#blockchain

Gartner gave blockchain a huge pat on its back when it included this technology in its Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017. But what about bitcoin? Who has its back? The answer is Vulcan Digital Asset Services, a joint effort by PwC, Libra, Bloq and Netki.

A few months ago, the World Economic Forum claimed in a report that blockchain can become the future of FinTech. After a plethora of banks decided to give blockchain a chance, it’s IT companies’ turn to become blockchain believers.

Who said one cannot mix blockchain with Ethereum? Mega-bank JP Morgan is developing a blockchain onto Ethereum which would enable it to make use of a publicly available system for private transactions. In short, Quorum is trying to bring together two imperfect concepts and solve the problems that prevent them from truly going mainstream.

The blockchain technology is the perfect recipe for disruption. If only the FinTechs and banks learned to play nice. A new report sheds some light on blockchain’s limitations and points out that this technology is not “a magic potion for everything.” Learn all about the obstacles that prevent the blockchain technology from being implemented across all industries.

September saw the launch of the Blockchain Alliance for Good (Bisgit.IoV) – a free membership organization aimed at boosting the usage of blockchain technology to generate good social and environmental solutions. The Alliance unites blockchain enthusiasts from around the world and provides them with a springboard for “good” innovations. We talked to Barbara Mellish, president of Blockchain Alliance for Good, about the future of blockchain, the industries where blockchain activity may flourish and the need to revolutionize this technology.

The discussion about blockchain’s adoption is gaining momentum, but where are we now? How far are we from seeing blockchain in all industries and how can we help speed up the process? We talked to Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director of the Hyperledger Project about all this and more.

Blockchain is one of the hottest topics in the world of FinTech, but can it become the engine of financial firms? The World Economic Forum says “yes”.

The Bitcoin economy has gone from an early prototype stage to a second one characterized by gambling and black markets and finally to a third stage which steers away from “sin” and toward legitimate enterprises. This is the conclusion of a research paper titled “The Evolution of the Bitcoin Economy: Extracting and Analyzing the Network of Payment Relationships.”

Blockchain in the field of finance is no news —but blockchain in healthcare is. This industry is in dire need of both optimization and boosted efficiency, and blockchain solutions may be the answer. If you have an idea how to put blockchain to good use in healthcare, you’re in luck: there’s a contest that rewards the best ideas.

Each Monday we take a step back and analyze what has happened in the previous week. Last week we witnessed the birth of AngularDart, the release of IntelliJ IDEA 2016.2.1 and the reassurance that Java maintains its dominant position over other JVM languages. We learned why blockchain may outgrow Bitcoin and we discovered that microservices may not become a default architecture.

The discussion about cryptocurrencies is nowhere near over, especially now that the Bitcoin halving has proved that the saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” may actually be true. Stephen DeMeulenaere, the co-founder of Coin Academy, the first digital currency education platform, signals that the future of cryptocurrencies is bright and that Bitcoin will continue to grow.

Each Monday we take a step back and analyze what has happened in the previous week. Last week Britain decided to part ways with the European Union, the Eclipse Foundation announced the Eclipse Neon release train and Java EE Guardians founder talked about the state of Java EE and the future of the group. Plus, we learned that NetBeans IDE 8.2 is now feature complete.

According to a recent article written by the International Monetary Fund’s Andreas Adriano and Hunter Monroe, blockchain “may end up helping” banks despite its original ‘no banks involved’ policy. We talked to Spiros Margaris, one of the top social influencers in FinTech, about the future of blockchain and Bitcoin and the former’s long-term benefits.

Each Monday we take a step back and analyze what has happened in the previous week. Last week Angular 2 made a cameo on our portal, Bitcoin’s blockchain steered away from its original purpose and we asked you if Java EE should be developed independently from Oracle.