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Blockchain Journal Articles

If you want to scroll through ALL of Blockchain Journal’s article content, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s where we list everything we publish with the exception of our glossary entries which, as you might have guessed, are over in the glossary. We have a variety of article types that we publish on Blockchain Journal and you should be able to easily spot which articles are of which type as you scan this list. Our articles fall into one of six story types: news, primers, analyses (opinion pieces), interviews, tutorials, and enterprise blockchain adoption just to name a few. To make it easier for you to discover content on Blockchain Journal, you don’t have to hit the back button to find the next article. Instead, as you scroll to the bottom of one article, we’ll just show you the next one! Easy peasy.
Glossary
Articles
Blockchain Adoption
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Videos

6

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

McDonald’s Singapore Launching 2,000 Grimace NFTs

McDonald’s lovers have the chance to mint a limited edition Grimace non-fungible token (NFT) for free via the McDonald’s app during the week of August 21. The digital collectibles are being produced with the assistance of the Singapore-based metaverse service provider Bandwagon Labs and NFT artist The Hidden Walls.

NFT

Food and Beverage

Customer Engagement

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:August 15, 2023

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1 min read

Use Case

Why The Adidas Blockchain Project Should Be On Every Enterprise’s Short List To Watch

One can only imagine the shock and awe in the adidas executive suite after one of its brands – adidas Originals – ran an "Initial NFT Offering" (INO, an acronym that most big brands and enterprises should get to know) under the heading "Into the Metaverse." The INO – launched with the support of Yuga Labs (Bored Ape Yacht Club), non-fungible token (NFT) influencer gmoney, and Punks Comic – generated over $22 million in the span of an afternoon in December 2021 (right around the historical height of NFT euphoria). It involved the sale of 29,620 ERC1155-compliant NFTs through the OpenSea marketplace at a primary market price of 0.2 ETH (approximately US$765 per NFT based on the USD value of Ether at the time of the sale).

NFT

Metaverse

Customer Engagement

Loyalty Programs

Sports

Fashion

By David Berlind

Published:July 26, 2023

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8 min read

Analysis

Blockchain Journal’s Database Fuels Discovery of NFT Best Practices by Starbucks, Adidas, RTFKT, Others

While blockchain itself has been around for more than a decade, it is only in the last year that global enterprises have, relatively en masse, started to explore how distributed ledger technologies (DLT) might give them an edge within their various industries. Behind the scenes at Blockchain Journal, we’ve been developing a research database that aims to capture the full extent of these activities, chronicling the myriad projects, their timelines, and their reliance on more than blockchain technology itself to achieve certain business outcomes.

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Metaverse

By David Berlind

Published:July 24, 2023

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6 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Lacoste Expands Web3 Experience for Users of its UNDW3 Project

Initially introduced in 2022, Lacoste is expanding the use case for its UNDW3 (pronounced “underwater”) non-fungible token (NFT) project. Holders of UNDW3 NFT Cards now can connect their wallet to access a deeper user experience, including participating in quests, interacting with Lacoste, and earning rewards like branded merchandise and physical twins (the physical twin to a digital NFT, the pair of which are sometimes called “phygital twins”).

NFT

Metaverse

Customer Engagement

Fashion

DAO

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 29, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Mastercard Reveals Plans to Launch its Multi-Token Network (MTN)

Payment processing giant Mastercard announced it will roll out a beta version of its Multi-Token Network (MTN) this summer in the United Kingdom. The MTN will “act as a testbed for developing live pilot applications and use cases with financial institutions, fintechs, and central banks,” according to Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s Executive Vice President, Blockchain and Digital Assets.

Payments

Centralized Exchange (CEX)

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

Trademarks & Intellectual Property

Identity

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 28, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Japan’s Financial Services Authority Joins “Project Guardian” Initiative by Monetary Authority of Singapore

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Japan has revealed its involvement in the "Project Guardian" initiative, led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).Launched in May 2022, this collaboration will investigate the potential of implementing digital technologies across different asset classes while upholding financial stability and integrity as top priorities.

Digital Asset Custody

Government

Tokenization

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

Wealth Management

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 27, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

The Monetary Authority of Singapore Reports Outcomes from Project Guardian

After three trials of analyzing infrastructure frameworks for facilitating the trading of tokenized assets, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has shared observations in its Project Guardian report.Project Guardian analyzed various platform types, asset types, and network access options with a focus on best practices. Although observations are shared from three test cases, Project Guardian does not endorse any specific option.

Digital Asset Custody

Government

Tokenization

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

Wealth Management

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 26, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

JP Morgan Uses Its Own Token “JPM Coin” to Settle a Payment in Europe

JP Morgan successfully executed its first blockchain transaction for corporate clients in Europe, using its proprietary token, the JPM Coin. The transaction was done by Siemens AG, a Germany-based enterprise. The payment was carried out on JP Morgan's own permissioned blockchain platform. According to a bank executive's statement to Bloomberg, this marked the first-ever Euro-denominated JPM Coin transaction.

Payments

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 24, 2023

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1 min read

Tutorial

Enterprises Fear Not. Blockchain Smart Contracts Are Upgradable and Blockchain Journal Proves It

Blockchain Journal kept hearing about a legendary obstacle to the adoption of blockchain as an application development platform; an inability to upgrade custom-developed code (known as smart contracts). If true, it would be a deal breaker for many organizations. But, as BCJ’s lab tests proved (and as the cool kids say), “that’s cap” (fake news).

Smart Contracts

By Bob Reselman

Published:June 21, 2023

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23 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

EDX Markets Crypto Exchange Successfully Launches in the US with Backing by Fidelity, Schwab, and Citadel

EDX Markets (EDX), a digital asset marketplace, has crossed a significant milestone by successfully launching its platform in the United States.This platform provides a secure and compliant environment for trading digital assets through trusted intermediaries. Additionally, the company has completed an investment round, securing new equity partners to support its growth and development.

Centralized Exchange (CEX)

Decentralized Exchange (DEX)

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

LG Electronics Seeking Patent for TV that Allows for NFT Trading

Electronics firm LG is seeking a patent for a new television device that would allow users to trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Users would be able to connect to an NFT marketplace via the device, receive and display NFT artwork, and facilitate purchases through the user's cryptocurrency wallet, which would be linked to the TV.

NFT Marketplace

Consumer Electronics

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:May 23, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Red Bull Doodle Art Competition Adds NFTs

Red Bull, the renowned energy drink company, is delving into the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through its popular Red Bull Doodle Art competition. The competition has historically invited students and creatives worldwide to unleash their creativity and produce their own art. This year, Red Bull is taking the competition a step further by tapping into the exciting NFT space.

NFT

Art

Food and Beverage

Customer Engagement

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:May 11, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Visa Experimenting with ERC-4337 Standard to Ease Credit Card Integration with Blockchain

In a report released in May 2023, the credit card company Visa describes experiments that the company has conducted applying features defined in the ERC-4337 specification to general-purpose credit card transactions. The intended purpose of implementing the ERC-4337 specification is to reduce the complexity, cost and constraints that end users face when executing transactions on the blockchains that support the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

Centralized Finance (CeFi)

By Bob Reselman

Published:May 7, 2023

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1 min read

Interview

Ripple CTO David Schwartz: Proof of Identity Will Require Certificate Authority-Like Approach

In the virtual halls of Blockchain Journal (BCJ), we often talk about an elephant-in-the-room-like problem that we've nicknamed "The William Shatner Problem." It all started when our technical analyst Bob Reselman was looking at some non-fungible tokens that were once minted on the Wax blockchain in partnership with William Shatner and then asked a simple question: "How is anybody expected to know for sure that it was the real William Shatner who worked on these NFTs and not an imposter?"

