cross pond high tech
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Consensus Décentralisé - Blockchains - Smart Contracts - Decentralized Consensus

Consensus Décentralisé - Blockchains - Smart Contracts - Decentralized Consensus | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

I have decided to offload "Cross Pond High Tech" that may have been perceived recently as being crowded with too many Bitcoin / Blockchain curated links, and have created a new topic dedicated to Decentralized Consensus. It will be both in French and English and is at present managed by several curators including @CHECy and others.

The goal is to build it as a reference repository for e-Litterature on this fast morphing and still highly speculative topic.

-- Fork de Cross Pond High Tech dédié à Blockchain, Ethereum, aux Smart Contracts et au Consensus Décentralisé en général

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

You are welcome to susbcribe to this fork of "Cross Pond High Tech" focusing on Decentralized Consensus ; don't hesitate to submit enlightning and quality content. Thank you for your interest and future contributions !

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Ethereum studio ConsenSys launches 'Internet-of-People' with digital IDs and assets secured on Unbuntu phones

Ethereum studio ConsenSys launches 'Internet-of-People' with digital IDs and assets secured on Unbuntu phones | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

New York City's decentralised apps studio ConsenSys is beginning its "Internet-of-People" campaign with Ethereum-based identity on Ubuntu phones and tablets.

ConsenSys and BlockApps are collaborating with the Ubuntu project's commercial sponsor, Canonical, to deliver web wallet and identity system uPort Biometric Identity tools on Ubuntu devices.

The Nimbus/uPort/Ubuntu proof-of-concept will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress on 22 February, said ConsenSys in a statement.

Nimbus permits users secure interaction with the Ethereum blockchain through biometric protection of cryptographic keys. Through this feature, users will be able to access Ethereum to use decentralised applications (DApps) and develop Ethereum blockchain software.

uPort

uPort represents the next generation of identity systems: the first identity system to enable self-sovereign identity, allowing the user to be in complete control of their identity and personal information, said ConsenSys.

The uPort attestation system allows third-party authorities as well as peers to validate the user's information creating both a rich social fabric as well as powering solid KYC/AML systems in the financial sector. Through uPort's selective disclosure system the user has a total overview over which of their peers, business partners or counterparties can access their information.

Ubuntu

The Ubuntu phone allows total control over the information users distribute online including digital identity. Ubuntu phones and tablets are ideal prototyping tools for building the next generation of mobile blockchain apps as they offer a combined development environment and a testing tool for mobile apps.

As well as inheriting from Ubuntu's security and respect for user's confidentiality, these devices build on strong relation created on the server and cloud side between Ubuntu and Ethereum.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Another move in the Etherealm reminding us how intense the race in decentralized consensus has become, and how critical digital identity management will be to successful deployments.

By the way the social part in uPort is a brilliant ID...

Philippe J DEWOST's curator insight, February 16, 2016 8:45 AM

Another move in the Etherealm reminding us how intense the race in decentralized consensus has become, and how critical digital identity management will be to successful deployments.

By the way the social part in uPort is a brilliant ID...

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FCA's Makoto Seta: 'Blockchains will transform the way regulators work'

FCA's Makoto Seta: 'Blockchains will transform the way regulators work' | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

Blockchain technology will transform the way regulators work, according to a member of the wholesale markets team at the Financial Conduct Authority, which is known to support the idea of "RegTech".

Makoto Seta, a senior associate from the trading conduct and settlement policy division at the FCA, was part of a panel hosted by Norton Rose Fulbright at its Unlocking the Blockchain session.


Seta said: "Might the blockchain transform the way the regulators work? I absolutely agree with that. I think there are a lot of benefits to be harnessed from distributed ledger, in terms of traceability and tracking, that makes it easier for us.

"I think regulators do now perceive this to be important; the degree of importance will probably differ between regulators. We look very seriously at it and have been doing that for some time now, looking at the technology and how it's been used. I think the issue that we have is, trying to sort of marry up the technical codes and how that interacts with the legal codes."

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

A very novative (and inspiring) approach by the FCA combining how regulation applies to #Blockchain tech AND how such decentralized consensus could also apply to making regulation more effective.

