Bitcoin’s Growth according to Concentration of Funds by Users

Alexander Salazar
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Bitcoin’s Growth according to Concentration of Funds by Users

The seven main exchanges account for 13% of the total issuance of Bitcoin. The new indicators allow measuring the growth and adoption of the first cryptocurrency.

It was recently announced that Glassnode, a research firm specializing in Bitcoin markets, launched a new set of statistical indicators. This report shows how the number of new Bitcoin addresses increases more quickly than the number of “entities” that enter the market.

These entities, both individuals and platforms, safeguard their funds or those belonging to someone else distributing them in different Bitcoin addresses. They could also be driving the massive generation of new addresses as they enter and increase their participation in the network.

Details of the relationship between both growth metrics (addresses and entities) appear in the Glassnode publication. The text shows the following indicators: number of new entities, growth of funds managed by the entities, number of whales (single entities with more than 1,000 BTC in their addresses), active entities (sending and receiving), active entities only as receivers, and active entities only as issuers of Bitcoin transactions.

The report seeks to answer the question of how many active users are in the Bitcoin network. This is based on the premise that the Bitcoin addresses may contain funds of more than one individual (such as the address of an exchange). Besides, a single entity can also control several Bitcoin addresses.

According to the Glassnode analysis, the number of entities that own Bitcoin in January 2020 was 23.1 million, 18.5% less than the existing number of addresses with a balance greater than zero (28.4 million). With this, they seek to make the distinction between entities and individual users.

In the same way, the analysts explain that the research method consists of grouping the addresses around the entities. Because of this, the number of these new entities becomes a smaller fraction of the number of new addresses in the network.

They add that the daily number of new addresses in the Bitcoin network in 2019 exceeded 355,000, while the number of new entities was just over 100,000, with a 28% variation between the two measurements.

According to Glassnode, a very particular moment in which both metrics were reversed was in early 2018. This suggests an increase in the activity of old (already existing) users on the network, rather than new users joining it.

The integration of new addresses with a balance of less than zero is substantially more unstable than the growth of entities. However, it does not mean that they have not had consistent growth over time.

Glassnode indicates that, throughout the history of Bitcoin, the daily growth of entities regarding the growth of new addresses has only been negative for 21 days. In its opinion, this indicates a steady growth in the adoption of Bitcoin in the last 10 years.

The study also determines that about 75 entities controlled 10,000 BTC or more last January, while 7 entities had 100,000 BTC or more. These 7 entities are large exchanges such as Coinbase, Huobi, Binance, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Kraken and Bittrex. All of them together own 2,350 million BTC, 13% of the maximum Bitcoin issuance (21 million).

Users can consult the balances of the exchange houses online. In February, mass media reported that the deposits in exchanges were at their lowest point in 3 years. However, specialists expect the deposits to increase again after the next halving.

By Alexander Salazar

Future of Private Cryptocurrencies, According to Vitalik Buterin

Alexander Salazar
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0
Future of Private Cryptocurrencies, According to Vitalik Buterin

In recent days, the creator of Ethereum expressed his opinion on this issue. He stated that the secret for their success lies in decentralization.

In mid-2019, there was a debate that marked a change in the cryptocurrency market and the world. It is no other than the controversy that Facebook aroused about Libra, which provoked multiple discussions all over the world.

Libra’s influence was such that Central Banks around the world decided to launch their digital currencies. In recent days, the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, brought the issue back, supporting private digital currencies.

Issue Debated

As this issue was debated some months ago, it is good to remember the main foundations of the discussion on private and public currencies. In this way, it can be easier to understand Vitalik Buterin’s points of view.

When Facebook announced Libra, the discussion on whether private companies can and should own digital currencies emerged. The reason for the loud noises about the issue was the handling of information for fear that the companies would have too much power.

The governments were those that mainly feared about this issue, even going as far as to question on several occasions Facebook and Buterin himself.

In the end, the administrators of a country are the maximum representatives of the public sector, theoretically representing the citizens’ interests and ensuring their security.

Therefore, this discussion gives rise to Central Bank Digital Cryptocurrencies (CBDC), a proposal that seeks to compete with private digital currencies. On various occasions, Crypto World Journal has published articles including this subject.

