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Blockchain Technology and COVID-19: A Solution to a Crisis

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The impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) is felt by all businesses, communities, and individuals around the world. More than 2.1 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19, and more than 180,000 people have died from the disease. It has changed our way of working, playing, socializing, and learning: schools are closing down, sporting events are canceled, companies closing down, people are working from home, national lockdown, and the impact list goes on.

COVID-19 is a major global threat to public health and has sparked shock waves across medical systems, the payment sector, supply chain networks, and other key social aspects of society. The recent pandemic highlights the need for an organized response from different countries, companies, and charities. But how can these grants and donations be managed, delivered, and channeled more transparently and efficiently?

Countries around the world are deploying technologies to help resolve some of the major challenges associated with COVID-19. The epidemic outbreak has taken blockchain technology into the limelight as it helps fight the day-to-day battle against COVID-19. The word blockchain is most frequently linked to Bitcoin, but as some people misunderstand, blockchain is much more than bitcoin, and not fundamentally linked to the latter.

In the simplest of words, a blockchain is a time-stamped series of permanent data records that is maintained by a network of computers not owned by any single entity. Any transaction that goes into the activity record is enclosed in a block and connected together to form a chain in sequential order, giving itself the term blockchain. Its main characteristics are the immutability, traceability, decentralization, transparency, and veracity of its data.

Several businesses like Traxalt, a digital financial institution, the European Union, multinationals like IBM, law firms, real estate, and music agencies are using blockchain to improve their daily activities.  

But what are the real advantages of this technology and how can it help us during this time? First, we must define it as a decentralized registry, characterized by its veracity and reliability without the need of a trusted third party to manage or monitor its data. Blockchain is immutable and transparent, which implies that the data contained within cannot be modified and is completely traceable and reliable. Blockchain technology also removes intermediaries, prevents data loss and alteration, and ensures traceability. This can play a significant role in guaranteeing that information on the epidemic is open and transparent and that epidemic materials are traceable.

Syren Johnstone, executive director of the University of Hong Kong, through a letter published by the University of Oxford, highlights the multiple uses of blockchain technology and its benefits. He calls all technology companies to get down to work and find solutions to the global health crisis. Currently, numerous blockchain networks are working to alleviate the effects of the crisis generated by the pandemic of COVID-19.

On the one hand, the need to channel all donations and track them makes blockchain the ideal platform during this time. If people were certain that their donations were reaching the right organizations and had a way to track and observe what they are being used for, it would significantly increase the number of donations. This practice was already used for the first time in 2018 to help flood victims in Eastern Uganda and more recently to support Australian fires, with very good results. In order to avoid criticism and to be completely transparent, the Shanzhong and Hyperchain blockchain network was created in China to manage all their grants and donations.

The second application of blockchain that helps governments fight against COVID-19, is its use to keep track of the delivery of medical supplies, such as masks, respirators, or protective equipment, as well as to prevent counterfeiting.

It is a reality that high demand and low supply cause unfair situations, deception, and a great lack of control throughout the supply chain. Hanzhong and Hyperchain blockchain, are also used to track the delivery of medical equipment. Another use has to do with the data recording.

Blockchain technology is also being used to keep the truthful, unimpeachable, and transparent record of the epidemic’s data. Examples of this could be the number of infected people, deaths, virus mutations, etc. This data provides documentation to understand the behavior of the virus and its progress.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also developed a blockchain network for the digital authentication of official certificates and other documents, thus eliminating the need for citizens to leave their homes to carry out errands and other procedures.

It seems evident that everyone should be using all the tools at our disposal to face the COVID-19 pandemic. For this it is necessary to adopt the new technological advances including blockchain technology. The world is in this together and together we will defeat the current health crisis.

 

Longhash Ventures Aims to Combat Coronavirus with”Blockchain For Good”

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The spread of coronavirus has resulted in a large number of companies and individuals stepping up to provide solutions. With globally positive cases expected to cross over 3 million in the near future, officials agreed that the collective effort of multiple industries was hour-by-hour.

