Chilean Companies Launch Blockchain-Based Real Estate Platform

Maria Rodríguez
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Chilean Companies Launch Blockchain-Based Real Estate Platform

The purpose is to make customers feel more secure in the process of buying and selling their properties

The Chilean Real Estate firm Madesal joined Purplex, a company dedicated to accelerate processes related to that commercial sector, in order to launch a platform which allows customers to follow up the entire purchase process of their future homes, thanks to the tools offered by blockchain technology.

According to local media, this development is an instrument that allows Madesal’s clients to know all the process from the signing of the purchase promise to the acquisition of their property, making the process “more reliable” and reducing operational costs.

Felipe Alcérreca, Commercial Manager of Madesal, indicated that not only the buyers of houses or apartments will be able to do a follow-up to the whole purchase process. All the parties involved in the business will be able to follow the process, in case they wish.

With this new platform it will also be possible to review the progress of the purchase processes in the municipalities of Concepción, Santa Juana, and Penco.

Transparency in the Process

Cristóbal Pereira, CEO and founder of Purplex, said what ideas were taken into account to develop this transactional platform. The workers of the company commented that whoever purchases a home, to live or invest in it, seeks reliability and needs to know where their documents are and at what stage the process is.

Purplex Technologies is a company that seeks to provide efficiency and transparency for people and companies. Its main objective is to reduce costs in the Real Estate sector in Latin America, by implementing emerging and / or disruptive technologies, such as blockchain, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), among others, according to what its web page describes.

The system is based on blockchain technology and provides reliability in the process. According to the company, the product is now available to those who buy Real Estate Madesal.

About how to achieve the traceability process and which are other benefits offered to clients, the CEO of Purplex commented that it is also possible to acquire a property by paying it with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Real Estate Sector Adopts Blockchain

In previous opportunities, other companies have used the benefits of blockchain in the world of Real Estate. Recently, the technology company BC Digital Services launched its new communications platform Smartdoc, which allows all the participants in the mortgage sector to enjoy a secure interconnection, thanks to blockchain technology.

In the initiative developed by BC Digital Services participated agencies, such as notaries, registries and financial entities or mortgage comparators to conduct the respective pilot tests.

The new platform also covers the entire process, from the pre-contract to the signing and registration, “securely interconnecting all the parties involved. This allows the borrower to choose notary, schedule dates and know in real time the status of mortgage”, according to a statement issued by the technology company.

Purplex has a multidisciplinary team which has more than 15 years of experience in both areas (Real Estate and technology); therefore, its products, according to its clients, provide valuable services and a clear vision to take the industry to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution and the expansion in the levels of use of distributed accounting technology, which has already been born.

By María Rodríguez

Diamond Standard Will Use Blockchain Technology in Diamond Exchange

Maria Rodríguez
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Diamond Standard Will Use Blockchain Technology in Diamond Exchange

The new solution allows sealing and registering diamonds as well as tracing their origin through Blockchain. It would be possible to exchange diamonds as fast as it is conducted with cryptocurrencies

The possibility of classifying diamonds for exchange in a more efficient way is now possible thanks to blockchain technology.

Diamond Standard, a company dedicated to the sale of diamonds, decided to use a hardware solution based on blockchain technology, according to an official press release.

As the company explained, diamonds offer more advantages than gold does, due to their small size and easy classification. This feature gives diamonds more value per ounce. However, when it comes to exchange processes, diamonds are much harder to standardize than gold is. Because of this, the company created a new blockchain-based token backed by real physical diamonds.

Cormac Kinney, CEO of Diamond Standard, commented that diamonds represent a valuable natural resource. “Each of them is different, so the price also varies. Diamonds are valuable natural resources, but institutional investors cannot use them. Unlike gold and platinum, each diamond is different, so the price is negotiable”, he said.

The U.S. and Bermuda-based company aims to solve this industry problem using blockchain technology combined with a hardware solution. The company sells diamonds in the form of coin-sized discs and credit-card shaped bars. Each Diamond Standard Coin is priced at $10,000 whilst the Diamond Standard Bar is priced at $100,000.

