Blockchain’s scalability issue can soon be overcome

Blockchain’s scalability issue can soon be overcome

by | Feb 4, 2020 | Blockchain, News

After millions have been spent to find a solution for the scalability issue of the decentralized blockchain, a solution appeared in sight.

A former lead researcher at Microsoft, Jia Ping Wang, created the Asensys protocol and recently presented his solution for a scalable blockchain.

The Asensys protocol was designed specifically to test the concept Wang proposed, and it showed a greater capacity than the main blockchains during the tests. How?

According to Wang:

“Asensys is able to essentially ‘divide and conquer’ all network actions, thereby reducing unnecessary redundancy,”

The blockchain scalability trilemma

Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, came up with the concept of the scalability trilemma.

He says it’s easy to have a blockchain with only two key attributes, out of the three needed: security, decentralization and scalability. The ‘trilemma’ is to have all three at the same time, but usually, you have to give one up to make a network scale.

As District0x presented the issue:

“…if Ethereum nodes become too expensive to run, the network will be more susceptible to centralization. At the same time, requiring each transaction to be processed by every node will make it so Ethereum never scales.” 

Trying to overcome this problem, some Ethereum developers have tried to apply the sharding method, which essentially lets the network’s nodes process only parts of the transaction.

On the other hand, Bitcoin developers have exploited other solutions. such as Lightning, which doesn’t get the network clogged up with small transactions and allows them to be processed off-chain. Some believed this to not be a secure solution.

So what’s the big news from Asensys?

Supposably, Asesnsys has solved the trilemma, and it doesn’t go off-chain.

Wang started describing his method in the conference paper “Monoxide: Scale out blockchains with asynchronous consensus zones,”.

In his paper, Wang proposed to remove duplicating efforts on the blockchain and spreading the workload asynchronously.

On top of the increased capabilities of the network, “the Asensys protocol increases proportionately to the community size,” according to a press release.

We are still waiting to hear more about this solution, as it is in its early days and few details were revealed to the media.

The latest 5 blockchain technology trends in 2020

The latest 5 blockchain technology trends in 2020

by | Jan 22, 2020 | Blockchain, News

The Bitcoin and crypto hype of 2017 has worn off, but companies have continued to invest in research and development for the past years. And that’s not going to change in 2020. Here are 5 blockchain technology trends to look after in 2020.

According to analysts, blockchain ranks as one of the top 10 technology trends in 2020.

Even if the enthusiasts have become calmer, don’t fall to believe that blockchain is going away. Because the exact opposite is true. The blockchain technology is just in its infancy, and only a few companies have been able to successfully use it for their digital operations.

Blockchain’s future is tightly connected with the future of AI and IoT.

Here are some blockchain trends for 2020.

Other industries will follow the to implement blockchain

The blockchain technology became famous once Bitcoin started to gain popularity, and that’s why the finance sector was the first one to use this innovative technology.

But blockchain isn’t limited to digital currencies. The number of uses cases and examples grows with every month, as companies and developers become more open-minded. The blockchain technology can be incorporated into systems to stop frauds, as a settlement system, for the smart contract feature and of course, to increase the speed of digital transactions.

IBM, the company that helped launched more successful blockchain initiatives than any other company, believes that the investment of financial services in blockchain will increase in 2020.

Blockchain has immense value for services and industry that require secure ledger or transactions and need to keep track of everything. This includes agricultural products and luxury goods.

Facebook plans to bank the unbanked

For the past year, Facebook has been talking about how it will revolutionize the financial world, all over the world.

The launch of Libra is supposed to be in 2020, but many details are still unrevealed.

Since the creation of Bitcoin in 2009, many altcoins have been launched and many of those have sunk before anyone ever knew about them. But the world has yet to see a giant such as Facebook, launching its own crypto. This is something nobody has seen before and it can change the financial world as we know it.

The topic is controversial, as both Mastercard and Visa announced their withdrawal from the project due to regulatory concerns.

Libra, the cryptocurrency promised by Facebook, is technically a cryptocurrency, but its processing mechanism was described differently than the one Bitcoin has. It will rely on computer encryption to guarantee the integrity of the network, but the network will be centralized, as opposed to the distributed system used by all the other cryptocurrencies.