Consensus

Identity

By David Berlind

Published:May 5, 2023

Interview

NodeReal Looks to Offer Amazon-Like Infrastructure Specific to Enterprise Blockchain Deployments

Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind interviews Dr. Ben Zhang, the co-founder and chief operating officer of NodeReal, at Consensus 2023 in Austin, Texas. NodeReal claims to be a one-stop infrastructure provider that eases access to public and private blockchain services for enterprises that don't want to build their own blockchain application infrastructure from scratch. In many ways, NodeReal is positioning itself as a turnkey AWS-like provider for distributed ledger infrastructure.

Consensus

By David Berlind

Published:May 5, 2023

Interview

Compliance is Key Factor in Enterprise Choice of Crytpo-Capable Custodians Says FV Bank CEO

Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind interviews Miles Paschini, CEO of FV Bank, at Consensus 2023, a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in Austin, Texas. FV Bank aims to provide an enterprise-grade custody solution to organizations and institutions seeking a reliable, regulation-compliant, and structured way to operate in the digital asset space.

Consensus

By David Berlind

Published:May 5, 2023

Interview

Paris-Based Web3 Consultant Doors3 Helps Some of The World's Biggest Brands with Blockchain Strategy

While Blockchain Journal has been spending time connecting with some of the biggest consultancies (the so-called "Final Four") to understand how their blockchain practices — typically one of the multiple practice types they operate — can help large brands and enterprises with their blockchain go-to-market strategies, there are also other independent consultancies that are "Web3-native." In other words, 100 percent of their firms' energies are devoted to helping clients with blockchain and Web3 strategy and execution. One such Web3-native consultancy operating out of France is Doors3. In fact, Doors3 claims to be the first of its kind to operate in France.

NFT.NYC

NFT

Customer Engagement

By David Berlind

Published:May 5, 2023

Interview

MetaZ Will Custody Your Collectible Sneakers In a Vault and Issue NFTs as Certificates of Ownership

One of the biggest conversations in the blockchain industry that tends to fly below the radar has to do with the custody of digital assets. It's so important that the word "custody" has actually become a verb and you'll hear it come up in questions like "Should an enterprise self-custody its cryptocurrencies or should it custody those and other digital assets with a trusted third party custodian?"

NFT.NYC

NFT

Digital Twin

Digital Asset Custody

By David Berlind

Published:May 4, 2023

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Kenya Proposes 3% Tax on Digital Assets

Kenya's Finance Ministry is proposing a 3% tax on cryptocurrency transfers and digital assets as part of its 2023-2024 budget plan, as other sources of funding are proving to be expensive or not accessible. This move is an attempt to increase revenue collection by the East African nation, which will see a 14% increase in revenue in the coming fiscal year if this proposal is accepted in June.

Regulation

Government

Taxation

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:May 4, 2023

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1 min read

Interview

Arculus Offers Enterprises Crypto Key Storage, Payments, 2FA System Access and More on One Smartcard

Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind interviews Adam Lowe, the Chief Product Officer for Arculus, an exhibitor at Consensus 2023, about its digital asset and digital identity platform that allows enterprises to enable employees and users with a single smart card that stores their cryptocurrency keys, their application credentials (eg: Microsoft 365) and even their building entry credentials. The same smart card can even be used as a payments card (Arculus already supplies smart cards to many credit card-issuing financial institutions).

Consensus

Security

Identity

Wallet Technology

Digital Asset Custody

By David Berlind

Published:May 4, 2023

Interview

Consultancy EY's Enterprise Differentiator is Privacy on Public Blockchains: Global Lead Paul Brody

For many enterprises, the idea of venturing alone into the wilderness of blockchain is a frightening proposition. Not only is there a general lack of blockchain and cryptocurrency talent within their executive, management, and developer ranks, the talent pool from which to recruit enterprise-grade blockchain expertise is, in 2023, tiny. In other words, demand for talent is outstripping supply. Enterprises could simply do nothing when it comes to blockchain. But sitting still while competitors and startups are keen to discover how blockchain can be used to disrupt the status quo is not the best option. So, what's an enterprise to do? Who can they turn to?

Consensus

Privacy

By David Berlind

Published:May 4, 2023

Interview

Bitwave Looks to Bridge the Chasm Between Traditional ERP and Enterprise Cryptocurrency Accounting

Of the many barriers to blockchain adoption that enterprises must contend with, one of them has to do with basic record-keeping issues. If you've ever studied the details of just a single blockchain transaction, then you'd know that, from a financial point of view, such transactions look nothing like the sorts of transactions that are typically recorded into an organization's financial ledger or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Consensus

By David Berlind

Published:May 3, 2023

Interview

XRPL Commons President David Bchiri: Education is a Prerequisite to Enterprise Blockchain Adoption

David Berlind, the host of the Blockchain Journal Podcast, interviews David Bchiri, President of XRPL Commons, an independent non-profit organization that helps to drive the success of the XRP ecosystem (XRP is the native protocol token of the Ripple distributed ledger). During the interview, conducted at the Consensus 2023 Conference in Austin, Bchiri explains that XRPL Commons is working towards the support and education of four organization types — "pillars" as he calls them — to drive interest and adoption; universities, large organizations, startups, and the community. In the blockchain industry, "community" is a standard one-word reference to the collection of individuals — developers, enthusiasts, adherents, retail investors, fans, etc — who, in aggregate typically represent a huge base of support for a given distributed ledger's ecosystem. XRPL Commons aims to be at the crossroads of these four pillars with dedicated educational programs for each.

Consensus

Education

Decentralized Exchange (DEX)

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

NFT

By David Berlind

Published:May 3, 2023

Interview

Decentralization of Trust Still Not Fully Solved by Blockchain says Co-Founder of Tether and Wax

Here in the halls of Blockchain Journal's virtual offices, we've come up with a name for an unsolved blockchain identity problem for which no scalable, technological solution exists as far as we know. We call it "The William Shatner Problem" because, back in July 2020 when a bunch of William Shatner-approved NFTs were posted for sale on Wax.io's NFT marketplace, there was no technological identity standard in place such that buyers could trace any so-called William Shatner NFTs back to the actual William Shatner himself.

NFT.NYC

NFT Marketplace

NFT

Decentralized Exchange (DEX)

Identity

By David Berlind

Published:April 23, 2023

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Mattel to Launch its Virtual Collectibles Peer-to-Peer Marketplace

Iconic toy manufacturer Mattel is set to launch a peer-to-peer marketplace for digital collectibles on April 27, 2023. Powered by Rarible’s white-label NFT marketplace, the Mattel Creations-branded “Virtual Collections Platform” will allow users to buy and sell NFTs directly from one another (as well as from Mattel).

