Tag: Blockchain

Crimean Government Considers Creation of Blockchain Cluster and Crypto Fund

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Crimean authorities are considering creating a blockchain-cluster in the form of a cryptocurrency investment fund to attract tech businesses to the territory. The cluster would be located within the special economic zones (SEZ) in Crimea and its largest city Sevastopol, major state-operated Russian news agency TASS reported Nov. 9. Georgy Muradov, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea under the President of the Russian Federation, shared the Crimean government’s potential plans about the blockchain-cluster and crypto fund at a meeting of the program committee of the Yalta International Economic…

Commodities Firms Complete Blockchain Pilot for Black Sea Wheat

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Swiss-based Transoil International and Solaris Commodities have conducted a blockchain pilot transaction of Black Sea wheat, S&P Global reports Nov. 12. Both companies are involved in the trading of international agricultural commodities like milling wheat, vegetable oil and flour. The two firms completed the pilot using the blockchain-based agri-commodities trading and financing platform of Swiss startup Cerealia. Transoil and Solaris completed a sale for a 25,000 metric ton shipment of 11.5 percent protein Black Sea wheat on a FOB-loading port basis from the Russian port city of Novorossiysk. This is…

IMF Vows to Continue ‘Devoting Attention’ to Blockchain, Cryptocurrency in Fintech Drive

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it plans to use its ongoing research and experimentation with blockchain as an “anchor” for its future policy on the technology in comments Nov. 12. Speaking on a panel with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse during the Singapore Fintech Festival 2018, IMF Deputy General Counsel Ross Leckow highlighted three areas the organization has been “active” in regarding blockchain, cryptocurrency and more. “The IMF is devoting a lot of attention to fintech and in particular to blockchain,” he told the audience, continuing: “But we think that…

Raiffeisen Bank, Gazprom Partner to Issue Bank Guarantee on Blockchain

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The Russian subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International has partnered with local state-owned oil giant Gazprom Neft to issue a bank guarantee on blockchain, Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported Nov. 12. According to Kommersant, the bank guarantee was issued to conduct a trade finance transaction involving four parties, Raiffeisen, Gazprom Neft, Belarusian firm Mozyr Oil Refinery, Priorbank of Belarus. Raiffeisen acted as an advising bank for the Russian oil company, while Priorbank of Belarus, which is part of  Raiffeisen bank group, issued a bank guarantee for the deal via blockchain. The…

Chinese City in Hunan Province Launches Blockchain Platform for Real Estate Data

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The Chinese city of Loudi has launched a blockchain platform to store real estate data, the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, reports Nov. 13. The platform is backed by land, tax and real estate departments in the city, which is located in central Hunan province. Starting Nov. 15, the new system will let citizens avoid lines and other bureaucratic processes when submitting documents to the above-listed departments, the newspaper states. Also today, the first real estate electronic voucher was issued in the city via the new blockchain-based system.…

Amex Files Patent for Blockchain System to Match Images of Receipts With Stored Records

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Financial services giant American Express (Amex) has filed a patent for a blockchain-based system to capture and transmit the image of a receipt, according to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent filing published Nov. 13. The patent applicant is listed as American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc., the company’s travel subsidiary. The new filing, titled “Linking digital images with related records,” includes a new method for receiving, recording and transmitting the image of a receipt. The filing describes how the system lets a user with a mobile…

Major South Korean Hospital to Use Blockchain Tech for Medical Information Services

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One of the South Korea’s largest hospitals has partnered with a local tech company to develop a medical services platform based on blockchain technology, according to the hospital’s official press release Nov. 12. Myongji Hospital, located in the city of Goyang, South Korea, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean IT company BICube, which markets itself as a machine learning platform. The two parties plan to use blockchain technology to create a healthcare information exchange system. According to the hospital’s release, the aim of the project is to…

Major Oil Firms, Banks Partner to Launch Blockchain Platform for Energy Commodity Trading

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Major oil companies BP, Shell, and Equinor have united with large banks and trading houses to launch a blockchain-driven platform Vakt for energy commodity trading. The partnership was reported by independent news agency covering energy and commodities markets S&P Global Platts Monday, Nov. 12. Apart from the three oil companies mentioned above, Vakt includes banks ABN Amro, ING, and Societe Generale, along with trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria. The blockchain solution, first announced in November 2017, will enable major industry players to move from “cumbersome” paperwork…

IBM Looks to Disrupt Scientific Research on the Blockchain

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Twitter Facebook LinkedIn The use cases for distributed ledger technology are on the rise, as evidenced by IBM’s most recent patent application for open scientific research on the blockchain. The tech giant envisions a system in which a blockchain represents an experiment with individual blocks comprised of project components including research data, data analysis and results as well as post-data analysis and more all with block-linking capabilities to reflect the status of modifications. The patent, which was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at year-end 2017, comes on the…