According to recent reports, Singapore‘s LongHash is hosting the ‘Blockchain for Good’ initiative, an initiative in which companies are urged to come up with blockchain solutions to promote positive social impact.

Bigwigs such as McKinsey & Company, Enterprise Singapore, INSEAD and Hashkey Digital Asset Group will be supporting the virtual event with the aim of addressing the challenges that have arisen as a result of the current pandemic.

Longhash has been quite active in the Singapore Fintech ecosystem recently, and the advent of COVID-19 has only inspired it to push further developments. The organization claimed that it was to analyze the three main pillars of the outbreak of the virus. The three pillars will be addressed in a sustainable manner by all participants of the event.

On April 22, the Singapore government announced that the ongoing lockdown would be extended till June.

Initiatives taken by companies like Longhash were important because they were trying to ease the suffering of millions of people. Talking about the upcoming event, Chia Hock Lai, President of Singapore Fintech Association said:

“The unprecedented circumstances brought about by the coronavirus demands that we respond swiftly and effectively to alleviate its impact. In line with our long-standing commitment to embrace the efforts of digital innovation, Blockchain for Goodwill accelerate the transition from ideation to action. We look forward to the wave of ingenuity and fresh solutions that will develop from the course of the hackathon.”

Lai’s sentiments were shared by a number of industry officials, all of whom focused on the three-pillar solution framework. The first pillar includes the resolution of the issues currently facing Small and Medium Enterprises, in particular the extension of the lockdown. Several people have lost their jobs in the current crisis, with self-employed workers and freelancers carrying the brunt.

Other countries, such as the US, pumped money into the economy to protect small and medium-sized enterprises, but the process has been staggered and inefficient. Longhash believed that blockchain would be the perfect channel for creating sound, effective solutions to help society. The second pillar will focus on helping governments and communities to track and contain the spread of the virus.

At the moment, some countries have been testing pilot versions of applications that track the whereabouts of citizens in an effort to maintain social distance. The Government of Singapore has informed its citizens that everyone should follow protocols so that the coronavirus can be eradicated quickly. This formed the basis for the third pillar of ‘Blockchain for Good’: addressing the day-to-day challenges of social distancing and how to normalize it.

Applications for the event will be accepted until April 26 and the winner will receive a prize of up to $5,000. Emma Cui, CEO of Longhash Ventures, hoped that the responses would reflect the collective social spirit of all participants. Only time can tell us the extent to which solutions will help combat the virus, with millions of people waiting on the sidelines to breathe.

China’s ‘Blockchain Service Network’ Goes Live in the Country; Global Launch Set to Occur Towards End of Month

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China has been a surprise leader in the adoption of blockchain technology to address its national needs. Since last year, the Red Dragon has been in the news a good few times for its involvement in the world of emerging technology, notably the extensive use of blockchain to strengthen its financial ecosystem.

Xi Jinping, China’s premier, had previously stated that after consulting in-house experts, China would maintain a growth pattern with blockchain technology. Developments also culminated in the formation of the Blockchain Service Network, which was launched in China on 15 April, with a global launch scheduled for 25 April.

The initiative for the platform was taken by the State Information Center of China, with a vision to create a seamless ecosystem for developers and consumers. Sources close to its developments claimed that the BSN would enable users to build dApps in the simplest ways possible. BSN’s official release occurred on October 15, 2019, after which it went through a 6-0mopnth testing period.

BSN is also set to provide online training and customer service mechanisms for users. This training will be split into three parts: online live training courses, customer service consultation exchange meetings and online on-demand training courses. Users will be able to watch videos uploaded on the BSN Knowledge Base.

Reports from the BSN have said that regular online customer service consultation meetings for developers will be held. These meetings will be hosted by professional customer service members of the BSN Development Alliance. The plan has been so well thought out that the classes for users have a specific timing: every Wednesday from 19:00 to 21:00.

