Tag Archives: blockchain

Blockchain Patents In The US Skyrocket In 2020: Study

By | |
Leave a comment

Blockchain Patents In The U.S. Skyrocket In 2020: Study

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 9/23/2020 10:36 AM ET

Blockchain patents are skyrocketing in the U.S., with more blockchain-related patents being published in the first half of 2020 than in the whole of 2019, a year that had already seen more than three times the blockchain patents published in 2018, according to a new study published by IP consulting company KISSPatent.

The study also reveals that blockchain-only companies are keeping their distance from filing for patents as very few are filing. Curiously enough, it is mostly large companies like the Fortune 500 that are dominating the patent world with their blockchain-related applications.

Blockchain is an important foundation technology for decentralized, trustless interactions. It is the underlying technology for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. It is also used for all kinds of applications like finance, insurance, healthcare, logistics and many more.

Not surprisingly, the most popular category turns out to be fintech applications, being about half of all blockchain patent applications. These include applications using cryptocurrencies, or supporting storage or exchange of cryptocurrencies, or supporting other financial transactions over blockchain.

The second most popular category was decentralized business platforms and solutions deployed over blockchain, at a little more than 10 percent of all blockchain patent applications.

Other popular categories for blockchain patents include business services with a financial component, healthcare, traditional banking services and general business services that are grafted onto blockchain.

Fintech companies and traditional banks actually apply blockchain technology in different ways, to support their different business models.

According to the study, the U.S. is the number one country with 2112 blockchain patents. The Cayman Islands is surprisingly the second country with 350 blockchain patent filings as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's subsidiary that owns all of its blockchain patents/applications is located there.

They are followed by Canada with 118, Japan with 108, South Korea with 87 and China with 77 blockchain patent applications.

Alibaba and IBM are the top two US blockchain patent application publishers. Alibaba has published nearly 10 times more blockchain patents in the US than nearest rival IBM in 2020.

However, IBM currently owns the most blockchain patent applications, but Alibaba is catching up fast and should overtake IBM this year. Bank of America, Mastercard, nChain and Walmart are the other significant blockchain patent players.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Xage To Develop Blockchain-powered Data Protection System For US Space Force

By | |
Leave a comment

Xage To Develop Blockchain-powered Data Protection System For U.S. Space Force

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 9/21/2020 10:23 AM ET

Blockchain startup Xage Security, Inc. has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab to evaluate, develop and deploy a blockchain-powered data protection system for U.S. Space Force (USSF).

Xage will develop a system for end-to-end data protection across military and civilian assets to support command and control for the USSF. Xage solution will be in the form of a blockchain-protected space system security.

The solution will enable the USSF to enforce verification for any system access, efficiently protect resources even when out of contact, and ensure data can be trusted and protected from source until delivery to the operational units.

The USSF was established by the U.S. Air Force in December 2019 to protect space, the highest battlefield ground, by developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces.

“The USSF requires decentralized enforcement of security to establish space domain resilience and objective situational awareness–across every asset and data element,” said Xage CEO Duncan Greatwood.

Space systems require a security solution that blocks cyber attacks before they gain traction, protects the space platform at a granular level, and ensures data integrity, confidentiality, and access across various organizations and units.

Any security solution deployed must remain resilient even in the face of the most sophisticated attacks, and must be able to prevent and combat cyberattacks in real time.

The Xage Security Fabric, rooted in tamperproof blockchain technology, is well suited to handle the diverse ecosystem of space and terrestrial assets. It also removes singular points of entry, ensuring that a single hack is no longer capable of wiping out all operations across a system.

Xage’s Dynamic Data Security offering can enforce fine grained access control and data control among applications, across both USSF and commercial assets, and between space and ground.

Xage’s Enforcement Point solution also provides granular identity-based access control for ground systems communicating with satellites with confidential payload protection.

