DHL scheme appears equipped to tackle issues endemic in the pharmaceutical industry such as “tampering.”

“We see especially exciting potential for blockchain in pharmaceuticals, which is why we focused our proof of concept with Accenture on the life sciences and healthcare industry,” Keith Turner, CIO at DHL Supply Chain commented.

“By utilizing the inherent irrefutability within blockchain technologies, we can make great strides in highlighting tampering, reducing the risk of counterfeits and actually saving lives.”

Platform Plans to Unite World Karate Community Through Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

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Global karate organization BoutsPro[1] aims to bring together an estimated 190-mln strong karate community by using Blockchain. As there are so many different styles of karate, there are many different governing organizations (Such as ITKF, WKF and WFF) overseeing tournaments and rankings. The BoutsPro white paper[2] outlines how bringing all elements together needs a strong fund management system which can generate revenue from multiple sources, for example, sponsorship and advertisements.

The company highlights how the teaching of karate differs from other mainstream sports such as football, where players can get started and develop without the need for direct contact with a coach; karate students need an expert to personally guide them from the beginning, both physically and mentally. So now through the use of Blockchain and cryptocurrency, BoutsPro claims they have found a way to effectively manage these important relationships around the world.

BountsPro

The white paper explains that by implementing Blockchain[3], it will ‘allow trust management and efficiency on the technological level. This will help to establish the system which can manage the whole system as well as the market requirements.’ They also say that this will be attractive to companies not yet involved in karate, as well as those already invested or involved in sponsorship with the sport. The team of karate ‘legends’ hopes to use cryptocurrency to ‘transform traditional karate to professional karate,’ thus upping the profile of the ancient martial art.

As a result, BoutsPro has launched their own crypto token (BOUTS, type ERC20) based on Ethereum Blockchain technology (1 ETH = 9,000 BOUTS). The ICO began on March 11th (no presale or private sale– the team would like to emphasize that it has a focus on equal opportunity) and will continue until March 25th.

There are extensive ways for holders to utilize their tokens. The centralized portal of BoutsPro will allow users to access lots of karate information relevant to them, such as details on ranking and tournaments, plus access to training tips. Tickets to events can also be purchased online using BOUTS. Private clubs and teams (to participate in the World Professional Karate League) will be franchised and sold on the revenue share module.

BountsPro

Other developments include BoutsPro TV (in partnership with QuickMedia and Pozetta Broadcasters) featuring live streaming and on-demand services for users. They aim to be creating content by later on in 2018. Relating to this are their plans to enter film production. Inspired by the success of martial arts titles such as ‘Karate Kid,’ BoutsPro hope to produce ‘one world class movie based on karate, per year.’  Users can also exchange BOUTS for participation in the dedicated online gaming platform, which aims to ‘provide healthy entertainment and educate basics of karate to the common people as well athletes.’ Finally, BoutsPro is planning to create world-class stadiums and dojos around the world for their members, as well as launching specialized sports insurance for BoutsPro athletes.

 

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.

R3 v. Ripple Lawsuit To Be Decided In NY As XRP Loses Its Appeal To CA Court

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Ripple Labs Inc., the company behind the Ripple[1] settlement system, has lost its opportunity to hold the court hearing over a contested contract with its rival R3 in its home state, California, Bloomberg reported[2] March 13.

In September 2017, the R3 consortium filed[3] a lawsuit in Delaware and New York against Ripple[4], claiming that the latter had violated a prior agreement between the two companies about the purchase of XRP digital currency. The contract included an option allowing R3 to buy up to 5 bln XRP tokens at a price of $0.0085 each at any time before the end of 2019.

Ripple further filed a counterclaim in California, accusing its former partner of infringing on a number of commitments associated with the agreement.

When the two companies began suing each other, the value of the contract in dispute was a little over $1 mln. However, after several months of court proceedings the price of XRP surged in value, significantly increasing the stakes as the 5 billion XRP in question are now worth about $3.85 bln.

A San Francisco state appeals court denied Ripple’s petition to appeal the order that dismissed its lawsuit against R3.

The procedure in San Francisco followed a verbal ruling[5] made by a Delaware judge to dismiss R3’s own case in October 2017. The outcome of this legal battle now depends solely on the future decision of a New York court.

As the San Francisco-based Ripple claimed, having to bring the case before a New York court would cause the company “irreparable injury.”

Blockchain Platform to Connect Self-employed Domestic Workers and Customers With No Fees

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A company that empowers service workers and helps them become entrepreneurial is planning to replace its app with a new Blockchain-based platform, helping providers with hard-earned reputations to win more business.

