COVID-19 — more commonly known as the coronavirus — has unleashed massive shock waves among the worldwide health, science, government and business communities as societies are trying to contain the virus. At the moment, the scale and velocity at which the coronavirus is spreading are proving difficult to manage because the regional clustering of the outbreak has moved beyond the initial Hubei province of China to South Korea, Iran, Europe and parts of North America. Economic impact The coronavirus is not the first serious epidemic that has claimed hundreds of lives and caused enormous economic losses to the global economy. …
The United States Treasury Department has almost completed tests of a blockchain-based grants payment capability as part of the exploration of how the tech can improve such operations. As the Business of Federal Technology reported on Jan. 10, the Treasury Department launched a program designed to discover whether blockchain could provide more efficiencies into the operations of a blockchain-based grants payment system. Currently, the agency has almost completed a Proof-of-Concept for a blockchain-based letter of credit for federal grant recipients. More efficient tracking Describing the principle of the program’s operation, Craig Fischer, innovation program manager at the agency, explained that …
Note: This story has been updated to provide more details about the incident. VeChain Foundation’s wallet has been compromised in a hacker attack targeting funds earmarked for the foundation’s buyback program. Per a VeChain Foundation announcement on Dec. 13, an unknown hacker has redirected 1.1 billion VET tokens — valued at approximately $6,600,000 at press time — from the VeChain Foundation’s buyback wallet to a personal wallet address. Security breach is likely a result of internal misconduct unnoticed due to human error In the initial update on the incident, VeChain Foundation noted that the hack is in “no way related” …
The implementation of blockchain technology in supply chains could save businesses in Western Europe $450 billion in logistics-related costs. According to a new study from Cointelegraph Consulting and Swiss enterprise blockchain firm Insolar, blockchain technology can reduce supply chain-related costs for businesses between 0.4% and 0.8%. While that may sound like a small figure, the sheer volume of the sector means that this percentage translates into a potential hundreds of billions in savings. Furthermore, the report claims that the technology will pay for itself: “94% of supply chain leaders say digital transformation will fundamentally alter supply chain management. In the …
Cointelegraph, the leading publication for blockchain and cryptocurrency news, has announced the launch of its Cointelegraph Consulting division. The new business sector is focused on advancing enterprise blockchain adoption by helping companies understand the potential of blockchain technology and then matching them with enterprise blockchain vendors to implement solutions. According to Gartner, the business value added by blockchain will grow to more than $176 billion by 2025. This number is expected to exceed $3.1 trillion by 2030. While the growth of enterprise blockchain is on the rise, traditional consulting firms are just becoming familiar with the blockchain space. Given Cointelegraph’s …