This is the second contract for the cybersecurity firm has got from the U.S. Air Force following the contract received in December 2019 to evaluate Xage’s blockchain-protected Security Fabric.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

definitive guide to swing trading stocks
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

US Presidential candidate served for alleged securities fraud at rally in NYC

By | |
Leave a comment

U.S. Presidential candidate served for alleged securities fraud at rally in NYC

This campaign rally probably did not turn out quite as the candidate had envisioned it.


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            SEPT 14, 2020

Presidential candidate Brock Pierce was served for his connection to alleged securities fraud during his campaign rally in New York City earlier today.


Source: Twitter.

James Koutoulas, the lawyer leading this case, told Cointelegraph that Pierce was served legal documents in connection with a class action case against Block.One — a company that Pierce co-founded. Block.One was the company behind EOS' $4 billion initial coin offering. The project's ICO was the largest such offering to date.

Brock Pierce has co-founded a number of crypto projects including Block.one, Tether, and Blockchain Capital. The first two have been subject to ongoing legal actions for a number of years.

Pierce announced his long-shot candidacy for U.S. President in July, hot on the heels of Kanye West. His campaign site states that he is a pioneer digital currency and has raised more than $5 billion for the companies he has founded.

This story is developing and will be updated.

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Michael Kapolkov.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

US Legislators Introduce Bill To Study Blockchain For Consumer Protection

By | |
Leave a comment

US Legislators Introduce Bill To Study Blockchain For Consumer Protection

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 9/4/2020 10:24 AM ET

Three U.S. legislators have introduced a new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives for conducting an in-depth study of blockchain technology and its use in consumer protection and for other purposes. They have called for the report of the study to be submitted to the Congress.

The bill, referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, was submitted by Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL), Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA).

The slight partisan bill (Democrat 2-1) seeks "to direct the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Federal Trade Commission, to conduct a study and submit to Congress a report on the state of the blockchain technology and use in consumer protection, and for other purposes."

In May last year, a group of US lawmakers sent a bipartisan letter to President Donald Trump's adviser urging the Administration to include blockchain technology in its initiatives on emerging technologies.

The Congressmen strongly urged the Trump Administration to direct the National Economic Council to convene a forum of stakeholders to examine the policy issues facing the industry, and support blockchain technology.

Representatives Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN) and Darren Soto (D-FL) led the initiative to draft the letter, addressed to Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council. Reps. Bill Foster (D-WI), Tom Emmer (R-MN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) were the other signatories to the letter.

Previously in October 2018, U.S. Representatives Doris Matsui and Brett Guthrie had introduced a bill aiming to establish a common definition of blockchain technology.

The bill titled "Blockchain Promotion Act of 2018" had been proposed for the establishment of a working group of stakeholders across the federal government and private industry to find the digital technology's definition.

Specifically, the bill directed the Department of Commerce to establish the blockchain working group to recommend a consensus-based definition.

However, these bills do not mention anything about digital assets of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and only focus on enhancing the use of blockchain technology.

Despite being a flourishing market for cryptocurrency, the U. S. does not have a national framework for regulating it, with several federal agencies claiming conflicting jurisdictions.

Currently, different federal departments consider digital assets as property, commodities, or securities. Some states have onerous regulations, such as New York's BitLicense.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Three Major Australian Banks To Use Blockchain For Bank Guarantees

By | |
Leave a comment

Three Major Australian Banks To Use Blockchain For Bank Guarantees

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 9/1/2020 10:17 AM ET

Three of the four major banks in Australia are using blockchain technology to digitize bank guarantees after developing a new platform called Lygon in partnership with technology giant IBM and Australian shopping centre company Scentre Group Ltd. Lygon is built on the IBM Blockchain platform.

Blockchain technology will help the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ Bank), Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp. to reduce the timeline of bank guarantees processes to one day on Lygon from the current nearly thirty days.

Bank guarantees are often required as part of a retail property lease and it protects both parties in a contractual agreement from credit risk. Both parties may have to issue bank guarantees to prove their financial bona fides and capability. The bank screens and assesses the creditworthiness of the applicant before issuing the guarantee.