“We created a diamond commodity by grouping sets of diamonds in a fair and transparent way. The sets are fungible, the diamonds are independently certified, and the key is that they are obtained through a regulated exchange, with market-driven price”, Kinney said.

The “Friendly Hand” of Blockchain

Diamond Standard’s new solution is to seal the diamonds, register each of them and trace their origin through the chain of blocks. In this way, it would be possible to exchange diamonds as fast as it is done with cryptocurrencies.

In this way, another of the advantages offered by blockchain technology is that diamond owners can store these precious stones in safe vaults and audit them from anywhere in the world using a smartphone in case they need it, avoiding the risk of saving the diamonds in unsafe places.

“This initiative was only possible with blockchain, which provides a permanent public record of the content and geological origin of each product. Blockchain allows audits and transactions”, Kinney added.

The Diamond Standard Coin is a fungible diamond sets sealed in resin with a military grade wireless encryption chip. Kinney says that this blockchain token can be easily authenticated as well as remotely audited. “Every aspect of the Diamond Standard commodity is public and can be verified by anyone on the blockchain platform”, he says.

The company has also been concerned about the custody of valuables; therefore, it will also develop hardware for custodians to conduct continuous audits of their belongings through the Internet.

Diamond Standard Exchange is currently seeking regulatory approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Once having the request approved, users will be able to trade the Diamond Standard Coin on the exchange platform. Another advantage is that users can hold the commodity themselves or choose a custodian. In this way, blockchain technology continues reaching more and more fields.

By Maria Rodriguez

Microsoft Service Will Allow Corporate Users to Create Blockchain Apps

Maria Rodríguez
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Microsoft Service Will Allow Corporate Users to Create Blockchain Apps

Azure users will be able to create blockchain applications “in a few clicks” and avoiding losses of money

The technology giant Microsoft Corporation launched its Azure Blockchain self-management service, which will be a space for corporate users to develop decentralized applications efficiently and safely, even if they have much or little knowledge in the area.

The company founded by Bill Gates recently gave the information through a press release. In the publication it is detailed that, with this new tool, users will be able to create blockchain applications in a preconfigured network and “in just a few clicks”.

According to Frank Shaw, Director of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, Azure Blockchain, the new platform Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) will allow users to simplify “the creation, management and governance of the chain of blocks of the consortium”.

Alliance with JP Morgan

The important media The Wall Street Journal detailed that the financial company JP Morgan will use the services of Microsoft Azure to promote its blockchain platform based on Ethereum. In this way, Quorum is the first platform based on blockchain technology available through Azure.

Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft, said: “As digital transformation extends beyond an individual organization, companies need solutions that enable them to securely share their business and data processes to drive new business models and reinvent industries. We are delighted to partner with a leader such as JP Morgan to establish a base for companies and partners, and build blockchain networks”.

Microsoft and JP Morgan also agreed to continue working in the near future to solve common problems in the corporate sector, as well as to respond to developers and independent software providers for the creation of blockchain apps in Quorum through Azure. In this sense, Microsoft will offer its engineering knowledge and support for Quorum.

Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, said that the decision to partner with JP Morgan is because Quorum is based on a popular protocol which offers confidential transactions to customers and allows the creation of trusted applications.

Permanent Development

In May 2018, Microsoft launched the Azure Blockchain Workbench, a platform also designed to automate aspects of work related to blockchain technology, in this case, to accelerate and improve the development of blockchain applications, providing a simple infrastructure for developers.

Microsoft has tested Workbench with important clients that have adopted or are adopting blockchain, such as Hapoalim Bank in Israel, which uses the tool to simplify the manual process of issuing guarantees for real estate acquisitions. Nestlé, in Italy, also partnered with Microsoft Digital to pilot a traceability solution for Bacio Perugina.

In the United States, Apttus, a company that automates business, uses Workbench to help banks and asset managers quickly deploy smart contracts. Similarly, in October 2018, Nasdaq integrated Azure technology into its financial framework by allying with Microsoft in order to accelerate its business transactions.