Dao Cong Binh's curator insight, January 31, 2016 3:39 AM

Cầu nâng, máy năn khung càng AT09, máy súc rửa kim phun,  MÁY VỆ SINH BUỒNG ĐỐT

Philippe J DEWOST's curator insight, February 16, 2016 9:08 AM

A very novative (and inspiring) approach by the FCA combining how regulation applies to #Blockchain tech AND how such decentralized consensus could also apply to making regulation more effective.

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Blockchain : l’initiative de la CDC positionne la France en aiguillon sur le Vieux Continent.

Blockchain : l’initiative de la CDC positionne la France en aiguillon sur le Vieux Continent. | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it
Gonzague Grandval, vous êtes co-fondateur de la plate-forme  Paymium et membre de l’initiative de place sur la blockchain  : les  conditions sont-elles réunies pour que la France devienne une figure de proue de  la technologie bitcoin ?

Il faut du temps pour que les innovations percolent au  sein des grands groupes. Nous arrivons en France à un point où l’écosystème se  met en place, avec des laboratoires dédiés à la technologie « blockchain » dans  les banques, des start-up qui émergent et de  nombreuses initiatives privées. La France est certes en retard par rapport aux  Etats-Unis, mais l’initiative de place pilotée par la Caisse des Dépôts va dans  le bon sens. Cette démarche, qui consiste à réunir de grands acteurs  institutionnels pour réfléchir à ce que la technologie libre et ouverte « blockchain » peut apporter au secteur financier dans son entier, est d’autant  plus constructive qu’elle prévoit d’organiser par la même occasion une montée en  compétence technique et fonctionnelle collective de ses participants. Elle  positionne ainsi notre pays en aiguillon sur le Vieux Continent et notre souhait  est qu’elle puisse prendre à moyen terme une dimension européenne, voire qu’elle  s’élargisse à d’autres activités que la finance.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Paymium est un des partenaires technologiques de l'initiative de place lancée aujourd'hui par la @CaisseDesDepots avec 11 partenaires sur #Blockchain

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L'Agenda de l'édition Val d'Isère 2016 des Napoleons dévoilé - Innovative Communications Summit

L'Agenda de l'édition Val d'Isère 2016 des Napoleons dévoilé - Innovative Communications Summit | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

La troisième édition des Napoleons se tiendra sous le parrainage exceptionnel de Stéphane Richard.

Le Pdg d'Orange ouvrira cette nouvelle édition consacrée au Temps.
Il fera partager sa vision sur cette notion fondamentale, aujourd'hui transformée par l'impact des nouvelles technologies.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

J'ai la chance et l'honneur d'être (ré)invité cette année et y animerai deux sessions : "Fast & Furious" le 14 Janvier (avec Yann Lechelle de Snips déjà confirmé) et "Show me the Money" le 15 sur Blockchain.

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Microsoft Partners With ConsenSys To Use Ethereum To Provide Blockchain-As-A-Service

Microsoft Partners With ConsenSys To Use Ethereum To Provide Blockchain-As-A-Service | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

The Ethereum project and ConsenSys, the company created by one of the project’s co-creators, have received a huge vote of approval from one of the world’s biggest enterprise software providers — Microsoft. The company will be working with ConsenSys to provide development tools for Microsoft’s enterprise customers on the Azure platform.

 

Focusing on financial services we saw a lot of potential for a framework and platform like Ethereum to go across the platform of financial institutions and modernize a lot of processes that were stuck in the past,” says Marley Gray, Director of Technology Strategy, US Financial Services at Microsoft. “We thought that Ethereum was a really good platform for building distributed ledger applications.”

 

Unlike bitcoin-based blockchain applications (and companies like Chain that are developing projects on top of bitcoin) Ethereum uses a different token called the Ether.

 

“Bitcoin offers one functionality which is the monetary functionality. Because it’s a very narrow protocol… it’s difficult to build arbitrarily difficult functionality into the program,” says Joseph Lubin, the founder of ConsenSys, and a major supporter of the Ethereum Foundation.

With Ethereum, there’s a complete computational machine running within every node of the network, Lubin says.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Fragmentation or evolution ? Microsoft's move is interesting anyway and confirms the advent of decentralized consensus as a generic and scalable disruption factor.