Vitalik Buterin

Once the issue to be discussed is known, it is easier to observe the comments on digital private currencies that Buterin made, highlighting that he proposes decentralization as a fundamental element.

Last March 4th, Buterin talked about his position on digital currencies, specifically about the power of decentralization, even without blockchain.

He stated that digitalization cannot be stopped and that decentralized digital currencies would be more favorable to many than State-controlled CBDCs.

The creator of Ethereum noted that there are three existing types of digital currencies: sovereign, corporate and decentralized. He also highlighted the challenges faced by CBDCs.

He believes that the main challenge with central banks, and even with corporate cryptocurrencies, is the concentration of power, storage or data collection. He explained that potentially central intermediaries can exercise a very fine degree of control over who can and cannot participate in these systems.

Vitalik envisages that the most attractive future currency will be decentralized and private as it would be more resilient to “centralized bottlenecks.

He said that people have been seeing a lot of situations where even perfectly legal things eventually become restricted. This occurs because the administrator of the centralized bottlenecks just wants to exclude a given category of users. This leads Vitalik to think that that is the reason why people will continue to be interested in fully decentralizing digital currencies.

Through his comments, Vitalik Buterin proposes the solution to last year’s discussion. Even if blockchain technology is not used, the decentralization of digital currencies is the key element for their future.

By Alexander Salazar

Blockchain-Based Platform Will Support Schools Struck by Coronavirus

Maria Rodríguez
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Blockchain-Based Platform Will Support Schools Struck by Coronavirus

Odem will offer free access to its platform to schools and universities affected. Oral Roberts University, in the United States, is looking to upload 500 of its courses to the platform.

Due to the current coronavirus epidemic, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and other countries recently suspended all in-person classes in schools and universities to prevent more infections.

Around 120 schools had to suspend classes, mostly in the regions of Brittany and Oise, in the north of Paris, according to the French Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

Probably, more schools will have to join the temporary closure in France and Italy, which would further affect the students’ school year.

For this reason, blockchain-based education technology provider Odem announced it will offer free access to its platform to schools and universities facing disruptions as a result of the coronavirus.

In a press release published last March 9th, Odem states it is offering its “online integrated learning platform and certification management system free for use to schools and educators to continue educating students until it is safe to return to campus”.

In this way, Odem is offering its online integrated learning platform and certification management system for those countries where the virus has prompted the closing of schools, colleges, and universities.

The interest of Blockchain Increasing

The Odem co-founders state that Italy, Ireland, Germany and Cairo (Egypt) are interested in using this blockchain-based platform to help their students. They added that a United States-based university is exploring uploading 500 of its courses to the platform in response to the coronavirus threat.

“Oral Roberts University is looking to put 500 of their courses on the Odem platform to prepare them to do the virtual classwork, given the current environment with the coronavirus”, they said.

Richard Maaghul, Odem’s CEO and co-founder, commented that coronavirus “is a big concern for us and we want to make sure that we do everything possible to assist in keeping the education doors open, even if it has to be virtual”.

Johanna Maaghul, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Odem’s, added: “We can track students’ activity working remotely so that when students go back to school, the institutions can track what they’ve accomplished and register that information on the blockchain platform and even bring it back into their traditional accreditation systems”.

Main Benefits

Odem would allow students, educators, employers, and institutions to be able to access and request education, education verification, and credentialing of their academic records.

Michael Mathews, Vice president of Technology and Innovation at Oral Roberts University, explained that they chose Odem due to its ease of integration with existing learning systems.

Blockchain to Fight against Coronavirus

Last February, the Chinese government announced it deployed blockchain technologies for almost 20 applications that are related to the response of the country to face this epidemic.

One example is the association between the Major Chinese payments platform Alipay, the Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission, and the Economy and Information Technology Department to launch a blockchain platform able to track the allocation of relief supplies and medical supplies.

The Xi’an city has used blockchain to facilitate patient consultations and manage health records, something very important to have control and improve the traditional work they currently execute.

