nvestlabs-blog

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Blockchain Trends - 2020

We are on the edge of 2019. Isn’t this a great time to make forecasts about blockchain – a revolutionary technology waiting to disrupt multiple industries. Blockchain Training Institute predicted 2020 will be a year where most of the enterprises will set achievements to get the best development in their businesses.

Statistics about blockchain technology: -

Blockchain with AI As per the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending on AI is guessed to reach USD 57.6 billion by 2020. 51% of organizations will soon transition to AI with blockchain coordination.

Blockchain with IoT Different IoT organizations have embraced blockchain technology for their business solutions. Based on findings by IDC, it is expected that 20% of IoT organizations will be enabled by 2020. What’s even more fascinating is the fact that by 2020, 77% of financial institutions are expected to embrace blockchain to be a part of an in-production process – report by PwC. If you’re still wondering about what's going on about blockchain and why should we adopt it. You need to look at the latest blockchain technology trends for 2020.

Microsoft and Amazon using blockchain as a Service (BaaS) An ongoing trend incorporated by these big giants along with startups and enterprises. BaaS, a cloud-based service empowers clients to build up their digital products with the assistance of blockchain. These products include smart contract applications and other services that can work without the help of the complete blockchain setup. Other names include Oracle, Facebook, IBM, Baidu, and Tencent.

Building a new era in social networking There’s no denying the way that social networking has become an integral part of our daily lives. As per Statista, the current web-based social media users globally are around 2.77 billion. Though we’re still at the early stages of blockchain-based social media, it is predicted to disrupt this consistently developing field by giving their clients control over information along with transparency. The integration of blockchain in social media will solve problems such as data control, security violations, the relevancy of the content, and scandals, etc. A new era will be presented in social media as the data that will be published will remain untraceable and neither will it be duplicated even after it gets erased. Stable coins overwhelming the crypto space Cryptocurrencies, as we know, have been a side product of blockchain technology which stays unpredictable. Though it is still in its initial phase it is predicted to become stable coins shortly. Thus said, they will soon become the second most look forward in the blockchain industry market trends. The upsurge of a federated blockchain “Unified blockchain” can be referred to as one of the outstanding amongst blockchain trends in the industry today. It is an upgraded type of blockchain model making it perfect for some, particular used cases. Federated blockchains will be more similar to the private blockchain along with newly added features. There will be various authorities involved in approving the block so that further transactions can be processed.

Hybrid blockchains The future blockchain technology application will be hybrid blockchains. A blockchain can use most parts of the public, as well as the private blockchain solution, which can be named as hybrid blockchains. The major advantages of this blockchain include protection from cyber-attacks, lower transactional costs, the alternative to change the principles, help maintain confidentiality, and operate in a closed ecosystem. The popularity of blockchain certification is on the rise with the world witnessing large network reskilling themselves to stay pertinent in the job market. No doubt blockchain is here to make a greater impact on every industry marking long-lasting talks in each economy. In this manner, we can only wait and watch for admirable changes in the year to come. Blockchain as a technology is quite powerful and has the capability of being relevantly applicable in a large number of use-cases. A career in Blockchain, is, obviously, new as well as innovative however it’s a bright future for sure. Learn blockchain from Nvestlabs | Blockchain Training Institute provides you with high-quality training, and the expert trainers teach you the latest technologies that meet industry standards.

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World's largest blockchain-based supply management

Walmart, the world's largest company by revenue launched blockchain-based supply management. According to the Blockchain Training Institute, the Canadian unit of Walmart implemented blockchain in its freight tracking and supply management. As of now, 80 trucking companies used this technology to transport their goods. 

As this is been used only by a few carriers of Walmart Canada, it is expected to cover all the carriers by the first quarter of 2020. The blockchain ensures accuracy because transport time input by freight truckers and the arrival time can be easily tracked.

Unlike a public blockchain-based network such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, Walmart's blockchain only contains dozens of nodes. Walmart's new private blockchain has 27 distributed nodes, some of them on-site and others in the cloud. This is provided by a blockchain vendor. 

IoT sensors and GPS tracking are used in semi-trailer trucks as well as a web portal and a mobile app. Here, the information can be input manually by operators and suppliers.  

Conversely, Walmart's blockchain is prone to vulnerabilities. This is because it has lesser distributed nodes. For any blockchain to be secure, it should have multiple nodes so that it is very difficult for any intruder to hack.