Since the aforementioned companies made said alliance, good references and expectations have been made. Corporate customers who decide to use the Microsoft service, backed by JP Morgan, will have the possibility to boost their blockchain networks quickly, without spending a lot of money. The advantages will make grow the customers list.

By María Rodríguez

Funstrat Analyst Provides Advice: Buy Bitcoin before “Next Bull Run” in 2019

Andres Chavez
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Funstrat Analyst Provides Advice: Buy Bitcoin before “Next Bull Run” in 2019

Bitcoin, the world’s premier cryptocurrency, is currently on the rise after spending weeks with unstable value with a tendency to fall. As of the moment of this writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $5,787.45, which would mean a 3.09 % increase over the last 24 hours.

Only a couple of weeks ago, the token was below $4,000 and struggling to surpass that barrier. Now, however, the bulls have taken over a market that had spent months surrounded by the bears, and the developments of the last few days have prompted experts and specialists around the industry to provide their insight about the possible BTC’s behavior in the short and medium term.

Taking Advantage

According to a report from Bloomberg, which cited specialists over at the market strategy company Fundstrat Global Advisors, the asset’s price is likely to stop its rapid surge in the short term, but that development would mean that investors should take advantage and buy more Bitcoin.

Why? The answer is because the most prominent digital asset in the planet is not done gaining value in the medium and long term. Fundstrat analyst Robert Sluymer, via a note to clients in recent days, stated that even though BTC has shown the marks of a long-term bullish trend, the accumulation phase has not ended.

Bitcoin, which had held on steady in the $6,000-$6,500 range for months up until November, started a steep decline in the middle of that month that saw the cryptocurrency hit yearly lows near the end of 2018. However, it has now gained enough value to achieve its highest level since those mid-November days.

Keep Accumulating

“Use pending pullbacks to continue accumulating Bitcoin in the second quarter in anticipation of a second-half rally through 6,000 resistance,” he observed, signaling volatility should appear in the short term but clarifying that BTC should surpass the $6,000 barrier, which would mean recovery to the levels prior to November’s slump.

The specialist also told clients that “while it’s premature to conclude Bitcoin will not retest support near $4,300, we would encourage traders and investors to remain focused on the bullish longer-term technical profile developing.” He seems to believe there is enough underlying data that suggest future success.

Positive Forecasts

Whilst some pessimistic forecasts appeared at the start of the year, when BTC was at its lowest, right now the bullish sentiment appears to be dominating the crypto scene following Bitcoin’s recovery, and the green indicators of altcoins, as well. Fellow Fundstrat Executive Tom Lee, who in the last few weeks predicted that Bitcoin’s next step would be breaking the $6,000 barrier (which is about to happen if market conditions stay the same,) showed renewed optimism this week, too.

Lee observed, once again, that 2020 should be a big year for Bitcoin. He projects the cryptocurrency to post all-time highs when it comes to value, which would mean surpassing the almost $20,000 it was worth in January 2018, before a long bearish market took place.

By Andres Chavez

Bank of America gets a patent to develop a risk detection system for cryptocurrency transfers based on blockchain

Maria Rodríguez
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Bank of America gets a patent to develop a risk detection system for cryptocurrency transfers based on blockchain

The platform will calculate levels of risk and will give a score to prevent scams. It would allow recognizing suspicious operations

The second bigger bank in The United States, Bank of America, recently received a patent to work on a risk detection system based on blockchain technology. The intention of this important institution is to prevent risks during transactions with cryptocurrencies.

The bank, located in North Carolina, was worried about the current situation with cryptocurrency transfers and swindles. For that reason, it requested the patent with the aim to start its new project.

In this sense, Bank of America obtained the approval of the patent, according to what the financial organization explained during a presentation held in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), at the end of April.

“As technology advances, financial transactions with cryptocurrencies have become more common. For some companies, it would be convenient to calculate the risks of transactions with cryptocurrencies”, the document says.

How Would Be the Process?

The patent includes dispositions to create a system able to calculate the risks in transactions between the bank’s clients and third parties. In addition, the platform will assign a score to indicate if the transfer is secure.

