Cypherium blockchain joins the Microsoft for Startups program with the goal of becoming a part of the company’s blockchain-as-a-service, or BaaS, offering in the coming months. Cypherium blockchain uses a combination of proof-of-work, or PoW, and HotStuff consensus algorithms. The latter is also used by Facebook’s Libra project. Libra retreating In a Cointelegraph interview, Cypherium CEO, Sky Guo, said that with the recent changes made to the Libra whitepaper, his project is seemingly the only permissionless platform to use HotStuff: “Also Libra originally planned to become permissionless in the next five to three years. But recently in their new whitepaper, …

Developers contributing to the Github of Baseline Protocol, an open-source blockchain project launched by Microsoft, EY, and ConsenSys, recently offered suggestions for a Baseline Protocol-based COVID-19 contact tracing system. The project aims to address security flaws noted in the proposals for a contact tracing system made by Google and Apple to-date, including record-falsification and data centralization. Cointelegraph spoke to John Wolpert, ConsenSys group executive and self-described “seeker of awesomeness,” to find out more about the project. Baseline Protocol developers propose contact tracing system Wolpert states that Baseline Protocol’s work toward a blockchain-based contact tracing system “emerged when a passionate community …

Developers working on Baseline, an enterprise smart contract and tokenization platform developed by Microsoft, Ernst & Young, and ConsenSys, are working to solve several flaws identified with Apple and Google’s proposal for coronavirus tracking initiatives. Google and Apple propose a contact tracing solution that would add cross-platform APIs that allow health authorities to monitor users. Both brands have discussed rolling out related software updates next month. The plan suggests using a phone’s Bluetooth Low Energy to detect other devices within 30 feet of each other. This would allow infected individuals to be identified through proximity detection. For people who come …

I have a feeling that a lot of businesses still don’t understand why they need blockchain, while others may believe they need it just because they think it’s another fashionable tech trend or something. I’ve been involved in technology for 30 years, and it is always interesting to me how people respond to the introduction or invention of new tech. There is always an ecosystem of people in the sector championing a particular type of technology as well as business users ever-seeking solutions to their problems or creating new opportunities for their businesses. You might be a champion in blockchain, …

China has been a hotspot for blockchain patents and development. As Cointelegraph previously reported, the National Intellectual Property Administration of China has awarded 2,191 blockchain patents between 2017 to 2019. Major multinational companies have also shown immense interest in filing blockchain patents in China. The latest Global Times report suggests that 35 multinationals including Microsoft, Walmart, Mastercard, Sony and Intel, had applied for a total of 212 blockchain patents by the end of March 2020. Of all the foreign companies with blockchain patents in China, Mastercard tops the list with 46 such patents to its name. While there is no …

Global computing conglomerate Microsoft is notifying hospitals that are vulnerable to ransomware attacks to help prevent healthcare institutions from becoming overwhelmed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm also published recommendations to hospitals for securing their systems and preventing ransomware attacks on April 1. Through the company’s network of threat intelligence analysts, Microsoft states that it “identified several dozens of hospitals” with vulnerable virtual private networks and other public-facing gateway applications in their systems: “During this time of crisis, as organizations have moved to a remote workforce, ransomware operators have found a practical target: network devices like gateway and virtual private …

Microsoft has acknowledged that the quarantined gamers are putting a strain on its Azure cloud platform which is a backbone of the company’s Blockchain As a Service (BaaS) offering. In the SEC filing, Microsoft addresses the impact of “the global health pandemic” on its Azure cloud services. The company admits that in certain regions “deployments for some compute resource types (...) drop below our typical 99.99 percent success rates”. Furthermore, Microsoft confirms that “Xbox Live [is] putting a strain on overall Azure capacity:” “As a result of the surge in use over the last week, we have experienced significant demand …

According to a new report released by Premium Market Insights (PMI), global investment in blockchain technology in energy markets is set to reach $34.7 billion by 2025. Valued at just $156.5 million in 2016, the sector is forecast to grow at a rate of 82% a year. Although $35 billion seems high, it’s dwarfed by the net worth of $1.85 trillion for the energy market as a whole. Key players using blockchain and DLT in the field include Accenture, AWS, Bigchaindb, Deloitte, IBM, Infosys, Microsoft, Nodalblock, Oracle, SAP, Enosi, and Electron. Blockchain is used within energy markets for data management, …

A consortium of Dutch companies has launched the “Tech against Corona” initiative. Participating firms will freely provide the Dutch government with access to innovative technologies that can be used in the fight against COVID-19. Netherlands-based distributed ledger technology (DLT) firm, Tymlez, is one of more than 10 companies who are freely providing their services and technologies to the government. Tymlez’ blockchain platform to bring transparency to medical supply chain Tymlez has offered its blockchain platform as the underlying technology to “model the medical goods ecosystem through a platform that matches supply and demand.” The firm's blockchain will be used to …

The world’s largest technology companies have made concerted efforts to investigate and integrate blockchain technologies over the past few years. Partly driven by a massive boom in interest caused by Bitcoin’s stellar bull run in 2017, blockchain technology quickly became the new catchword in tech. A swathe of startups entered the fray during that period as entrepreneurs looked to cash in on the hype in the space. Bigger companies that weren’t looking into the benefits of the technology faced the risk of being left behind and began to carefully explore solutions to their own business mechanisms. Others had already begun …

Tech giant, Microsoft, is looking to develop a cryptocurrency system which enables individuals to mine cryptocurrency using their body activity data, eliminating the need for specialized mining machines. Microsoft published a patent dubbed “Cryptocurrency system using body activity data” on March 26. Their paperwork details a method of crypto mining which exploits data associated with a user’s body activity to exercise a new form of proof-of-work. The document further details: “For example, a brain wave or body heat emitted from the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing advertisement or …

On March 16, Brave, a privacy-oriented web browser, filed a formal complaint against Google with the Irish General Data Protection Regulation enforcer — since the multinational tech conglomerate’s European headquarters are located in Dublin. According to Brave, Google has been quite irresponsible with how it has been collecting and sharing the personal data of its users. Brave’s chief policy and industry relations officer Johnny Ryan went as far as saying that owing to Google’s dubious operational policies, the multimedia giant has created a “free for all” data warehouse that is not only being abused quite blatantly but is also in …