“According to the results of Deloitte’s 2020 Global Blockchain Survey conducted from Feb. 6 to March 3, 2020, 39% of 1,488 senior executives and practitioners in 14 countries said they have already incorporated blockchain into production at their companies — a 16% increase on last year’s figures.
The survey revealed many firms are increasingly prioritizing blockchain technology and the potential of digital assets. 82% of respondents said they will be hiring staff “with blockchain expertise” within the next 12 months.
Nearly 89% said they believe that digital assets will be very or somewhat important to their industries in the next three years.”
“Chinese officials are reportedly planning to create an East Asia digital currency to assert more independence from the United States dollar and foster trade relations within the region.
10 members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, proposed creating a digital currency that would be backed by a basket of currencies including the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, South Korean won and Hong Kong dollar. The article does not specify which blockchain the projected cryptocurrency would be based on.
They suggested that the new regional cryptocurrency should be developed by the private sector.”
“I do think this is something that the central banks have to design. The private sector is not involved in creating the money supply, that’s something the central bank does.
Emmer was asking specifically about a recommendation from the Digital Dollar Project, which suggested a digital dollar be issued by the Fed but designed in partnership with the private sector and accessible through a two-tiered banking system similar to the one in place in the U.S. today.
Powell said the idea of a digital dollar – a blockchain-based version of the current world reserve currency – is complex, and one that the Fed takes seriously, but also that the idea needs to be studied further before one can be created and implemented.”
“Global investment bank Nomura, hardware wallet company Ledger and crypto investment fund CoinShares today launched a long-awaited crypto custodian service, called Komainu.
Komainu will service institutional investors and support a range of cryptocurrencies. It is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
Komainu’s advantages over other systems are, it claims, that it can integrate with the technology systems of large financial institutions. Nomura is the latest large financial institution to offer custody services.”
“Governments collectively spend approximately $9.5 trillion on procurement contracts worldwide, and up to 30% of that is lost due to corruption.
The aim of the project is to apply a high level of transparency to the procurement corruption use case in the context of the country’s system of government contracting.
WEF partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia to develop a proof-of-concept (PoC) using the Ethereum public blockchain.“
See Also: Chainlink, MakerDAO Honored as World Economic Forum ‘Tech Pioneers’
“Starting next week, its users will be able to store and convert bitcoin to the company’s RydeCoin with zero transaction costs. As a technology firm, accepting bitcoin is only the first step in Ryde’s long-term plan to turn its RydePay wallet into a decentralized electronic ledger and open it to more cryptocurrencies.
I have been watching the developments of this particular space and increasingly I’m sanguine about the prospects of cryptocurrency and its usage.”
“Ubisoft is launching around 55 Rabbids collectibles as tokens on Ethereum’s blockchain.
The collectibles have their own properties, design, value, and can be traded like trading cards. Ubisoft will donate all proceeds from the sale of these collectables to the UNICEF fund.
Rabbids tokens are utilizing an “always-for-sale” model. This means that other would-be collectors may purchase the tokens from their current holder at any time, so long as they’re willing to pay the collectable’s current inherent price in Ether (ETH). Former Rabbid’s owners will receive a special token certificate in order to prove that they once owned the tokens.
The gaming giant also explains that Rabbids tokens transform every time they get a new owner.”
See Also: South Korean Soccer League Tokenizes Players for Fantasy Football Game
“The 200 million baht bond issue [is] a pilot project to further financial inclusion by making it easier for people to subscribe to government issued bonds. The ministry said the bonds carry an extremely low face value of 1 baht ($0.032) each and would be sold through the state-owned Krung Thai Bank’s blockchain wallet.
The statement said distributing the bonds through the blockchain e-wallet was a step towards increasing the efficiency of the government system and an investment in the true digital economy.”
“The New York City-based asset manager filed on Tuesday for an ETF that may invest up to 5% of its net assets in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) bitcoin futures contracts.
The move casts bitcoin as a perhaps normalized investment opportunity for a fund that more generally seeks exposure to commodity markets at large.
The “WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity Strategy Fund” would invest the rest of its net assets in energy, industrial metals, precious metals and agriculture commodities.”
“Crypto startup CurioInvest is selling tokens for a rare supercar valued with a $1.1 million hard cap. The tokens represent a limited-edition 2015 Ferrari F12 TDF.
The token is built on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, which Verboonen says will mean it can practically be traded on any exchange. Each token represents a share of whatever the car’s ultimate sale price. During the first five years, CurioInvest will only consider offers at a minimum 20% above the $1.023 million present valuation. If, after that time, the car still hasn’t been sold, it will go at auction to the highest bidder.
When you look at these assets, you see that rare collectibles have outperformed the S&P 500.”
“China has long dreamed of turning the Greater Bay Area—comprised of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau—into a unified economic hub, but competing legal systems have stymied its ambitions.
China Guangfa Bank, one of the biggest commercial banks in mainland China, recently launched the first cross-border blockchain-based financial system, allowing for seamless payment settlements throughout the Greater Bay Area.
Ultimately, Beijing sees the Greater Bay Area competing with overseas rivals like the Bay Area in San Francisco and Tokyo Bay in Japan. EY estimates that the GDP of the region would be close to $2 trillion, coming just under California.”
Good read.
“In the 1950s, each dollar of debt drove nearly 70 cents of economic growth. It has fallen ever since. Recently, each dollar of debt bought less than 30 cents of growth. That number has deteriorated further in the last few months.
As the ratio of debt to GDP increases, even more debt is needed tomorrow just to maintain current economic activity. For a Fed overly concerned about short-term economic activity, this dilemma creates a self-reinforcing problem. The situation is akin to a Ponzi scheme that needs constant feeding.
Surging debt levels means the Fed will have to become even more creative and active in managing interest rates.
The Fed is now considering an enhancement to the way it manages QE. The “upgrade” is called yield curve control (YCC). YCC essentially allows the Fed to do unlimited amounts of QE with no time restraints. Embedded in YCC is the specific goal of targeting particular interest rates across the entire yield curve.
For example, assume the Fed set a 0.75% target yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note. They can then employ QE in any amount needed to buy 10-year notes when the rate exceeds that level. If successful, the rate would never exceed 0.75% as traders would learn not to fight the Fed.
YCC is a euphemism for price controls. Price controls are government interference and regulation, establishing prices for specified goods and services.
In this instance, we are talking about the most fundamental component of any economic system, the price of money. Historically, in every case, the implications of price controls have been unfortunate.
The problem with these actions is they engender anemic rates of economic growth. Equally concerning, they directly contribute to income inequality, a driving force for social unrest.”
“BlackBerry Optics leverages CPU telemetry from Intel Threat Detection Technology to provide enterprises with advanced malware software. This software’s main purpose is to detect cryptojacking attempts.
The software works across all types of workloads executing on the Windows 10 operating system.
With our new cryptojacking detection and response capabilities, we’re looking to make this practice a thing of the past.”
“Civic Wallet has formed a partnership with Circle Medical, a San Francisco hospital. Together, they will act as a Covid-19 vaccination-proofing tool for Circle Medical’s employees.
According to Civic, its technology is designed to protect individual identity privacy first. Users can control what information they do and do not want to share.
Civic Wallet users may share their Health Key but not provide their name or address to a requesting company.”
“Known as “fine-grained control,” the new update means entities such as exchanges can set specific conditions for each and every digital asset traded on their order books.
Stellar-based exchanges can already block investors from prohibited countries, such as Iran or North Korea, but they could now fulfill other regulatory requirements. The update might make it easier for security tokens to operate in the U.S.”
The Disrupt 