Development projects conduct measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) processes measure the outcome and impact of projects.

Distributed ledger technology stores data batches in blocks on the network, and the need for independent verification from the network’s users makes the records transparent, secure, verifiable, and immutable, thus improving data auditability and reducing misreporting/fraud of data.

If we must identify the precise activity of a typical development project where blockchain technology can be leveraged, then it would collect and time-stamp project-level data for monitoring purposes.

The challenge is many resource-crunched development projects, especially in developing countries, still collect field data by hand, which can lead to inaccuracies, mistakes and fraud.

Local institutions in the developing countries that implement such projects often lack the systems to ensure the data they report is verifiable.

Blockchain can

• reduce the data risks of local-level institutions,
• improve the validity of the data they report for impact, and
• instill confidence in foreign private donors/investors to fund such development projects.

What this implies is more financing flow can be committed to the local level.

With blockchain enabling local projects to report verifiable performance as part of their MRV processes, local development institutions can gain a greater supply of capital.

The Amazon in Brazil is an example.

The Rainforest project uses blockchain and the Internet of Things to record and transfer data from electrical meters, robotic appliances and emission monitors on the environmental impact. Remote sensing satellites independently verify the status of patches, upon which blockchain smart contracts directly reward the farmers who preserve their rainforest patches. The outcome data is verifiable, and the exclusion of intermediaries while transferring incentives minimizes administrative costs and the siphoning of funds.

Blockchain-enabled MRV processes help disintermediate the intermediaries in a social or sustainability bond issuance, thus reducing issuance costs and making it possible for small enterprises to access the bond market or aggregate smaller assets into bonds.

Limitations: internet capacity and technology literacy.

Summary:

Blockchain’s revolutionary role in improving the MRV processes around data can mobilize more private capital investments for development projects executed by local-level institutions in developing countries.

Excerpt from article “Blockchain tech makes sustainable development goals more achievable” by Sourajit Aiyer and Jae-Hoon Kwak published on CoinTelegraph.

The post Blockchain and Sustainable Development Goals appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Empowering the people?

If this roadside seller being rob heads on, the robber go to jail.

But when he being robbed blatantly through inflation, nobody goes to jail.

The (inflation) robber and the poor guy are at two opposite far end of the entire financial food chain.

“The few who can understand the system will be either so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class, while, on the other hand, that great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that Capital derives from the system, will bear its burden without complaint and, perhaps, without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.”

Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.

Where have all the revolutionist gone?

Blockchain will do to banks what the internet did to media

Socmed (Social Media) put the newspaper into everybody’s phone. Now everyone is a reporter.

When technologists put a bank into everybody’s phone, everyone can become a bank. Where would the banks be then?

As we speak, the crypto world is moving rapidly, progressively.

A bunch of people are trying to form the real “public’s” bank, where unbanked and underbanked have no place in it, where poverty (caused by financial slavery) could really be a thing of the past.

Somehow, history will mark this period of time as another important milestone for human progress, equivalent to that of Renaissance, and Industrial Revolution.

From conceptional coins to corporate tokens to eventually the CBDC (in whatever form it may be), what the people innovate, the power to be appropriates.

Will we witness how things conclude in our lifetime? Only time will tell.
Anyhow we are part of it now.

One for all, all for one.

The Name of The Game

The post The Financial Food Chain appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Metcalfe’s Law After 40 Years of Ethernet

On Tech and Regulations

Grab will not be what it is today if they wait for legal framework to settle down then only start doing things legally. Had you heard of DACSEE? Socar?

• Make things happen = Make that prototype 
• Get things done = Proceed with further development and growth. Milestone after milestone.
• Only result matter = Build a strong, sticky community

Then share experience and collaborate as much with authorities along the way, so they are well aware and informed that how things can (should) be done. 

Don’t make me think, don’t make me do extra work. Not just applicable to customers.

Manoeuvre between upstream, downstream, and within ecosystem is what makes business one of the most challenging entities.

Metcalfe’s Law and Uber

The post Network Effect and Metcalfe’s Law appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

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.

Ripple focuses on reducing its carbon emissions by making sustainable choices, purchasing carbon offsets and investing in carbon-removal technologies.

Using blockchain to accelerate low-carbon electricity systems

The Energy Web Foundation and Ripple have created “Energy Web Zero,” a new open-source tool designed to enable any blockchain network to decarbonize by purchasing “tokenized” renewable energy.

The Energy Web Zero application establishes digital identities for real-world assets such as large-scale wind and solar facilities around the world. Once these assets are tied to a digital identity, that data is anchored to the Energy Web blockchain, which powers the Energy Web Zero application. Digital energy attribute certificates are then produced from this data to represent renewable energy.