The new freight management has an advantage over the traditional business databases. It is a shared, immutable audit trail and will eliminate the need for third-party invoice creation. Traditionally, supply chain invoices have been generated primarily through third-party EDI (electronic data interchange) systems. They often depend on manual data input. This reduces processing time as well as disputes among the vendors and suppliers.

"And, we're talking proper technical integration, not just electronic message passing," Martha Bennett, a vice president of research for Forrester quoted. "This project also takes an innovative approach to invoice generation and payment. Walmart's payments are triggered and executed automatically as part of the smart contract process. I've not seen that elsewhere yet in a production system."

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Application of Blockchain

According to the blockchain training institute, Blockchain enthusiasts are consistently experimenting on different things with this technology to bring out new use cases and applications to solve the redundant and complex issues in the fintech industry. Cryptocurrency: This is the most well-known use of Blockchain. By executing Blockchain, parties are able to transact with one another without the inclusion of any bank. KYC Verification: Blockchain solutions are being utilized broadly for authentication, verification and storage of electronic records in the banking industry just as to make KYC utility for the National Stock Exchange. Supply Chain: This is an interesting use-case. Organizations are planning to implement Blockchain across these parties with the goal that every one of the parties involved can put status progressively in the Blockchain which clients can easily track. Using Blockchain eliminates the management onus on one party and helps in decentralizing the load across all the parties. Healthcare: Blockchain can be used to utilized to keep a record of the medication, surgery. It can be directly sent to the insurance provider to avail of insurance. Blockchain can keep a track of receipts and payments privately. Music Industry: There are a lot of issues when it comes to the music industry. This includes ownership rights, distribution issues, etc. Blockchain along with smart contracts can circuit this problem by creating a decentralized database. Blockchain as a technology is quite powerful and has the capability of being relevantly applicable in a large number of use-cases. As a result, a lot of startups are also coming up in the Blockchain space where they are providing Blockchain solutions for undertakings like Banks, Insurance companies, Supply Chain companies, Asset Management organizations, and many others. In fact, a few startups are utilizing a mix of various technologies to provide scalable solutions.

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Blockchain Is Everywhere!

Everyone is discussing blockchain, and no one wants to be left behind. Around 77% of the financial services industry will adopt blockchain for a few elements of their operation by 2020. Many banks have demonstrated a tendency to incorporating blockchain for payments and reconciliation In fintech, blockchain discovers application in areas like digital ID, client authentication, insurance and more According to the blockchain training institute, it is one technology that is said to acquire in a revolution on par with the birth of the internet. What began as a decentralizing currency and resources are currently disrupting each mainstream industry. Whether its fintech, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, insurance, digital security, enterprise SaaS - blockchain is everywhere today. Even the normal BFSI stakeholders like the large retail banks are sending blockchain solutions for the robustness this technology brings to age-old systems when integrated in the right way. According to a survey on the financial services sector and fintech directed by PWC, around 77% of the financial services industry has a plan on adopting blockchain by 2020. Banks comprising a third of the institutions surveyed have indicated a tendency in incorporating blockchain in their operations. People who haven't grown listening regarding this technology are currently aspiring to work on this new technology. ... The way to a career in Blockchain is, obviously, new as well as innovative.

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First-ever blockchain-based air ticket!

German airline Hahn Air issues the first blockchain-based air ticket which is enabled by blockchain technology. Hahn Air is in partnership with Winding Tree, an open-source travel distribution platform.

The first flight with blockchain-based air tickets flew from Dusseldorf to Luxembourg on Monday. Jörg Troester, head of the corporate strategy and government & industry affairs, Hahn Air, quoted “for us, it is important to look into the future to understand how can we make distribution faster.” 

According to the blockchain training institute, the airline is analyzing how the process worked and will be implementing the same for future flights. Also, it will take measures to commercialize the blockchain-based tickets.

The Winding Tree Platform enables the airways to list the inventory, manage reservations, and to receive payments. The airline accepts all forms of payments including credit cards, cash, online payments, cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, etc.

Pedro Anderson, Winding Tree’s chief operating officer and co-founder quoted, "one of the things that we are working on our side is the challenge that comes up when you create an open marketplace, how to ensure that anybody who gets access, whatever you’re selling or buying, that the business on the other side is of good standing."

Winding Tree is a blockchain-based travel distribution platform. It has partnered with many other airlines such as Air Canada, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, etc.

