Blockchain News

Algorand 2.0 Version Provides New Features For Developers

Published

2 months ago

February 14, 2020

Algorand 2.0 version, officially unveiled a set of new features to its pure-proof-of-stake network for which we are reading more in the Algorand news today. The newest set of technical innovation by the emerging “frictionless finance” network, the upgrade incorporates the official commissioning of smart contracts on the network, together with the Algorand Standard Assets, or ASA and atomic transfers.

Algorand started off with an explosion through its %60 million initial coin offering, which led to its overhyped technology upgrade- Algorand 2.0. With the launch of 2.0, Algorand is increasing the technical capacities of its protocol on pace with its list of formidable partners. A

Аlgorand finished 2019 with major projects underway, such as the launch of a hybrid initial public offering by World Chess, Algorand working with Fondazione Bordoni for the Italian government, the International Blockchain Monetary Reserve launching a microfinance platform for Southeast Asia on Algorand, a Sharia-compliant certification from Dubai, and $60 million in real estate tokenized on the Algorand blockchain by AssetBlock.

In the public sector, the new partnership between Algorand with Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, or FUB, in Milan to explore the potential economic and technical impact of the Algorand’s protocol on developing the “trust infrastructure” of Italy. Mirella Liuzzi, under-secretary of State of Ministry of Economic Development stated:

“The signing of the agreement between the FUB and the Algorand Foundation, signed at the Milan meeting of the European Blockchain Partnership of which Italy is co-president, once again confirms the international role assumed by our country on the subject and the attention of the MiSE towards emerging technologies such as the Blockchain also through the promotion of technical-scientific synergies on the subject.”

Going into the future, 2020 will, in the end, prove as an essential year for the “Blockchain Wars” romanticized by Gavin Wood. Only the time will show if Algorand and the similar public blockchain networks can conquer something of the market share of Ethereum before the pending release of the Serenity upgrade of Ethereum. Algorand 2.0 is a compelling start to serving the mainstream world, as opposed to serving only the cryptocurrency world, and at the very least it should poke the interest of developers in the decentralized finance sphere searching to expand the pioneering of the developing open finance movement of Ethereum.

DC Forecasts is a leader in many crypto news categories, striving for the highest journalistic standards and abiding by a strict set of editorial policies. If you are interested to offer your expertise or contribute to our news website, feel free to contact us at editor@dcforecasts.com

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Stefan

Stefan is a full-time member and has been a Bitcoin Specialist for over 6 years. Providing daily news and updates for DC Forecasts.

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Blockchain News

Chainalysis Is Looking For New Partners To Expand

Published

18 hours ago

April 9, 2020

Stefan

If you are following our latest blockchain news, you have probably seen the name Chainalysis pop up often. According to new rumors, the New York based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis is looking for new partners in a new program aimed to expand the firm's operations. The intelligence firm apparently wants to broaden its capabilities. As one of the leaders in this industry, Chainalysis is looking for new partners that will join in and expand the investigative tools that enable firms, governments and law enforcement agencies to monitor the blockchain transactions and track all the suspected illicit activities. The chief revenue officer at Chainalysis, Jason Bonds, spoke recently and explained that the program would be dedicated to collaborations with several categories of partners. The first of them would be the key crypto infrastructure providers, which would help Chainalysis and the wider industry to “broaden cryptocurrency transaction monitoring via simpler integrations.” As the new reports show, Chainalysis is looking for partnerships with firms specializing in compliance in order to integrate their offerings for clients. Aside from that, the firm is seeking new distribution partners, too - two of them have recently been identified. As Bonds said, the partnership program “is global and we already have partners in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.” Chainalysis is looking for partners in the cryptonews, and wants to broaden its own intelligence capabilities by partnering with data providers. These could include specialists in ransomware, bolstering the labelling of suspect addresses. M.Tech's chief financial officer Rayson Lim recently stated:

"In the APAC marketplace, we are noticing increased demand from law enforcement for cryptocurrency investigative software. Our partnership with a top tier company like Chainalysis will help fill this demand."

As the reports show, further information on the program including a partner directory will be made publicly available in the weeks to come. Alongside its work on blockchain intelligence, Chainalysis is conducting regular research into the crypto sector as a whole. Recently, we saw the firm publishing its results of the analysis of changing Bitcoin (BTC) consumer habits during the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic downturn. In a webinar last month, they also shared data which shows that only 1.1% of the over $1 trillion transactions in 2019 were found to be illicit.

