03/09/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere

1. China and US Leading Countries In Terms Of Blockchain Patent Submissions

The intellectual property media outlet iPR Daily has published a research report outlining how China and the US are leading drivers behind blockchain applications development. Chinese Alibaba ranked first with 90 blockchain patent applications. It was followed by IBM, which has 89 applications instead. Mastercard and Bank of America were third and fourth with respectively 80 and 53 patent applications. People’s Bank of China (PBoC) was fifth thanks to the 44 patent applications it submitted to create a central bank digital currency. PBoC’s presence in the list shows how it is one of the few central banks showing a strong interest in blockchain technology. In order to create the list, iPR Daily gathered information from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s International Patent System as well as the patent databases of several countries. To be specific, “China, the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea”.

2. Japan, Latest Country To Develop Blockchain Voting System

In the past, we reported on multiple occasions on countries working on a blockchain voting system. For example, West Virginia, the first US state. Japan is now the latest country to do so. Ibaraki Prefecture’s Tsukuba is working on a blockchain-backed online voting system ‘based on a My Number identification system’. The renowned scientific research centre is the first one in the country to integrate blockchain technology to voting. This will avoid the voting data being viewed or altered. Voters will cast the ballot on a computer once they’ve been identified by scanning their My Number card on a card reader. Mayor Tatsuo Igarashi described the process as easier than expected. So far the new system has been used for social contribution projects proposals. Furthermore, Tohoku University Prof. Kazunori Kawamura commented that the system needs to first build a reputation by testing with expatriates. Then, it could go mainstream.

3. Microsoft Is Connecting Blockchain To Its Products

Microsoft’s cloud computing service Microsoft Azure previously brought blockchain to cloud, and now, it is integrating the technology into its range of products. The tech giant has been building networks to connect the two. General Manager Matt Kerner listed ‘Sharepoint Online, Salesforce, Office 365 Outlook, Dynamics 365 Online, SAP and Twitter’ as examples. Data is transferred from the products to these platforms, and then from the platforms to the blockchain. One of the main benefits for Microsoft is the amount of data being collected from different sources through a standardised system. Oil was once considered the most valuable resource in the world. However, data now owns the title. This might explain the growing need for an efficient method to collect it. Kerner concluded that blockchain is providing “a single system with a single view on the data that all of the participants can rely upon and trust.”

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