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The Lolli App and Alibaba Controversy!

Lolli is a reward application that gives you Bitcoin when you shop online. Lolli claims that it had partnered with Alibaba following the Singles’ Day marketing blitz. Blockchain Training Institute reported that Lolli introduced a program where users would get 5% back in the form of Bitcoin.

Despite this, Alibaba refuses that it has any partnership with Lolli. Alex Adelman, CEO of Lolli denied this. Adelman quoted, "We’ve been partnered with Alibaba Group since May through AliExpress. We have driven AliExpress significant revenue and distributed bitcoin rewards to our users."

In response to this, a representative from Alibaba told that "Lolli never had the right to claim a partnership with Alibaba.com or imply one with Alibaba Group." 

There is speculation that Alibaba reacted this extreme as there were other outlets mentioning that Alibaba would accept Bitcoins. We cannot deny the fact of how the Chinese government reacts to Bitcoin. 

Lolli is highly disappointed with Alibaba's decision. "Lolli and the agency representing Alibaba.com mutually agreed to launch this partnership in conjunction with Singles’ Day,” Adelman quoted.

He also added, "Alibaba.com trialed our services for 24 hours and decided to deactivate the partnership without cause. The agency representing Alibaba.com approved a contractual agreement on behalf of Alibaba.com that included the promotion of Alibaba.com, the use of its brand, email marketing, and sharing on social media and various channels. There was no malintent on our end to misrepresent Alibaba.”

Adelman is keen that this would defame Lolli even when there was no mistake at their end and they followed everything mentioned in the contract. He also told that this was unfortunate and they would wish to work with Alibaba.

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Banque de France Job Post Discloses Digital Currency Implementation Program

According to the blockchain training institute, Banque de France, the French Central Bank, is looking to hire a Blockchain technology analyst. The job role would be to guide the bank to outline a digital currency implementation program. Banque de France job post discloses Digital Currency Implementation Program.

In the recent job posting, the bank looked to hire an analyst having experience in: Game theory Cryptoeconomics Public Blockchain Private Blockchain

Banque de France is also looking for the position of a development engineer who would analyze the use of Blockchain technology is crucial banking operations.

For the Blockchain analyst role, the banking institution mentioned  the following as examples of Private Blockchain:

Quorum, Hyperledger Corda

It also mentioned the following examples of Public Blockchain: Bitcoin Blockchain Ethereum Blockchain

Banque de France job post discloses Digital Currency Implementation Program. In the past, the banking institution has mainly focused on Blockchain but not on Bitcoin. In 2016, it ran a digital identification trial that examined the usage of Blockchain in identity markers management. The identity markers are used to create the identity of creditors within the SEPA.

The governor of the bank declared that it would build a financial technology innovation lab. The lab would comprise of Blockchain startup firms.

In 2018, the bank had suggested prohibiting insurance firms, banking companies, and trust corporations from getting involved in crypto assets. But recently, the French central bank's situation eased when Denis Beau, one of its deputy governors, asked for a global supervisory structure on crypto assets.

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Positive Growth of Employment Opportunities in Crypto and Blockchain Sector

Blockchain Training Institue: Great news for anyone seeking a career in the blockchain or bitcoin industries. Positive growth of employment opportunities in the crypto and bitcoin sector.

The job search engine, Indeed, published a report revealing that people seeking employment in blockchain and cryptocurrency domains have increased significantly. It is also evident by the fact that job ads related to bitcoin and blockchain have also increased, as seen by the 26% growth from 2018-2019, succeeding a four-year trend of 1,457% rise in these domains!

Meanwhile, other industry-specific job searches saw a drop of around 53% in the same time, which followed a long recession run. As per Indeed’s analysis, the passion among job-seekers increased in late 2017, the time when cryptocurrency was on a bull run, wherein Bitcoin’s price peaked to it’s all-time high of $20,000, however, it has gradually dropped after reaching the high.

Additionally, Deloitte, IBM, Accenture, Cisco, and Collins Aerospace featured in the top 5 employers that posted jobs related to blockchain. However, Ernst & Young joined Deloitte in the top 10 as one of the Big Four companies to post blockchain openings.

Nevertheless, companies in the cryptocurrency and blockchain business also posted numerous openings, wherein they ranked as follows:

 Coinbase – 7th place  Overstock.com – 8th place  tZERO/ Ripple – 9th place  Circle – 11th place  Kraken – 12th place  ConsenSys – 13th place

Apart from these, banking firms JP Morgan Chase and Signature Bank, occupy the 14th and 15th place on the list.

