Brexit A Boon For Blockchain?

Organised as a weekly newsletter, it presents an overview of the current international blockchain debate. You may find below a selection of the best ideas from the most influential media.
 

Brexit A Boon For Blockchain? Questions loom large over Brexit. As the U.K. gears up to leave the European Union (EU), for commerce, there remains the unknowns of how trade will be affected, as well as how capital, goods and services can be tracked. Late this month, a study from Nexus found that across 200 businesses surveyed, more than half of large and mid-sized companies queried are looking to adopt blockchain in an effort to mitigate operational risks in the wake of Brexit. As noted by Nexus, about 33 percent of firms said they will use blockchain to combat fraud, while 11 percent will use blockchain to help cut costs, and 10 percent see blockchain as useful in supply chain management. The concept of blockchain used in Brexit’s aftermath — specifically to help navigate a new customs landscape — is nothing new. As reported in July via white paper, the U.K. government has advocated in part for “exploring how machine learning and artificial intelligence could allow traders to automate the collection and submission of data required for customs declarations.” That would leave room for blockchain. The paper noted that “this could also include exploring how allowing data sharing across borders, including potentially the storing of the entire chain of transactions for each goods consignment, while enabling that data to be shared securely between traders and across relevant government departments, could reduce the need for repeated input of the same data, and help to combat import and export fraud.” October 29, 2018 By PYMNTS READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.pymnts.com/brexit/2018/blockchain-technology-adoption-cross-border-commerce

Sony- and Disney-backed Littlstar launches blockchain media platform Ara Littlstar Media said it has launched Ara, a new blockchain-based platform designed to give creators and artists more control over their content. The company, which counts Sony and Disney among its investors, says it wants to use the distributed technology to support new business models for the creative community so they are less dependent on other tech companies’ platforms to build an audience and get paid. “Artists and creators are struggling to get paid for their work. Their livelihood and voice can be compromised at the whim of the platforms they publish on,” said Tony Mugavero, CEO of Littlstar and co-creator of Ara, in a statement. “Right now, the audience is a draw, but third-party platforms have all the control. Ara puts control back into the hands of creators and their fans, enabling a more direct connection and a better way for fans to reward their favorite artists.” Littlstar has previously raised $10.5 million from a group of entertainment and media companies, including Sony and Disney. It has been working on the Ara project for a couple of years now. Ara is a suite of blockchain-based protocols aimed at decentralizing ownership of content and using tokens to authenticate transactions between publishers and creators and consumers. The company envisions Ara being used to support content such as games, movies, music, and photos. November 1, 2018 by Chris O'Brien READ FULL ARTICLE https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/01/sony-and-disney-backed-littlstar-launches-blockchain-media-platform-ara

Chinese Activists Are Using Blockchain to Document #MeToo Stories   One of our main jobs when teaching and advising students who are thinking of founding blockchain companies is to get them to question whether or not their idea actually requires it. Data integrity is the main benefit conferred by blockchain technology, and a few questions can help determine whether that’s a particular problem for a given business or use case: 1.    If the data that my business collects is corrupted, how much do people suffer? 2.    Do outsiders (perhaps hackers) have incentives to distort or change the data that my business is based upon? 3.    How much does my business depend on other people being able to trust the data on which it is built? Take for example, a digital currency — the first use-case for blockchain. There, if data is corrupted or distorted by outsiders, people lose real money, and the outsider who corrupts the data gains money, making such attacks plausible and to be feared. Therefore, no one will adopt a digital currency unless they can trust their data will not be corrupted or distorted. In other words, there’s at least a plausible reason why you’d want blockchain technology managing currency transactions. However, all too often blockchain startup ideas don’t really need blockchain. Their data really isn’t that valuable or unique in a way that gives outsiders sufficient economic incentives to launch attacks to try and corrupt or otherwise change it. That’s why a recent use of blockchain technology in China in response to the #MeToo movement is so interesting. In late 2017, increasing number of stories were being shared on Chinese social media surrounding sexual harassment and abuse of position in Chinese universities. At first, the movement was called woyeshi, the Chinese spelling of “Me Too.”  The Chinese government and technology platforms made repeated attempts to filter out such stories by censoring a variety of hashtags and keywords that campaigners used on Weibo and Wechat. First, woyeshi was censored, and then #MeToo, and finally “Rice Bunny”, which has the same pronunciation as “Me Too” in Chinese. As a result, campaigners turned to blockchain technology to record their stories under the name “Every Snowflake.” This website simply uses a blockchain ledger process to record stories about sexual harassment. October 30, 2018 by Catherine Tucker and Yudan Pang READ FULL ARTICLE https://hbr.org/2018/10/chinese-activists-are-using-blockchain-to-document-metoo-stories

Remittance Resolutions Should Be A Blockchain Staple In the first world, where the problems of life pale in comparison to those in the third world, there is a disconnect between what difficulties should be resolved, and those that need to be. Where in the first world, people are worried about where their coffee beans come from in their Starbucks order, those coffee bean farmers are worried about how they will get money to their family back home, across different borders. While blockchain is aimed at disrupting and providing solutions for a multitude of life’s issues, from major to minor, there are areas where the technology should be intently focused. It can indeed help with first world issues and increase efficiency and productivity, for example, but it should be driven in the third world where it can change lives for the better. Remittance payments is one area that is a lifeline for millions of people across the globe, especially in rural areas. People are finding work outside of their homelands and are needing to send money home to friends and family to support them. However, the remittance system as its stands is incredibly capitalist in that it is a huge business that takes away from the people that need it most. It is an age old adage with regards to the power of blockchain. The decentralized and transparent nature, in a financial sense, can help alleviate the need for middle men and thus make payments - especially cross-border ones - cheaper, more efficient, and far less unnecessarily regulated. Nov 1, 2018 by Darryn Pollock READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynpollock/2018/11/01/remittance-resolutions-should-be-a-blockchain-staple

Blockchain's potential will continue to spur public and private investment The many big companies disrupted by blockchain have now made it a priority to harness this technology. As is typically the case when faced with disruption, large companies are seeking to defend their territory by adopting the very tool that threatens them. With blockchain there's a lot at stake. The global market for blockchain-related products and services is about $700 million and is projected to exceed $60 billion annually in 2024, according to Wintergreen Research. Among the big corporate blockchain players are Accenture, Facebook, Google, IBM and Microsoft. These firms are developing products and services based on blockchain's digital-ledger open-source technology that can be accessed and adapted by anyone. Blockchain enables global transactions between parties without going through large internet companies to market goods and services, connect, communicate, execute transactions or process payments. Thus, blockchain users don't need to pay large concerns for these services (nor do they need to pay bank fees when paying with bitcoin, lumens, dash or other cryptocurrencies that use blockchain as their transmission vehicle). In rushing into blockchain, these large firms are seeking to keep users of such functions within their realm to keep from being disintermediated. October 31, 2018 by Eric C. Jansen READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/30/blockchains-potential-will-spur-public-and-private-investment.html

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