Blockchain has made some giant strides this year and it appears it’s still poised to making even more before the year runs out. Traditional financial institutions aren’t left out too.
Europe + Stablecoins
“My personal conviction on the issue of stable coins is that we better be ahead of the curve. There is clearly demand out there that we have to respond to.”
Christine Lagarde (ECB President)
In a tweet from the European Central Bank, President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, it seems a Euro-backed stable coin might be on the horizon. As Lagarde believes that if there’s a demand for it, the European Central Bank needs to stay ahead of the curve.
A stable coin is a cryptocurrency that’s pegged to fiat currency or physical assets like gold. Lagarde has always been an advocate for systematically adapting to new developments within the finance space.
Instructors For Free Cryptocurrency Education
Venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz (a 16z), is starting a free Crypto startup school. They’ve released the list of instructors for the part-time program that’ll run from February 21 to April 3, 2020.
Among the set of instructors are skilled entrepreneurs, investors and builders who are experts in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. These experts will train students by showing them some of the lessons they’ve learned along their journey as well as other relevant information.
According to A16z, the program is free to bolster the growth of existing blockchain-focused projects and to motivate more skilled individuals to become a part of the industry.
Some of the instructors include; Morgan Beller, head of strategy, Calibra; Avichal Garg, co-founder and managing partner, Electric Capital and Michael Jordan, investor, Galaxy Digital.
Access Your Medical Information Fast With Blockchain
What would it feel like to have your medical data right at your fingertips, and to be able to share it with anyone you want? Sounds interesting right?
Using blockchain, Anthem Insurance, the second-largest health insurance company in the United States has made it possible for their customers to access and share their medical information securely.
The product is currently in its pilot stage but it is set to be released within the next few months. According to Anthem all 40 million of their customers will have access to it in 2-3 years.
Decentralised Social Media App?
CEO of Twitter and payments company, Square, Jack Dorsey, has started funding a team to create a decentralised standard built on the blockchain for social media.
This was revealed in a series of tweets put out by Jack on December 11.
He highlighted some of the operational challenges that plague social media networks like using a centralised system to manage the misleading information that’s put up by individuals on the internet. He explained that they’ve focused most of their efforts on removing content that’s against their terms instead of building a systemic framework to help encourage more healthy debate, conversations, and critical thinking.
Beyond social media platforms, Jack is hoping for the adoption of a decentralised system across other sectors.
A Cryptocurrency Custody Technology
ING, a bank based in Amsterdam, is working on developing technology to help clients safely store digital assets. And they are building blockchain technology for cryptocurrency custody.
According to an ING source, the technology is still at its early stage of development. But it’s just one of the several initiatives that ING has in the area of blockchain. ING is focused on developing cryptocurrency’s underlying technology in order to give its clients a compliant way to access the emerging sector.
Sell Tickets Using Smart Contract?
“Our goal is to support 400–500 million tickets using smart contracts and blockchain technology,”
Sandy Khaund
Ticketmaster, an American ticket sales and distribution company, is looking to start selling tickets using smart contracts.
The ticketing industry is estimated to reach well above $6.23 billion by 2025. So, it’s quite a big play-field for blockchain technology. By using smart contracts they make it possible to effectively track each ticket sold, limit the number of times it is transferable and reduce the activity of ticket scalpers, who buy tickets at the regular price and resell them at inflated prices.
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