WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Blockchain’s core advantages are decentralization, cryptographic security, transparency, and immutability. It allows information to be verified and value to be exchanged without having to rely on a third-party authority. Rather than there being a singular form of blockchain, the technology can be configured in multiple ways to meet the objectives and commercial requirements of a particular use case.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger, or database, shared across a public or private computing network. Each computer node in the network holds a copy of the ledger, so there is no single point of failure. Every piece of information is mathematically encrypted and added as a new “block” to the chain of historical records. Various consensus protocols are used to validate a new block with other participants before it can be added to the chain. This prevents fraud or double spending without requiring a central authority. The ledger can also be programmed with “smart contracts,” a set of conditions recorded on the blockchain, so that transactions automatically trigger when the conditions are met. For example, smart contracts could be used to automate insurance-claim payouts.

Our analysis suggests the following three key insights on the strategic value of blockchain:
– Blockchain does not have to be a disintermediator to generate value, a fact that encouraages permissioned commercial applications.
– Blockchain’s short-term value will be predominantly in reducing cost before creating transformative business models.
– Blockchain is still three to five years away from feasibility at scale, primarily because of the difficulty of resolving the “coopetition” paradox to establish common standards.

This article serves as a briefing on how various industries can strategically utilize emerging technologies in and around the world today. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather an introduction…

Designer Martine Jarlgaard has launched a pilot initiative that uses the blockchain to enable both transparency and trust around her collections as part of this week's Copenhagen Fashion Summit. Each garment has a unique digital token, enabling Provenance to verify every step of its production and create a digital history of that information including location data, content and timestamps, all of which is presented to consumers via an interface they can access through their item’s QR code or NFC-enabled label (so that it works on both Apple and Android devices).

Blockchain technology is hot right now! I've devised a 2 month study plan to help you learn how blockchains and cryptocurrency works. This is the kind of curriculum I'd create for myself to learn, but I'm open sourcing it for you guys since I love you. We'll start with cryptography, move on to Bitcoin, then Ethereum, other cryptos, and finally Decentralized Applications.

Curriculum for this video: https://github.com/llSourcell/Learn_Blockchain_in_2_months 

Tech startup Bext360 has built a Coinstar-like device to grade coffee beans and pay the farmer for them right away.

The Canadian government is continuing their experiments with blockchain to see how the new technology can further help the country. The federal government announced that it will pioneer the testing of the Known Traveller Digital Identity system, a new concept that helps to improve the security and flow of travellers across borders. This new program uses biometrics, cryptography and distributed ledger technology to give travellers more control over how and when they share their information with authorities. This can lead to expedited clearance and build more trust and transparency between travellers and authorities as they look to improve risk detection.

For the past several months, Nasr has led a team working on several proofs of concept based on blockchain technology, with an eye toward building real applications next year. Most are geared toward better public health surveillance, which could include using a blockchain to more efficiently manage data during a crisis or to better track opioid abuse.

Blockchain disruptive nature is derived from its ability to transform almost any process, from basic documentation to settling complex contracts across geographies.

According to a Deloitte survey, 40% of senior executives of large companies know little to nothing about blockchain, yet many view the technology as a top priority for 2017. This data suggests that one of the first barriers to promoting widespread adoption of the technology in the food industry is basic education about how the industry can benefit from blockchain.

Keynote at Andreessen Horowitz's annual 'Tech Summit' conference, talking about the state of tech today and what's likely to happen in the next decade: mobile, Google / Apple / Facebook / Amazon, innovation, machine learning, autonomous cars, mixed reality and crypto-currencies.

This paper examines the essential eight technologies that matter and what business leaders now need to do about them, and emerging technologies in general.

In an evermore connected world, large-scale cyberattacks and online threats to businesses are rising exponentially. The Cyber-Risk & Resilience special report, published in The Sunday Times, features insights into the impact cybercriminals can inflict on organisations and individuals. From chatbots spreading fake news, risks concerning personal data, biometrics and fraud, as well as tackling phishing emails, the potential dangers are unprecedented. Also included is an infographic on why hackers hack and an article on the top five ways quantum computing will change cybersecurity for good.

Whether Amazon chooses bitcoin, ethereum, or something else altogether, their choice will have dramatic consequences on the existing cryptocurrency landscape. Cryptocurrency and the technology behind it are here to stay, but bitcoin and its reign as the number one cryptocurrency might not be.

Blockchains are inherently decentralized systems which consist of different actors who act depending on their incentives and on the information that is available to them. The big breakthrough when Bitcoin was invented, was the use of Proof-of-Work as a probabilistic solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem as described in depth by Satoshi Nakamoto in this e-mail.

The dot-com boom and bust is often compared to the Gold Rush. But Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos says its more like the early days of the electric industry.

Taiwanese e-commerce platform OwlTing wants to change the way consumers think about their food. This year, it launched the world’s first blockchain-based app for tracing food products — including pork. And the process is pretty simple: by scanning a sticker on a slab of pork, OwlTing customers can quickly access information about everything from a piglet’s date of birth, to the vaccines it received before its slaughter. There’s a lot more to blockchain technology than learning obscure facts about a pork chop, however. For producers, using blockchain-based technologies to trace food through processing and shipping means that they might be able to avoid widespread food waste should a contamination arise — and even save lives. And it is not just small companies that are interested in this technology. The largest retailer in the world, Walmart recently partnered with IBM to develop their own pilot blockchain system. VICE News Tonight visited Taiwan to see how blockchain is affecting pork production, and then to Walmart to find out why the company thinks consumers are going to benefit from this technology.

Bitcoin. Blockchain. Cryptocurrencies. Initial coin offerings. Everyone’s talking about them, but what do these terms really mean?

Few people understand what it is, but Wall Street banks, IT organizations, and consultants are buzzing about blockchain technology. It's hard to remove blockchain from Bitcoin, so we'll start with the cryptocurrency as we work to understand this technology's potential.

I argue that the four killer apps of cryptocurrencies are 1) dark web and black market payments, 2) digital gold, 3) macro/micro payments, and 4) tokenization. If the recent surge of cryptocurrency market cap to 170B+ struck you as unbelievable, I hope after reading this, it will make more sense.

Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology point out that when automotive transport arrived, a whole group of workers—horses—were displaced, never to be employed again. They lost their jobs and vanished from the economy.
I would add another historical precedent. Offshoring in the last few decades has eaten up physical jobs and whole industries, jobs that were not replaced. The current transfer of jobs from the physical to the virtual economy is a different sort of offshoring, not to a foreign country but to a virtual one. If we follow recent history we can’t assume these jobs will be replaced either.