The official text details different transaction processes as a way to guarantee more transparent operations with cryptoactives, in order to make those exchanges more reliable and reduce the risks for all users involved.

The score will allow recognizing suspicious operations. When the system finds any irregular activity, it will start an additional investigation process to approve or not the transaction.

The system will include a processor in charge of receiving the request to execute the transaction with cryptocurrencies between the bank’s clients and third users. This processor could store information in the chain of blocks, determinate the cryptocurrency value, and calculate the “risk score”, looking at previous examples. “The authentication routine is done as part of the transaction process, a transaction of a block of chain or something similar”, the patent explains.

The document also indicates that it is possible to integrate more than only one processor to the system, in order to tag different aspects of all the transactions simultaneously. The text highlights elements such as the public key, the transaction record, and the identification of the cryptocurrencies used.

This information will help to calculate the risk score. The risk factor also could be calculated using the data from the transaction record associated with any part involved in the operation and verifying the IP direction.

This is not the first time that Bank of America gives a tool to the cryptocurrency’s world. Since 2014, the bank has requested 23 patents related to blockchain technology, In August 2018, the institution requested another patent to develop a cryptocurrency storage system for different companies. The name of this project was “Reinforced Storage Device”, and its objective was to store and protect keys as the ones used on blockchain platforms.

In this way, Bank of America continues showing interest in the cryptocurrency sector and the world of blockchain technology, which now is used in different fields thanks to its capability of storing, preserving and protecting crucial data.

By María Rodríguez

Facebook Is in Talks with Visa and MasterCard about Potential Support for FB Coin

Andres Chavez
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Facebook Is in Talks with Visa and MasterCard about Potential Support for FB Coin

For several months (maybe years,) people have been expecting the moment in which Facebook, perhaps the world’s most prominent social media platform, launches its own cryptocurrency, or associated token to interact and perform payments within the vast ecosystem.

And, for a few weeks, it has been known that Facebook is indeed looking for significant investments, reportedly in the $1 billion area, to fund the creation of a stablecoin. In fact, Facebook has been designing the token to keep a stable value, pegged to several foreign currencies that will be held in accounts.

Nathaniel Popper, a New York Times journalist who specialized in technology, was the first one to report, in early April, Facebook’s funding intentions. According to the press man, the platform will seek funds using that path because it intends to line up with the modus operandi of crypto projects and their decentralized nature.

Project “Supporters”

Now, the Wall Street Journal explained in recent days that the social media giants are talking with prominent payment processing companies Visa and Master Card, and also with First Data Corp, about potentially joining the project as supporters.

The precise way in which these companies would provide support is not yet known. The WSJ cites people familiar with the matter as sources. The crypto asset is supposed to have “FB Coin” as a name, and its primary purpose would be serving as a token for in-house payments to users.

The process is still in the nascent stages, and very little information has been leaked about the way the token will function. In light of the aforementioned, it seems that there are still lots of options under the consideration of Facebook’s officials, including using it for payments via the users’ Facebook profile.

Smaller Financial Investments

“Facebook is also talking to e-commerce companies and apps about accepting the coin, and would seek smaller financial investments from those partners, one of the people said,” the WSJ report further added.

The FB Coin, which is supposed to be closely related to fiat currencies, is already drawing interest from within the cryptocurrency circles, including the famous investor Tim Draper. The Bitcoin bull was, according to reports, expected to meet with Facebook executives to talk about investment options.

MIT’s Catalini is Working with Facebook

According to a well known crypto news site, MIT’s Christian Catalini is working with Facebook, helping the social media network in its quest to successfully venture in the cryptocurrency world.

The token is said to be very versatile: it would be used to perform money transfers made via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and even Instagram, which would expose it to more than $3 billion people per month. The plan is to have the FB Coin as a mean for people to send money to each other and also perform online purchases.

Catalini is known for its work in the research department when it comes to token economics. He has authored some influential papers, including a 2018 report on the value of crypto tokens.

By Andres Chavez

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