Unexpectedly, one of the pioneers in the telecom sector, Verizon, is the only company from the telecom sector occupying the 10th place in the employer's list posting blockchain-related jobs. Even though Verizon has invested significantly in blockchain, and also filed for a patent related to this technology, it has not made any important declaration in this domain.

Lastly, as per Indeed’s report, it forecasts an upward trend of jobs in the bitcoin and blockchain sector in the year 2020, even with high volatility in prices and ambiguity in regulatory norms.

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Bitcoin: The First Successful Application of Blockchain Technology!

Blockchain Training Institute: China's new agency, Xinhua, published a front-page article that says Bitcoin is the first successful application of blockchain technology. It seems like China has embraced blockchain technology. As of now, China is pushing blockchain technology rather than the Bitcoin itself. These ongoings are post Xi Jinping's thought for embracing the blockchain technology. There is speculation that China would lift the ban over Bitcoin trading that was imposed in September 2017. Last week China removed 'Bitcoin mining' from the list of negative economic activities. Despite the positive headline, the article continues explaining the negative side of cryptocurrencies. This includes the energy required for Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin's volatile price. Also, that centralization is a problem. It also alleges that Bitcoin has its uses in money laundering. The article also talks about getting  Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) to the mainstream. Matthew Graham, chief executive of Beijing-based Sino Global Capital quoted that ''They can’t ignore Bitcoin, but they don’t really want to encourage it either,” he said. “They want to slowly push and pull people in the direction of their own vision. What is that vision? State-controlled DCEP in conjunction with blockchain technology throughout the economy.” Another news agency People's Daily called Bitcoin 'a breaking point' for the country. Whereas Xinhua explains Bitcoin in a critic way, thus ensuring that there is a need in changing the policy towards cryptocurrency.

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Bitcoin lightning network for private messaging?

Blockchain Training Institute: The Bitcoin Lightning Network refers to a "Layer 2" payment protocol that operates on top of a blockchain-based cryptocurrency. It enables fast transactions and has been publicized as a solution to the Bitcoin scalability problem. The normal use of the Lightning Network consists of opening a payment channel. As per the latest trends, this Bitcoin Lightning Network can be used to send private messages. Yes, you heard it right! Joost Jager, developer at Lightning Labs revealed about this experiment. They named it 'Whatsat'. Jager told: “Lightning is a peer to peer network in which anyone can participate. There is no central entity that has the ultimate power to decide on what users are allowed to communicate.” Private messaging is the talk of the town topic in the digital age. It’s easy for hackers to intercept messages that are not encrypted. Apps such as Signal and Wire give users more privacy, but private messaging is still far from everywhere. Jager also quoted: "I like to compare private messaging with talking to someone in person privately. We can do this without asking for permission. It is a freedom that is so natural, that we hardly even realize how important it is. As we humans continue to digitize ourselves further every day, I think it makes sense to extend this freedom into the digital domain.” Jager said it’s always been possible to add extra data to lightning payments. But a recent change to lightning’s specifications has standardized how this built-in messaging system works, so lightning network software remains compatible. Any decentralized or centralized service will happen with the cost of money. Using lightning, it is easier to pay for these messages.  For social networks, it is difficult to have 'network effects'. Combining payments and messaging will help the lightning. “It is a question of how many [peer-to-peer] networks you want to participate in. It simplifies things if you get the two major uses, payment and chatting, from a single network,” Jager said. One of the contributors at Bitcoin told that having more people on the project would not be feasible. Someone could build a 'bridge' so that people need not download the whole project to participate in the lightning process. Messages sent on lightning are free of cost now. Whatsat “relies on the fact that there is no charge for a failed payment. The payment reaches the recipient, the recipient extracts the message and they fail the payment,” Jager said. Conversely, he is unsure as to how Whatsat emerges further. “There surely are people willing to pay for it, but for what price would make it a no-brainer for almost anyone?” Jager asked. “Suppose the average user sends 30 messages per day. That comes down to about 1 satoshi per message with the current bitcoin exchange rate.” It will cost about one dollar per year. “If the lightning network matures to a system that can sustainably handle 1 [satoshi] payments, I think a future of permissionless private messaging is unlocked,” Jager said.