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Fan Engagement

Toys and Craft Supplies

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 21, 2023

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1 min read

Interview

GuardianLink CEO Discusses NFT Strategy and Execution Work it Does for Pepsi, Cadbury, and LA Times

When it comes to NFT marketplaces in Asia, they don't get much bigger than Jump.trade which claims to be the biggest of them all. Jump.trade is just one of the businesses operated by the site's parent GuardianLink which was founded in 2016. GuardianLink also works with some of the world's biggest brands on their NFT strategies. To find out more about the enterprises that GuardianLink is working with and what those brands are doing with NFTs, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind interviewed GuardianLink co-founder and CEO Ramkumar Subramaniam at the NFT.NYC 2023 Conference in New York City.

NFT.NYC

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Food and Beverage

By David Berlind

Published:April 20, 2023

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

YSL Beauty Announces its Next NFT Rewards Campaign

Yves Saint Laurent YSL Beauty announced its “Black Opium: The Night Is Ours” campaign, which is a two-part NFT Series. Part 1 includes 2014 NFTs called “YSL Beauty Blocks” that will be dropped on a first-come, first-served basis along with purchases of the popular Black Opium fragrance. The campaign starts January 30, 2023, and runs through June 30, 2023. This is only available in the UK, US, France, and Australia.

NFT

Loyalty Programs

Beauty

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Starbucks Conducts Customer Pilot of NFT-Based Odyssey Rewards Program

Starbucks is one step closer to launching Starbucks Odyssey, a new tokenized loyalty rewards program based on the Polygon distributed ledger. Customers in the United States who participate in Starbucks Odyssey will be able to earn “journey stamps” as rewards. The stamps are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and, once collected, can be redeemed for rewards like exclusive Starbucks-branded merchandise and experiences.

Loyalty Programs

Food and Beverage

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

PacSun Is First Enterprise To Rely on BitPay’s Lightning-based Crypto Payments Platform

BitPay, one of the largest cryptocurrency payments in the world, has integrated with Lightning Network to support Bitcoin payments. Pacific Sunwear, also commonly known as PacSun, is the first merchant to leverage BitPay to accept Lightning Network payments. With increasing requests for alternative payment options in the retail space, support for Lightning Network payments makes transactions with Bitcoin a breeze.

Payments

Customer Engagement

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

New York Yankees to Offer Bitcoin Savings Plan to Employees

Iconic American baseball team, the New York Yankees, has announced that it will enable its employees to be paid in the most iconic crypto to date: Bitcoin. Through its multi-year partnership with NYDIG, a Bitcoin-only financial services firm, employees of the New York Yankees can elect to have a portion of their paycheck converted to Bitcoin with zero transaction fees.

Human Resources

Payments

Jobs

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

New Ralph Lauren Store in Miami Design District Accepts Crypto Payments

Legacy fashion brand Ralph Lauren has opened a new store in Miami’s Design District. What makes this location particularly special is that the design not only embraces Miami’s vibrant fashion culture but also its allure for Web3. This is the first Ralph Lauren store to accept cryptocurrency as payment, which is made possible by the brand’s integration with BitPay.

Payments

Retail

Fashion

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Gucci and Yuga Labs Team Up in Multi-Year Partnership

Gucci has no plans of slowing down in Web3. The fashion house has announced its multi-year partnership with Yuga Labs, the parent company of the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. The partnership includes Gucci designing clothes for The Otherside, a Yuga Labs’ metaverse project, as well as 10KTF, an NFT collection that Yuga Labs acquired from Beeple

NFT

Customer Engagement

Fashion

Retail

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Fast Food Restaurant Chipotle Accepts Cryptocurrency Payments

Chipotle, the Mexican-style fast-food restaurant, is no stranger to innovation. From out-of-the-box social media strategies and fun internet games to win a side of queso, they are fantastic at capturing attention. To add to this list, Chipotle will now accept cryptocurrency payments through Flexa, a digital payments platform.

Payments

Customer Engagement

Food and Beverage

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 20, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Argentinian Airline Becomes First In The World to Launch NFT Ticketing

Flybondi, Argentina’s low-cost airline, has partnered with TravelX, a non-fungible token (NFT) ticketing company, to issue e-tickets as NFTs on the Algorand blockchain. Flybondi calls this integration “Ticket 3.0.” Passengers will be able to rename their tickets, transfer ownership of their tickets to whomever they want, and even gift tickets.

Ticketing

Travel

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 19, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Rumor Mill: Launch of Amazon NFT Initiative Imminent

Multiple sources say Amazon is preparing to launch a digital assets enterprise by first stepping into the non-fungible token (NFT) space. Its NFT initiative is expected to launch this spring and it’s certainly likely that Amazon will make a big splash in the NFT marketplace considering how many customers it has. Amazon has a reputation for innovatively leveraging emerging technologies to the chagrin of its competitors. If the team pulls this off, the retail and business industries could be in for another massive disruption.

NFT Marketplace

Retail

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 19, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Amazon CEO Andy Jassey Hints at Retail Giant’s Possible NFT Adoption

Amazon is one of the few tech giants that hasn’t made any moves in the Web3 space. However, CEO Andy Jassey dropped a “hint” that Amazon might do something with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the future. Perhaps the e-commerce giant would sell them or drop them to customers. Since Amazon was first founded, its reliance on emergent technologies has been a key driver in making it the world's largest and most disruptive retailer.

NFT Marketplace

Retail

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 19, 2023

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1 min read

Interview

Big Event Ticketing is the Next Phase of How NFTs Will Be Used: Dapper Labs' O'Hagan

When it comes to concerts and professional sports, two of the biggest brands experimenting with NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are the National Football League (NFL) and Ticketmaster. NFL Sr. Director Emerging Products Daniel DeVece and Ticketmaster Director of Product Management Joe Aiello were on hand at the NFT.NYC 2023 conference in New York City where they, along with Dapper Labs VP of Partnerships Brittany O'Hagan presented a session on how NFTs are powering fan engagement. Following the session, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind took the opportunity to interview O'Hagan to better understand how Dapper Labs is working with the NFL and Ticketmaster and how other enterprises and big brands should be thinking about NFTs and the opportunities they create.

NFT.NYC

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Entertainment

Sports

Music

By David Berlind

Published:April 19, 2023

Interview

Niftmint Looks to Take The Friction Out of Enterprise NFT Deployment

As buzz phrases go, "the NFT is the new cookie" is getting some traction in enterprise blockchain circles because of the incredible shrinking usefulness of cookies; bits of data that, when allowed into a user's desktop or mobile web browser, make it possible for web sites to build more personalized user experiences. But, as with many technologies that involve end-user benefits, cookies are a double-edged sword that can also be used to invade a user's privacy. Such invasions have led to privacy laws that have eroded if not fully stripped the cookie of its utility. Unlike cookies, however, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are by their very nature permissioned. In other words, users should never be unwilling recipients of an NFT the way they often are with cookies or spam. As such, NFTs create new opportunities for respectful but high-fidelity relationships with customers. But seizing those opportunities is a different story.

NFT.NYC

Wallet Technology

NFT

By David Berlind

Published:April 18, 2023

Interview

Use Non-Blockchain Precedents as a Guide To Self-Regulation Say Perkins Coie's Crypto Lawyers

Many companies are in a catch-22 when it comes to working with blockchain. On the one hand, organizations are fearful of doing nothing with blockchain because they know how, in the hands of a clever competitor, distributed ledger technology could be used to disrupt their businesses or industries. On the other hand, those same organizations also know blockchain laws are coming but not when or in what form. Meanwhile, regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have embarked on a startling wave of enforcement activities against blockchain-related projects.

