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.

1) For your 16th April talk to my group, focus less on Cryptocurrency. Members want to know possibilities of Blockchain applications in their businesses.

2) Please also include real life cases on how Blockchain has been successfully implemented in the above. My members are more interested in reality than theories.

3) More important is to be engaged with members during presentation and sharing.

No problem with all of above requirements, quite common nowadays.

Try to explore more from tokenomics or datanomics point of view, rather than pure currency viewpoint.

You want that immutability, transparency and traceability part of it, that trust element. And if you do away the tokenomics part, you are letting go the most important power the technology brings.

For instance, incentivizing good behaviour.

People are reward centric. Annual appraisal for salary increment, performance bonuses, sales incentives, etc. Why do we have these? As encouragement or as token of appreciation.

Once you understand thoroughly, you won’t discard the monetary (whatever you want to call) part of it.

Money makes the world goes round. Data is the new oil, explore datanomics.

Just a matter of perspective.

Opencert

On 3rd May 2019, Channel News Asia reported the ‘tamper-resistant’ digital certificates project by Singapore’s government.

The Blockchain use case by Singapore’s government shows the city state’s pro-blockchain stance and its progress implementing the technology at a national level.

It states the reason they use Ethereun(ETH) in Open Certs Project FAQ page:

Ethereum is the blockchain network with the largest developer base, as well as having a large number of participants securing the network.

Nike’s Cryptokicks

Nike Digital is a $2 billion digital commerce business.

Nike files trademark application in the US for ‘Cryptokicks’.

International Class(es): 036 – Primary Class:

“financial services, namely, providing a digital currency or digital token for use by members of an on-line community via a global computer network; facilitation of financial transactions using unconventional currency systems and bartering, namely, facilitating transfers of electronic cash equivalents; facilitation of crypto-currency transactions, namely, virtual currency exchange transaction services for transferrable electronic cash equivalent units having a specified cash value; …”

“This appears to be a filing for a brand of a #cryptocurrency … this is trademark speak for ‘this is a cryptocurrency called Cryptokicks.” ~ Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney in the U.S. who analyzed the filing on Twitter.

Jaguar IOTA

Another use case for cryptocurrency by big brand in the making after Nike’s Cryptokicks move:

United Kingdom car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover will use blockchain network Iota to reward drivers with cryptocurrency for data reporting.

“In the future an autonomous car could drive itself to a charging station, recharge and pay, while its owner could choose to participate in the sharing economy — earning rewards from sharing useful data such as warning other cars of traffic jams”

A year ago, Germany-headquartered car manufacturing giant Daimler AG, famous for its Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands, presented its own Blockchain-based digital currency MobiCoin at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. The project, which started in February 2018, was created to reward drivers for environmentally-friendly driving habits, i.e. smooth and safe driving at low speeds.

Incentivizing good behavior.

2019-2020 will definitely be the delivery year of more Blockchain use cases and the acceptance of Crypto by conventional brands (be it Crypto Paradigm or Glorified Voucher/Loyalty Program).

Notes

The above presentation file was created for Vistage group members. Below are the feedbacks from 3 of the close group sharing made, just for log purpose and future reference on any area of improvement.

Feedback to Koh How Tze’s presentation on 16th April 2019:

Feedback to Koh How Tze’s presentation on 18th April 2019:

Feedback to Koh How Tze’s presentation on 15th May 2019:

The post Blockchain and Its Practical Applications appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Without transparency there won’t be shared prosperity. ~ Frederik Bussler, CEO BitGrit Inc

Imagine a smart city powered by data, artificial intelligence, and IoT.

If the city controls these means of production, then they control the value generation as well

If the city decides what to do with the data, AI, and IoT in an opaque system, then the citizens may not be helping good causes.

This is an authoritative system.

If we instead have citizens build the systems and set directions, then we have democracy.

Blockchain can be a way to account for contributions to AI systems, including data, computing power, and talent (code) provisions, while incentivizing good behavior

Blockchain In Smart Cities

How does blockchain play its role when it comes to smart city development?

There are at least 4 areas that blockchain can be used as part of the backbone technology for smart cities:

Reputation

One thing good about a well designed blockchain is its immutability instance. This makes it suitable to log things that could be useful in providing reputation, such as the ID of a person, a certification for education or quality assurance, and even asset ownership acknowledgement or devices identification as we are connecting more smart machines (big or small) through IoT.

We need to ensure that the other party we are interacting with are of good reputation and is genuine. For example, when we talk about connected vehicles or autonomous cars, or even the existing Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) updates, how can we ensure that hackers do not intercept in between and the firmware we are updating to our vehicles are originated from a genuine source?

