Canadian Company Launches a Blockchain-Based App for Coronavirus Detection

Maria Rodríguez
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Canadian Company Launches a Blockchain-Based App for Coronavirus Detection

The tool would notify health authorities of possible contagions through a report based on blockchain technology.

VitalHub Corp., the renowned Canadian technology company, announced the launch of an application that would be able to perform a coronavirus detection test using blockchain technology. The Canadian company reported that Sunny Side Home would use the tool in the care area intended for pandemic control in the Waterloo region.

The developers of this application followed a request that the authorities of the care center prepared. In this way, according to the official statement, the company developed a solution called DOCit.

This tool is responsible for evaluating the symptoms of Covid-19 and offers a probable result on the infection. The use of blockchain technology supports the creation of this new method and could be a quick solution to prevent the increase of contagions in that place.

A report that the solution conducted revealed that DOCit ​​will have the main function of helping to elaborate “detection tasks”. This, in turn, will create a preliminary report on possible infections. Besides, it would allow notifying the medical authorities of the care center, as well as the health agencies of the country and the region.

In a recent interview with Julie Wheeler, Administrator for SunnySide Home, the representative of the company commented on how it is necessary to have an electronic detection tool like this one available to the care center.

“When we reached out to VitalHub to help us with resident screening they were able to develop and implement something in 24 hours. Every minute counts when it comes to safety, having the capacity to respond to our needs so quickly is what every Long-Term Care Home needs”, Wheeler said.

One of the most outstanding characteristics of DOCit ​​is having a complete record of each person, evaluating in real-time risk factors such as previous respiratory diseases, as well as the known Covid-19 symptoms, such as cough, fever, headache, and breathing difficulties. Because the tool shares this record in real-time with the authorities, these authorities could work to stop the number of future infections.

On the other hand, the CEO of VitalHub commented that solutions like this one are useful since the countries must do everything they can combat the Covid-19.

“As a home-specific, configurable assessment, the DOCit solution provides more in-depth analysis of COVID patients, equipping care providers with the ability to identify trends in symptoms and groups of affected individuals quickly and early on, which we have learned is of critical importance in fighting against the pandemic”.

Blockchain ​​Solutions to Fight Against Covid-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) has shown a deep interest in using blockchain-based tools for the detection and prevention of the new disease. In recent weeks, the organization gave its approval to use these applications in some places where the use of clinical detection tests could be scarce, this would serve as identification for possible contagions, and prevent their spread.

According to a press release published on March 28th, the WHO had already contacted some of the most important blockchain technology companies to develop tools that facilitate the work of detecting Covid-19.

In this way, it is possible that shortly there will be blockchain solutions that help detect possible infections without the need to leave home. Then, it will be possible to alert the competent health authorities.

By María Rodríguez

New Zealand Warns Its Citizens About Possible Scam in “Profit Bitcoin”

Maria Rodríguez
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New Zealand Warns Its Citizens About Possible Scam in “Profit Bitcoin”

The platform promised its users earnings of up to USD 13,000 per day in less than 20 minutes if using its alleged BTC trading software.

The number of scams is increasing while the world is experiencing Covid-19 pandemic. This situation happens since some criminals want to take advantage of this delicate situation. For this reason, some government entities have taken strong surveillance measures to avoid thefts on digital platforms.

In this way, the New Zealand regulatory body issued a statement raising an alert about a possible scam on the website called “Profit Bitcoin”. The regulator further reports that the number of cryptocurrency scams has increased since the start of the pandemic. Therefore, the public body warns its citizens about possible Bitcoin (BTC) investment scams.

The New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA) published the statement last Tuesday, April 6th. This document claims that the web platform “Profit Bitcoin” conducts actions that may be suspicious. Besides, it suggests to the population to avoid investing in Profit Bitcoin.

The FMA statement indicates that the website promises its users a new method to get rich with Bitcoin. According to FMA’s indications, the platform explains that by using advanced software the user could obtain gains up to 99.4% accuracy in the BTC “trades”.