NFT.NYC

Compliance

Government

Legal

By David Berlind

Published:April 18, 2023

Interview

Why LayerZero Might Be a Contender for Enterprises In Need of Cross-Chain Bridges

Apart from the many instances where cryptocurrency holders get socially engineered (hoodwinked) into turning over their crypto or their account credentials to extremely clever and tenacious hackers (essentially, “user error”), the leading cause of cryptocurrency theft is a vulnerable cross-chain bridge. In fact, on the same day of this interview with LayerZero co-founder and CEO Bryan Pellegrino was recorded at the Harvard Blockchain Conference, the AllBridge cross-chain bridge was exploited for approximately $574,000. Most of it was returned one week later. Nevertheless, cross-chain bridges continue to be the soft-white underbelly of the blockchain industry.

Harvard Blockchain Conference

By David Berlind

Published:April 11, 2023

Interview

Using Blockchain, MintStars Hopes to Give Sex Workers A Better Deal Than OnlyFans

While it’s not necessarily an enterprise application of blockchain, MintStars.com perfectly exemplifies the degree to which blockchain is not only the basis for disrupting existing businesses (even relatively new ones that are wildly successful), it also demonstrates how the financial rails of cryptocurrency can be thoroughly disruptive to traditional financial rails (sometimes called “TradFi”) as well as the governments who are in a position to control industries and business by virtue of their oversight of those TradFi rails.

Harvard Blockchain Conference

By David Berlind

Published:April 11, 2023

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

The Central Bank of Montenegro to Pilot CBDC with Ripple

The Central Bank of Montenegro announced its plans to initiate a pilot program with Ripple, an enterprise crypto and blockchain solutions provider, to develop a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or national stablecoin. Ripple will work with Montenegro to develop a strategy, identify applications of a CBDC, and simulate the currency’s circulation.

Central Bank

Stablecoins

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 11, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Two Luxury Brands, Bugatti and Asprey, Join Forces to Launch Phygital “NFT”

The partnership between iconic luxury brands Bugatti and Asprey began in 2022, and this launch of a phygital “NFT” takes this partnership to the next level by allowing them to work together in the physical and digital realms. The initiative has the appearance of an NFT program, but relies on the Ordinals protocol, which makes NFT-like assets possible — officially referred to as “inscriptions” — on the Bitcoin blockchain (which itself inherently lacks support for the types of NFTs found on smart contract-enabled distributed ledgers).

NFT

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 5, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) selects R3, G42 Cloud and Clifford Chance to assist CBUAE in implementing its CBDC Strategy

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) is investing in a digital transformation initiative and has launched its CBDC investment strategy. This CBDC strategy is aimed at relieving the challenges of cross-border payments, and furthering financial inclusion and payment infrastructure in the UAE.

Central Bank

Government

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:April 4, 2023

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1 min read

Interview

Decentralized Pictures Looks To Democratize Hollywood's Ideations With Blockchain

While at the Outer Edge LA 2023 Conference in Los Angeles, Blockchain Journal technical analyst Bob Reselman interviewed the co-founder and CEO of Decentralized Pictures, Leo Matchett. Decentralized Pictures was founded on the principle that blockchain can be used to democratize the process of creating and approving ideas (everything from scripts to talent choices) for TV shows and movies.

Outer Edge LA

By Bob Reselman

Published:April 3, 2023

Interview

Fox Media is Doubling Down on Blockchain with 9 Franchise-Related Web3 Projects

In an effort to disrupt the TV industry and leverage distributed ledger technology (DLT) for game-changing fan engagement, Fox Media has launched a blockchain-specific division called Blockchain Creative Labs. The division's chief revenue officer Tomasso Sandretto was in attendance at the Outer Edge LA conference and sat down with Blockchain Journal technical analyst Bob Reselman for an in-depth interview regarding Fox's plans for blockchain.

Outer Edge LA

By Bob Reselman

Published:April 3, 2023

Interview

Skale Co-Founder Jack O'Holleran Explains Why Blockchain Beats Mongo or Oracle for Enterprise Usage

Jack O'Holleran is the co-founder and CEO of Skale Labs, a 5-year-old scaling solution provider that not only solves for Ethereum's slow settlement times but, for Skale's customers, also changes Ethereum's engagement model from a coin-operated pay-per-transaction approach to a subscription model similar to how other cloud-based SaaS offerings like Salesforce do business.

Outer Edge LA

By Bob Reselman

Published:April 2, 2023

Interview

Enterprise Tech Veteran Sandy Carter Discusses Enterprise Use Cases for Blockchain Technology

Having originally cut her enterprise technology teeth at Tivoli and IBM (and then later at Amazon Web Services), Unstoppable Domains Chief Operating Officer Sandy Carter is no stranger to IT. Now, she’s about to release a book titled The Metaverse Mindset of Web3, AI, and the Future of Business. The timing of the book is uncanny given the groundswell of activity currently percolating around distributed ledger technology (DLT) and ChatGPT. At the Outer Edge LA 2023 Conference in Los Angeles, Blockchain Journal technical analyst Bob Reselman took the opportunity to interview her about the book and the sorts of applications she’s seeing for blockchain in the enterprise.

Outer Edge LA

By Bob Reselman

Published:April 2, 2023

Interview

Ecosapiens Uses NFT Collectibles to Drive Soil-Base Carbon Sequestration

While at the Outer Edge LA 2023 Conference in Los Angeles, Blockchain Journal technical analyst Bob Reselman spoke with Ecosapiens co-founder and CEO Nihar Neelakanti who believes that one of the keys to saving the planet is to use collectible NFTs as a means to fund the soil-based sequestration of airborne carbon. In the interview, Neelkanti tells Bob how his company is working with farms in Africa that handle the sequestration process. In exchange for purchasing an Ecosapiens collectible (each one is called an "ecosapien"), not only does the buyer get the collectible NFT, some number of carbon credits (issued by the farmers) are connected to the NFT as evidence of the buyer's philanthropy.

Outer Edge LA

By Bob Reselman

Published:April 2, 2023

Interview

Using Blockchain, Ultimate Digits Hopes to Disrupt the Mobile Carrier Industry

One of the lesser-understood aspects of the smartphones we use and the mobile carrier accounts to which they’re connected is the fact that a phone’s user does not “own” the phone number to which his or her phone is connected. The number belongs to the carrier and the carrier is leasing that number to the customer. But, between blockchain and the newest breed of phones that support electronic sim cards (aka “eSIMS”), a new opportunity revealed itself to the founders of Ultimate Digits; a company that immutably records the sale of blockchain-based phone numbers onto the Ethereum public distributed ledger.

Outer Edge LA

By Bob Reselman

Published:April 2, 2023

Interview

Deloitte: Businesses That "Sit on the Sidelines" While Others Pilot Blockchain Will Be Left Behind

Wendy Henry is the Global Practice Lead for Deloitte's Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency Consultancy; one of the firm's four business units dedicated to helping its business clients get the most out of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) including blockchain. Among her many very well-informed opinions about blockchain adoption is her advice to enterprises to not sit idly by while other entities—existing competitors, disruptive startups, regulators, and lawmakers—sort out their positions on blockchain.

DC Blockchain Summit

Government

Regulation

By David Berlind

Published:April 1, 2023

Interview

Overall Trust in Businesses Is at Record Lows. Can Blockchain Help to Bring it Back?