Lygon is a blockchain-based platform to transform the bank guarantee process. The five founding companies jointly commenced a live pilot for Lygon in early July with a test group of retail property leasing customers.

For decades, bank guarantees have been paper-based instruments that rely on physical delivery, storage and verification. This process was fraught with both inefficiencies and risk to the parties involved.

Digitizing this process reduces the risk of fraud for all parties involved, decreases the potential for errors and significantly increases the speed of execution. It reduces the risk of fraud across billions of dollars guaranteed by the banks.

The paperless process enables same day issuance by alleviating costs, risks and delays associated with issuing, exchanging, retrieving, and potential loss of paper-based guarantees. It also allows tracking, reporting and validating the status of a guarantee throughout its lifecycle.

Further, it reduces the manual effort to review and negotiate various terms and conditions across multiple parties. It also allows communication between authorized parties on a distributed, immutable ledger. Lygon gives real-time visibility to all parties of the guarantee amendment process.

Beneficiaries can manage the end-to-end process for bank guarantees in one place, reducing operational expense and fraud. Beneficiaries can also make a full or partial demand through Lygon. Transferring a guarantee is a simple but secure process.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

SpaceChain Executes First Multisignature BTC Transaction In Space

By | |
Leave a comment

SpaceChain Executes First Multisignature BTC Transaction In Space

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/19/2020 10:26 AM ET

U.K.-based SpaceChain successfully executed the first multi-signature blockchain transaction in space through a powerful onboard GomSpace computer hardware installed on the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceChain co-founder and CTO Jeff Garzik performed the Bitcoin transaction that was validated through the ISS via the SpaceChain electrum wallet, with a transaction slip made available.

Upon initiating the multisignature transaction, the encrypted data was transmitted securely through a ground station to the ISS, which holds a private key to verify and approve the transaction.

This is part of SpaceChain's vision of creating a decentralized orbital constellation for fintech applications and business transactions as well as the European Space Agency (ESA) Kick-start Activity program.

"Executing the multisignature transaction in space encapsulates our continuous efforts in building out an open-source blockchain-based satellite network that is secure and immutable," said Garzik.

SpaceChain's blockchain hardware embedded with the multisignature wallet technology was installed on the ISS in late June. The hardware was housed in Nanoracks' commercial platform on the ISS, which allows to send data and command files from the ground station to the ISS hardware, and vice versa.

The hardware was launched into space aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Center in early December 2019.

Earlier, the SpaceChain had successfully tested its second blockchain node in space in January 2019, which was launched into orbit in October 2018 by a CZ-4B Y34 rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, Xinzhou, China.

The first blockchain node that SpaceChain launched into orbit was in February 2018, again from China, that was equipped with a Raspberry Pi hardware board and blockchain software.

Founded in 2017, SpaceChain is a community-based space platform that combines space and blockchain technologies to build the world's first open-source blockchain-based satellite network, allowing users to develop and run applications in space by adopting space-as-a-service.

SpaceChain's open-source operating system (SpaceChain OS) provides the main blockchain application sandbox for developers to utilize for rapid and secure development, testing and deployment of space-based applications.

Blockchain is the next major disruptor in space. SpaceChain addresses security vulnerabilities for financial systems and digital assets in the growing digital economy.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Rainier Title Partners Ubitquity To Develop Blockchain-powered Title And Escrow

By | |
Leave a comment

Rainier Title Partners Ubitquity To Develop Blockchain-powered Title And Escrow

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/11/2020 10:19 AM ET

Title and Escrow company Rainier Title has teamed up with blockchain start-up Ubitquity LLC to develop a blockchain-powered platform for creating tokenized property title as well as parallel records of conveyances.

Ubitquity is the enterprise-ready blockchain-secured platform for real estate and title recordkeeping. Rainier Title is a title company serving the Washington State.