Finance

Needless to say, the success of bitcoin and most of the alt-coins is a living example of how the blockchain technology can be used as a currency. The challenge now is to make it more stable so it fits the purpose as a medium of exchange as what most fiat money do well now.

Democracy

Another good use case leveraging the immutability of the blockchain is about the true democracy in our society or the city. We don’t need to have periodic votings and select our policy makers when it comes to matters related to the development or things that need to be done collaboratively through a democratic process.

Public voting can be executed via blockchain based system to decide on certain issues that affect certain communities in a certain area, if not the city as a whole. Every decision making process will become more transparent, real time, and theoretically, fair.

Energy

There has never been problem with resources, the problem lies within distribution. That was a good old saying pending a solution. With blockchain technology, a more liberalized energy market could be created. Peer to peer energy network can make the current centralized energy distribution model looks a bit autocratic and outdated in today’s world. The more efficient we transfer and distribute our energy sources, the closer we will be in reaching our greener goals.

From the successful implementation of smart grids starting with energy distribution, we could be finding more possibilities and opportunities to utilities and environmental related industry.

As such, I enclose this article for now. For further reading, check out

Blockchain Technologies: The Next Frontier of Smart Cities – Part 2  by Lily Maxwell posted in Bee Smart City on 20th August, 2018

Smart Cities and Blockchain: Four Countries Where AI and DLT Exist Hand-in-Hand by Julia Magas posted in Coin Telegraph on 17th June, 2018

Related Updates as at February 2019:

Finance and economic

Liberstad — a private, anarcho-capitalist city in Norway — has adopted a cryptocurrency native to its blockchain-powered smart city platform as its official medium of exchange, according to a press release published on Feb. 12.

South Korea’s leading telecommunications company, KT Corporation, has been selected to develop a local cryptocurrency in the South Korean city of Gimpo. The city plans to issue 11 billion won (over $9.7 million) worth of the currency per year, which includes budgets for various social services and development projects.

The Institute of Decentralized Economics (IDE) has opened in London, the United Kingdom on Feb. 14, 2019. The idea behind the IDE is to “help organizations better understand the economics that underlie the blockchain industry.” The IDE will also study the design and viability of stablecoins and how government policy and “crypto-economic” technologies interact.

Luxembourg lawmakers have passed bill 7363 into law, facilitating the use of blockchain technology in financial services, according to an official announcement published by the country’s parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, on Feb. 14.

The new law aims provide financial market participants with more transparency and legal certainty in regard to the circulation of securities with blockchain technology. The bill is also geared to make the transfer of securities more efficient by reducing the number of intermediaries.

Energy and Utilities

Dutch technology company ElaadNL has developed a Proof of Concept (PoC) for a smart power grid for electric vehicles using internet of things (IoT)-focused IOTA Tangle technology, according to the company’s announcement on Feb. 14, 2019.

Per the announcement, the PoC shows the ability of smart grids to not only consume power, but also generate it and autonomously redistribute it amongst community members. The initiative was based on IOTA’s Tangle technology, which purportedly lets the charging devices autonomously decide whether there is need to help balance grid load.

The global blockchain in energy utilities market was assessed to be $210.4 million in 2018, and is expected to reach $3.4 billion by 2024. Infoholic Research thus predicts the growth at a compound annual growth rate of 59.4 percent during the period from 2018 to 2024.

Tokenization of physical assets and the impact of IoT and AI

The post Blockchain and Smart City appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

The title of the forum was “ABCD That Is Changing The World“. The session started with a brief introduction to our association – Crypto Valley Malaysia.

The discussion was not limited to Blockchain technology but also looking at the IR4.0 generally and overall tech progress – a matter of where we are, and where are we heading.

To create and mobilize new form of capitals.

What we have now is truly borderless, programmable money backed by immutable computer systems based on pure logic and mathematics.

Who gets to own what for how long.

If we cannot break the rotten system outside in, try the inside out way of doing things.

The question is, would you still remember why and how you started once you reap the benefits of having all that power?

Only time will tell.

Thank you Taylor’s University for having us in your Expert Forum session for ICT and business students.

Notes:

From idea formulation to finalizing the marketing material, it took less than 10 days to come to this stage. One of the most effective administration we ever came across when it comes to academic institution collaboration.

Taylor’s University is the fourth best in the world based on its score of 99.7/100 in the graduate employment rate indicator under the 2019 QS Graduate Employability Rankings.

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