According to the Principal Leader of Deloitte's global Enterprise Trust Practice Michael Bondar, businesses are facing an unprecedented erosion of trust when it comes to their stakeholders (customers, employees, stockholders, etc.). The problem, according to Bondar, exists across the board and impacted businesses of all sizes in all industries. During this interview with Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind, Bondar said that in healthcare, only 23 percent of clinicians trust their leadership and it's even worse for nurses (15 percent). In the technology space, only 40 percent of consumers trust tech companies to maintain and safeguard their data.

DC Blockchain Summit

Regulation

Government

By David Berlind

Published:April 1, 2023

Interview

How Cryptocurrency is Funding Ukraine's Battle for Itself and the Soul of Democracy

While at DC Blockchain Summit 2023 in Washington, DC, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind got the chance to interview Open Dialogue Foundation President Lyudmyla Kozlovska about her organization's role in the battle for human rights and democracy in the 21st century. Kozlovska is a native of Ukraine and has been instrumental in the flow of cryptocurrency donations to fund the acquisition and supply of everything from humanitarian aid to weapons to the front lines of the many battles taking place between freedom and oppression. In fact, to the extent that a violent war undermines the store and transfer of fiat currencies, cryptocurrency has played a surprising and unique role in bankrolling Ukraine's fight against Russia.

DC Blockchain Summit

Regulation

Government

By David Berlind

Published:March 30, 2023

Interview

CFTC Commissioner Mersinger Invites Nervous Enterprises To Come Chat About Blockchain Regulations

When it comes to working with distributed ledgers and cryptocurrencies, one of the most significant barriers to enterprise adoption is the significant regulatory uncertainty that enshrouds the blockchain industry. This is especially true of the United States where lawmakers, regulators, and the industry have been gridlocked over a multitude of wildly opposing viewpoints. Meanwhile, as the regulatory perimeter shifts continue to shift, enterprises are stuck in a Catch-22; Either move forward with their blockchain pilots and run the risk of irritating officials at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or other American agencies. Or, risk disruption by putting their projects on hold until the legalities of working with blockchain are less ambiguous.

DC Blockchain Summit

Regulation

By David Berlind

Published:March 29, 2023

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Sesame Street Partners with VeVe to Launch its First NFT Collection

Sesame Workshop — the non-profit organization behind the iconic kids’ brand Sesame Street — is partnering with VeVe, a digital collectibles app, to bring its first NFT collection to the blockchain. This initial NFT collection will be dedicated to the beloved Cookie Monster character. Each of the 5,555 NFTs will be USD $60 and the initial drop will be on March 19, 2023.

NFT

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:March 13, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Nissan Files for Web3-related Trademarks in the United States

Japanese auto giant Nissan is expanding its Web3 intentions in the United States after filing four Web3 trademarks for its Infiniti, Nismo, and Nissan brands. The filing hints at Nissan’s plans to create virtual goods like clothes, cars, trading cards, headgear, and tickets, as well as an NFT marketplace for minting and trading, and metaverse advertising services.

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Metaverse

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:March 12, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Spotify Rolls Out Token-Gated Playlist Pilot

Music streaming giant Spotify is making strides in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by launching a pilot program to test token-gated playlists. Spotify is partnering with Overlord (a gaming and entertainment brand) and Kingship (a virtual band from Universal Music Group's 10:22PM label). The pilot project will feature token-gated playlists exclusively accessible to NFT holders of partner communities like Overlord and Kingship.

NFT

Music

Entertainment

Fan Engagement

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:February 23, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Deutsche Bank Successfully Trials Tokenized Investment Platform

Deutsche Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, has successfully completed a trial of its one-stop digital fund investment serving platform. This marks a significant milestone in the adoption of blockchain technology in the banking industry. The trial, called Project DAMA (Digital Assets Management Access), explored the potential of tokenization of traditional financial instruments via the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Digital Asset Custody

Tokenization

Permissioned

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:February 21, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Walmart Files Web3 Trademarks for its Sam’s Club Brand

Retail giant Walmart has recently submitted some Web3-related trademark applications for the name and logo of its subsidiary, Sam's Club. The applications indicate Walmart's intentions to explore various areas in Web3, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain software; virtual and augmented reality healthcare solutions; cryptocurrencies; as well as cryptocurrency trading, brokerage, and financial services.

Retail

NFT

Healthcare

Payments

Centralized Exchange (CEX)

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:February 6, 2023

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

California DMV is Testing Car Titles as NFTs

California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has teamed up with Tezos and Oxhead Alpha to test using the Tezos public distributed ledger to distribute digitized car titles as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Once titles-as-NFTs are on-chain, the collaboration should also transform the process of downstream title transfers as well (similar to how other NFTs are transferred on the secondary market).

NFT

Government

Multi-Party Transparency

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:January 27, 2023

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1 min read

Interview

How SMS Messages and Other Carrier-Grade Services Could Be Moving to Enterprise-Grade Blockchain

As enterprises begin to adopt blockchain technology in order to optimize their systems and processes in ways that simply cannot be done with other technologies, the likelihood that their customers will know or care could be low. After all, once deployed in enterprise fashion, blockchain typically occupies a fabric-like spot within the organization's enterprise information technology stack. In other words, not necessarily at the customer-facing surface. And there's no industry where this could be more true than in the telecommunications and carrier business where the sorts of integrations that make it possible for people to call or text their friends and families across different carriers are fraught with technological and settlement challenges due to lack of a single source of truth. As Syniverse Sr. Distinguished Engineer of Emerging Technologies, Monique Morrow explained to Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind at World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, both Syniverse (which itself is in the SMS fabric of hundreds of carriers) and the GSM Association (GSMA) where she chairs the GSMA-Distributed Ledger Technology Group have a pretty clear understanding of the business problems that blockchain can solve in the telecommunications industry (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 23, 2023

Interview

Top 3 Global Law Firm Seizes First Mover Advantage to Tokenize Almost Everything with Blockchain

Law firm DLA Piper operates in over 40 countries and is one of the three biggest law firms in the world. But just because it's an old-school company in an old-school industry doesn't mean that it (or any other similarly positioned organization) cannot leverage technology to seize a competitive advantage for itself and its customers. At World Economic Forum 2023, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind met with DLA's Chief Innovation Officer Andy Gastwirth who explained why a global law firm needs a chief innovation officer as well as the significance of using blockchain to tokenize real-world assets; everything from office buildings to race horses. Two driving factors have to do with the idea of fractionalizing those assets and optimizing a multitude of complex and legal workflows to involve significantly fewer people, paper, and process-based friction than they do today (think "digital transformation"). As Gastwirth says in the interview, it just means you have to reimagine those old-school processes as digital processes. In the legal world, blockchain-based tokenization will be key to that reimagination (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

DLT Strategy

By David Berlind

Published:January 22, 2023

Interview

Hyperledger Exec Director Waxes on Linux Foundation's Role in Driving Enterprise Blockchain Adoption