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Bitcoin dropped down by 4.4%

Blockchain Training Institute: Bitcoin dropped down by 4.4 percent on Friday. It slipped below 9000 USD for the first time in 2 weeks. According to TradingView, the price dropped by 8,800 USD. This is not going affect much as the Bitcoin price as of now is double the price at the beginning of 2019. Hence, Bitcoin is considered one of the best performing asset class of 2019. Bitcoin had recovered $2,000 in late October as Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that the country would accept blockchain. This will follow by the reveal of hundreds of blockchain projects already in motion. Since then, the price had mostly fluctuated within a range between $9,100 and $9,600. With the ongoings, Kevin Kelly, co-founder at Delphi Digital, a cryptocurrency research firm in New York said: “This is a pretty classic example of a technical move, it just sort of broke to the downside.” Kelly also stated that the price drop appears to have triggered margin calls for some traders, leading to position liquidations and creating additional selling pressure. According to Greg Cipolaro, co-founder of Digital Asset Research, some investors are doubtful that China's stand towards Bitcoin, would create new demand. Many traders thought bitcoin was the original blockchain and highest digital asset by market value. This will effect from broader adoption of the technology, if China plans to have its own currency, it could be a win for blockchain technology on the whole and it means little for bitcoin today. Cipolaro said, “My opinion is that that wasn’t the right read of that news, they were clearly saying blockchain, not bitcoin.” Also, he said, “you really haven’t seen follow-through on the price, there hasn’t been a major catalyst post that $2,000 rip two weeks ago.”

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Blockchain Training Institute: Although there are dozen bitcoin ETF proposals that are marked down by the US Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), this young firm is in high hopes that SEC would give a green signal. Wilshire Phoenix is a New York based company in association with the NYSE Arca has filed a  United States Bitcoin & Treasury Investment Trust ETF. This firm will invest both bitcoin and U.S. Treasury securities, which is referred to as T-bills. "Our proposed bitcoin-related ETF is quite different from those that have previously been submitted to the Commission for approval. To name just a few distinctions, the composition of the Trust is very different. Our Trust is a multi-asset trust (bitcoin and T-Bills), as opposed to just bitcoin,” quoted William Herrmann, founder and managing partner, Wilshire Phoenix. However, SEC has rejected multiple proposals considering the firm's age, the risk to investors and exposure to digital assets. Few of the firms have withdrawn the filing proactively. Herrmann also stated that "the CME’s Bitcoin Reference Rate will provide the data for bitcoin’s price in the Trust, rather than use an in-house price method “or one from any related party.” A few concerns related to SEC will also be addressed by the Wilshire Phoenix. This is done by a surveillance sharing document. With regard to this, he added, "The CME has surveillance sharing agreements with both the CME futures market as well as the relevant portion of the spot market that forms the basis for the Trust’s bitcoin values. This addresses the SEC concerns about the lack of surveillance sharing agreements with the relevant spot market, which is something previous applicants have not been able to address.” SEC began accepting comments on the firm's proposal in late June. Recently, the agency started accepting comments on the proposal through Nov. 12, 2019. Herrmann is being positive about the ETF proposal’s chances, saying “we developed the ETF consistent with investor protection as well as fair, orderly and efficient markets.”

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Will Micree Zhan return to Bitmain?

Blockchain Training Institute: Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain’s co-founder Micree Zhan, says he is going take legal action to make his return to Bitmain. However, he was removed from the company a week ago. Jihan Wu, co-founder of Bitmain addressed his staff and conveyed a message saying that Micree Zhan was dismissed from all roles. Also, he added that employees are prohibited from engaging with him. There was a struggle between the two to have powers which ended in the removal of Micree Zhan. Zhan remained silent until Wednesday by not address any media questions. Later on Wednesday, he posted on his WeChat saying he did not have prior information about the removal from roles and he would take legal actions to get back to the firm. “I have never thought that as a person focusing on technology and product, I have to start thinking from legal perspectives. It was embarrassing that as a Bitmain co-founder, the biggest shareholder, and a registered legal representative, I got ousted without any knowledge in this coup while on a business trip,” he wrote. He also added, “I didn’t realize until then that those scenes in TV shows, where you get stabbed on your back by those partners you trusted and ‘brothers’ you fought together with, can really happen in real life.” Zhan conveyed a message to the staff of Bitmain, "return to the company as soon as possible through legal methods to end this very critical moment.” He further added that Bitmain was his child and he would fight for it with weapons. He would not allow anyone to plot against Bitmain to succeed. He also added he envisions Bitmain reaching the goal of dominating 90 percent of the bitcoin mining equipment market while expanding its AI business.

