In our latest blockchain news, we have The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India finishing the blockchain pilot together with the tech giant IBM in order to improve mobile data records. The trial's results were reported today, December 12 by the Indian daily newspaper The Economic Times. The telecom regulator cooperated with other telecom providers to complete the tests so they could explore the many benefits of the blockchain technology thus improving the mobile network systems such as the Do Not Call Registry. The Vice President of IBM Research Sriram Raghavan confirmed that the company delivered proof-of-concepts and other pilots with major telecom providers including the TRAI. He explained that with the use of blockchain technology the companies will be able to store DNC data and MNP data on their own private distributed ledger with ‘’customer consent’’. This way, the government agency will have the needed tools for easier monitoring of the network and spotting unlawful acts. MNP or mobile number portability is a great feature that allows mobile phone users to keep their numbers in their phone when changing mobile network carriers. The do not call registry is basically a data record that provides the customers with the option to block incoming telemarketing calls. Back in may this year, the TRAI announced its plans to implement blockchain technology in order to prevent scams and fraud in the telecom industry. They believe that the blockchain is a great solution and that it will provide the regulators with better tracking tools.

The electronics giant Samsung is in our latest crypto news for filing numerous applications for blockchain-related trademark requests for smartphones. As the descriptions provided by the company noted, the three European trademark requests are based on providing crypto custody services on smartphones. From this, we can easily conclude that Samsung may be planning to make its entry into the 'blockchain smartphone' market and follow HTC with its recent release named the Exodus 1 and Sirin Labs and its FINNEY smartphone, both of which are offering crypto custody. As the Dutch tech news blog Galaxy Club first reported, the three requested patents that Samsung applied for are named ‘Blockchain KeyStore‘, ‘Blockchain key box‘ and ‘Blockchain Core‘ - all of which hinting at the direction in which the world's largest smartphone maker is taking. The timing of this news, on the other hand, underlines the fact that despite the market's downward trend in 2018, there are still some tech giants like Samsung and HTC entering the space and believing that cryptocurrencies and blockchain will be the key growth drivers going forward - and the investments are in line with this. Galaxy Club also cited an unnamed source in its report where it claims that Samsung is planning to release more information about its interest in developing a range of smartphones with specialist crypto and blockchain functionalities as part of this new strategy. If this turns out to be true, Samsung may be gambling on the adoption of cryptocurrencies as the next big user revolution that will drive sales of its smartphones.

The decentralised browser Brave is now officially a default browser according to HTC - on its new blockchain phone. As the technology outlet CNET first reported, the blockchain phone developed by the Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer which blocks ads and website trackers - will reportedly come with pre-installed Brave browser on it. Named HTC Exodus, this is the latest project of the leading smartphone vendor in the US at the end of 2010 (according to TechCrunch) which we already reviewed in a separate post. Brave is an open-source blockchain-powered browser which blocks ads and website trackers and will come pre-installed on the HTC Exodus 1 which is the "first native blockchain phone" giving support for multiple blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. The co-founder of Brave and previously Mozilla, Brendan Eich, announced the new partnership with HTC in a tweet on December 8th. https://twitter.com/BrendanEich/status/1071445228006072320 The Brave browser uses Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) that send advertisers' payments to Brave and its users - and can be used to pay for premium content. In June 2017, Eich raised $35 million in 30 seconds during the BAT Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Last month, blockchain-focused electronics supplier SIRIN Labs launched its first blockchain-based smartphone called FINNEY that is based on both Android and SIRIN's open-source operating system, SIRIN OS with which it offers a cold-storage crypto wallet and provides encrypted communications.  

In the latest blockchain news on our DC Forecasts crypto news site, we have the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and its plans to invest in six blockchain startups. In January this year, UNICEF called for early-stage technology startups that were registered in one of UNICEF's programme countries. There were more than 100 applications from 50 different countries. Meanwhile, the organisation has 20 other tech companies in its Innovation Fund already, ranging from data science startups to machine learning organisations. The new investments, according to the press release submitted by UNICEF, form part of a wider blockchain strategy for the humanitarian agency. As the release noted:

“Using smart-contracts for organisational efficiencies, creating distributed decision-making processes, and working to build knowledge and understanding of distributed ledger technology both in the United Nations and in the countries where UNICEF works.”

The UNICEF Innovation Fund was announced today as a venture that will invest up to $100,000 USD in Atix Labs, Onesmart, Prescrypto, Statwig, Utopixar and W3 Engineers as the six listed blockchain startups so far. The startups must now deliver the open-source prototypes of their blockchain applications within the next 12 months. UNICEF's Innovation Fund will also provide product and growth assistance as well as access to its network that includes experts in many fields as well as investment partners. If the tech is successfully developed, there will be further opportunities to apply them in the 190 countries covered by the organisation.