Hyperledger Executive Director Daniela Barbosa is no stranger to the need for, and the importance of, open standards and open source in driving technology adoption. Especially among enterprises. In fact, in a previous life, Barbosa was one of the original co-founders of the Data Portability Project (dataportablity.org) whose long-time focus has been the interoperability of data between dissimilar systems (a long-time obstacle to the sort of IT singularity that many enterprises wish for). As Barbosa explains to Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind at World Economic Forum 2023, the Linux Foundation is heavily engaged in similarly driving open-source blockchain interoperability through multiple projects including Hyperledger itself (an open-source blockchain used for both permissioned and permissionless distributed ledgers) and Hyperledger Besu; an alternative Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) whose availability on multiple layer 1 chains is probably responsible for making EVM the defacto industry standard for blockchain smart contract execution (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

Smart Contracts

Interoperability

By David Berlind

Published:January 20, 2023

Interview

Hedera Describes Criteria That Enterprises Should Consider When Investigating Blockchain Technology

Hedera is one of several Layer 1 public Distributed Ledgers talking to world and business leaders at World Economic Forum 2023 about the benefits and use cases for blockchain technology. But, according to Swirlds Labs Chief Marketing Officer Christian Hasker, enterprises are typically concerned with a different set of blockchain issues than are startups and smaller blockchain project developers. Swirlds Labs is the research and development arm of the multi-party coalition that's responsible for Hedera's technology and adoption. According to Hasker, similar to other technologies that enterprises include in their application stacks, scalability, performance, and cost should rank pretty high as issues when considering distributed ledger technology (DLT). Disclosure: As reflected by its coverage of other layer one public ledgers, BlockchainJournal.com endeavors to be a fair, independent, and unbiased observer of the blockchain industry. It should be noted that, at the time this video was published, Swirlds Labs was an underwriter of Blockchain Journal (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

DLT Strategy

By David Berlind

Published:January 20, 2023

Interview

Filecoin Looks to Move Upstack From Just Archival of Enterprise Data to Database-Like Functionality

The business of storing enterprise data has gone through several technological revolutions over the last two decades. After on-prem storage came cloud storage (which enterprises initially resisted) and now, thanks to Filecoin and its competitors, comes blockchain-driven storage. The big question however (as with any blockchain discussion) has to do with the enterprise use cases to which Filecoin's "commercial" offering of an InterPlanetary File System-based (IPFS) solution is suited. At World Economic Forum 2023, Blockchain Journal's editor-in-chief David Berlind interviewed Protocol Labs' Director of Growth Stefaan Vervaet to learn not only about Filecoin's current view on that question but the long-term outlook as well. Protocol Labs is the research arm of the coalition that's responsible for Filecoin's technology and adoption (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 20, 2023

Interview

MobileCoin Looks to Disrupt Venmo, Cash App, Paypal with Frictionless Blockchain-Enabled Payments

At World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind met with Mobilecoin Head of Business Development Brady Forrest who talked about how Mobilecoin's global mobile payment app makes it possible to send money to anyone for a fixed fee of 1/4th of a cent. The app is enabled by the MobileCoin blockchain and like other distributed ledger-based payment workflows, sends cryptocurrency from the originator of a transaction to the recipient. In the case of MobileCoin however, that cryptocurrency can be MOB (the native cryptocurrency of MobileCoin) or eUSD; an asset-backed stablecoin pegged to the value of US$1. Onboarding appears relatively friction-free since payments processor Moonpay will exchange fiat directly from Apple or Google Pay (or a debit card) into one of the two cryptocurrencies. Offboarding from one of the two cryptos to Fiat requires a centralized exchange such as Binance. MobileCoin functionality is also available directly from within the Signal app and, to ease the minds of those concerned about custodial wallets, relies on a non-custodial wallet called Moby (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 19, 2023

Interview

After 10 Years of Working With Blockchain, Deloitte is In Position To Help Enterprises on DLT Plans

The way Deloitte Blockchain Practice Leader Rob Massey tells the story, there weren't a whole lot of enterprises interested in distributed ledger technology a decade ago. But despite Deloitte's reputation for working with enterprises, the consultancy took on smaller blockchain projects and startups because it had an idea of blockchain's disruptive potential and wanted to be in position for when enterprise interest in DLT started to ramp. Ten years later, Massey knows of very few enterprises that aren't involved with blockchain in some capacity and Deloitte has been helping many of them to jumpstart their DLT strategies (full-text interview appears below).

World Economic Forum

DLT Strategy

By David Berlind

Published:January 18, 2023

Interview

In the Wake of FTX, Deepwaters Claims its Hybrid Exchange Is the Best of Both the CEX and DEX Worlds

There are two types of cryptocurrency exchanges in the cryptocurrency world; centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX). Both models have their pros and cons and while at World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind caught up with Dylan Peters and Michael Callahan, the Chief Business Development Officer and Vice President of Marketing at Deepwaters; an exchange that is neither fish nor foul. Deepwaters has some of the operational features of a centralized exchange but unlike most CEXes (and more in DEX-like fashion) never takes control of traders' currencies (fiat or crypto). This hybrid model, according to Peters and Callahan offers crypto traders the best of both worlds (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

Centralized Exchange (CEX)

Decentralized Exchange (DEX)

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

By David Berlind

Published:January 18, 2023

Interview

Amid Daily Bombings, Ukraine's Plans to Transform Government Services with Blockchain Surge Forward

Judging by the incredibly stoic demeanor of Yulia Parkhomenko, one of the directors within Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, you would never guess that she and her colleagues are forging ahead with their plans to revolutionize Ukraine's government services while bombs are randomly falling around them and electricity is only available for four hours on a good day. But with an eye towards a fully digitally transformed country (a vision that comes straight from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky), and in a demonstration of true grit, that's exactly what she and her team are doing and they are moving at a lightning pace. Also, as Parkhomenko explains to Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ukraine plans to run its first Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot in 2024 (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 18, 2023

Interview

Blockchain Journal's David Berlind Stumbles Across a Bitcoin Mercedes at World Economic Forum

While moving from meeting to meeting at the World Economic Forum in snowy Davos, Switzerland, Blockchain Journal's David Berlind came across a Mercedes AMG GT. At least that's what he thinks it is. All badges were removed from the car. In their place, a single Bitcoin occupies the prized spot where there once was a Mercedes hood ornament. In the video, David brushes aside the snow to get a glimpse (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 17, 2023

Interview

Why Blockchain is Perfect for Documenting Open, Traceable Proof of Enterprise Sustainability Efforts

While at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind interviewed HBAR Foundation Sustainable Impact Fund Director Hania Othman to find out why public blockchain is so well-suited to traceably and openly documenting, at a very granular level, an enterprise's track record when it comes to all of its environmentally related activities. These include all the activities that contribute to an enterprise's carbon footprint as well as everything an enterprise does to offset that carbon footprint. Why is it in the best interests of an organization to make all of its environmentally-related behaviors a matter of public record? According to Othman, it's not only the best way to maintain compliance with currently emerging global sustainability regulations, but it is also key to winning over a new and growing breed of environmentally sensitive investors (aka "access to capital") and customers (full transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 17, 2023

Interview

Full-Stack Blockchain Consultancy CasperLabs Helps Enterprises With Distributed Ledger Deployments

Blockchain Journal's editor-in-chief David Berlind meets up with CasperLabs CTO Medha Parlikar at the World Economic Forum in Davos to find out more about how enterprises can outsource their distributed ledger deployments to the full-stack blockchain consultancy of which she is a co-founder. As Parlikar explains, full-stack blockchain consultancies like CasperLabs are good for enterprises that know they have a use case for public distributed ledger technology (DLT), but that do not have enough in-house expertise to deploy a solution themselves. In the interview, Parlikar also talks about why fine-grained tracking of permissions and smart contract versioning are two of several features that make Casper public DLT a good choice for enterprise deployments (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 17, 2023