Even so, if Facebook makes its promise a reality, it will finally succeed in disrupting the current global monetary system.

The blockchain technology and its integration with AI continues

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be difficult to understand, due to the large volume of data that determines its decisions.

Some believe that the blockchain technology can be the solution to that, as it would make the decisions traceable and would allow humans to verify that the decisions were made based on verifiable information.

The two technologies can even help each other. The blockchain improves the use of the AI and the AI can make the blockchain more secure and easier to operate.

Using these two powerful technologies, companies can reduce waste in production, streamline supply chains, make predictions more accurately. It is likely to see the first cloud service providers that combine AI and blockchain in 2020.

Blockchain can be used to secure the Internet of Things

People are using and connecting more and more devices in their personal and business lives to process data, which can lead to more opportunities to corrupt that data if it would fall into the wrong hands. Or information can be simply misplaced.

Because more and more information is transferred machine-to-machine, a trustworthy and secure environment is necessary.

Luckily, blockchain technology can be used to get the current best solution known to man. All transactions and pieces of information are transparently recorded to all parties. This makes debugging, a much simpler task to understand where the error occurred and what caused the problem.

Studies have shown that the companies that have adopted IoT are planning to also implement blockchain in 2020 if they haven’t done so already.

Governments are pro blockchain

Wyoming is the first state in the US to adopt a framework that allows blockchain to flourish.

As the first cryptocurrencies appeared, the transfer of valuable assets became possible for the first time, for anyone in the world. This raised attention by the central banks, who were concerned by the obvious potential of money laundering and illegal activities.

To this day, these concerns have kept cryptocurrencies from mass adoption and why the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) consistently rejected applications for public cryptocurrency banks.

The decision of the Wyoming legislators doesn’t change that. But with their decision, they made public their belief that regulation should be an enabler and not a blocker of technology.

We hope to see more states and countries from all around the world to follow their examples in 2020.

Blockchain, on top of demanded skills in 2020

Blockchain, on top of demanded skills in 2020

by | Jan 15, 2020 | Blockchain, News

Blockchain is the most desirable hard skill in 2020, according to LinkedIn Learning, the education portal of the famous professional network.

After blockchain, cloud computing falls closely, in the second place, on the skill scale.

Thi skill listing is updated annually and it places the skills in demand by companies.

The in-demand hard abilities are chosen out of LinkedIn’s trending job listings.

In 2019, blockchain wasn’t on the listing at all, while cloud computing and artificial intelligence were the most sought after skills from the LinkedIn listing.

The blockchain technology started to gain popularity at the beginning of 2009, promoted by cryptocurrencies, and it eventually evolved into a way to validate and authorise data, due to its secure distributed ledger.

Due to the current shortage of blockchain professionals to serve this emerging industry, LinkedIn urges its readers to start studying the essentials of blockchain engineering.

It’s unclear why blockchain has suddenly been listed on top of the list of most wanted skills by a company, but it might be a sign that the distributed ledger technology is finally shaking off the stigma surrounding it (given by the crypto sector) and moving into mainstream business processes.

The lack of blockchain professionals

Coin Rivet reported in 2018, a 2000% increase in the demand of blockchain experts, based on the UpWork.com freelancer market. The salaries for blockchain professionals ranged from $36,000 to over $200,000 at that time.

During the last year, a significant number of current pioneer companies created blockchain-based products or solutions, legitimising the blockchain’s reputation.

One such example is the partnership between the global remittance supplier, MoneyGram, who has been operating together with Ripple to start new cross-border payment gateways using blockchain.

Another example is Samsung, which has partnered with Syniverse to allow blockchain-powered cellular payments, revealing that the blockchain innovation is a global event.

On top of all these international projects, the Central Bank Digital Currencies(CBDCs) is focusing on increasing blockchain’s demand and legitimacy. This is becoming a priority for authorities in many countries such as China, the USA, and Australia — further increasing the requirement for best blockchain skilled professionals.

How can blockchain and Social Media work together?

How can blockchain and Social Media work together?

by | Jan 9, 2020 | Blockchain, News

Social media simplified approaches to the way we socialize beyond geographic boundaries and established new ways of communication and influenced the business sectors. But how can blockchain and Social Media work together?

