Week Ending August 26, 2016

Each week brings a voluminous amount of news on blockchain and sorting through it can be daunting.   That is why we at Red Chalk Group are making it easy for you.  Now each week we will be bringing you the three things you need to know about blockchain this week. 

After scouring the blockchain world, three developments have been identified.  Up first, the Corda white paper was released.  Corda is blockchain platform designed specifically for smart contracts in financial services.  The group R3CEV filed a patent application for Corda, which is interesting in itself.  Among the differences between Corda and a standard blockchain is that the standard blockchain reaches consensus on a transaction as a whole.  Corda enables consensus to be reached on the individual steps of a process.   It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Consider that the generally accepted blockchain protocols (GABPTM) are still being developed.  Hyperledger likely has an interesting view on this topic.

Also this week, a group comprised of UBS, Deutsche Bank, Santander, and BNY Mellon announced plans to launch a proprietary digital currency.  They join Goldman Sachs, which has filed a patent for “SETLcoin”, Citigroup, and JP Morgan, which are also working on proprietary digital currencies.  Why are these major banks making this effort?  Because using digitized currency facilitates trading of securities – or anything really – over blockchain.  The potential annual savings in trading costs is near $100.0 billion. 

The World Economic Forum released a report that considers the impact of blockchain on financial services.  The report is based on research done over the course of prior year, with interviews done with stake holders and experts from around the globe.  The report delivered six key insights and nine potential use cases.  The key findings were balanced and sober.  The report provides excellent insights into the benefits and challenges of distributed ledgers.

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55f73743e4b051cfcc0b02cf/t/57bda2fdebbd1acc9c0309b2/1472045822585/corda-introductory-whitepaper-final.pdf?utm_term=0_83439a8472-200dba4e9e-245128033&utm_content=bufferce92f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a962c16-6952-11e6-ae5b-a7cc5dd5a28c.html#axzz4INBqVE7q

https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-financial-infrastructure-an-ambitious-look-at-how-blockchain-can-reshape-financial-services/

Financial Services

Why Big Bank Blockchain Leads Are Leaving for Startups

Major stock exchange completes blockchain trial for replacement settlement system

Wall Street Gets One Step Closer to Embracing Blockchain

FINTECH: A blockchain reaction in the financial sector
Big banks push forward with blockchain

Exchanges call for regulatory clarity over blockchain use

What can “blockchain” do for the wholesale insurance market?

Exchanges call for regulatory clarity over blockchain use

UBS leads team of banks working on blockchain settlement system

BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank and others join UBS for blockchain initiative

Don Tapscott: How the blockchain is changing money and business

Blockchain 101 With Andreas Antonopoulos: How Bitcoin Makes Each of Us as Powerful as A Bank
Blockchain Is Banks’ Secret Sauce

Hype Cycle Peaks as ACI States Blockchain Can’t Handle Financial Transactions at Scale

 

Government

UK Financial Regulator Considers Approving Blockchain Startups

Moscow Government to Explore Blockchain Voting

Australia Post Plan for Blockchain Voting by 2017

 

Global

WEF Report: Blockchain to challenge status quo

German Blockchain Startup BlockPay ‘Bootstrapped’ With Crypto ICO Investment

Rakuten Confirms Bitnet Acquisition, Announces Blockchain Lab in Belfast

Sberbank Considers Russian Blockchain Consortium

FCA considers approving blockchain businesses

Leading engineer from IBM will tell about blockchain-based technologies aimed for business in Kiev

Nordea looking for AI and blockchain breakthroughs

Blockchain Real Use Case: Land Inventory in Africa and Beyond

UAE considers blockchain technology to prevent ‘conflict diamonds’ from entering global trade

Hitachi and BTMU begin PoC testing using blockchain to digitize checks in Singapore

Strategic Alliance Formed to Speed Up Adoption of Blockchain Technology in China

Japanese Banks, E-Commerce Giant Ramp Up Blockchain Development

Japanese Firms Hit by Shortage of Blockchain Experts

Japanese Firms Test Blockchain for E-Check Management

Australia Post details plan to use blockchain for voting

Blockchain and bitcoin: Global development game changers?

 

Uses and Applications

R3 Files Blockchain Patent for Financial Agreements

IBM Launches Cloud Services for Blockchain Deployments

Google & Apple Prefer Ripple Blockchain Tech over Visa

Samsung mulls blockchain adoption

Verizon is making a foray into the ‘game changer’ technology Wall Street is pumped about

Verizon Files for Passcode Blockchain Patent

Blockchain Foundry for e-commerce launched

The Blockchain as an Economic Engine for The Cybersecurity Industry

How Blockchain Technology Could Decentralize the Energy Grid

Blockchain in healthcare getting a lot of attention

Using Blockchain to Address Drone Cybersecurity

TAO Network Partners with Boogie Shack Music Group to Offer Blockchain Solution

Egyptian Cotton, Meet Blockchain

Blockchain for Land Administration

Blocksafe Announces ICO Sponsored by Blockchain Foundation

Chronicled Launches Open Registry for Consumer IoT on Ethereum Blockchain

Blockchain: It’s not just for finance anymore

 

Thought Leadership

Chain Joins Industry-Academia Blockchain Initiative to Solve Interoperability and Scalability Issues

Blockchain as ‘Technological Genie’

Bitcoin distracts from the real value of blockchain

Don Tapscott Believes Blockchain Can Disrupt Any Industry

Blockchain Book Author Appears in New TED Talk

Building Blocks to Blockchains

Blockchain deploy issue on BlueMix

Ripple Labs CTO Warns of Blockchain Dystopia

Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2016 Adds Blockchain & Machine Learning