Interview

How IBM is Sprinkling Blockchain Into The Solutions It Builds and Maintains For Enterprise Customers

While at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind sat down with the leader of IBM Consulting's Blockchain and Web3 Practice Shyam Nagarajan to find out the extent to which IBM is invested in blockchain technology (hint: it has been all-in for the better part of the last decade). Nadarajan is practically a veteran with blockchain and he talks about when, in the course of providing its consultative services to its enterprise customers, IBM pulls blockchain into the mix of technologies it recommends to solve for specific business use cases (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 17, 2023

Interview

How the $8B Multinational Avery Dennison Leverages Blockchain Across its Supply Chain

At World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind catches up with Avery Dennison market development manager Neil Hay who describes how the $8B multinational enterprise uses blockchain to provide atma.io, a cloud service offering that helps the global giant provide supply chain transparency to some of the largest consumer goods companies in the world (and their customers). A full-text transcript of this interview appears below. 

World Economic Forum

Multi-Party Transparency

By David Berlind

Published:January 17, 2023

Interview

Tired of Imposters on Social Networks? Here's EnoughTea; a Version of Instagram Built on Blockchain

While at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind met with Max Lurya, founder and developer of EnoughTea; an Instagram look-alike application that incorporates the Know Your Customer (KYC) approach of blockchain in order to offer an imposter and bot-free social network (full text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 17, 2023

Interview

LCX CEO Monty Metzger Literally Wrote the Book on Blockchain Banking

Monty Metzger is the CEO of enterprise blockchain consultancy LCX, based in the country of Liechtenstein, where many of the nation's regulations regarding blockchain are already in place (creating some certainty with respect to the legal operating conditions for companies like his). Blockchain Banking, the book that Metzger recently published is about how the balance of innovation, regulation, and everyday life will change due to digital currency. In the interview with Blockchain Journal editor-in-chief David Berlind, Metzger that he has been heavily engaged with the World Economic Forum and several central banks as they experiment with the idea of Central Bank Digital Currencies and, based on his experience, tells us that many banks have a keen understanding of blockchain as well as how CBDCs might impact their currency strategies longer term (full-text transcript appears below). 

World Economic Forum

Central Bank

By David Berlind

Published:January 16, 2023

Interview

Blockchain Journal's David Berlind Arrives in Davos for World Economic Forum 2023

Blockchain Journal's editor-in-chief David Berlind is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to find out more about how blockchain and distributed ledger technology will revolutionize everything from the world's banking infrastructure to digitally rebuilding a post-war Ukraine. Be sure to follow our coverage as he posts interviews and more from #wef23 and the many other events running beside it.

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 16, 2023

Interview

AY Young: One of the UN's 17 Young Leaders at the World at World Economic Forum

While at World Economic Forum 2023, Blockchain Journal's editor-in-chief David Berlind caught up with AY Young, one of 17 young people taking part in a United Nations program that looks to connect the status quo leaders of the world with up-and-coming leaders. Through his music and live concerts, AY raises money to bring energy to people and parts of the world where there is no power (full-text transcript appears below).

World Economic Forum

By David Berlind

Published:January 16, 2023

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Intuit Files Web3-Related Trademarks with Plans for Crypto Bill Payments

Intuit, a prominent software company headquartered in California, has recently filed a trademark application signaling its interest in exploring the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs. The application suggests that Intuit aims to expand its offerings by introducing blockchain software, launching its own virtual marketplace, and crypto exchange services.

Payments

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Trademarks & Intellectual Property

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:January 10, 2023

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1 min read

Primer

Business Professional’s Introduction To Understanding the Blockchain Regulatory Landscape

For enterprises and other businesses looking to leverage distributed ledger technology for competitive advantage, the regulatory uncertainty surrounding blockchain and cryptocurrency has turned hope of compliance into a moving target. By the time you’re done reading our multi-part series, you’ll be smarter than the average lobbyist.

Regulation

Government

Legal

By William Van Winkle

Published:January 4, 2023

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19 min read

Use Case

How an NFL Team (and its Fans) Could Have Benefitted from the Inherent Multi-Party Transparency of Public Blockchain

According to multiple lawsuits, the Washington Commanders, an NFL franchise, has allegedly misappropriated the financial deposits of its fans. Could blockchain’s multi-party transparency and auditability have simultaneously protected the interests of fans as well as the team, and even the NFL?

Multi-Party Transparency

Sports

Smart Contracts

DLT Strategy

Risk Management

Compliance

By David Berlind

Published:January 4, 2023

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10 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Nike Announces New “Dot Swoosh” Platform to Pioneer Web3 Experiences

Nike continues to embrace distributed ledger technology with the introduction of “Dot Swoosh,” which is Nike’s new Web3 platform and ecosystem that is designed to attract non-crypto natives and more traditional brand fans. This platform will be the home of Nike’s virtual creations, and it sits under Nike Virtual Studios.

NFT

Customer Engagement

Loyalty Programs

Retail

Fashion

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:November 14, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

JPMorgan Successfully Executes Its First DeFi Transaction on a Public Blockchain

The first public blockchain transaction by JPMorgan was executed as a part of The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Project Guardian’s digital asset and bond tokenization pilot (one of eight different pilots under the Project Guardian umbrella).

Digital Asset Custody

Government

Tokenization

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

Wealth Management

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:November 3, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Lacoste Launches New NFT Collection of UNDW3 Avatars

Lacoste’s UNDW3 community is getting “The Emerge,” a new collection of non-fungible token (NFT)-based avatars to use in the metaverse. Designed by UNDW3 community members in collaboration with Lacoste, these avatars represent various visualizations of the label’s crocodile wearing the short-sleeved polo shirts made popular by Lacoste in 1933.

NFT

Metaverse

Customer Engagement

Fashion

DAO

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:October 24, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Japan’s SBI Digital Asset Holdings Joins Project MAS’ Guardian

Launched in May, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Project Guardian includes a variety of pilots, one of which is a program that focuses on digital assets using tokenization on public blockchains. Today, Japan’s SBI Digital Asset Holdings joined that pilot alongside JPMorgan and DBS Bank.

Digital Asset Custody

Government

Tokenization

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

Wealth Management

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:September 22, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Ford Files Trademarks for Entrance Into Web3

American automaker, Ford Motor Company, is gearing up to enter the metaverse, with plans to introduce virtual automobiles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The company has filed 19 trademark applications across its primary car brands, hinting at its intention to create NFTs and a digital marketplace.

NFT

Metaverse

Automotive

Customer Engagement

Trademarks & Intellectual Property

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:September 9, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Airline Vueling Announces It Will Accept Bitcoin Payments

Vueling is a Spanish airline that will be accepting Bitcoin as payment. The airline has partnered with BitPay, one of the largest Bitcoin payment infrastructure providers, and Universal Air Travel Plan Incorporated (UATP), a payments network provider for travel-related expenses. This integration of Bitcoin payments will make Vueling the first low-cost European airline to do so.

Payments

Travel

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 16, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Lacoste Launches its first NFT Project, “UNDW3”

Lacoste, the French luxury fashion brand recognized for its iconic crocodile logo, has launched a unique non-fungible token (NFT) project called "UNDW3,” pronounced “underwater.” By owning an NFT from this project, holders gain entry into the Lacoste Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), which allows them to be part of the innovative Lacoste underwater initiative and gain access to some of the brand's exclusive offerings.