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Union Square Ventures founder, Fred Wilson, writes that blockchain technology will produce the next Google and Facebook - New York Business Journal

Union Square Ventures founder, Fred Wilson, writes that blockchain technology will produce the next Google and Facebook - New York Business Journal | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

Fred Wilson says blockchain technology will create the next Google or Facebook. But in the end, the disruption could be to our entire economic system.


He wonders in not-so vague terms if the blockchain technology which underlies bitcoin, might actually mean an end to “network effects” that let bigger companies create better value for their customers, and more.


“Lately, we’ve been wondering if there is an end to this pattern on the Internet and mobile,” wrote Wilson, who in addition to being an investor in bitcoin exchange Coinbase, was an early investor in Twitter and Tumblr.


“We think it is possible that an open-data platform, in which users ultimately control their data and the networks they choose to participate in, could be the thing that undoes this pattern of winner takes most,” he writes.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

This #blockchain story is definitely unfolding and getting more and more interesting. Meanwhile in Europe...

Infinity Local's curator insight, October 28, 2015 9:56 AM

He has a very interesting ambition. Let's see and wait.

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Qui gère le bitcoin ?

Qui gère le bitcoin ? | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

Une question revient souvent dans les débats sur le bitcoin : « quelle est l’autorité centrale qui le gère ? » La réponse, connue même si elle n’est pas toujours bien comprise, est : « il n’y en a pas, c’est un réseau pair à pair décentralisé et les règles de gestion sont inscrites dans le code ».

Pour beaucoup, cette réponse ne fait que déplacer le problème : « quelle est alors l’autorité centrale qui gère le code ? » demandent-ils. La réponse à cette deuxième question est beaucoup moins connue : « Il n’y en a pas non plus, les règles d’évolution du code sont elles aussi inscrites dans le code ».

L’explication nécessite un assez long détour par la technique, notamment par le protocole de construction de la « blockchain », qui est très mal connu bien qu’il forme le véritable cœur du système. Pour beaucoup, cette opération se résume à la constitution des « blocs » de transactions, alors que la phase suivante d’assemblage des blocs, qui est encore plus vitale pour la sécurité du système, est largement ignorée. Comme si on réduisait la construction de la Tour Eiffel à la fabrication de ses éléments dans les ateliers de Levallois, en ignorant son montage sur le Champ de Mars. C’est donc à cette deuxième phase que le présent article est consacré.

 


Via CHECy
Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Excellent "papier" en français permettant de rendre accessibles les mystères du consensus décentralisé et de la Blockchain.

CHECy's curator insight, September 17, 2015 6:22 AM

A cette question simple, la réponse est encore plus simple : personne ! Enfin, pas complètement... Et c'est là que ça se complique. Le processus est quand même très contre-intuitif. Merci à Jacques Favier qui nous a suggéré cet article, particulièrement bien aligné sur la thématique du consensus décentralisé, fil rouge de la session 2015/2016 du CHECy.

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The Value of Blockchain Technology according to an Ethereum founder

The Value of Blockchain Technology according to an Ethereum founder | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

One of the questions that has perhaps been central to my own research in blockchain technology is: ultimately, what is it even useful for? Why do we need blockchains for anything, what kinds of services should be run on blockchain-like architectures, and why specifically should services be run on blockchains instead of just living on …

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Brilliant essay by Vitalik Buterin, one of Ethereum founding members, about what Blockchain is / is not (for).

And his very interesting and generic definition of what a blockchain is:

A blockchain is a magic computer that anyone can upload programs to and leave the programs to self-execute, where the current and all previous states of every program are always publicly visible, and which carries a very strong cryptoeconomically secured guarantee that programs running on the chain will continue to execute in exactly the way that the blockchain protocol specifies.

Notice that this definition does NOT:

- Use financially-charged terms like “ledger”, “money” or “transactions”, or indeed any terms geared toward a particular use case

- Mention any particular consensus algorithm, or indeed mention anything about the technical properties of how a blockchain works (except for the fact that it’s “cryptoeconomic”, a technical term roughly meaning “it’s decentralized, it uses public key cryptography for authentication, and it uses economic incentives to ensure that it keeps going and doesn’t go back in time or incur any other glitch”)

- Make a restriction to any particular type of state transition function

 

I do strongly recommend to anybody interested or curious in this field to take the time to (re)read this post in extenso...

