It would be fair to admit that after 2020 and all it has put us through, making any predictions for the upcoming year is most likely to be a game of blindfold. Meanwhile, I am certain that humanity has much to learn from its past transgressions, and will move forward by correcting our mistakes and weaknesses. That’s what we always do. Undoubtedly, the major driver of our development this year was the COVID-19 outbreak. The effects of the ongoing global pandemic on every aspect of our lives will form our future, and there are some tendencies we started last year …

In the space of 12 months, DeFi has become a $15 billion industry — spawning governance tokens that are now worth even more than Bitcoin. But the rapid explosion of protocols has brought considerable growing pains… and concerns that the sector is not on a sustainable footing. When interest rates in conventional savings accounts stand at a fraction of a percent, while yield farming generates triple-digit returns, it’s inevitable that questions will emerge about whether this is a bubble that’s fit to burst. As Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently pointed out on a podcast with Ryan Sean Adams, such sky-high …

Food supply chain management, or FSCM, has long been put forth as a low-hanging-fruit application in the enterprise blockchain space. Now, after years of pilots, the verdict is finally in: Blockchain-supported FSCM works perfectly. For innovation managers in food companies that haven’t yet dabbled, this is your chance. The big players have put in millions of dollars to prove the efficacy of the tech. All you have to do now is figure out the right application for your business. Of course, there are still risks — and in this article I’ll provide ways to minimize them — but the opportunity …

As tech giants like Google and Facebook announce plans to become carbon-neutral businesses by 2030, smaller companies are doing the same. The only difference is that innovative startups are taking clever approaches that seek to be more effective than those implemented by large, centralized companies. For example, Ripple — a fintech company that allows banks, payment providers and digital asset exchanges to send money using blockchain — has committed to becoming carbon net-zero by 2030. In order to meet this goal, Ripple has unveiled a set of initiatives driven largely by blockchain technology. Ken Weber, head of social impact at …

When the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, were conceived back in 2012, blockchain technology was in its early days. Few could have foreseen the trajectory and the potential of blockchain for advancing these ambitious targets. But today, we see opportunities for blockchain technology to recast conventional approaches to sustainable development — and accelerate progress if deployed responsibly. Macro trends of 2020 There are a number of macro trends this year in the world of blockchain and sustainable development that provide context. This has been — and will continue to be — an important year for laying the groundwork for major …

VeChain launched its blockchain-enabled sustainability solution aimed towards companies looking to digitize their sustainable practices. Part of its blockchain-as-a-service platform ToolChain, VeChain promises the solution can streamline sustainable practices during the supply chain and manufacturing process and also showcase these practices to third parties like regulators. VeChain said the tool provides immutable proof of a green supply chain and can cover different stages of manufacturing. It can also store information on recycling, processing, reusing and inspection, allowing brands to trace original sources of goods and raw materials. Since it’s on the blockchain, VeChain said all data would be trustworthy and …

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 …

Blockchain has become one of the most discussed technologies in relation to supply chain management, given its ability to provide transparency and traceability within a number of value chains. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently published a report titled “Blockchain Application in Seafood Value Chains” to raise governmental and international awareness on the role of blockchain in the seafood industry. Key points highlighted throughout the document point to regulatory concerns that arise with global trade, appropriate use cases for blockchain and challenges — such as scalability and interoperability — that need to be addressed in order …

At the Crypto Valley Summit during the World Economic Forum in Davos, ecological sustainability for the future is one of the primary talking points. Even though blockchain is on the fringes of global discussion, several experts see its usage in traceability as one of the key technologies for improving sustainability. Industry’s current applications Supply chain blockchain solutions allow tracking of the entire production chain of certain products. Their usage ensures that consumers and companies always know where a particular product or material comes from. This helps prevent counterfeiting, an issue that is hard to detect given the complexity of global …

Toronto-based startup Convergence.tech has successfully concluded a blockchain-based pilot to help Mongolian nomadic herders track and certify sustainable cashmere. The supply chain project, which was conducted with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is powered by Convergence.tech’s Ethereum-based traceability platform, Backbone. Convergence.tech chose to focus on cashmere herders for its pilot, as many of these individuals face harsh working conditions and income instability. Moreover, the fashion supply chain lacks transparency, making it difficult for consumers to understand where cashmere products originate. Convergence.tech CEO, Chami Akmeemana, told betakit: “The nomadic community is one of immense pride but one with a volatile …

A Switzerland-based company says its goal is to empower enterprises with the tools they need to use blockchain in a sustainable way. CoreLedger’s token economy operating system (TEOS) has enjoyed success stories with real-world applications. One of them is Smartmo — a startup manufacturing and operating innovative solutions for bike parking and helmet storage. The added value that Smartmo brings to the biking ecosystem is that users can reserve a parking space in advance. It also provides increased safety, especially for expensive bikes such as E-Bikes. Crypto is integrated into the system in that users pay parking fees in digital …

In his Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace John Perry Barlow wrote, “Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind.” “On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.” Yet today, the Internet is highly centralized and under the thumb of few governments and corporations. USA Today cited the research firm Forrester as saying that Amazon alone controls 42 percent of the cloud market by revenue. Then there …