A whitepaper published by the BSN Alliance states:

“As the BSN takes hold in worldwide countries, it will become the only global infrastructure network that is innovated by China, whose gateway access is controlled by China.”

The BSN Alliance was supported by the government, blockchain firms as well as several state-owned entities. Some experts have called the entire plan similar to China’s One Belt One Road Initiative, a move where the country provides resources to other regions. China’s determination to establish its native blockchain system was made evident earlier when its national bank filed for more than 80 patents related to blockchain technology.

China‘s blockchain patent numbers are the highest in the world and that was created by building on infrastructures such as banks, telecom and internet giants. One of the founding members of the BSN is the Huobi Group. Huobi has already deployed multiple nodes in countries such as the US, Brazil and France.

 

Tesla, BMW Jump on Board Blockchain Bandwagon as Companies Focus on Process Improvement

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The financial world, at the moment, was going through one of its worst crisis periods in history. With stocks falling to all-time lows and Bitcoin going against the ‘safe-haven’ concept, 2020 has been nothing short of dramatic.

As the world learns to cope with the coronavirus crisis at hand, some companies were venturing into uncharted territories to create a more sustainable financial ecosystem. Tesla and BMW, two of the biggest names in the automobile industry were the latest entrants to the blockchain technology. The organizations intended to use decentralized technology to improve their native processes. 

Elon Musk’s Tesla was recently involved in a blockchain pilot project that sought to improve sea waybill information. This was done so that all the participants in the program who owned large shipping companies could easily transport goods without the logistical hassle. Using blockchain technology, shipping containers filled with Tesla auto parts were able to be released faster with accelerated cargo pick-up.

According to reports, Tesla used CargoSmart which claimed to improve features such as display, appointment date fixtures, and terminal release date fixtures. With this inclusion, shippers will be able to have better visibility and track of all their cargoes. Lionel Louie, the Chief Commercial Officer of CargoSmart stated:

“The GSBN aims to accelerate digital transformation of the shipping industry. It intends to provide a platform for all shipping supply chain participants to work collaboratively to accelerate technology innovation and develop solutions through trusted and secure data exchange platforms.”

CargoSmart uses Hyperledger Fabric to cater to customer needs across the board. Hyperledger was used so that global connectivity could be achieved quickly. Aside from Tesla, BMW was the other automobile honcho wading into blockchain waters. The German carmaker revealed that they will be looking into blockchain to optimize their processes from A to Z.

Andreas Wendt, a member of the BMW AG board of management informed shareholders that their latest blockchain initiative will be called ‘PartChain’. PartChain is set to take care of the digitization aspect of BMW Group’s purchasing wing. The company envisions to create an open platform that will allow data within supply chains to be shared in total security and privacy.

Using PartChain, BMW plans to add an extra layer of secure and verifiable data. As an initial test, BMW used the technology to trace parts such as the front lights with later tests set to cover other sectors as well. BMW has partnered with 10 other companies, to begin with as the Bavarian company reiterated on its mission to change the manufacturing game.

Experts have said that blockchain technology would enable big companies to cater to a larger customer base. New technologies such as smart contracts and blockchain come with benefits such as improved cost savings and traceability. The cryptocurrency community now has to wait with bated breath to see if more companies will follow suit and adopt disruptive technologies such as blockchain.

How Blockchain Can Help in Tracking COVID-19 Cases – India

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The world is going through a pandemic, financial markets are uncertain of their movements and the economy is on the edge of stumbling. Amidst the chaos, one good thing is that the world was never this technologically capable of handling such an undesirable phenomenon, but now, things are different. We have more technology now than ever. Right from Artificial intelligence to 3D printing, Drones, and Blockchain – Emerging Tech is breaking the norms. 

I know what you’re thinking! This is the same old, “Let’s put blockchain in everything we can” kind of an article. Honestly? It’s okay to feel so. Blockchain was meant for real-life use cases, doesn’t change the fact it can be integrated into multiple ecosystems for better functionality. 