The Scam Included Government Authorities with Fake Movements

New Zealand authorities highlighted that the platform does not have the necessary permissions to operate in the country. The authorities also said that the platform, in turn, has all the signs of a common scam.

The official New Zealand regulator said in the statement that Profit Bitcoin committed serious infractions by including images of government authorities in its promotions. According to investigations by Theprofitbtc.com, which is the regulatory authority’s office, the platform would have used photographs of Jacinda Ardern, who is the Prime Minister of New Zealand, to promote the use of the software on some social networks such as Facebook.

Regarding what Profit Bitcoin specifically does, the statement reports that the platform is engaged in trading businesses with some of the most widely used cryptocurrencies on the market. But the alleged scam can be found in the software that the platform offers its users.

Once the user downloads the software “free of charge” (or free), some kind of deception could occur when giving personal data or trying to conduct a transaction. The false promise includes that the user could receive up to $ 13,000 in daily earnings just by registering on the page.

Besides, the software also includes the premise that “users will have a minimum of work”, so the platform offers its users less than half an hour of effort. “Profit Bitcoin members generally earn a minimum of $ 13,000 per day. Our members work an average of 20 minutes a day or less. Because the software handles trading, the amount of work required is minimal”, the stamen explains.

In this way, New Zealand authorities want to prevent its users and avoid more scams that could affect users.

By María Rodríguez

Deutsche Bank Company: Coronavirus Pandemic Could Benefit CBDC Development

Maria Rodríguez
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Deutsche Bank Company: Coronavirus Pandemic Could Benefit CBDC Development

Governments could boost digital money alternatives to prevent the spread of the disease.

The current crisis that the lung disease Covid-19 generated could boost the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). This virus has caused serious economic problems worldwide. However, CBDCs can become the most viable option to face the limitations resulting from the quarantine that citizens are facing in recent months.

In this sense, the macro strategist of the financial company Deutsche Bank, Marion Laboure, stated her opinion regarding this situation on her Twitter account. According to Laboure, the pandemic could be the reason why the world’s largest central banks are considering promoting digital alternatives.

The increasing risk of Covid-19 spreading more strongly may lead banks to think about more efficient solutions, according to a series of tweets published by the expert last April 3rd. CBDCs could benefit the most since governments need reliable and safe alternatives.

CBDCs Could Prevent Coronavirus from Spreading

One of the main measures that China took last February to prevent the spread of Covid-19 was to suspend the use of cash. These types of protocols emerged after an investigation discovered in 2008 that the Influenza virus could survive up to 17 days on cash.

According to Laboure, this action shows that governments can consider the use of cash as a risk factor in circumstances such as the ones we see today. Therefore, some financial institutions may be looking for new ways to boost digital money transactions to avoid risks. This decision could be another opportunity for digital currencies.

Mentioning the same idea, the official Deutsche Bank also supports the solution. “A once-in-a-century pathogen demands once-in-a-century solutions. An obvious place to start is to accelerate the inevitable shift toward (digital cash)”. The institution sent this message through its official Twitter account at the beginning of April 2020.

Supporting the thesis on the risk associated with the use of cash during the pandemic, Laboure published an article last March 19th. She explained, along with other experts in the field, that it is imperative to take digital measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19.

“While Chinese authorities have been destroying banknotes that have potentially come into contact with the coronavirus, Western countries remain woefully behind not just in their response to the pandemic, but also in adopting digital payments. One silver lining to the Covid-19 crisis is that this may soon change”, the article says. Laboure considers that Western countries are having problems, this way, to face the pandemic that has killed 108.614 people around the world.

Although collaborators of Laboure supported her words in the article, the affirmation contrast with the research of the Deutsche Bank. The research published in January only recognizes the decrease in cash payments in China. However, the study details that money can still spend a long time in circulation and Central Bank Digital Currencies would not replace fiat money in a short time either.

By María Rodríguez

After First Halving, Bitcoin Cash Mining Profitability Drops

Alexander Salazar
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After First Halving, Bitcoin Cash Mining Profitability Drops

It was necessary to invest almost two hours to mine block 630,001. The price, hash rate and mining difficulty of Bitcoin Cash look stable, at the moment.