Rainier Title is in the process of migrating to conveyance suite Qualia, which is a cloud-based title, escrow, and eClosing platform that meets the industry's most stringent security requirements.

Ubitquity is now looking to develop a software that seamlessly integrates into Qualia. This will enable Rainier Title to provide its clients tokens that represent the client's property. This will give the title owner opportunities to create new value with their property such as creating fractionalized ownership investment opportunities.

The tokenized property title and a blockchain record of the conveyance would also create huge efficiencies for the abstract process.

Ubitquity's smart contract module will also help prevent cybercrime in the property industry. The data on the blockchain can be easily retrieved and re-used without a need for further verification. The data also becomes a single source of truth all parties can trust without the need to reconcile.

The smart contract module is a blockchain-based smart escrow contracts product named SmartEscrow that allows for reduced overhead costs and mitigated risks.

SmartEscrow allows closing agents to avoid and mitigate fraud. It allows the parties involved in a transaction to have the assurance that verified parties are sending and receiving funds from the proper source with secure wire instruction tools.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Honeywell Uses Blockchain To Digitize Aircraft Parts And Service Data

By | |
Leave a comment

Honeywell Uses Blockchain To Digitize Aircraft Parts And Service Data

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/6/2020 10:59 AM ET

Aerospace parts maker Honeywell International is using a blockchain-powered system to help its customers to speedily and efficiently search and retrieve scattered data of aircraft parts and service through a simple search engine user interface.

The system will help streamline the cumbersome documentation processes and storage mechanisms of aircraft parts and services, which is generally scattered across computer systems and hard copies. Honeywell will fully integrate aircraft record generation into its digital blockchain ledger.

Aerospace companies and their customers require quick and easy access to the data because it is critical for airlines as most use dozens of repair facilities, and the paperwork from each is not integrated.

Honeywell's blockchain is a secure, decentralized database crowd-sourced by all its authorized users, with each allowed user having a copy of the database and its contents in real time. Honeywell is storing the actual form data "on chain" instead of storing only PDF documents or a reference to the digital aircraft record.

Most importantly, the data provided by the blockchain-powered system is used to re-construct aircraft records, including records that prove certification by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that the aircraft parts are safe to fly.

Honeywell manufactures and repairs thousands of aerospace parts each day. All these events, including the generated air worthiness certificates, will now go on chain. This will help to simplify and transform record-keeping for aircraft owners and airlines around the world.

Putting up quality documentation and aircraft part provenance data to the blockchain will help customers in the aerospace industry. Aircraft spare parts were never easy to buy online as it involves lots of documentation and certifications. Online purchases also raise concerns of forgery of the documents involved.

Blockchain technology creates trust between all parties on the chain through digital transparency. Honeywell now unpacks all the parts and repair data to make it immutable, searchable and accessible to everyone in its permissions-based ecosystem.

Honeywell launched its blockchain-powered aviation marketplace called GoDirect Trade in November 2018 that streamlines the process of buying and selling of quality, new, used and reconditioned aircraft parts and materials by bringing buyers and sellers in the aerospace industry on a single platform.

GoDirect Trade helps improve transparency, reduce transaction costs and makes the whole system more efficient. Every listing has an image, a price and a quality document, eliminating the need for time-consuming correspondence between buyers and sellers. More than 2,700 companies and 7,000 users are currently active on GoDirect Trade, with more than 80 storefronts.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

UAE Implements Country-wide Blockchain-based Ecosystem For Data Sharing

By | |
Leave a comment

UAE Implements Country-wide, Blockchain-based Ecosystem For Data Sharing

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/31/2020 10:28 AM ET

The United Arab Emirates has partnered Swedish blockchain KYC technology firm Norbloc AB to become one of the first countries in the world to implement a country-wide, blockchain based ecosystem for data sharing. Dubai Economy and banking group Emirates NBD announced the go-live of the UAE KYC Blockchain Platform.