Transparency

Blockchain being used to achieve carbon neutrality makes a lot of sense due to the transparency inherently baked into the technology.

Companies like Google can claim to be eliminating their carbon footprints by purchasing high-quality offsets, yet they are not revealing what, and for what amount, those offsets are.

A public blockchain network will always have proof of the transactions taking place.

Open source platforms are critical for transparency and trust, which is the big difference here.

Tokenizing energy attribute certificates and putting them on a blockchain network may be challenging due to unclear regulations and a lack of industry standards.

Understanding whether or not tokenization is effective depends on whether or not the assets tie back to actual, credible, standardized carbon credits.

The establishment and transactability of such value will require standardization, asset classification systems, and generally-acceptable climate accounting principles.

These tokenized credits should also provide better liquidity and price discovery than standard carbon credit instruments.

Tokenization thereafter empowers companies an ability to price, track and transact in their net-zero performance, both to achieve their objectives in a credible manner, but also the ability to collateralize and secure forward any number of financial instruments to help scale and finance those efforts.

Nori – a climate-change startup that leverages blockchain – allows anyone to purchase carbon certificates in the form of “Nori Carbon Removal Tonnes” — nonfungible tokens that are retired immediately by the buyers. The platform’s NORI token separately serves as the method of payment or trading mechanism.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/xrp-ledger-blockchain-energizes-decarbonization-but-tokenization-a-challenge

The post Decarbonization and XRP Ledger Blockchain appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

According to the concept of self-sovereign digital identity, owners (holders) of the digital identity are responsible for the control and management of their data. And that not only includes basic personal data but also information about your relationships with other people, companies and even things.

Decentralized digital identity consists of several electronic credentials issued by different participating identifiers (also called agents) that are part of a blockchain network. Blockchain interoperability is important here.

With decentralized digital identity, this credential, formed by personal data and various identifiers, is in the user’s possession, who can present it to other financial institutions with which they do not relate, but which have an offer of interest. So, FinID basically works like a passport that a person can use at several banks.

Data Portability

The implementation of the open financial system and the new instant payment platform

• To create a unique, portable and secure identity for financial institutions, with clients in control of their own personal data and enabling easy access to contract financial services.

A decentralized financial identity management solution, comprising:

• identity creation and management;
• digital account accreditation (called onboarding); and
• authentication of identities and information.

Public blockchains are where anyone can join the network as a service user. Public protocols create trust through mathematics, with a consensus mechanism that encourages individual behavior to achieve a collective goal.

Blockchain vs DLT

The least common denominator for public and private blockchains lies in the principle of distributed storage and data verification.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-technology-financial-and-self-sovereign-digital-identities

Identity in a Digital World
A new chapter in the social contract

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_INSIGHT_REPORT_Digital%20Identity.pdf

The post Self-sovereign Identity appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

3 Ways To Implement CBDC

A lot of money at stake, it will take time.

1️⃣ Gradual (or) indirect approach

2️⃣ Direct approach

3️⃣ Hybrid solutions

Can start with Blockchaining Sukuk.

The post How To Implement CBDC appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Note : ICO has been evolved into STO with regulations in place.

Gold Dollar (fixed asset) – > Petrol Dollar – > Electron backing up the currency

Where electricity (green energy) become more relevant.

Keywords: Digital Citizens, Beyond Physical Borders, Borderless, Virtual Economy, Token of Value Exchange

My personal take only :

Great Lockdown – > Great Reset – > Great Awareness – > New World Order

Israel will lead the next Bretton Wood alike event.

History will repeat itself.

The trillion dollar questions:

Where are we as coin market cap progressing from 400 B to 1 T? Where will we be?

The post Moving Into The Age of Multicurrency appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Pros of NFT

• They could unlock new revenue streams in gaming, sports, the arts, and technology.
• NFTs could introduce millions of people to cryptocurrencies for the very first time.
• They can transform our attitudes toward ownership — and make it possible to own a real-world asset that’s thousands of miles away.

Cons of NFT

• Building decentralized apps for non‑fungible tokens can be tricky and time consuming.
• Much more simplification is needed so NFTs are easy to use for people who know nothing about blockchain.
• NFT games can have a ”hot potato” effect. Players buy an asset in the hope of selling it on for a profit, but if the market collapses, they can make a nasty loss.

NFT Stats

• All these stats making promises of astronomical growth don’t tell the full story, though. The NFT space does have its challenges.
• According to Nonfungible.com’s annual report, most projects have a poor retention rate — and in 2019, the vast majority were used for three months or less. As of February 2020, just 3.5% of these platforms were used for more than 10 months.
• The liquidity of NFTs is also a crucial measure of how healthy a marketplace is, but in 2019, just 12% of newly created assets actually circulated between users.

