There is no doubt that interest in blockchains as a technology is running high, nor that this is a global phenomenon. Two contributions, with very different considerations, illustrate this: Chris Berg, Sinclair Davidson and Jason Potts are with the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub in Melbourne, Australia; their opinion piece, entitled ‘Institutional Cryptonomics: A New Model for a…
ThoughtRiver has launched a new AI solution to assess legal contracts. The solution, called Review, is said to be able to assess a contract up to 60 times faster than a paralegal. It is also said to be 30% cheaper suggesting that its hourly rate is quite rapacious. The solution builds on ThroughRiver’s existing Contextual…
Nextech, a Perth (Australia) company, has created a project called ClearPoll. This allows users around the world to: browse for opinion polls on topics they care about most vote on the polls view detailed results. By deploying blockchain technology Nextech securely stores both votes and results. Better still, no individual or corporation can tamper with…
On Thursday, September 21st, our colleague Charles Brett’s fourth novel in his THE CORRUPTION SERIES will become openly available. you can find it on Amazon (US & UK), iBooks, Kobo. Scribd and other platforms. From today, ET readers can buy it at a pre-publication price of US$0.99*/£0.99 on Amazon (this will last until formal publication on…
GS1, IBM and Microsoft have announced a collaboration to leverage GS1 Standards in enterprise blockchain applications for supply chain clients. GS1 is a not-for-profit organisation with member organisations in 112 countries, 1.5 million user companies and claims 5 billion transactions conforming to a common language that supports systems and processes. It provides global standards for…
At an industry conference organised by Barclays, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, stated “Bitcoin will eventually blow up. It’s a fraud. It’s worse than tulip bulbs and won’t end well.” Before examining the accuracy of his assessment, he did manage to put another dent in an already much dented valuation of Bitcoins (BTC). At…
ZF, UBS and IBM are jointly to develop the Car eWallet open automotive transaction platform for mobility services. This will use blockchain technology. To its founders, Car eWallet has the potential to change radically the way manufacturers, suppliers and service providers process digital transactions. The objective is to simplify the use of vehicle services. Equipped…
According to security research firm FireEye, Kim Jong Un’s DPRK (aka N Korea) is focusing on Bitcoin (BTC) as a source of foreign funds. That he seeks to do this is a direct consequence of US-inspired, and UN-mandated sanctions. As so often the laws of unintended consequences may yet apply. In this case, not only…
The EU’s Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) has invested, via SME Instrument funds, a ‘whole’ c €3.4M in three companies (see below) in pursuit of blockchain use. The Commission set up EASME to manage several EU programmes. These include: COSME (Competitveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises) Horizon 2020 (the EU primary programme for…
The US Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed), in a new research paper , almost blesses blockchain. This is a significant development, though not yet one cast in stone. The paper is: “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System; Federal Reserve Next Steps in the Payments Improvement Journey“. Despite the title’s length it makes for interesting…