Garry Kasparov, the Russian chessmaster who faced off against IBM’s “Deep Blue” supercomputer, says Bitcoin, crypto and blockchain technologies, are the solution to the demand for privacy in financial markets. In a July 23 interview with Forbes contributor Roger Huang, Kasparov said he saw many upsides to cryptocurrencies. According to him, they give individuals more control over their money, which is usually regulated “either by the state, corporations or outside parties.” “The good thing about Bitcoin is that you know exactly the number — the magic number of 21 million,” the chessmaster said, referring to the maximum number of Bitcoin …

As blockchain adoption continues to garner mainstream traction across the private sector, an increasing number of government agencies are too looking to explore the potential of the technology. For example, the United States Food and Drug Administration recently released an elaborate blueprint as to how it plans to deploy blockchain for food safety-related purposes. According to the FDA, the agency will combine the use of blockchain with other advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to enhance the traceability of food sources as well as for the creation of novel platforms through which preventing and managing …

The first private Sri Lankan container terminal, South Asia Gateway Terminals, or SAGT, recently joined IBM and Maersk’s blockchain trade platform TradeLens. It is the first terminal in the country to adopt blockchain technology to digitize its trade processes. In an announcement on July 16, Maersk said the collaboration will help SAGT grow past sluggish manual paper-based documentation processes. Digitization for operational efficiency SAGT is an important link in conducting global trade and it annually processes more than two million twenty-foot containers. The integration of the TradeLens platform into its operations is expected to help digitize documentation and streamline the …

The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smucker’s, has announced that it will use blockchain technology to trace Colombian coffee beans directly back to their source while allowing consumers the opportunity to support coffee farmers. The American food manufacturer has formed a partnership with Farmer Connect — an organization committed to increasing transparency and sustainability in agriculture supply chains — to leverage IBM’s blockchain technology to trace the coffee beans of Smucker’s popular 1850 Coffee brand. Tina Meyer-Hawkes, the vice president of marketing for coffee at J.M. Smucker’s, told Cointelegraph that the move is all about providing transparency: “By providing …

A report published by the World Economic Forum, or WEF, highlighted the critical role of fourth industrial revolution technologies. New technologies like blockchain could help stimulate growth by implementing “nature-positive” solutions following the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the “Future of Nature and Business” study shared with Cointelegraph, nature-friendly solutions could have the capacity to create 395 million jobs and generate $10.1 trillion in business opportunities by 2030. Inger Andersen, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, commented on the matter: “As we enter into a historic decade of action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by …

Tech Mahindra, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group, has launched a new blockchain-based digital contracts and rights platform for the media and entertainment industry. Developed using IBM’s blockchain platform, which leverages the open-source Hyperledger Fabric protocol, the system aims to help producers and content creators efficiently track their revenue, royalty payments and digital rights. Dubbed the “Blockchain Based Contracts and Rights Management System” (bCRMS), Tech Mahindra has pitched the platform as a key tool for preventing digital piracy. In a statement on July 9, Tech Mahindra’s blockchain and cybersecurity practice leader Rajesh Dhuddu noted that for the media …

Blockchain technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) can solve some of the food industry’s most pressing challenges and save it $100 billion a year, according to a recent report by Cointelegraph Consulting and VeChain. The report forecasts that $300 billion worth of food items will be traced along the supply chain annually within seven years. The lack of transparency and accountability in the global food industry’s supply chain costs billions of dollars annually. To take one example, it’s believed that as much as 20% of global wine sales are counterfeit, worth $6 billion. And things get even fishier when …

Imagine sitting down at your favorite restaurant and ordering a fresh filet of salmon, only to later discover that the “salmon” dish wasn’t actually salmon. As horrifying as it may sound, this scenario is actually quite common. A recent study from the conservation group Oceana found that 20% of fish samples sold to consumers in the United States were mislabeled. The study further revealed that seafood is frequently misrepresented at restaurants and smaller markets, versus fish products purchased from grocery stores. While seafood fraud has become a global problem, Norway in particular is struggling with fish products being illegally placed …

Algorand founder Silvio Micali played a Blockchain-recorded chess game against grandmaster Sergey Karjakin. This marked a historic moment for the fifteen hundred year old game. Gentlemen are cheating too The match, which was the inaugural game for FIDE Online Arena, was broadcast via World Chess. Although chess is considered a gentleman’s game, cheating presents a real challenge to its integrity. The hope is that recording games transparently and immutably using blockchain technology will help curtail existing problems. Chess has not been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as much as other sports. Timing was in fact rather apt, as competition had …

Owing to ongoing financial difficulties, the IBM Hyperledger-powered trade finance blockchain platform we.trade is laying off almost half of its workforce. According to a Global Trade Review report, “more than a dozen employees” were laid off and most of them belonged to the commercial and product-focused verticals of the company. We.trade was jointly owned and funded by 12 influential banks and financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Rabobank, Santander and Société Générale. Less than a month ago, IBM bought a 7% stake in the company, which, we.trade said, would help it scale its business globally. We.trade has had quite …

IBM has announced an initiative to build a distributed ledger technology, or DLT, based architecture to underpin the digital pension system for Bangladeshi primary school teachers. The proof-of-concept comprises a permissioned network of teachers and other stakeholders powered by the IBM Blockchain Platform, with pension information uploaded to the blockchain to ensure tamper-resistant record-keeping and offer security assurances to teachers participating in GBB’s e-pension system. The pilot is being conducted in partnership with the Bangladesh Computer Council, BCC, a government overseeing IT policy in the country. IBM’s blockchain platform is slated to host the live version of the digital pension …

Even though advertising has been around for about as long as commerce has, in today’s digital age entirely new problems are popping up that are souring the experience for advertisers, publishers and the public alike. Costs have risen, the handling of consumer data has become an issue and ad fraud is far too common. Now, some innovative blockchain products are trying to address all of this and make advertising simpler, more direct, safer and more profitable all around. Current challenges facing digital advertising One of the biggest issues that advertisers and publishers struggle with today is profitability. At one time, …