April 30, 2020

This week in the landscape…The game has officially leveled up as China’s Blockchain Service Network (BSN), ChinaChain, has now launched globally. ChinaChain architected in part by Red Date Technology is said to be an internet of interoperable blockchains that includes Ethereum, Hyperledger, and EOS, which will connect 128 cities in China to seven countries. McDonald’s, with Starbucks and Subway, has been named apart of 19 retail firms & restaurants that will try out China’s Digital Yuan. Sony announced it has developed a new blockchain system for integrating data and service for the transportation & last-mile delivery industries. Dole plans to use blockchain food tracing in all divisions by 2025. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) launches digital advertising and media buying blockchain pilots. BLOCKDATA provides us a list of blockchain projects helping to fight against COVID-19. Decrypt reports that 70% of “Blockchain Island” firms have given up. AVA Labs launches a framework for the ‘Internet of Blockchains.’-and I speak with Founder/CEO Emin Gun Sirer about the launch, DeFi, and DApps. Plus the latest blockchain efforts from Target, General Mills; movements happening in venture capital with MetaClan & The LAO; we round out with a massive list of free events in the coming weeks, and a few surprises. Have a great week! Enjoy!

BONUS: I recently released the latest Q1 2020 edition of my Blockchain Landscape Map (included below for download) that provides an overview of the industry highlighting over 900 global companies, venture funds, and working groups. If this is the first version you’ve seen of the landscape, consider it your guiding roadmap to further navigate the industry. Get it here in Hi-Res for free!

🇨🇳 BSNs ChinaChain launches globally

Blockchain Services Network (BSN), aka ChinaChain, an internet of interoperable blockchains that includes Ethereum, Hyperledger, and EOS, will connect 128 cities in China to seven countries. It aspires to bring different blockchain platforms, including Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum, EOS, WeBank’s FISCO BCOS, Baidu’s Xuperchain, and ChainSQL together. It will be open to anyone who wants to tap into it, including small and medium-sized businesses. Just like internet hosting websites, BSN will host thousands of applications on its network. Not all protocols will be allowed on BSN until China’s encryption standards verify them…read more

🇨🇳 Meet Red Date, the Little-Known Tech Firm Behind China’s Big Blockchain Vision

Red Date Technology plays a critical role in the development of China’s Blockchain Services Network (BSN) as architects. According to Michael Sung, a professor at Fudan University’s Fanhai International School of Finance, three founding companies China Mobile, payments provider China Unionpay, and Red Date — have invested $28.5 million combined in BSN. They’ve also struck a deal to use two AWS data centers in China. BSN is designed to make it easy for companies and software developers to build applications on top of A.I., cloud computing big data, and DLT networks…read more

📖 Ethereum, Fabric, Corda, And Multichain. Only One Is Government Ready

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has co-published an assessment of how four blockchain platforms, i.e., Ethereum Hyperledger, Fabric, Corda, and Multichain measure up against the rigorous security requirements of the U.S. Federal Government. According to the report, these four platforms were evaluated against the NIST framework, and only R3 Corda was identified as meeting NIST standards and therefore being able to be implemented in federal government projects. As per FISMA guidelines, If the technology doesn’t meet NIST cryptographic standards, then the federal government cannot use the technology…read more

📖 Starbucks, McDonald’s could trial China’s central bank digital currency — report

McDonald’s, along with coffee giant Starbuck and Subway, have been named as one of the 19 retail firms and restaurants that will be first to try out China’s Digital Yuan in the new district of Xiong’An. The pilot project is considered to be the next step in China’s DCEP plan, and the PBoC as state-owned commercial banks have already begun developing digital wallet applications and designing the digital Yuan…read more

📖 Sony Bets on Blockchain to Reshape the Future of Public Transport

Sony announced it has successfully developed a new blockchain system for integrating data and service provision for trains, buses, taxis, car-sharing, and on-demand rental bicycles. The company’s Blockchain Common Database (BCBD) for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) can ostensibly process data from 7 million users per day and record, analyze and share their anonymized travel history and revenue allocation. Sony also mentioned its development of digital currency hardware wallet technology and the use of blockchain for digital content rights management, alongside other blockchain projects in the pipeline in the announcement…read more

📖 Dole Plans to Use Blockchain Food Tracing in All Divisions by 2025

Dole Food Company has revealed a five-year plan to expand its adoption of distributed ledger technology, or DLT, for supply chain tracking into all of its divisions by 2025. This will help the company in improving the speed at which it identifies trouble spots in the supply chain during recall of contaminated products…read more

📖 KFC Launches Blockchain Pilot for Digital Advertising and Media Buying

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has rolled out a blockchain pilot program across the Middle East aimed at improving digital advertising and media buying. KFC Middle East expects the blockchain-powered platform to ensure greater transparency in the advertising supply chain, news publication AMEinfo reported on April 29. By deploying the platform, the company also looks to address issues like security and privacy of advertisers, publishers, and consumers…read more