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IBM "Device democracy" links IoT to blockchain in a very promising way

IBM "Device democracy" links IoT to blockchain in a very promising way | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

In the emerging device-driven democracy, power in the IoT will shift from the center to the edge.

As devices compete and trade in real-time, they will create liquid markets out of the physical world.

In the IoT of hundreds of billions of devices, connectivity and intelligence will be a means to better products and experiences, not an end.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

"Device Democracy" is one of the most enlighting yet comprehensive paper about computing power shifting to the edge and blockchain like protocol's role in enabling the Internet of Things

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Technical Roadblock Might Shatter Bitcoin Dreams

Technical Roadblock Might Shatter Bitcoin Dreams | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

A Cornell University study of the system that powers Bitcoin concludes that it cannot become widely used without a major redesign: "The researchers estimate that Bitcoin’s current design could bear at most only about 27 transactions per second, using a block size of four megabytes, without forcing a significant cut in the number of computers powering the currency, making it more centralized. There is general agreement in the Bitcoin community that the system must remain decentralized to prevent the possibility of any company or government controlling the currency.“That’s still a fairly limited throughput,” says Emin Gün Sirer, an associate professor at Cornell who worked on the study. “If you compare it to what a big network like Visa is capable of [or] these imagined futures where computers are paying each other, it’s nowhere in the same vicinity.”Some people believe that Bitcoin can be useful without operating at vast scale, for example functioning as a gold-like asset generally held for long periods. But some of the biggest Bitcoin companies are built on the idea that Bitcoin will come to support a very large transaction volume.Brian Armstrong, CEO and cofounder of Coinbase, which helps people buy, sell, and use Bitcoins and has raised over $100 million, says he believes the currency will become widely used as a means of payment, particularly in the developing world.A company called 21 Inc has raised $121 million from investors, including the networking company Cisco, and says that very small “microtransactions” paid in Bitcoin will become an economic backbone used by people and companies to pay for services and goods such as Wi-Fi, data analysis, or music.Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, which supports three leading developers of Bitcoin’s code, says that he believes the people working on the currency will be able to find ways it can scale up. But it may not be possible to upgrade Bitcoin’s capacity fast enough to meet the expectations of some investors and the Bitcoin companies they have backed, he says. “I think there are some businesses that have promised returns based on the scaling that are not really reasonable,” says Ito. Ito is a member of MIT Technology Review’s board."

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

7 transactions/s means 220 million per year. Pushing the envelope to the theoretically mentioned 27 transactions/s would allow to reach over 850 million per year. Which, as pointed by @smetsjp , won't be enough to handle the needs for the Chinese or the European population.

Has anybody found a theoretical limit to the Blockchain TPS capabilities as a single distributed transactional system/space ?

Philippe J DEWOST's curator insight, February 16, 2016 9:04 AM
Very interesting article that should urge us to explore together instead of stating any definite truth about Bitcoin and Blockchain. Please read before reacting...
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Blockstream Raises $55 Million to Build Out Bitcoin’s Blockchain

Blockstream Raises $55 Million to Build Out Bitcoin’s Blockchain | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it
Blockstream has raised $55m in Series A funding to continue its work expanding the bitcoin code base for commercial use.

With the news, Blockstream's total funding rises to $76m over two investment rounds. To date, the company's signature technology has been its sidechains offering, currently in testing, which enables the creation of blockchains that can validate data from, and transfer assets to, other blockchains.

Blockstream’s round was led by venture capital firms AXA Strategic Ventures, the venture capital arm of French multinational insurance firm AXA Group; Digital Garage, the Tokyo-based online payments firm co-founded by Joi Ito; and Hong Kong venture capital firm Horizons Ventures.

AME Cloud Ventures, Blockchain Capital and Future\Perfect Ventures were among other investment firms that participated in the deal.

Given the recent interest in private and permissioned blockchains, Blockstream sought to underscore the versatility of its technology as well as its early efforts to bring added functionality to the bitcoin network through interoperable blockchains.

Blockstream CEO Austin Hill told CoinDesk:

"We were one of the first companies that painted a vision for interoperable blockchains, that there wasn’t going to be one blockchain, but many of them, all building off the bitcoin codebase to deliver the technology."