Crafty is initially going to launch in Brazil but believes its marketplace can transform the “extremely inefficient” service sector worldwide by ensuring a higher proportion of revenue goes to self-employed workers on the front line.

“Decent working conditions anywhere”

The founders of Crafty have already tested their concept through an app called Diaríssima[1], which launched in 2016. The company has described this as a minimum viable product (MVP), as it focused solely on connecting household cleaners with paying customers.

After opening for business in São Paulo, Diaríssima expanded nationwide and now boasts tens of thousands of customers and service providers, the company states.

Crafty, Diaríssima’s replacement, is to increase the number of services on offer considerably, and opportunities listed in its white paper[2] include cooks, tutors, nannies, caregivers, gardeners and drivers. Underpinning all of this will be a Blockchain-based system where trust is established with every interaction between customers and providers.

This allows self-employed workers, who will use the platform for free without incurring any intermediary fees, to benefit from their reputation. In time, Crafty is planning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to offer “meaningful recommendations” to prospective customers who are searching for service providers.

Crafty[3] is hoping to tackle five of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations, one of which is “ending poverty in all its forms.” The company believes its lack of fees will result in higher frequencies of use, create a more level playing field where prices are more difficult to dictate and result in “decent working conditions everywhere.”

First Brazil, then the world

There are a few hurdles Crafty is determined to tackle. Among them is the fact that, on the face of it, a platform using cryptocurrency seems to be an unusual choice in a country where 40 percent of the adult population do not have a bank account[4] (according to research by Instituto Data Popular[5].) Here, virtual accounts including debit cards would enable Crafty users to receive money and spend it opening new opportunities to 55 mln Brazilians and making cryptocurrency available to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

The company says it wants to encourage use of Crafty (CFTY) tokens in local commerce by negotiating partnerships with business groups and it claims this would enable token holders to access prepaid credit for everyday items such as mobile phones and electronics.

Crafty’s website and app have initially been written in Portuguese, but the company says its platform’s design means translating into other languages is easy.

Once a 45-day ICO concludes on April 9, the company is planning a massive promotional drive to attract new users, and a large proportion of its funding is being earmarked for marketing. It is expected that a virtual wallet will be integrated into Crafty accounts by September 2018. Additional services that providers can offer are going to be added every few months, with the platform forecasting that 150 professions will be covered by March 2020.

The company is confident that its idea can improve the lives of service workers around the world and plans to expand internationally in the coming years. Eventually, it hopes imperfections in the market will be eliminated, helping incomes to rise and granting more people access to a healthy, comfortable and financially secure life.

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.

World’s Largest Crypto Exchange Binance To Launch Decentralized Trading Platform

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Binance[1], the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced that it is officially developing a public Blockchain to create a new decentralized exchange, according a statement[2] on March 13.

Binance’s vision that “centralized and decentralized exchanges will co-exist in the near future, complementing each other” inspired them to develop the Binance Chain, which  will be used for the transfer and trading of Blockchain[3] assets. The move will also push the cryptocurrency exchange[4] toward transforming from a company into a community.

“We believe that continuously supporting high-quality blockchain projects is the best way to develop this industry. We will continue to improve this part, as we committed in our whitepaper,” the cryptocurrency said.

The new Blockchain will also host Binance Coin (BNB), which will become a native coin on its own Blockchain mainnet[5].

A decentralized exchange differs from a centralized exchange in that it does not rely on  a third party service to hold the customer’s funds. Users transact with other users without the need for a central server, and there is no central authority that possesses order books or custody.

While decentralized exchanges provide more anonymity and are lauded as being more difficult to hack, they can be less intuitive for beginning traders and lack some of the features and functionality of centralized exchanges.

Decentralized exchanges are not new as platforms like Waves DEX, BitShares, NXT, CounterParty have been around for some time[6].

Binance’s statement regarding decentralization was released a day after announcing[7] a $250,000 equivalent bounty to anyone who could provide information that leads to the legal arrest of the hackers[8] responsible for the hacking attempt[9] on March 7.

Dubai To Launch Blockchain Marketplace For Tourism Industry ‘To Be 10 Years Ahead’

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Dubai[1] is launching a virtual business-to-business tourism-specific marketplace using Blockchain[2] technology as part of its Dubai 10x initiative “to be 10 years ahead of other world cities”, local news outlet Arabian Business[3] reports today, March 3.

