Month: July 2018

Boeing is partnering with an artificial intelligence (AI) company to develop pilotless vehicles and other products using blockchain, it announced in a press release July 17. Texas-based SparkCognition, a company which Boeing invested in in a $32 million funding round last month, will work with the aviation giant on a platform which will track unmanned air vehicles and allocate flight corridors. As a byproduct of this development, the partnership “will also provide a standardized programming interface to support package delivery, Read more …

A new report states the UK has the potential to become a leader in blockchain technology and the crypto economy by 2022, The Guardian reported July 16. The new report was conducted by the Big Innovation Centre, DAG Global, and Deep Knowledge Analytics, all companies aimed to connect business, academic, and public agencies to provide insights on new innovative technologies. According to the group’s analysis, Britain has the governmental, technological, and industrial resources to become a leader in the crypto Read more …

US computer technology multinational Oracle confirmed the general release of its blockchain platform in an official press release July 16. The launch follows a series of trials with banking, business and government clients. Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service (OBCS) focuses on transaction efficiency and supply chain authentication, using Hyperledger Fabric as its basis. Existing users of a pre-release version of the product include Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB), Indian Oil and Nigeria Customs, according to the press release. “Blockchain promises to Read more …

Crowdfunding The US remains a leading destination for ICO projects according to a new study that also ranks Switzerland and Singapore in the top three. The report notes that authorities in other jurisdictions, like Russia and Estonia, are working to adopt favorable regulations in order to attract more crypto startups. The findings coincide with another study identifying 78% of all ICOs as scams. Also read: Less Than Half of ICOs Survive Four Months After Sale, Study Finds A Third of Read more …

Japanese digital services firm GMO Internet has just launched a new web bank that it says will soon use blockchain to facilitate payments. The firm said in a company notice that it had teamed up with Aozora Bank Group on the joint enterprise and that the two firms had been preparing for the launch of the “next-generation” bank since mid-2016. The new entity – dubbed GMO Aozora Net Bank – aims to provide new financial services through the integration of fintech and Read more …

A director at ‘big four’ accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC)  in Australia has quit the firm to join crypto exchange bitcoin.com.au as its newest CEO. Ben Ingram left PwC Australia back in March, where he was responsible for digital strategy, accounting and consulting, as its director before taking over the exchange as its chief executive, Business Insider Australia reports. The executive joins a long list of finance high-profile professionals switching their traditional careers for exciting opportunities in the crypto world. PwC Read more …

Nearly two years after its initial announcement and months of delays this year, the world’s first bank-owned cryptocurrency exchange finally sees its public launch in Japan. With an announcement on Tuesday, Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings has formally launched its cryptocurrency exchange platform, dubbed ‘VCTRADE’. As reported by CCN in early June, SBI first announced a limited launch of the exchange for some 20,000 pre-registered users – enrolled during an early alpha last year – while holding off on a Read more …

Technology giant IBM has launched a new research center through a partnership with Columbia University in a move aimed to boost blockchain application development and education initiatives. Opening Tuesday, the center is located in the Manhattan campus of Columbia University in New York City and will, among other things, incubate blockchain applications through a combination of academic and technical expertise, the firm said. Soon to be announced, a dedicated committee comprised of both Columbia faculty members and IBM research scientists Read more …

A startup blockchain company, with a team featuring former executives from Samsung Electronics, have unveiled plans to invigorate the way cryptocurrency mining is performed – creating an infrastructure designed to enhance profit and help blockchain technology become more prolific in everyday life. 12SHIPS says it wants to tackle some of the issues that miners currently face as they use air cooling systems. The company claims many of the methods used at present are incredibly energy intensive and create dust – byproducts Read more …

The latest attempt to create a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, or “stablecoin,” combines 21st-century technology with an invention from the Great Depression. Announced Tuesday, a startup called Stronghold is launching USD Anchor, which will run on the rails of the Stellar blockchain and use its consensus mechanism to verify transactions. The token will be backed one-for-one with U.S. dollars held at a Nevada-charted trust company called Prime Trust, which in turn will deposit the cash at banks insured by the Read more …