Blockchain

Blockchain may have received its most exposure as the distributed ledger technology at the foundation of cryptocurrency exchanges, but its use cases are advancing into other data-driven or supply-chain industries pursuing the Internet of Things.

Ron Quaranta and Steve Ehrlich with the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance talk about what’s working and what’s not with financial services blockchain projects.

Earlier this year Ripple announced that it has dedicated $50 million toward the University Blockchain Research Initiative, partnering Ripple with 17 universities around the globe from the U.K. to Brazil, with the aim of accelerating new innovations in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Andrew Keys, co-founder of the venture capital firm ConsenSys Capital, has a vision of the future bankers might find chilling, in which banks and other middlemen are cut out of financial services.

Standards are important to push blockchain payments, but the systems also need dynamic scale, according to Byung Ik Ahn, CEO of Fantom Foundation.

A multichain architecture that allows synergy between different platforms is the only viable option for ambitious applications, writes Evan Kereiakes, core researcher at Terra.

BBVA, BNP Paribas and MUFG recently used BBVA's blockchain to reach an agreement within 24 hours — instead of two weeks — to lend a Spanish power company $150 million.

The former Goldman CEO is said to be the unnamed executive at a meeting with Asian financier; the bank faces multibillion-dollar penalties in two countries.

The head of the agency developing the special-purpose federal license said the process is moving forward “independent” of legal challenges mounted by state regulators.

A standard for protocol layers and interoperability between protocols are needed to lower the threshold for businesses looking to adopt blockchain technology, writes Byung Ik Ahn, CEO of Fantom Foundation.

The credit card company's filings mirror patents Bank of America, Barclays and TD Bank have submitted in the past two years that focus on how funds transfers and data security would augment blockchain technology.

As mega data collaborations among multinational companies threaten to dominate payment technology, developers are digging even deeper into decentralized models as a workaround to sell both greater data analysis and more security.

Europe has also taken active measures to support the innovation of platforms and applications, writes Donika Kreava, strategic communications manager at Dentacoin.

If cryptocurrency is ever going to become a viable payment option, it has to have bank-grade security — and bank support.

The bank, one of the few that do business with digital currency exchanges like Coinbase, has developed methods for monitoring all customers’ digital currency purchases.

Building a blockchain solution that adds greater transparency in transactions has the potential to make KYC and KYT processes for crypto transactions much more efficient than the system in place, writes Ash Shilkin, president of Ivy.

The 25-year JPM veteran will pursue an opportunity elsewhere; private equity firms have a record $57 billion to loan for real estate.

Blockchain can power faster, cheaper and much more secure transactions, independent from governments, banks and national borders, writes Ali Hashem, an account manager at Dentacoin.

Blockchain technology can make it easier to validate a patient's HSA information, for example — helping speed along the process despite the traditional data validation hurdle they may face otherwise in this situation, writes Bruce Silcoff, CEO of Shyft Network.

Brian Behlendorf, the executive director of Hyperledger, explains why Hyperledger and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance have joined each other’s organizations.