Still, Hill said the company remains dedicated to developing technology for the open-source bitcoin blockchain, which it called the "most mature, well-tested and secure" infrastructure for blockchain services.

"What we would hate to see happen is the most robust and secure blockchain protocol getting left by the wayside if people moved on to different protocols and tech stacks that bitcoin isn’t designed for," Hill continued, adding:

"We believe there is a benefit to society to have all these blockchains be interoperable."
Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Interesting as :

1/ Money continues to flow towards decentralized consensus companies (disclosure : AXA is one of CDC Blockchain Initiative member)

2/ Corporates intensify their presence in either projects or investments

3/ The debate between the Bitcoin Blockchain and other Blockchains is far for being closed despite what consultants or half journalist try to explain

So in-between, let's experiment further ! And together.

Philippe J DEWOST's curator insight, February 16, 2016 9:05 AM

Interesting as :

1/ Money continues to flow towards decentralized consensus companies (disclosure : AXA is one of CDC Blockchain Initiative member)

2/ Corporates intensify their presence in either projects or investments

3/ The debate between the Bitcoin Blockchain and other Blockchains is far for being closed despite what consultants or half journalist try to explain

So in-between, let's experiment further ! And together.

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Linux Foundation Unites Industry Leaders to Advance Blockchain Technology

Linux Foundation Unites Industry Leaders to Advance Blockchain Technology | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced a new collaborative effort to advance the popular blockchain technology. The project will develop an enterprise grade, open source distributed ledger framework and free developers to focus on building robust, industry-specific applications, platforms and hardware systems to support business transactions.

Early commitments to this work come from Accenture, ANZ Bank, Cisco, CLS, Credits, Deutsche Börse, Digital Asset Holdings, DTCC, Fujitsu Limited, IC3, IBM, Intel, J.P. Morgan, London Stock Exchange Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), R3, State Street, SWIFT, VMware and Wells Fargo.

Many of the founding members are already investing considerable research and development efforts exploring blockchain applications for industry. IBM intends to contribute tens of thousands of lines of its existing codebase and its corresponding intellectual property to this open source community. Digital Asset is contributing the Hyperledger mark, which will be used as the project name, as well as enterprise grade code and developer resources. R3 is contributing a new financial transaction architectural framework designed to specifically meet the requirements of its global bank members and other financial institutions. These technical contributions, among others from a variety of companies, will be reviewed in detail in the weeks ahead by the formation and Technical Steering Committees. 

Blockchain is a digital technology for recording and verifying transactions. The distributed ledger is a permanent, secure tool that makes it easier to create cost-efficient business networks without requiring a centralized point of control. With distributed ledgers, virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded. The application of this emerging technology is showing great promise in the enterprise. For example, it allows securities to be settled in minutes instead of days. It can be used to help companies manage the flow of goods and related payments or enable manufacturers to share production logs with OEMs and regulators to reduce product recalls.


Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Perfect timing + code wins argument

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La CDC réunit la finance française pour plancher sur la technologie « blockchain »

La CDC réunit la finance française pour plancher sur la technologie « blockchain » | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it
L’institution publique a  rassemblé 11 partenaires pour créer un groupe de travail de place sur la  technologie derrière le Bitcoin.

Vous avez dit «  blockchain  » ? Cette technologie ouverte et libre, qui  permet aujourd’hui la circulation de monnaies cryptées comme le Bitcoin, est loin d’avoir livrée  tous ses secrets. Mais elle suscite un engouement inédit dans le secteur  financier qui y voit le moyen de repenser complètement la manière dont il gère  et authentifie les transactions. Surtout visible outre-Atlantique, cet intérêt  se matérialise désormais aussi en France. Ce mercredi, ce sont des banques (BNP  Paribas, le groupe BPCE, le Crédit Agricole), des assureurs (CNP Assurances et  AXA), le Pôle de compétitivité « finance innovation », l’association Croissance  Plus, le conservatoire national des arts et métiers et plusieurs start-up spécialisées dans  cette technologie (Blockchain Solutions, Cellabz, Paymium) qui se sont  rassemblés sous l’égide de la Caisse des Dépôts pour lancer un groupe de travail  de place sur le sujet.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Fier d'avoir pu contribuer à cette initiative de place et enchanté de la mobilisation qu'elle suscite et va continuer de susciter !