Blockchain News

Lenovo And GoChain Partner To Improve Their Blockchain Ecosystem

Published

2 days ago

April 8, 2020

Stefan

Meet GoChain, a blockchain application ecosystem which recently announced the addition of Lenovo Global Technology (United States). Basically, Lenovo and GoChain entered a partnership where the first would be a signing node operator for the GoChain blockchain network. Even though the deal was inked in January, there hasn't been much of an update regarding the process. What we know from the cryptonews is the fact that as a signing node, Lenovo will be one of up to 50 enterprises and organizations which would run specialized services and facilitate the Gochain network and its Proof of Reputation (PoR) consensus algorithm. They are also validating the blocks of transactions produced on the blockchain network. As such, the Lenovo blockchain signing node is the first of its kind to be operated in a liquid immersion data center for cooling. When it comes to the server immersion cooling technology (which was developed by Midas Green Technology) - it is currently being used by Blockchain Resources Corp. in order to build "green" data centers which will house the Lenovo node. For those of you who are not following blockchain news or do not know the technicals, immersion cooling data centers are basically centers which reduce energy usage through the elimination of the expensive air cooling infrastructure. This includes server fans, air-circulation fans, ductwork, A/C compressors, air handlers, anciliary systems, etc. Another thing worth noting is that the Lenovo and GoChain partnership is not the first venture into blockchain technology for Lenovo. The company have already adopted blockchain technology in product development activities before. They worked to apply it to internal processes as well. In March 2018, Lenovo launched the new smartphone named Lenovo S5, which uses blockchain tech in order to make payments more secure. In June 2018, Lenovo joined Hyperledger. The CEO of GoChain, Jason Dekker, commented on the new partnership between Lenovo and GoChain, stating:

“We are extremely proud to not only welcome Lenovo as a Node signer, but to be part of a pioneering effort in green technology. GoChain was founded with a focus on driving adoption of technology for the betterment of society and we strongly support their commitment to reduce energy usage with liquid immersion cooling technology.”

Currently, GoChain's GO token sits at the 333rd place on the market cap, trading at $0.008.

Blockchain News

Blockchain Firms Are Working On Private COVID-19 Testing App

Published

4 days ago

April 6, 2020

Stefan

Genobank is one of the blockchain projects that are in the focus of the cryptocurrency news today. As reports show, Genobank and other blockchain firms are working on a private testing app which would help people in accessing anonymous coronavirus testing. The EOS news show that the app would be made in coordination with the EOS-based blockchain platform Telos. A recent announcement from the Telos Foundation also shows that the app will also allow users to share that information with healthcare organizations. The open source app named Agerona stores the test data on the Telos blockchain, while Genobank will introduce a token that enables information sharing. In that manner, the app is expected to launch this month. According to some authorities, there is concern that undocumented workers and individuals living in countries without permission could avoid treatment or diagnosis over worries that they would be arrested/deported. The blockchain firms are working on the project, and Agerona will facilitate purchases from partner test suppliers. Similarly, users can scan a unique barcode on each test and associate the results with an anonymous account on Telos controlled by the user. Speaking of which, test kits for COVID-19 would then be sent to a partner lab for analysis, and the results will be anonymously uploaded to the Telos blockchain. If it is provided, the data will include the user's country and postcode in order to track the spread of the coronavirus. According to the CEO of Genobank, Daniel Uribe, the main mission is to provide people with a way to access coronavirus tests in a private and secure way. “People have the right to know if they have the coronavirus without violating their privacy,” he said. Genobank and Telos blockchain firms are working on this project as the main companies leading this initiative. They initially partnered in order to develop the testing service for use in the United States, but the project now has contributors in the United Kingdom, Israel and Iran. Their hopes are to expand into more jurisdictions soon. The project is also slated to develop a "mobile app for users, a processing interface for laboratories, a privacy-ensuring blockchain architecture, and sourcing and logistics solutions for low-cost COVID-19 tests and processing.” As the blockchain news now show, Agerona plans to soon launch another experimental feature where artificial intelligence (AI) based diagnostic tools will be used to analyze sound clips of people coughing.

Blockchain News

Brazilian Regulators Are Creating A Screening DLT Platform For Politicians

Published

6 days ago

April 4, 2020

Stefan

The latest crypto regulation news show that Brazil is upping the game on regulatory efforts and is now working on creating a new platform that will perform background checks on political representatives as well as corporations. Four of the largest Brazilian regulators (institutions) are now collaborating to build this streamlined data-sharing platform based on blockchain. The platform is dubbed PIER and has been developed by the central bank of Brazil, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB). The platform saw initial participation from the BCB, as well as the Brazilian private insurance superintendent and the local securities regulator to inform its database. As we can also see from the blockchain news, Brazil's social security supervisor is also set to participate in the program too. The Brazilian regulators are ready to push things forward, and the government of the country is also contemplating incorporating data collected by the country's judiciary, trade boards and additional financial bodies into the PIER system. According to Daniel Bichuette who is the deputy head of the BCB financial system organization department, the streamlining of inter-departmental data is "drastically reducing" the time to evaluate the financial background of an entity. Moreover, institutions querying this PIER database are also able to quickly access data "from punitive processes and restrictions from companies and administrators," an entity's "history of performance in the financial system" - including technical capacity and organization conduct, and "information on the participation of individuals and legal entities in the share capital and shareholding control.” The Brazilian regulators are describing the partnership as a "fruitful endeavour" which paved the way for "important synergies" between the participating regulatory authorities. According to one software specialist with the BCB named Eduardo Weller, using distributed ledger technology (DLT) for PIER allows the use of a “decentralized, tested technology, whose native functionalities mean that there is no need to build the system from scratch.” Weller also emphasized that digital signatures are what guarantees the “authenticity of messages exchanged"; the “integrity of data recorded,” and “eliminates a single point of failure [and] central entity that can defraud data.” PIER has undergone even two years of development - it was initially revealed by the central bank in June 2018.