Bitcoin Cash, a cryptocurrency born after a Bitcoin fork in 2017, has just undergone its first halving. The mining of block 630,000 of this chain occurred at 8:19 in the morning (-4:00 UTC) last April 8th, 2020.

When this event occurs, there is a reduction in the issuance of new coins per block by half. In other words, if each new block in the chain issued 12.5 new BCH before the halving, each mined block will now issue only 6.25 new BCH. This protocol starts from the original Bitcoin code and occurs every 210,000 mined blocks (approximately every four years).

Bitcoin Cash after First Halving

In the beginning, there was some uncertainty in the Bitcoin community, since it was necessary to invest almost two hours to mine block 630.001. However, the Bitcoin Cash network is stable at the moment.

Thereafter, the production of blocks gradually reached the normal rate of one new block every 10 minutes, on average. However, hours before the halving, there was a reduction in the production time of new blocks by almost half, averaging between 12 and 15 blocks per hour. This occurred although the BCH network adjusts its difficulty of mining with each new block mined, instead of every 2016 blocks, as in the case of Bitcoin (BTC).

After its first halving, the Bitcoin Cash hash rate has not yet experienced drastic drops, contrary to expectations. The BCH hash rate has fluctuated between 2.4 PH/s and 5 PH/s in recent weeks and between 3.3 PH/s and 4.8 PH/s in the last few days, according to data from Coin Dance.

Some people consider that only a 100% price increase or a significant reduction in mining difficulty would prevent an exodus of miners. However, the Bitcoin Cash network has not yet fulfilled this prediction. According to data from Coin Gecko, the price of BCH at the time of writing this article is USD 263 and its fluctuations have kept pace with the overall market in recent days, so the price is not what has kept BCH miners in this network.

The most surprising thing when analyzing the statistics of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV is that mining BTC right now is 80% more profitable than mining BCH, according to Coin Dance. This makes it even more curious that, until now, there been no stampede of Bitcoin Cash miners towards Bitcoin.

Upcoming Reductions in Cryptocurrency Issuance

Approximately another four years remain until the next Bitcoin Cash halving to take place. However, Bitcoin (BTC) is just a few blocks from its next halving and Bitcoin Cash Satoshi’s Vision (BSV had its first halving last April 9th. Regarding the third halving of Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, it should occur on May 11th.

The same as happened with Bitcoin Cash, the issuance of BSV and Bitcoin will drop to 6.25 per mined block. Even though BCH and BSV are much newer cryptocurrencies than Bitcoin, all three share their pre-fork history and part of their code.

By Alexander Salazar

According to Analyst, Bitcoin Exhibits Safe-Haven Properties

Alexander Salazar
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According to Analyst, Bitcoin Exhibits Safe-Haven Properties

Bitcoin resisted the March 12 drop better than other markets. Willy Woo, a recognized analyst, compared BTC to gold and the S&P 500 index.

After the fall that the markets worldwide suffered as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, Bitcoin could be exhibiting properties as a safe haven of value, according to Willy Woo.

The renowned market analyst stated the reasons why Bitcoin could have such strength when comparing Bitcoin with traditional markets. He said that the cryptocurrency was able to overcome one of the biggest market falls ever occurring in recent history.

The big drop that Woo refers to is the one that the markets worldwide saw on March 12th of this year. It is important to remember that Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market had similar movements regarding the drop. However, Willy Woo noted that the first cryptocurrency was beginning to decouple from the fall that traditional markets suffered.

On April 4th, Woo posted on his Twitter account a brief analysis in which he compared the graphs of Bitcoin, gold and the S&P 500 index since 2015. The analyst assures that this is the first time that Bitcoin has put its properties as a safe haven to test. In the image that Woo shared, his followers can see that the drop in the price of Bitcoin was less violent than that of other markets.

Notably, Woo is a partner and analyst at Adaptive Capital, a crypto hedge fund with a focus on on-chain analytics. Apparently, after the sharp fall in the price of Bitcoin on March 12th, the company announced that it would close all its operations due to the losses that it recorded.