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Swiss Central Bank And The SIX Stock Exchange To Examine The Use Of Digital Franc in Trade Settlement

Blockchain Training Institute: The SIX stock exchange and the Swiss national bank would explore how traders can utilize digital fiat currency to manage tokenized equity trade.

SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) is a subsidiary company of the SIX stock exchange. It stated that the exchange has collaborated with the Bank of International Settlements Innovation Hub Centre and the Swiss central bank.

The partnership focuses on exploring the Swiss Franc currency digitalization and connection with the Swiss Interbank Clearing Payment System.

SDX thinks tokenized equity and digital fiat currency would reduce transaction risk and promote financial transformation.

Thomas Zeeb from SIX stock exchange said, “Our proof of concept on the subject of digital central bank money for financial market participants on DLT platforms will not only provide technological insights. but will also send an important signal to all market participants to take steps to explore DLT technology and digital assets.”

SIX is known for its monetary transformation and listings of regularly priced securities. Recently, Amun AG, a fin-tech company, declared it listed bitcoin and Swiss franc-denominated ethereum ETP on the stock exchange.

It announced a prototype structure in September and is getting ready to introduce its crypto-asset exchange.

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$5 Million Spent by Identity Thief on Cloud Computing to Mine Cryptocurrency

Blockchain Training Institute: The 29-year-old Singapore resident, Frauds such as wire and access device fraud and aggravated identity theft are the charges on which Matthew Ho was arrested in Singapore. The lawsuit alleges that Ho operated multiple accounts with at least three stolen identities and credit cards in cloud services companies, including Amazon Web Services (AWS). Between October 2017 to February 2018 he used the cloud computing resources to mine many cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which resulted in him becoming one of the big volume consumers in that duration. Ho later identified as a popular developer of video-games from California, a native of Texas and as the founder of a technology company from India with the stolen personal information. Additionally, he coaxed the cloud computing service providers in providing him with the highest privileges, additional processing access along with huge storage space, and for delayed billing. The financial loss of $5 million largely stems from outstanding Cloud service charges that sustained Ho's mining activity, although some were incurred by the financial staff of the California game developer before wrongdoing was discovered. Ho had used the identities of the other two to procure cloud computing power for Google Cloud Services, in addition to using the developer's identity to create accounts in AWS. As per the jury, though mining and other means Ho converted the cryptocurrencies into fiat currency using various trading platforms. The true identity of the three plaintiffs nor the total amount that Ho made from trading cryptocurrencies was not revealed by the court. However, according to the court, imprisonment of 20 years is the punishment for wire fraud, whereas access device fraud carries a sentence of 10 years in prison and aggravated identity theft carries a punishment of 2 years.

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$5 Million Spent by Identity Thief on Cloud Computing to Mine Cryptocurrency

Blockchain Training Institute: The 29-year-old Singapore resident Ho Jun Jia, otherwise identified as Matthew Ho, was accused in a grand jury indictment from the United States District Court in Seattle, Washington with stealing over $5 million in cloud computing resources for cryptocurrency mining. Frauds such as wire and access device fraud and aggravated identity theft are the charges on which Matthew Ho was arrested in Singapore. The lawsuit alleges that Ho operated multiple accounts with at least three stolen identities and credit cards in cloud services companies, including Amazon Web Services (AWS). Between October 2017 to February 2018 he used the cloud computing resources to mine many cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which resulted in him becoming one of the big volume consumers in that duration. Ho later identified as a popular developer of video-games from California, a native of Texas and as the founder of a technology company from India with the stolen personal information. Additionally, he coaxed the cloud computing service providers in providing him with the highest privileges, additional processing access along with huge storage space, and for delayed billing. The financial loss of $5 million largely stems from outstanding Cloud service charges that sustained Ho's mining activity, although some were incurred by the financial staff of the California game developer before wrongdoing was discovered. Ho had used the identities of the other two to procure cloud computing power for Google Cloud Services, in addition to using the developer's identity to create accounts in AWS. As per the jury, though mining and other means Ho converted the cryptocurrencies into fiat currency using various trading platforms. The true identity of the three plaintiffs nor the total amount that Ho made from trading cryptocurrencies was not revealed by the court. However, according to the court, imprisonment of 20 years is the punishment for wire fraud, whereas access device fraud carries a sentence of 10 years in prison and aggravated identity theft carries a punishment of 2 years.