📖 How Blockchain Projects Are Helping In The Fight Against COVID-19

There are groups of blockchain projects that are coming together to fight the battle against COVID-19 and bring back ‘normalcy’ to our world. The different projects are like MiPasa blockchain consortium launched to track COVID and identifying hotspots; COVID-19 Credentials Initiative (CCI) to verify the citizens with blockchain-powered ‘Immunity Passes’; Stanford University’s Folding@home distributed computing project to pool GPU power to search for a COVID-19 cure, and many other projects…read more and more by BLOCKDATA

More For Your Week:

📈 70% of “Blockchain Island” firms have given up from Decrypt

📈 🚀The LAO Launches 🚀 by The LAO

📈 Target, General Mills Getting Look In At Hedera Blockchain Technology Through Couponing — Hedera Hashgraph

📖 Private Securities Trading Joins the Digital Age With Blockchain

💸 Arab Bank Switzerland leads $11M Series A for crypto infrastructure startup Taurus Group

💸 MetaClan Rises! — MetaClan

💸 Time for LPs and VCs to wake up to Crypto — by Camron Miraftab

📖 World Economic Forum Looks to Blockchain to Restart Global Economy

📖 DeFi Is Exposing Inadequacies of Cold Storage, Says Crypto Custodian

📖 BitPay broadens crypto payment options with Binance stablecoin

📖 WeBank Ranks Third in Blockchain Patent Filings For 2019

DApps (Decentralized Apps) Watch

📖 AVA Labs Launches Framework for ‘Internet of Blockchains’

The AVA blockchain protocol has reportedly introduced the framework for a public testnet, mainly referred to as “the internet of blockchains. The key feature of the framework is “empty framework,” allowing interoperability between AVA and any blockchain networks. The main motto is to create an open ecosystem where things of value can be currencies, can be assets, can be gold, can be whatever it may be, are created and shared, and moved around freely.…read more

📖 Vitalik Calls for Trustless Bridges between ETH and other Crypto

Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has visioned for putting resources towards a decentralized exchange system between ethereum & Bitcoin and between Ethereum & other blockchains so that the movement between the two largest crypto ecosystems can be trustworthy. However, there are several solutions under the radar projects like hybrix, which is expected to bridge the blockchain’s gaps differently…read more

Related: 📖 Blockchain Applications Landscape — by Tal Elyashiv of SPiCE VC

📖How to Create NFTs with IPFS and Digital Art — by Connie Digital

📖 Decentralized Storage for Files, Websites, and More: LiquidStorage Walkthrough — by LiquidApps

🎟️ Upcoming Events

As many are working from home, we’ve seen a rise in virtual summits and conferences sharing more insights from global leaders than ever before. Many of these go in-depth in almost real-time with current industry movements — and they’re free! Here are a few to check out in the coming month.

📅 Investments in the New Reality — May 1st, hosted by LATOKEN

📅 Global Unconference Round 1— May 1st hosted by Michael Healy

📅 DeFi Discussions: Virtual Summit — May 1st & 2nd hosted by Dystopia Labs

📅 Ready Layer One — May 4–6th hosted by Cosmos, Near Protocol, Polkadot, Protocol Labs, Tezos, Celo, and Solana

📅 Future of Work Hackathon— May 8–10th hosted by YGC Data

📅 Consensus: Distributed — May 11–15th hosted by CoinDesk

📅 Global Unconference Round 2 — May 15th hosted by Michael Healy

📅 Reimagine 2020 — May 18th-20th, hosted by MouseBelt Labs & BLOCKTV

📅 State of Decentralized Apps (DApps) Q2 2020 — May 28th

🎙️ State of the Blockchain Industry Q1 2020:

Available now, download your hi-res copy of the Q1 2020 edition of the Blockchain Landscape Map. This is now the fifth edition of the landscape I’ve released and includes 747 companies (900+ total unique companies including broader key Ecosystem players) and more than $22 bn in funding raised across the landscape from 2010–2020 — over $18 bn invested since 2017! — Noticeable cycles emerging and full breakdown available.

A full 60 min video overview of the landscape is now available here and free for all. In the video, I breakdown the 2020 landscape, provide a summary of 2019, emerging trends for 2020, DeFi, Libra, CDBCs, Stablecoins, DApps, and more!

Blockchain Infrastructure Landscape Map - Q1 2020 Edition by Kyle Ellicott & Topio Networks

👉 Download the NEW Blockchain for Infrastructure Landscape Q1 2020 edition for insights on DeFi, DApps, Infrastructure, Digital Currencies, and more!

Don’t want to wait until next week, Subscribe Now 📥 for real-time industry insights around Blockchain, DApps, and more!

Author’s Note: Article originally published on Medium