Bitcoin’s Price Regains Its Strength

Although the fall of Bitcoin in March made many people lose money, this market is currently sending interesting signals. According to data from Whale Alert, there have been transactions with very high amounts of Bitcoin. For example, at 11 p.m. on April 6th, there was a mobilization of around 249,000 BTC (equivalent to USD 1.8 billion).

The mobilization of large amounts of Bitcoin does not guarantee that this will have any impact on the market. However, the activity of large whales in the market could be boosting the price of BTC. Last April 6th, the price of BTC went from USD 6,800 to a maximum of USD 7,440, a movement that represented an increase of 8%.

Furthermore, the volume of cryptocurrency trading has increased in the first quarter of 2020, compared to the last quarter of 2019. This growing activity in the cryptocurrency market also has its reasons related to the fall on March 12th.

To conclude, the first cryptocurrency experienced one of the worst falls in its history, but it managed to re-emerge as it has done in previous opportunities. Besides, it has proved to be a safe haven asset, since its holders can store value in situations of extreme economic crisis. The confidence that its users’ place in Bitcoin is what has allowed it to continue to be the main cryptocurrency in the market.

By Alexander Salazar

WHO, IBM and Oracle Will Handle Data on COVID-19 through Blockchain

Maria Rodríguez
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WHO, IBM and Oracle Will Handle Data on COVID-19 through Blockchain

The idea is to check the information related to the pandemic, detect cases, and help control the disease. This tool can bring technologists, data scientists, and public health officials the data they need to work.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will use blockchain technology together with IBM and Oracle to create a data center and check the information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus has caused the death of 88,301 people worldwide. According to Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, EE. UU.), there were 1,483,323 people infected with the virus until the night of this April 9th.

For this reason, and considering that the virus has spread rapidly around the world (in just four months), these entities need secure tools to store and share the official information. This is how blockchain emerges as an alternative.

The name of this platform will be MiPasa. This site will be like COVID-19 research and data collection center to assist in pandemic control and eradication. The developers of the project hope that the platform will be very useful whilst they create more tools for data analysis and to detect new coronavirus cases.

About the Project

Hacera is the Company that designed MiPasa, which is a platform built on Hyperledger Fabric. IBM and Oracle are other important actors that participate in the project. However, the China Health Commission, Microsoft, and Johns Hopkins University are some of the other actors involved in the plan.

“MiPasa is designed to make it possible to synthesize data sources, address their inconsistencies, help identify errors or misreporting, and seamlessly integrate credible new feeds”, a press release explained.

The official information also added: “We hope that this tool can help technologists, data scientists, and public health officials by giving them the data they need at scale to respond and devise solutions that can help subdue the outbreak or support recovery”.

In this way, the platform will be an open data center that will use blockchain technology to verify the veracity of the data that the platform will store regarding the new coronavirus pandemic. This is according to Jonathan Levi, CEO of Hacera.

Besides, Levi explained why they decided to create the project: “We feel that there is not enough information to make decisions based on the information. How can we help all people who would like to have access to the data, analyze it, and provide more knowledge?”, he commented.

IBM Blockchain CTO, Gari Singh, said they agreed with everyone that it was important to “start a consortium” as soon as possible. “We started off brainstorming ideas on how to collect, provide, and use verified information about the virus. It’s not that we were trying to force blockchain into this solution, but we thought we need to replicate data, we need to have trusted sources, we need to make sure it can’t be tampered with”.

More Project to Face the Disease

IBM is also working on the “Call for Code” initiative. The goal is to quickly create tools that can help curb the crisis. Singh added that, in the coming days or weeks, the platform could also include information related to coronavirus test data.

“You could think of a simple set of applications for drive-through testing. Using an iPad, you could enter some information without having to know who the person was. We can start to collect that and build new applications of that”, Singh said.

To conclude, Jonathan Levi said that a large number of companies are offering their data to help curb the virus. “Lots of data tool providers are getting involved. Everybody is rushing to help and nobody is charging a cent”, he said.

By María Rodríguez

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