There are a whole lot of privileges we’re enjoying thanks to social media. But there is a huge risk that comes with the conveniences of social media: users’ privacy.

You don’t think there is a privacy problem on social media?!

Look no farther than Facebook’s data breach in 2019. Over 540 million users’ private information was then exposed on Amazon’s cloud calculating service. Facebook is still dealing with the repercussions of the federal investigations within the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which ended with a $5 billion fine, so this newest dilemma over consumer privacy is just one more blow to the people’s trust.

Safety is not the only challenge with social media. Censorship, misleading news and manipulative algorithms are rising issues as well. So what can we do?

Can these issues be solved? Of course, the solution is not to eliminate social media, as it has become an important part of our lives and it is used as a tool which helps create economic value and create jobs.

A social media statistic revealed that:

73% of online marketers agree that their efforts in implementing a social media marketing strategy for their business have been effective.

We can all agree that social media has been of great use in many businesses over the last decade, but the trust build with so much hard work can be broke after such a scandal like the one Facebook was involved in.

The good news is that there is a solution. A little twitch or different approach can protect users from privacy risks. And the blockchain technology can help with this risk. We’re talking about the decentralized way of how blockchain functions. By using blockchain, there wouldn’t be a single entity controlling the entire platform and thus the risk or privacy leaks can be overpassed.

The distinct features of a blockchain can be what social media needs at the moment. Let’s take a look at what exactly are these.

Transparency 

The giants of social media had to spend enormous resources to shut down spam accounts, which were being used to disperse erroneous information.

Meanwhile, platforms that used the blockchain technology are giving their users the option to authenticate, update and use their real-life assets, without exposing them to the risk of these ever being misused. Such a shift can lift a great burden off social media platforms.

Control

Did you know you lose control over your private information, the moment you upload it online?

Most of the time, that data is used to target users and display ads. By using a blockchain platform, the users could control and decide who has access to that information and how it is used.

Freedom

When we talk about social media, we also have to mention content creators, the ones who invest the times to create and publish content on those social media platforms.

The current social media platforms can block and/or demonetize content posted by content creators. On a decentralized platform, there would be no central authority to control the way content is viewed.

How can blockchain and Social Media work together?

What are the alternatives?

How can blockchain and Social Media work together?

At the moment, there are a few blockchain projects aiming to address the crisis going on, but the masses need to hear about them.

This is a list of platforms built using the blockchain technology, that aims to revolutionize the online social media.

Diaspora

With a base of millions of users, Diaspora is using a Distributed Database Network, in which users have complete freedom and privacy.

Minds

This modern platform offers zero censorship of the network, in which the users owns everything. It is considered to be a great enforcer of freedom of speech.

All.me

This revolutionizing platform offers all the features that conventional social media platforms have, with the addition that the users can generate revenue by using it.

Mastodon

This is the decentralized, open-source version of Twitter. Mastodon is an ad-free platform, in which the user controls who sees their posts.

Sola

Sola integrates AI into their platform to ensure that the video content of the platform reaches those users who are interested in it, which helps boosts engagement as well.

Although there are 3.5 billion people registered on online social media platforms, the mass adoption of blockchain-based platforms will take some more time.

Within the constantly evolving state of the online medium, users are increasingly concerned with their privacy. More and more individuals opt for platforms that don’t ask them for their personal data, or which don’t use it.

Although users are still attracted to these traditional online social mediums by transforming it into a business, the platforms need to cut their commission before rewarding the users.

It’s early to predict it, but users’ interest is changing and can lead to the reshaping of what we call today online social networks. Will the giants of today still play the game or is the future going to emerge from the horizon of blockchain?

Thank My Famer, the IBM blockchain app that tracks coffee beans!

Thank My Famer, the IBM blockchain app that tracks coffee beans!

by | Jan 7, 2020 | Blockchain, News

Thank My Famer is an app powered by IBM’s blockchain, which produces a permanent digitized series of trades that can’t be changed – monitoring each step of a coffee bean’s journey.

Based on IBM’s Worldwide Blockchain Leader, Paul Chang, every participant to the Thank My Farmer app has a copy of all the transaction information. Each piece of data is added to the blockchain and broadcasted across the community based on each participant’s level of permission. This permits farmers, retailers, and traders to interact better while providing consumers with insights concerning the sources of the coffee.