The Dubai Tourism Blockchain Marketplace plans to add an “additional distribution channel for hotels” in the next two years, connecting via Blockchain all tourist organizations involved in planning a trip, giving guests transparent, “real time” pricing and choice in Dubai’s tourist inventory.

The Dubai Department of Tourism’s press release[4] describes this new tourist initiative as:

“[going] beyond providing broader access to the global consumer, and open[ing] up the domestic travel industry to new participants and innovative start-ups into the ecosystem – thus delivering value to Dubai in terms of higher and faster visitor conversion, and greater GDP impact.”

The Tourism Blockchain Market initiative, according to Arabian Business, will allow smaller organizations equal opportunity to attract tourists and increase employment in the Dubai tourism sphere as a whole.

Helal Saeed Almarri, the director general of Dubai Tourism, said that the Dubai 10x project will “[usher] in a new phase of development for government services by transforming a whole host of innovative ideas into reality:”

Arabian Business notes that the Dubai Tourism Blockchain Marketplace has said it will maintain communication with government regulators while implementing the new initiative.

At the end of February 2018, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) had announced their own plan[5] to release a Blockchain-based system for tracking the lifecycle of a vehicle by 2020, also part of the Dubai 10x initiative.

While Dubai hopes to become the first Blockchain-government by 2020[6], both Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) did release regulatory warnings[7] in the fall of last year about the risks associated with cryptocurrencies[8] and Initial Coin Offerings[9] (ICO), due to the potential use of crypto for criminal purposes, given its anonymous nature.

VC Investments In Blockchain Companies On Track To Exceed 2017’s Numbers

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The amount of venture capital fundraising for Blockchain-based companies so far in 2018 has already reached more than 40 percent of last year’s total, according to a report released by Crunchbase News[1] on Feb. 27.

Crunchbase News determined the companies to include in their data analysis by making a list of all organizations already categorized on their site as related to “Bitcoin[2],” “Ethereum[3],” “Blockchain[4],” “Cryptocurrency,” and “Virtual Currency,” as well as adding the key words “digital currency” and “utility token” to their search.

The list also includes all companies in Crunchbase data that have led Initial Coin Offerings[5] (ICO) this year, bringing the total number of companies included in the analysis to around 2,900.

By looking at a graph of all of the venture investments this year in “Blockchain and Blockchain-Adjacent Startups,” excluding ICOs, Crunchbase found that the spikes and drops of Bitcoin’s price[6] since Jan. 2018 had not prevented venture investment from steadily increasing.

Worldwide Venture Investment in Blockchain

Crunchbase mentioned some of the largest venture rounds that have taken place this year with crypto wallet Ledger[7], Russian Blockchain-cargo tracking platform QUASA, and the Blockchain tech firm Harbor Platform.

Crunchbase data shows that there are a mix of both mainstream investors as well as more “vertical-specific” venture firms like Digital Currency Group[8] taking place in these Blockchain-oriented rounds. Just last week, the Digital Currency Group announced that they had recently invested[9] in the crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank.

Top Investors

Crunchbase data showed that the countries that participated in venture fundraising for Blockchain and Blockchain-adjacent companies was concentrated to a handful, with the US in the lead and the United Kingdom[10], Singapore[11], and Switzerland[12] as notable standouts.

Where Recently Funded Blockchain and Blockchain-Adjacent Startups Are Based

Cointelegraph recently published an Expert Take[13] on how Switzerland is becoming a “crypto-nation” due to its financial authority’s “balanced approach” to handling ICO regulation, as well as Swiss tax laws making the country into an “unofficial” crypto tax haven.

European Banks Complete First Live Securities Transfer On R3’s Blockchain Platform

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The Swiss-based Credit Suisse[1] and Dutch-based ING financial service groups have successfully completed the first live transaction of 25 mln euros (around $30 mln) in securities on R3’s[2] Corda Blockchain[3] platform, according to Credit Suisse’s March 1 press release[4].

Credit Suisse and ING transferred the legal ownership of Dutch[5] and German[6] government securities using HQLAX Digital Collateral Records (DCRs) on the HQLAX Corda-based collateral lending application.

The transaction was executed by transferring the proprietary rights of HQLAX DCR-linked accounts containing “baskets of securities,” instead of the traditional way of transferring the individual securities themselves.

The press release writes that this use of DCRs for transferring securities can “ultimately help enhance regulatory transparency, mitigate systemic risk, reduce operational risk, and help financial institutions manage capital more efficiently.”

Credit Suisse’s press release mentions that law firm Clifford Chance was also involved by developing a legal framework for a DCR-based transfer of the ownership of securities.