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The Trust Machine : The Technology Behind Bitcoin Could Transform How The Economy Works by @theeconomist

The Trust Machine : The Technology Behind Bitcoin Could Transform How The Economy Works by @theeconomist | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

BITCOIN has a bad reputation. The decentralised digital cryptocurrency, powered by a vast computer network, is notorious for the wild fluctuations in its value, the zeal of its supporters and its degenerate uses, such as extortion, buying drugs and hiring hitmen in the online bazaars of the “dark net”. This is unfair. The value of a bitcoin has been pretty stable, at around $250, for most of this year. Among regulators and financial institutions, scepticism has given way to enthusiasm (the European Union recently recognised it as a currency). But most unfair of all is that bitcoin’s shady image causes people to overlook the extraordinary potential of the “blockchain”, the technology that underpins it. This innovation carries a significance stretching far beyond cryptocurrency. The blockchain lets people who have no particular confidence in each other collaborate without having to go through a neutral central authority. Simply put, it is a machine for creating trust.
To understand the power of blockchain systems, and the things they can do, it is important to distinguish between three things that are commonly muddled up, namely the bitcoin currency, the specific blockchain that underpins it and the idea of blockchains in general. A helpful analogy is with Napster, the pioneering but illegal “peer-to-peer” file-sharing service that went on line in 1999, providing free access to millions of music tracks. Napster itself was swiftly shut down, but it inspired a host of other peer-to-peer services. Many of these were also used for pirating music and films. Yet despite its dubious origins, peer-to-peer technology found legitimate uses, powering internet startups such as Skype (for telephony) and Spotify (for music streaming)—and also, as it happens, bitcoin.

The blockchain is an even more potent technology. In essence it is a shared, trusted, public ledger that everyone can inspect, but which no single user controls. The participants in a blockchain system collectively keep the ledger up to date: it can be amended only according to strict rules and by general agreement. Bitcoin’s blockchain ledger prevents double-spending and keeps track of transactions continuously. It is what makes possible a currency without a central bank.

 

Blockchains are also the latest example of the unexpected fruits of cryptography. Mathematical scrambling is used to boil down an original piece of information into a code, known as a hash. Any attempt to tamper with any part of the blockchain is apparent immediately—because the new hash will not match the old ones. In this way a science that keeps information secret (vital for encrypting messages and online shopping and banking) is, paradoxically, also a tool for open dealing. Bitcoin itself may never be more than a curiosity. However blockchains have a host of other uses because they meet the need for a trustworthy record, something vital for transactions of every sort. Dozens of startups now hope to capitalise on the blockchain technology, either by doing clever things with the bitcoin blockchain or by creating new blockchains of their own (see article).

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

There has been a frenzy of articles on Bitcoin/Blockchain recently and The Economist closes the week with a very clear "paper" on this (again) hot-trending topic.

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From Competition to Cooperation by Primavera De Filippi @ TEDxCambridge

The animal kingdom contains numerous examples of individuals cooperating with one another to achieve impressive outcomes without the need for planning, control, or even direct communication between agents – examples are bees, ants, and schools of fish. Humans, however, have only been able to achieve goals cooperatively through the imposition of organizational hierarchies, centralized coordination, and rules.

 

Blockchain technologies offer a new approach, allowing us to achieve large-scale and systematic cooperation in an entirely distributed and decentralized manner. The application of this technology, however, has mostly focused on transaction-driven financial models like Bitcoin, but the Blockchain’s ability to transact and cooperate on a peer-to-peer basis, without relying on any centralized authority or middlemen, has many other applications. The Blockchain offers a new governance model with implications well beyond financial markets.

Primavera De Filippi is a permanent researcher at the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris. She is currently a research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, where she’s investigating the concept of governance-by-design as it relates to distributed online architectures. Most of her research focuses on the legal challenges raised, and faced by emergent decentralized technologies – such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and other blockchain-based applications – and how these technologies could be used to design new governance models capable of supporting large-scale decentralized collaboration and more participatory decision-making.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Must see enjoyable and remarkable TEDx talk with a nice approach to the blockchain topic.