According to the founder and president of Farmer Connect, David Behrends, the “Thank My Farmer” app provides customers with an interactive map to show the journey of the coffee by scanning a QR-code:

“After scanning a QR-code, consumers are taken straight to a product page that gives details about the coffee they are drinking. Below that description is an interactive map that shows the journey the coffee has taken. We say you can travel the world through a cup of coffee, and we’d like to help consumers visualize that.”

IBM blockchain is powering Thank My Famer app to track coffee beans

How is this different from other blockchain-based solutions?

Although the Thank My Farmer app is powered by the IBM blockchain, Farmer Link is not a part of IBM’s Food Trust Network, which now includes over 200 food providers and retailers such as Walmart and Carrefour. But the program uses the very same assets as the Food Trust platform.

“We took the assets from the Food Trust network and put those in a dedicated environment for Farmer Connect to address the coffee industry supply chain. As a result, Famer Connect doesn’t have to worry about scalability, security and robustness of the network, as everything has already been proven out by Food Trust.”

The purpose of Thank My Famer wasn’t to experiment with new technology but to define a more sustainable ecosystem for coffee farmers, drinkers and the rest of the players involved.

This new Thank My Famer app is different from the rest of the blockchain-based options that allow users to scan a QR barcode to obtain the origin of a particular food item. Carrefour, for instance, the European supermarket, has integrated the QR barcode technology into a few of their goods, but customers are able to just determine where these foods came from. Farmer Connect enables users to make direct donations to farmers, and that is a specific element of the app. David Behrends, the president of Farmer Connect, further clarified this, stating:

“Thank My Farmer app is an industry lead initiative being supported by the entire industry. Others in space are trying to do something similar by showing consumers where their food comes from, but we are addressing issues that the coffee industry is also facing.”

Farmer Connect is considering expanding into other food industries, like cocoa and tea, in which products are created by smaller farmers.

Amazon and Alibaba to reshaped e-commerce?

Amazon and Alibaba to reshaped e-commerce?

by | Dec 19, 2019 | Blockchain, News

The online era fundamentally changed the way people shop. Companies as Amazon and Alibaba laid out the basis of e-commerce.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in the early 1990s, and clients reacted well to Amazon’s services. In May 1997, Amazon developed the initial public offering. The issue price was $18 per share at the moment. After 21 years, the stock touched the historical $2,000 mark in August 2018. This is the way Bezos became the wealthiest man on the planet and Amazon turned into a $1 trillion firm. Amazon’s stock has increased more than 1000 times since its beginning. On December 12, AMZN stock returned 14% year-to-date.

Alibaba, often referred to as the Chinese version of Amazon, has not such a different story. Alibaba was first funded by the CEO of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, and it issued 2 different series of stocks. In 2014, Alibaba received a record-setting $21 billion of initial funding after listing ADRs (American depository receipts) on NYSE. In 2019, throughout the trade war between the US and China, Alibaba was confronted with a possible threat of becoming delisted. After some deliberation, Alibaba went forward using a second listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of November 2019 under the ticker 9988. Alibaba inventory rose by 6.5% on the first day of listing in Hong Kong. By November 2019, the Alibaba IPO was the biggest IPO recorded.

In December 2019, Saudi Aramco’s IPO surpassed Alibaba’s IPO record. The state-owned oil firm from Saudi Arabia draw over $25 billion in its IPO.

E-commerce business transformation

Each time a new technological invention springs upward, the companies that set the new technology up the fastest, are the most successful.

Amazon and Alibaba are great examples of businesses embracing the online world. The world wide web has made it feasible to search for products and services while still sitting in your home. Nowadays, emerging technologies such as fintech are catapulting e-commerce to another level.  Everyday consumers are able to instantly purchase their desired goods thanks to fintech. These are only a couple of examples of how e-commerce has adapted to newer variants of this technology. Lots of new start-ups have emerged and are interested in finding methods to add value to the e-commerce industry using modern technology.

With blockchain, enterprises can streamline daily operational tasks. The technology is highly transparent and secure. It could drastically reduce costs.