Category: World Economic Forum

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 Casper Labs Helps Enterprises With Distributed Ledger Deployments

Blockchain Journal's editor-in-chief David Berlind meets up with Casper Labs 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 Casper Labs 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

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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 wil...

World Economic Forum

By David BerlindPublished: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 ...

World Economic Forum DLT Strategy

By David BerlindPublished: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 fa...

World Economic Forum Smart Contracts Interoperability

By David BerlindPublished: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, accordin...

World Economic Forum DLT Strategy

By David BerlindPublished: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) an...

World Economic Forum

By David BerlindPublished: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 ...

World Economic Forum

By David BerlindPublished: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 reputa...

World Economic Forum DLT Strategy

By David BerlindPublished: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 Econ...

World Economic Forum Centralized Exchange (CEX)Decentralized Exchange (DEX)Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

By David BerlindPublished: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 a...

World Economic Forum

By David BerlindPublished:January 18, 2023

Interview