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The Blockchain Might Be The Next Disruptive Technology

The Blockchain Might Be The Next Disruptive Technology | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

To process a transaction, you need first to make sure the sender owns the asset he wants to transfer, and make sure he will not trade it twice.


In the blockchain, information is stored in blocks that record all transactions ever done through the network. Hence, it allows validating both the existence of assets to be traded and ownership.


To avoid double spending, the technology requests several nodes to agree on a transaction to process it. A validation is also artificially difficult to achieve: miners leverage computer power to solve complex cryptographic problems (the proof-of-work). Every time a problem is cracked, a block is added to the chain, and all the transactions it includes are thus validated. The updated chain, including the new block, is shared with other nodes and becomes the new reference; this process leverages cryptography to prevent duplicate transactions.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Very clear summary of Blockchain's principles, potential and pitfalls as seen by a financial institution's strategic venture arm. Must read if you are allergic to tech.

Philippe J DEWOST's curator insight, October 4, 2015 1:33 PM

Very clear summary of Blockchain's principles, potential and pitfalls as seen by a financial institution's strategic venture arm. Must read if you are allergic to tech.

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Richard Branson to Host Blockchain Summit on (his) Necker Island

Richard Branson to Host Blockchain Summit on (his) Necker Island | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson is set to bring "the greatest minds in cryptocurrency" together to discuss bitcoin and the blockchain on his personal private island this May.

Taking place on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands from the 25th to 28th, Branson's event will feature discussions moderated by Hernando De Soto, president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Wall Street Journal senior columnist Michael J Casey and Matthew Bishop, US business editor for The Economist.

Branson has been enthusiastic in his praise for the bitcoin, having previously invested in payment processor BitPay and accepted the digital currency for his space travel enterprise Virgin Galactic.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Looks like Sir @RichardBranson focus is more on blockchain than on bitcoin. Will invitations extend to Ethereum ?

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Adept is IBM’s proposal for an IoT combining BitTorrent, Blockchain, and a secure messaging protocol called Telehash

Adept is IBM’s proposal for an IoT combining BitTorrent, Blockchain, and a secure messaging protocol called Telehash | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

Paul Brody, the head of mobile and internet with IBM, is proposing a system called Adept, which will use three distinct technologies to solve what he sees as both technical and economic issues for the internet of things. The Adept platform is not an official IBM product, but was created by researchers at IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV). Adept will be released on Github as open-source software. The platform consists of three parts:

1/ Blockchain: As mentioned above, block chain is the distributed transaction processing engine that keeps track of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. The beauty of block chain is that it can be used for many purposes. Basically it’s a technology that allows data to be stored in a variety of different places while tracking the relationship between different parties to that data. So when it comes to the internet of things, Brody envisions it as a way for devices to understand what other devices do and the instructions and permissions different users have around these devices.In practice this can mean tracking relationships between devices, between a user and a device and even between two devices with the consent of a user. This means your smartphone could securely communicate with your door lock or that you could approve someone else to communicate with the door lock. Those relationships would be stored on the locks, your phones and come together as needed to ensure the right people had access to your home without having to go back to the cloud.

2/ Telehash: It’s one thing for devices to use block chain to understand contracts and capabilities, but they also need to communicate it, which is why Adept is using Telehash, a private messaging protocol that was built using JSON to share distributed information. It’s creator Jeremie Miller says at its simplest telehash is a “very simple and secure end-to-end encryption library that any application can build on, with the whole point being that an “end” can be a device, browser, or mobile app.” He added, “Perhaps, you can think of it as a combination of SSL+PGP that is designed for devices and apps to connect with each other and create a secure private mesh?” A new version of the software is expected soon.

3/ BitTorrent: And finally, to move all this data around, especially because not everything has a robust connection to each other — especially if they are using a low data rate connection like Bluetooth or Zigbee, Adept uses file sharing protocol BitTorrent to move data around keeping with the decentralized ethos of Adept.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

Detailing IBM's "Device Democracy" position paper, IBM's Adept system looks quite similar to / inspired from Ethereum while clearly evidencing blockchain as a generic piece of infrastructure. Comments in the post are equally worth a read.

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