Ivar Wiersma, head of ING’s Wholesale Banking Innovation, said in their press release[7]:

“What’s really different is that [using digital ledger technology] gives the regulator the opportunity to get direct access to the ledger and see the entire digital history of the transaction, from where it originated to its ownership and attributes. In the over-the-counter environment, which is traditionally not that transparent, it could make the entire financial system more resilient.”

Charley Cooper, a managing director at R3, told Reuters that the successful transaction was “far more than a proof of concept in a fenced lab.”[8]

“These are regulated institutions in a real market and it is a unique demonstration that blockchain solutions are being deployed in commercial settings.”

According to Reuters, a ING Blockchain initiative representative said that the application will be live by the end of the year.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a partnership with R3[9] in December of last year for using the Corda platform’s distributed ledger technology. In November of last year, ING released[10] a “Wall Street friendly” zero-knowledge proof that can confirm the accuracy of a transaction without losing its anonymity.

Poll Shows People Want An Amazon Cryptocurrency, Starbucks Hints Of A Blockchain App

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Online retailer Amazon[1] this week received feedback that its hypothetical creation of an “Amazon Coin” would be positively received, while Starbucks[2], another large traditional consumer company, spoke of plans[3] to use Blockchain[4] on the Starbucks app, also hinting of the possibility of creating their own currency for the app’s use.

A little over half of 1000 respondents who used Amazon in the last month have indicated that they would use the online retailer’s cryptocurrency in the case that Amazon ever branched out into creating the provisionally dubbed “Amazon Coin,” a Feb. 27 survey[5] by LendEDU shows.

Vote

LendEDU also asked the same respondents if they would use a bank account created by Amazon as their primary account — 44.50 percent said yes — or if they would use an Amazon savings account — 49.6 percent said they would.

In total, the survey asked 17 questions about the respondents’ views on possible expansions of Amazon beyond online retail, like involvement in pharmaceuticals, mortgage lending, life insurance, and more.

In answer to the general question of whether these respondents trust Amazon to handle their finances more than a traditional bank, a combined around 61 percent said that they either trust Amazon more than or the same as traditional banks.

While Amazon has not announced any plans to create their own digital currency, they have ventured into the Blockchain technologies that are behind most cryptocurrencies. In December of last year, Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed a deal[6] with R3 to use their Blockchain-based Corda platform.

This week, Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz said in an interview with Fox Business that he sees Blockchain technologies as something that Starbucks will use moving forward:

“I think Blockchain is probably the rails in which a integrated app at starbucks will be sitting on top on of.”

Schultz, who the interviewer pointed out as someone who is not a fan of Bitcoin[7], added that in relation to Starbuck’s move of testing a cashless store, Starbucks itself could create its own digital currency to be used on their integrated app.

“This is not about Bitcoin, but I do believe that given the framework and the platform that we have on our digital mobile app that we could potentially be one of the first companies to have a proprietary digital currency integrated into our application.”

Last week, Fundstrat strategist Tom Lee had suggested in a report[8] that both Amazon and Starbucks are likely to implement Blockchain technology and “announce a crypto-strategy” this year.

Russian Vice-Minister: Government Needs Blockchain Platform Focused On Stability

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The Vice-Minister of the Russian[1] Ministry for Telecom and Mass Communications (Minkomsvyaz[2]) has stated that, in order for Blockchain[3] technology to be adopted at the government level, it will be necessary to create a platform which does not involve mining, reports[4] local news source RNS on March 1.  

Vice-Minister Alexei Kozyrev stated at the beginning of the “Kritposredsa[5]” forum, that the implementation of a Blockchain system would help solve the problem of long-term storage and protection of documents and forms of identification. He added that in order to meet these requirements, the platform should be “unified and universal”.

Kozyrev further explained his position:

“The existing solutions in Blockchain from an organizational point of view are very, very unstable. According to data from Tokendata, more than 50% of Blockchain platforms created have already gone bankrupt or disappeared.  If we’re talking about how the government will adopt Blockchain, then obviously we cannot count on platforms which were created by commercial organizations, because these platforms are very, very unreliable. In this way we understand, that we need to create our own platform for Blockchain technology.”

The Russian government has already moved forward with Blockchain initiatives late last year. In early December, the government of Moscow began a pilot test[6] on using Blockchain to improve its local voting systems and improve transparency in its “Active Citizen” initiative.

On Dec. 19, 2017, Russia’s state-run bank, Sberbank[7], announced[8] a partnership with Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS[9]) to implement document transfer and storage via Blockchain.