NFT

Metaverse

Customer Engagement

Fashion

DAO

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 14, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Alternative Airlines Announces It Accepts Cryptocurrency Payments

UK-based travel company Alternative Airlines, in partnership with Utrust, has announced that it is now accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for flights. The move is part of the company's efforts to cater to the growing number of travelers who prefer to use digital currencies for transactions. Customers can also pay for flights with Ethereum, Dash, DigiByte and Utrust’s native token UTK, one of many ERC-20-compliant tokens found on the Ethereum distributed public ledger.

Payments

Travel

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 10, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

PayPal Announces Users Can Move Their Crypto to Third-Party Wallets

PayPal CEO, Dan Schulman, says that allowing its users to move their cryptocurrency holdings off the Paypal platform and into third-party wallets is a "first step away from the fiat world" and a recognition of the growing importance of digital currencies. He noted that PayPal had received many requests from customers to allow them to move their cryptocurrency holdings off the platform, and the company listened to this feedback.

Payments

Wallet Technology

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 10, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Leading Dubai Retailer to Accept Crypto Payments for its Hotels and Malls

Majid Al Futtaim, a prominent entity that manages shopping malls, hotels, cinemas, hypermarkets, and retail stores across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, unveiled its strategic alliance with Binance, one of the most popular global cryptocurrency exchanges. This partnership aims to foster collaboration on various ventures involving cryptocurrency payments, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and digital wallet infrastructure.

Payments

Wallet Technology

NFT

Retail

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 5, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

L'Oreal’s NYX Makeup Partners with The Sandbox for NFT-based Avatars to Celebrate Diversity

Blockchain technology has created a massive impact on various industries, and the beauty industry is no exception. L'Oreal-owned NYX Makeup has joined The Sandbox Metaverse and People of Crypto to take its first step toward incorporating blockchain technology into the beauty industry with the goal of educating consumers on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

NFT

Customer Engagement

Beauty

Metaverse

Retail

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 1, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Announces Project Guardian

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has introduced Project Guardian, a pilot initiative focused on digital assets using tokenization on public blockchains. The project includes established financial institutions operating as “trust anchors.” One of the project’s initial pilots will involve tokenized foreign exchange and government bond transactions and includes participation from JP Morgan, DBS Bank, and Marketnode, a joint venture between the SGX Group and Temasek. SGX is Singapore’s stock exchange.

Digital Asset Custody

Government

Tokenization

Traditional Finance (TradFi)

Wealth Management

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:May 31, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

One Of The Largest Real Estate Developers In Brazil Now Accepts Bitcoin

Gafisa, one of Brazil’s largest real estate developers, is now accepting Bitcoin as payment for real estate. One of the motivators for Gafisa to accept Bitcoin is to bypass intermediaries. Real estate transactions involve many parties, like banks, real estate agents, brokers, payment processors, etc. Gafisa has partnered with Foxbit and will be using its solution for Bitcoin payments.

Real Estate

Payments

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:May 23, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Liechtenstein Plans to Add Bitcoin as Payment Option for Government Services

Liechtenstein, a small European country known for its favorable regulatory environment for fintech and blockchain startups, is considering allowing its citizens to pay for government services with Bitcoin, according to a recent announcement by the country's Prime Minister, Daniel Risch. The Bitcoin would be instantly exchanged for Swiss francs, the country’s national currency.

Payments

Government

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:May 23, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Robinhood Announces Plans for Web3 Crypto Wallet

Robinhood, the very popular investment platform for retail traders, has revealed its plans to launch a Web3 crypto wallet, catering to decentralized finance (DeFi) traders and non-fungible token (NFT) buyers. This plan signals Robinhood's entry into the growing field of Web3 and highlights its intention to expand its crypto offerings beyond traditional trading.

Wallet Technology

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:May 17, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Mattel and Balmain Partner to Launch High-Fashion NFT Collection and Auction

Barbie by Mattel is at it again with a new high-fashion non-fungible token (NFT) collection in partnership with Balmain. Barbie's fashion is undergoing a transformative digital experience with the introduction of NFTs exclusively crafted by the French luxury brand. People will be able to purchase these unique and collectible digital fashion pieces during an exclusive auction through Mattel Creations hosted on mintNFT.

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Fan Engagement

Toys and Craft Supplies

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:March 2, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Art2People To Work on Mercedes G-Class-Inspired Series of “NF-G” NFT

With the blessings of Mercedes-Benz, which is beginning to feel its way around the world of blockchain, Art2People plans to develop an exclusive non-fungible token (NFT) collection centered around the car manufacturer’s G-Class vehicle line of sport utility vehicles (commonly referred to as “G-Wagons”). The initiative involves commissioning five NFT artists to create a series of G-Class-inspired artworks using their own distinctive style.

NFT

Automotive

Customer Engagement

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:January 18, 2022

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

MG Motor India to be the First Automaker in India to Launch NFTs

MG Motor India has announced the launch of its first collection of 1,111 non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and it will start selling the NFTs on December 28, 2021. They will launch on KoineArth’s NgageN platform, which has been customized specifically for MG’s transactions. The automaker is making history by becoming the first of its kind to launch NFTs in India.

NFT

Automotive

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:December 16, 2021

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Paramount Starts Project to Launch NFTs Across its Media Portfolio

Legacy media companies are continuing to pursue their Web3 ambitions. Media giant Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) has partnered with Recur to bring its iconic IP and franchises to the blockchain via digital assets such as collectible NFTs. These franchises include the organization’s popular media brands such as CBS, MTV, Showtime, Paramount Pictures, BET, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central.

NFT

Fan Engagement

Entertainment

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:October 13, 2021

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

DraftKings to Launch Digital Marketplace and Sports-related NFTs

DraftKings is taking the plunge into Web3 with plans to create the DraftKings Marketplace. The DraftKings Marketplace will be a digital collectibles ecosystem that will allow the online gambling enterprise to curate NFT drops, support secondary sales of NFTs, and provide a platform for its community to seamlessly buy, sell, and trade digital collectibles directly within their DraftKings account.

NFT

NFT Marketplace

Sports

Gambling

Fan Engagement

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:June 21, 2021

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Destinia Adds Payment Support for 5 New Cryptocurrencies to Use for Travel Bookings

Destinia, a popular European online travel agency, has introduced an array of crypto payment options for its users. Now, when booking hotel reservations, flights, travel packages, or train tickets, users can conveniently pay using six different cryptocurrencies. While Destinia has accepted Bitcoin since 2014, it has expanded its crypto horizon to include Bitcoin Cash, Eros, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dash.

Payments

Travel

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:November 18, 2019

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1 min read

Blockchain Adoption Tracker

Sacramento Kings NBA Team Becomes First Major Professional Sports Franchise to Adopt Bitcoin Payments

The Sacramento Kings announced they will be not only the first NBA team to accept Bitcoin payments but also the first major professional sports franchise to allow its fans to engage with the cryptocurrency. The team has partnered with BitPay, the world’s largest payment processor for virtual currencies, to process Bitcoin payments.

Payments

Retail

Sports

Ticketing

By Elizabeth Morrison

Published:January 16, 2014

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1 min read

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