Month: May 2019

  Singapore Regulator Recognizes Potential of Blockchain for Cross-Border Payments              Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said that blockchain has potential for cross-border payments but the agency “does not see much” in retail bank digital currencies. Mohanty delivered his comments at the Blockchain in Business event at the […]

Blockchain-for-Land: What We Are Getting Wrong and How to fix it              The flurry of activity related to blockchain-for-land over the past few years is impressive, with a num ber of firms working with land registries worldwide. Yet, skepticism is growing around the technology’s potential for land administration due to the fitful growth of various […]

Microsoft Releases Blockchain Manager App             Microsoft announced its fully managed Azure Blockchain Service in a press release on May 2. The new blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform will purportedly allow users to build blockchain applications on preconfigured network. According to Microsoft’s head of corporate communications, Frank Shaw, this service “simplifies the formation, management, and governance of […]

Upgraded Hyperledger Fabric Sees 7-Fold Increase in Transaction Speed             Researchers have re-engineered the Hyperledger Fabric to support almost seven times more transactions per second (TPS), according to a May 2 news release from Canada’s University of Waterloo. A new series of optimizations increased the volume of data that the blockchain — used by financial […]

Singapore and Canada Central Banks Complete First Cross-Border Blockchain Payment              The central banks of Singapore and Canada have successfully used their blockchain networks to send each other digital currency, a joint press release confirmed on May 2. As part of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) projects being pursued by both banks, the Monetary Authority […]

Celebrity Crypto-Investments: A Boost for the Industry, but Also a Distraction Marketing loves celebrities — and with good reason. They're “celebrated” people, individuals invested with bulk quantities of cultural capital (i.e., public respect, goodwill and interest), which — if tapped correctly by marketing firms — can be reflected onto endorsed products. This is why they've […]

Amazon Web Services Launches Managed Blockchain Service              Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing platform subsidiary of retail giant Amazon, has made its Amazon Managed Blockchain (AMB) generally available, according to an announcement on April 30. The product will purportedly allow customers to set up blockchain networks within their organizations, and uses the Ethereum […]