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We.Trade Blockchain for Trade Finance hosts Swiss Financial Giant UBS

Blockchain Training Institute: UBS, one of the banking pioneers from Switzerland initiated full-fledged transactions of we.trade. we.trade is a trade finance platform, which is based on blockchain technology and has almost achieved wide adoption amongst its member banks. A spokesperson from UBS informed us that at the beginning of October, they went live on we.trade platform in order to offer services to small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs). The spokesperson further mentions that they were getting in touch with clients to elucidate them about the new platform and guide them through the process. Blockchain brings to the world of global trade increased trust factor between companies conducting trade agreements by providing a shared digital record, which was previously paper-based. we.trade aims to establish a trusted framework amongst the SME customers of European banking institutions. Through we.trade customers can avail services such as bank payment guarantees and invoice financing, for which a fee s being charged by the banks. Established in mid-2018, we.trade has left behind its competitors like Marco Polo, a trade finance blockchain based on TradeIX and R3 mechanism and which is still in its pilot run. At present, we.trade platform is working on huge commercial acceptance by following a multi-pronged methodology that of attracting more banks and onboarding more SMEs. In the current month itself, a couple of banks such as Erste Group of Austria and CaixaBank from Spain have started on live transactions. Apart from these, Eurobank of Greece and three major banks of the Czech Republic, CSOB, Komercni are in line to join the network by early next year. Additionally, the three major Czech banks have around 80% of domestic trade volume in the Czech Republic. The general manager of we.trade, Ciaran McGowan informed us that: We are starting with a model where the auto settlement product is free in the Czech Republic, to see if a free model for domestic trade generates easy and rapid onboarding that works for us. Regarding Eurobank, Gowan mentioned that Greece still follows the culture of post-dated checks and thus, they view this platform as a substitute resource, which was another use case that we.trade had not thaught off. we.trade platform is already being used by many banks such as Societe Generale, HSBC, Santander, UniCredit, Nordea, KBC Bank, Rabobank, and Deutsche Bank to settle trade contracts. The more, the merrier McGowan added that the banks are inspiring their corporate clients to utilize we.trade, thus increasing its acceptance. According to him, the augmented alliance between corporates and banks is fascinating. Marie-Laure Gastellu, the deputy head of trade finance of Societe Generale, requires more acceptance from SMEs for using the platform. She further mentioned, in order to have more SMEs, more banks need to join the platform, not just as some equity investors but as actual users of we.trade. Additionally, she mentioned that their SME clients were very happy to have an offer like this and we're asking them to persuade other banks to join the network. Gastellu further mentioned that one of her bank's clients from France was having a trade with an Italian company, which was not using the platform. Moreover, following the client's endorsement, the Italian company created an account with Unicredit and became a part of we.trade. According to Gastellu, we.trade acts as a tremendous tool for establishing new relationships for banks. There were similar scenes from Scandinavia, where Nordea established we.trade network of customers across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. For instance, according to Ville Sointu, head of emerging technologies at Nordea suggested his supplier in Spain from whom they imported limited-edition sneakers to open a company account with Santander, which would enable them to sign up to we.trade. We.trade intends to add features to its technology that would allow the clients to send out invites to their partners to join the platform. Sointu added, they can increase the network by creating a model that allows customers who have already signed up and are on a lookout for a party to conduct trade. Sointu further mentions that Nordea has presented we.trade as one of the banking products. In other words, similar to a corporate credit card, they have we.trade brochures, customer support, et al. Additionally, they have an actual landing page for we.trade. One thing you won't find on that page is the word blockchain. Pricing For an inquisitive early user, a $2,000/ month is charged for trading on the platform, whereas a complete annual membership license is available at $175,000. At we.trade testing a project would cost $75,000/ year. According to McGowan, until now, the shareholder banks have paid $330,00 p.a. He further mentioned that while interacting with other banks, they were informed that the pricing was too expensive, and so they took their advice. Further, McGowan mentioned that we.trade platform was developed on IBM and is based on an open-source hyper ledger fabric blockchain mechanism, but he intends to establish the tech unit in-house in the near future. Additionally, McGowan mentioned that as we.trade is a technology firm, they would like to develop their own technological expertise. He further added that they maintain a cordial relationship with IBM and that IBM understands that they cannot pay for an outsourced team in the long run.