By María Rodríguez

US Multinational Boeing Sells Airplane Parts Using Blockchain

Maria Rodríguez
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GoDirect is the name of the platform that will help prevent the falsification of important documents and will facilitate the sale of aircraft parts.

The American multinational company Boeing recently partnered with multinational aerospace conglomerate Honeywell. Both companies are working to track and sell $1 billion worth of excess airplane parts using blockchain technology.

These operations would be possible through a blockchain platform called GoDirect, which belongs to Honeywell and now would support the sale and track of airplane parts. In this sense, GoDirect will allow determining the origin of aircrafts parts to track them later. Besides, the platform will ensure these parts meet safety standards, which is the most important task that the tool will run soon.

Lisa Butters, general manager of Honeywell, informed that some of the available parts that the company has were uploaded to the GoDirect trade marketplace last weekend. This means that Boeing is almost ready to start using the development.

Multiple Advantages

The traditional aviation industry works manually by issuing paper certificates. In that way, it stores information related to each aircraft part, its original manufacturer, and the current safety standards they follow. But now blockchain technology will allow optimizing all this work.

Thanks to Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), the authenticity of the relevant documentation related to the aircraft parts can be certified. Blockchain technology will also help prevent the falsification of documents. Taking into account that documents must go to numerous places in the traditional process, they become vulnerable to counterfeiting.

Increasing Sales

Butters considers that only 3% of the USD 14 billion market takes place online. For this reason, GoDirect Trade seeks to open the aircraft parts industry up to digital commerce and keep the information unalterable.

During its first year of operation, GoDirect Trade had sales of USD 7 million, according to Butters. By the end of 2020, Butters expects the platform to have made USD 25 million in sales, USD 100 million by 2021, and USD 1 billion by 2022. “We just celebrated our first anniversary. We are just trying to survive and have really good exponential growth”, she commented.

How Does It Work?

Honeywell’s GoDirect platform is a customized version of Hyperledger Fabric’s open-source code, launched less than two years ago. Hyperledger Fabric requires companies to have access to the platform.

Then, Boeing had to set up a digital storefront on GoDirect Trade. Once the storefront is created, trusted companies can upload their materials directly to the platform by uploading a text file to Honeywell.

About Boeing

Boeing is a company located in Chicago that designs, manufactures and sells airplanes, helicopters, missiles, and satellites. Currently, there are approximately 6,500 GoDirect users registered, representing 2,400 companies and the community promises to continue growing.

There are other similar projects. This month, it was announced that the MRO Blockchain Alliance established a blockchain consortium to authenticate commercial aircraft spare parts.

Among the members of the organization are Bolloré Logistics, Cathay Pacific, FLYdocs, HAECO Group, Ramco Systems, the International Aeronautical Telecommunications Society (SITA), and Willis Lease Finance Corporation.

In this way, different companies are using blockchain in a sector where over 25 million spare parts are processed per year. In the same vein, a technology like DLT could be very useful to automate and make some processes safer; something that, progressively, would benefit directly to all aircraft users around the world.

By María Rodríguez

Blockchain-Based Platform Will Support Schools Struck by Coronavirus

Maria Rodríguez
-
0
Blockchain-Based Platform Will Support Schools Struck by Coronavirus

Odem will offer free access to its platform to schools and universities affected. Oral Roberts University, in the United States, is looking to upload 500 of their courses to the platform.

Due to the current coronavirus epidemic, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and other countries recently suspended all in-person classes in schools and universities to prevent more infections.

Around 120 schools had to suspend classes, mostly in the regions of Brittany and Oise, in the north of Paris, according to the French Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

Probably, more schools will have to join the temporary closure in France and Italy, which would further affect the students’ school year.

For this reason, blockchain-based education technology provider Odem announced it will offer free access to its platform to schools and universities facing disruptions as a result of the coronavirus.

In a press release published last March 9th, Odem states it is offering its “online integrated learning platform and certification management system free for use to schools and educators to continue educating students until it is safe to return to campus”.

In this way, Odem is offering its online integrated learning platform and certification management system for those countries where the virus has prompted the closing of schools, colleges, and universities.