Recently, I got a message from the government of India that was broadcasted in bulk to everyone. The message was about “Aarogya Setu” – a live COVID-19 case tracking application. The app has 10 million+ downloads from its launch which was a week ago! 

I downloaded the application to check out the type of data the government was taking for tracking. Didn’t come through as a surprise when the application needed endless permissions regarding, your location and requires you to keep your device Bluetooth on. 

Millions of people are totally fine with giving out their whereabouts just to make sure they’re safe [while quarantining in their homes] and at no point come in contact with a Covid-19 positive case. I mean does the general public care about what kind of applications suck their data and what is being done with it or not? 

As a technology enthusiast, I care and most tech-savvy people do because we understand the importance of data and how it can be misused if fallen into wrong hands. 

But Bluetooth seriously? The data between your device and the Bluetooth connected peripheral is encrypted but it isn’t too hard to not hack especially with the knowledge that millions of people in India have permitted it to be so. 

With all the vulnerability even Bluetooth is not a problem, there might be no other accurate way to scale it this way. The problem comes in when you think about how the data is being handled. 

To understand that better, I spoke to a couple of acquaintances and sources. 

A source told me how if you mark as “sick” on the Aarogya Setu app the next thing would be taking the information offline. A person visits your home, marks down your symptoms and delivers it to the nearest testing center, and arranges for a test. At this point, the data goes offline. 

We cannot track who all come out positive and who all don’t because there’s no empirical evidence after a point. 

Indicating how the count for Covid-19 positive cases could be way more than its actual count of 7445 [at the time of writing]. We can fight this with a blockchain!

Each testing center/ hospital can run a node on the blockchain. Every time a person shows positive symptoms for COVID-19 and gives out the details of it, a trigger alerts the hospitals. The person gets a timeslot to run tests and the result of it is put out on a public blockchain if it comes out as positive. 

Vikram Anand, the Co-founder of Hypermine a startup recently accelerated by Aeternity Ventures said:

“Blockchain can help in two aspects of COVID-19 traceability: Privacy and Tamper Proof. The privacy aspect stands second to tamper-proof. The primary setback is the way user data is being generated and stored. We don’t know for sure if it is being tampered or not, perhaps an immutable ledger can help over an unstructured database.”

While talking about blockchain to help in COVID-19 cases, a company that stands out is TruePic. Talk about bringing authenticity to the general public over all the photoshopped images and videos of Covid-19 cases. 

To help us out understand a bit more, I reached out to Mounir Ibrahim the VP of Strategic Initiatives at Truepic, he said:

“Truepic is helping its partner CIEPD in Nigeria track the community and government’s response to COVID-19 with verified imagery.  One important aspect to verified imagery is immutability, and currently, Truepic leverages Blockchain as a way to record immutable references to digital images and videos.” 

All that is being said and done, I reached out to the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka Dr. Ashwathnarayan, to pitch how blockchain could actually help us out better, no comment as of now. I’ll update the article as soon as I get one. 

 

 

 

Cargosmart to Pilot Blockchain Cargo Release Application

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According to a report published by Globenewswire on April 7, OOCL’s CargoSmart software company conducted a pilot project for a new application with Cosco, Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) and Tesla aimed at transforming the cargo release process through blockchain technology.

This is among the first pilot projects with an ocean carrier implementing the real-time exchange of shipment data via blockchain with a terminal operator.

The pilot project was planned to reduce the steps of verification of the consignee and shipping agent with their ocean carriers in order to facilitate the release of sea waybills.

The company plans to digitize the paperwork and the total amount of time required to pick up items from shipping terminals, thus minimizing delivery times.

Once it is officially established, the application will be further developed for Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) blockchain consortium participants.

“The application will undoubtedly accelerate the digitalization of shipping industry processes and the further optimization of currently stressed global supply chains,”

CargoSmart said today.

 

Blockchain will be a game-changer for the shipping industry

As blockchain technology evolves, it has gained a fair share of lovers and haters, but despite this, the shipping industry is increasingly embracing it due to its proven cost efficiency capability.