Big NFT News in 2020 (so far)

• Back in March 2020, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss revamped Nifty, a centralized exchange that allows people to sell their tokens and withdraw their profits in fiat.
• Companies are using NFTs to help consumers establish ownership and control over their DNA data, and others are planning to launch peer-to-peer marketplaces for NFT mortgages and rentals.
• NFTs are even being created for journalistic content in a bid to tackle fake news.

What’s Next?

• A straightforward user interface will be crucial for unlocking mainstream adoption.
• As endless experimentation takes place, we’ll likely see several NFT projects crash and burn. Some will struggle to maintain the excitement and momentum they have immediately after launching.
• As such, if you’re tempted to snap up a pricy token worth a few hundred bucks, make sure you’re not left holding a hot potato.

Full artcile: https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/nonfungible-tokens/

The post ROTD: Non-Fungible Token (NFT) appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Tokenization is the process by which the real asset value of the property is represented digitally on the blockchain in token form.

What problem is Tokenization trying to solve?
Fractional ownership and Liquidity, some over priced and over supply issues perhaps.

How?

Create and mobilize new form of capitals.

Challenges?

Trust. Circulation. Legal.

Bringing Down Borders

If I were to develop a city, and I issue a token which has these 4 characteristic or functions:

1) Security
Token holders entitled to earn certain income or profit sharing for x number of tokens hold over y amount of time.

2) Privileges
For upcoming or in-house projects, token holders entitled to special price or privileges.

3) Utility
Token holders can use their token to pay for services or products under internal environment, such as inter-city spendings.

4) Currency
This token is acceptable by other cities or entity other than the issuer.

Now, tell me what breed of “money” shall we identify this token?

The key is programmable money.

It is good that we have the direction of coming up with technical and policy framework for programmable money first.

Implementation wise, it is do-able technically due to its programmable nature.

Take the analogy of a simplified illustration of daily life of a working male adult:

Early morning as he steps into the office, he will play the role as an employee of the company, where his action will be bound by company rules and (common) work culture.

After office hour, as he transits back from company to home, he would be bound by social etiquette and city rules along the way.

At home, he could be playing the role of a husband, and a father to his children, where family values play the major factor defining the activities he could be carrying.

Condition of a situation may define the role and characteristic of an entity, thus resulting in the activities and produce the consequences.

Quantum elements exist in the thought process.

Presentation slides used:

Follow up news:

It is interesting to note that one of Malaysia’s initiative is featured in one of Coin Telegraphs report on Municipal Crypto.

A Mechanism To Fund Certain Projects

States, provinces and municipalities could use cryptocurrencies to fund projects and programs. Municipal cryptocurrencies — that is, cryptocurrencies launched by cities — could offer citizens a new way to invest in a certain location and even buy goods while helping governments to fund projects.

The minimum bond investment is $1,000, although they are usually sold in batches of $5,000. People who want to invest less simply cannot do it. Cryptocurrencies and tokens could be used for assets under $5 million and enable investments under $5,000.

The main mechanism for municipal cryptocurrency is the securitization of assets.

* Securitization is the process of establishing a financial instrument that merged from various financial assets into one group.

The post Tokenizing Real Estates appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Some of the points he mentioned was quite alarming, such as the illusion of safety:
– failure is not an option
– we can all win
– it’s all upside
– this is a guaranteed investment

As at 4th May, 2019, nearly 2 years after his sharing, the article that appeared in Coin Telegraph titled “How Security Tokens Can Prevent an Impending Financial Crisis” seems to echo his points with this paragraph:

Sometimes, the unintended consequences of regulation are more damaging than the value proposition of that legislation.

(1) The barriers of entry to securitization markets drove the centralization of issuances to astronomical heights, as a few participants came to dominate the market.

(2) The combination of closed circles and high costs of issuance ran securitized portfolios into the billions and caused a domino effect upon failure.

(3) In addition, a lack of liquidity in private securities markets made it difficult to rebalance or break up portfolios by selling smaller positions to a wider pool of potential buyers — or even by selling individual assets.

Security tokens, assets backed tokens, could be one of the solutions to the shortfall in financial system we have today, as how the authors put it:

Many analysts predict that the majority of financial products will one day be traded on the blockchain as security tokens, with programmable smart contracts — and for good reason: Only security tokens can bring greater transparency, oversight, access and liquidity to the market.

As we are seeing more Blockchain and its practical applications (use cases) being announced, we shall see a more practical approach and implementation of the technology in the financial industry as time goes by. Blockchaining Sukuk should be something to watch out to.

The post Security Tokens and The Illusion of Safety appeared first on Blockchain Insider.