The interest of Blockchain Increasing

The Odem co-founders state that Italy, Ireland, Germany and Cairo (Egypt) are interested in using this blockchain-based platform to help their students. They added that a United States-based university is exploring uploading 500 of its courses to the platform in response to the coronavirus threat.

“Oral Roberts University is looking to put 500 of their courses on the Odem platform to prepare them to do the virtual classwork, given the current environment with the coronavirus”, they said.

Richard Maaghul, Odem’s CEO and co-founder, commented that coronavirus “is a big concern for us and we want to make sure that we do everything possible to assist in keeping the education doors open, even if it has to be virtual”.

Johanna Maaghul, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Odem’s, added: “We can track students’ activity working remotely so that when students go back to school, the institutions can track what they’ve accomplished and register that information on the blockchain platform and even bring it back into their traditional accreditation systems”.

Main Benefits

Odem would allow students, educators, employers, and institutions to be able to access and request education, education verification, and credentialing of their academic records.

Michael Mathews, Vice president of Technology and Innovation at Oral Roberts University, explained that they chose Odem due to its ease of integration with existing learning systems.

Blockchain to Fight against Coronavirus

Last February, the Chinese government announced it deployed blockchain technologies for almost 20 applications that are related to the response of the country to face this epidemic.

One example is the association between the Major Chinese payments platform Alipay, the Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission, and the Economy and Information Technology Department to launch a blockchain platform able to track the allocation of relief supplies and medical supplies.

The Xi’an city has used blockchain to facilitate patient consultations and manage health records, something very important to have control and improve the traditional work they currently execute.

By María Rodríguez

Samsung Will Use Blockchain ​​to Establish a Payment System for the European Union

Maria Rodríguez
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0
Samsung Will Use Blockchain ​​to Establish a Payment System for the European Union

The company established a partnership with the Israeli company Credorax, intending to develop this project.

A special team of the South Korean technology company Samsung is working on creating a blockchain-based payment system that could benefit the European Union (EU) banking and merchants across the continent. The company’s Business Technology Division is responsible for the technological solution.

Samsung established an alliance with Credorax, a fintech company of Israeli origin. The Korean media recently reported through a memorandum of understanding that said multinational established a set of measures for the development of the tool.

According to the information, the solution seeks to register more effectively all information and data related to payments and operations in EU banking. The developers also expect to get the information processed instantly in the accounting books.

Among some aspects that are known to date, the tool will be based on Nexledger Universal, the blockchain platform of Samsung SDS. It was also confirmed that technology created by Brity Works is incorporated into the project.

All of this will allow processing payments immediately as well as to make possible system automation. Brity Works is a Samsung affiliate company that pays special attention to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and currently it is working with blockchain technology.

Although the name of the payment system will not be known until now, some experts conclude that the launch of this solution is an essential part of the company’s plans for the European economic sector.

In this way, the president and CEO of Samsung SDS, Hong Won Pyo, said that the alliance with Credorax will bring a valuable opportunity for the company, which seeks to establish its brand in the payment area of ​​Europe.

“Together with Credorax, which specializes in payment solutions, Samsung SDS will try to expand its business in the European sectors that seek digital transformation”, Won Pyo said.

Credorax has already had important links with financial and technological companies in the European Union, managing to implement its work with renowned actors in the region’s economy. The company founded in 2007 has managed to establish its services in countries such as China, Australia, and the United States of America.

At the beginning of the current year, Samsung SDS changed its original concept to include finance among its areas, using different kinds of technology. Finally, it placed the financial negotiations as the main axis among its business with the use of technology, which led to these important changes. Besides, Samsung SDS achieved a wide growth within the technology companies worldwide.

Im Soo Hyun, Director of Strategies, mentioned that the company achieved “the successful foray into the field of Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology”.

This is not the only alliance that the company has established to expand its ranks and growth. At the end of 2019, Samsung SDS published its partnership with the Israeli-based company QEDIT. The idea is to improve privacy and security for its Nexledger platform.

Besides, at the end of last year, Nexledger launched a system that helps register medical claims within the platform. In this way, blockchain continues showing it could be present in different fields of daily life.  

By María Rodríguez

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