Blockchain could remove or significantly reduce the paperwork that is such a big part of shipping. Large amounts of paperwork accompany transactions like lading bills, purchase contracts, credit notes, and contracts with charter parties, port papers, etc.

Such papers move through a host of various parties to bring and distribute the goods to materialise and make payments which are complex and time-consuming procedures.

The blockchain will save and generate billions by digitizing the paper trail of shipping, signed and marked cargo and freight papers containing hundreds of pages that need to be physically delivered to thousands of different governments, banks, customs offices and other organizations by raising product marketing time, reducing trade barriers.

It is hoped that blockchain technology will create a network that is not dominated by endless paperwork and complicated transactions, but instead entirely digital, allowing for more efficient freight movement and reduced costs and waste of resources

It is still early days and a long way to go before the industry can comprehend the full potential of blockchain shipping.

BeFaster Continues its climb as The BitcoinMan Comes on Board to Boost Global Adoption

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BeFaster has become a name synonymous with updates and developments in the cryptocurrency field. This sentiment arises from a belief held by the BeFaster team: do not stop until the virtual asset industry becomes indistinguishable from fiat. To ensure that the application continues on its upward trajectory, BeFaster has decided to bring on a highly influential cryptocurrency personality.

Just recently, BeFaster announced that Herbert Sim, more commonly known as ‘The Bitcoin Man’ had joined its fold as an investor and advisor. Mr.Sim will lend his expertise and help to the BeFaster team for its upcoming Maltese blockchain project. 

BeFaster is a fitness application that works on the Tron blockchain. What stands out for users the most is the ability for them to earn cryptocurrencies while they use the application and work out. The arrival of Bitcoin Man into the BeFaster ecosystem was appreciated on social media as many saw his penchant for the application. Mr. Sim became popular for his marketing skills in the cryptocurrency space as well as holding the post of Global Operations Director at Huobi. 

The Bitcoin Man praised BeFaster’s initiative to utilize blockchain technology and find a use case that benefits society. BeFaster’s tag-line reads “Be Fit. Be Fast. Get Paid”, three steps that do not sound complicated at all. The application’s ingenuity lies in the fact that users are able to draw the power of blockchain technology by using it like any other application out there.

Befaster

BeFaster connects users who are interested in sport and health with those who want to become one with BePartners. They can then divulge into the world of health & care, sport and wellness. 

The company’s officials make it clear that the mission with their project is to blur the line between crypto products and others. Maximilian Jurtz, the Chief Financial Officer [CFO] of BeFaster told Tron Weekly that they want to compete with fitness products across all industries and not just within the digital assets world.

The BeFaster team, which includes Irina Manilitsch, CEO and Frank Schulze, CTO were confident that Herbert Sim’s experience would ‘fuel’ the application to run faster. 

 The Bitcoin Man, on his part, said:

“This [BeFaster’s] unique ‘RUN for CASH’ system, couple with a passionate driven team of co-founders, will create a revolution across the world, especially with health enthusiasts, and to promote healthy living and lifestyle.The app’s use of blockchain technology is a great example for businesses to emulate – transparency, without compromising on privacy. And the digital currency use-case is also plentiful, to participation in public and private challenges, to e-Commerce, and even in-app games to be launched after.”

Herbert Sim will be tasked with handling the marketing aspects of the ongoing BeFaster private sale as well as its associated worldwide marketing. The BeFaster officials will be banking on Sim’s ability to target the required audience and bring them towards the product.

The BitcoinMan’s influence in the cryptocurrency field can also be connected to him establishing the Crypto Chain University [CCU]. The CCU is the world’s first repository that will benefit people who want to create blockchain or cryptocurrency research papers. 

BeFaster also has its own holder coin that will allow users to reap almost 50 percent of all profits. Anyone who has invested in the BeInvestor project will also be eligible to receive BeFasterHolderToken [BFCH]. The company has reiterated several times that since all processes occur on the blockchain, settlement times were drastically reduced.