The UAE KYC Blockchain Platform is an initiative which facilitates secure digital customer onboarding, instant bank account functionality and sharing of verified KYC (Know-Your-Customer) data between licensing authorities and financial institutions via advanced distributed blockchain technology.

Companies can now choose to share their data, in real time, with the financial institutions of their choice, thus significantly reducing time and cost.

The initiative, which was first announced in February 2020, establishes a UAE-wide ecosystem for exchange of verified KYC data and instant digital onboarding of companies by financial institutions. The project is fully supported by Smart Dubai and the Central Bank of UAE who play a key regulatory role in the initiative.

Apart from Dubai Economy and Emirates NBD, Commercial Bank of Dubai, ADCB, HSBC, and RAKBANK are also set to go live very soon. More than 120 companies are already instantly onboarded by Emirates NBD with active and operational bank accounts.

This initiative is part of the Agenda Number One of Dubai Model which focuses on improving customer experience. It also aligns with the UAE government's vision around digitization and paperless as crucial strategies that enable continuation and sustainability.

Emirates NBD is the first banking group to go live on the platform with its initial use case covering E20, its digital business bank. This will enable SME customers to open accounts instantly through the E20 Digital Business Bank app.

Meanwhile, Dubai Economy has also migrated all active trade licenses onto the blockchain platform, representing over 40 percent of all active trade licenses in the UAE.

All participating financial institutions can leverage the blockchain platform to seamlessly pull data of their customers and receive real time updates made to customer data.

The launch of KYC Blockchain Platform, along with the Unified Business Registry (UBR) in Dubai, shows the blockchain ecosystem growing to build a seamlessly integrated paperless government framework.

Dubai Economy, leading financial institutions such as Emirates NBD, Dubai Government, and the UAE Government are currently taking significant measures towards creating a digital low touch economy with simplified processes ensuring that business can continue to thrive in the post-COVID environment.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Sri Lanka’s SAGT Container Terminal Joins Blockchain-Platform TradeLens

By | |
Leave a comment

Sri Lanka's SAGT Container Terminal Joins Blockchain-Platform TradeLens

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/17/2020 10:10 AM ET

South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) has become the first Sri Lankan container terminal to join blockchain-enabled shipping platform TradeLens to digitalize supply chains. The solution is jointly developed by Danish transport and logistics giant Maersk and IBM.

The blockchain technology solution will offer SAGT greater ease of doing business across the supply chain by digitalizing manual, paper-based and time-consuming administrative processes into blockchain enabled digital solutions.

The terminal has an annual throughput of over 2 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers and is a pivot for movement of cargo through South Asia.

For SAGT, the integration with TradeLens will improve operational efficiency and bring together data from the entire global supply chain ecosystem, including shippers, shipping lines, ports and many more supply chain players from around the world.

TradeLens provides visibility across the entire supply chain, from booking to clearance to payments and is built on input from the industry including direct integrations with more than 110 ports and terminals, more than 15 customs authorities around the world, and an increasing number of intermodal providers.

On the TradeLens blockchain network, the terminal is expected to operate a blockchain node, participate in consensus to validate transactions, host data, and act as Trust Anchors, or validators for the network.

SAGT is among more than 150 diverse organizations worldwide involved in the TradeLens platform, which was launched in August last year, just six months after the blockchain collaboration between IBM and Maersk was announced in January 2018.

The platform has the data for more than half of the world's ocean container cargo or over 15 million containers, on the blockchain network after last year's addition of four of the five largest global port operators as well as five of the top six shipping carriers, including Maersk itself, on the network.

The TradeLens ecosystem includes global shippers, shipping lines, third-party logistics providers, freight forwarders, customs authorities and border agencies. It also has port and terminal operators, representing about 234 marine gateways or seaports on five continents.

According to the data collected by the system, the use of TradeLens is claimed to reduce the transit time of a shipment by 40 percent, which represents thousands of dollars in cost saving.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

ecosystem for entrepreneurs
Markethive Advertisement

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe