Due to three factors, Kubernetes clusters will be the foundation for blockchain networks’ adoption in both the public and private sectors.

(1) Simpler Deployments

(2) Interoperability

(3) Upgradeability

We will take a deep dive into these factors later on.

Kubernetes as a tool:

A portable, adaptable, open-source platform, Kubernetes allows for declarative setup and automation of containerized workloads and services. Its ecology is vast and expanding quickly. The tools, services, and support for K8 are widely accessible.

The management environment offered by Kubernetes is focused on containers. The processing, networking, and storage infrastructure are coordinated in support of the user workloads. The convenience of Platform as a Service (PaaS) and the flexibility of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) enables mobility between infrastructure providers.

The Blockchain: 

A decentralized, unchangeable, and open database is essentially what the blockchain is. Due to the peer-to-peer network architecture of blockchain technology, transaction data is not under the control of a single centralized organization. All participants in the blockchain network have trustworthy public access to all transactions stored in a chain of blocks.

Blockchain ensures that connected blocks are resistant to changes and alterations by using consensus procedures and cryptography.

How can Blockchain applications utilize Kubernetes?

Blockchain is beginning to be adopted by businesses due to its many applications, like transferring cryptocurrency, information, agro blockchain, or purchasing and selling NFTs. Due to its streamlined pod, container deployments and, Kubernetes (or K8s) can assist enterprises in implementing blockchain.

Being cloud independent in business operations enables all parties participating in a service or product to access the same data stored on a blockchain without disclosing confidential and internal information. Kubernetes can configure, install, and maintain a company’s private blockchain with less manual labor while still providing the necessary components to keep the network secure, scalable, and fail-safe because of its distributed performance and pod deployments.

Although Kubernetes aids in the deployment of blockchains, a few configurations must be made by developers manually. These include choosing a protocol image and additional components, creating YAML manifests and Helm charts, and using Helm-install to test the Blockchain technology in Kubernetes clusters before it is made available to the general public.

Kubernetes clusters are being adopted by many companies in the blockchain space due to the following factors:

Simpler Deployments: 

The deployment and management of the network itself must be easy to use in order to create blockchain applications.

You must choose from a bewildering amount of options while creating a straightforward dApp on the Ethereum network: Will your main coding language be Solidity or Vyper?  What development framework should you use—Truffle Suite or OpenZeppelin SDK? The sheer number of developer tools is enough to put both newbies and seasoned programmers off.

With Kubernetes, It will be simple to deploy blockchains by selecting a protocol image and the required component images, creating YAML manifests and doing so using helm install. 

Interoperability:

Applications running in Kubernetes clusters are compatible with all forms of infrastructure, allowing service interoperability between enterprises with various architectural styles. The same application can be dispersed and hosted by various cloud providers. 

Blockchain applications are no different in this regard. Through their respective Kubernetes engines, IBM Cloud and AWS already offer comprehensive templates for creating blockchain networks.

Upgradeability: 

Helm charts offer a more subtle benefit of blockchains on Kubernetes. Organizations have the option to swiftly launch new networks with updated functionality, upgrade network artifacts, and backup/restore a network’s whole state by architecting networks using Helm charts.

Use Cases

Docker: 

By utilizing Docker, each blockchain node is guaranteed to be operational and running without requiring individual virtual machines to be configured. The Docker Hub offers Hyperledger, Ethereum, and Quorum images as starting points for swiftly and securely setting up the blockchain network.

Using Docker to set up a blockchain network allows for quicker software delivery and release, saving time, effort, and money.

Microsoft and Helm:

Helm is a package manager that enables you to discover, share, and use applications created for Kubernetes. The Kubernetes package management’s Helm charts, offer a higher-level construct that enables users to create, upgrade, and roll back entire applications without managing each Kubernetes resource separately (services, deployments, etc.)

Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) gives users the ability to customize virtual machines and the number of nodes to use Hyperledger Fabric to make blockchains fail-safe, just like any other Kubernetes Managed services.

IBM Cloud: 

Businesses may deploy the development, testing, and production environments however they see fit using the IBM Blockchain Platform, which speeds up the release cycle for new blockchain technologies.

By controlling all blockchain nodes from a single dashboard and streamlining the deployment process, IBM’s Blockchain Platform enables businesses to deploy their blockchains in any cloud ecosystem, whether it be on IBM’s clouds or with another cloud service provider.

Additionally, using IBM Cloud Kubernetes Services and its current administrative technology enables developers to easily grow the ecosystems employed in a Blockchain.

Here is the guide to installing Blockchain on Kubernetes

Final Thoughts:

Even if blockchain is becoming more and more relevant every day, it has a long way to go before it is widely adopted. Its considerable complexity and integration with the current infrastructure architecture that enterprises utilize today will be one of the barriers to adoption. By using Kubernetes clusters to deploy blockchain networks and their individual components, these difficulties may be largely abstracted. But when examining significant infrastructure firms and case studies, the overall opinion points to Blockchain on Kubernetes as the preferred method for adoption.

Organizations can establish the following roles in order to successfully utilize Kubernetes in a blockchain service:

1. Kubernetes-based cloud administrator: provides and keeps an eye on the blockchain’s architecture.

2. Blockchain Administrator: uses Hyperledger Fabric to manage the blockchain platform.

3. Blockchain developer:  creates the apps that are used in a blockchain.

Looking for a Team who can easily help migrate your Blockchain infrastructure to Kubernetes?

Deqode’s Team as a service model provides specialists who can help you easily deploy complicated applications through Kubernetes.

Visit Deqode.com for more info

The post How is Kubernetes enabling Blockchain? appeared first on Deqode Blog.

In today’s world, data has become very important for companies. Even if you don’t use your apps, the network provider and the phone operating system collects your data.

Companies profit from the data in many ways. They use this data to optimize their services or re-sell them to other companies. Few companies need your data to serve you. For example, banks need your credit score to provide you with desired loans.

Now, think if you can prove that your credit score is good enough, without disclosing the actual credit score?

There is a way! This is how zero-knowledge proof works. One can verify the data without revealing that data.

In simple terms, a zero-knowledge proof or zero-knowledge protocol is a method by which the provider can prove to the verifier that they know the value of y, without giving any information apart from the fact that they know the value y.

Let me explain it with an example

Imagine you have a color-blind friend and two balls, red and green of the same size. Your friend is doubting your statement and thinks that they are the same. 

So, you have to prove to your friend that there are two different colors of balls without telling him which is which.

You give the balls and, your friend hides them behind his back. He takes out a ball randomly after that and lets you see it. He then takes back the ball and then randomly picks the ball again.  You get to see the ball this time too. After that, he’d ask you if he had switched the ball or not. For some time, he will be repeating this process to be sure.

Now that you’re not color blind, you can determine whether or not he switched the ball. Your chances of responding correctly would be 50% if the balls were of the same color. 

After repeating this process and when you can answer each time correctly, your friend would be convinced. 

Here, the probability of predication becomes zero, and the three zero-knowledge properties are fulfilled.

But make sure that your friend doesn’t know which one is green and which one is red and this way you will be able to preserve the third property “zero-knowledge.”

Properties of Zero-Knowledge Proof

A true Zero-Knowledge Proof needs to fulfill three criteria:

Completeness

It should convince the verifier that the provider knows what they say they know.

Soundness

If the information is false, the provider cannot convince the verifier.

Zero-Knowledge

Verifier won’t be able to know any information beyond that the statement is true or false.

Types

Interactive

In Interactive zero-knowledge proof, the prover performs a series of actions to convince the verifier about the soundness of the knowledge of the verifier.

Non-interactive

Non-interactive zero-knowledge proof does not need an interactive process. It requires picking a hash function to pick the challenge without any interaction with the verifier.

Pros and Cons

Pros are as follows:

• Simple –  It does not involve any complex encryption method.
• Secure – It does not need anyone to reveal any sort of information.

A few Cons of Zero-Knowledge Proof:

• Lengthy –  The zero-knowledge method has around 2K computations.  Each computation requires a certain amount of time to process which makes it lengthy.
• Imperfect –  One can destroy or change the messages sent to the verifier/prover.
• Limited –   The secret should be a numerical value in ZKP.

Why blockchain and Zero-Knowledge Proof?

Blockchain is a decentralized distributed ledger where transactions are secure and immutable. The transaction that takes place is visible to all the users and, the details of the transaction are visible to others as well, which results in a privacy breach.

Blockchain doesn’t provide transaction or data privacy and, this where we can put in place the concept of Zero-Knowledge Proof. ZKP can ensure that others only know that a valid transaction has taken place. But information about the sender, receiver, number, and type of asset transferred is not disclosed.

Applications of Zero-Knowledge Proof

Applications of zero-knowledge:

1.Blockchain

For confidential transactions on blockchains.

2.Messaging

End-to-end encryption of messages is necessary so that no one can read the private message besides the one you are sending it to. With ZKP and blockchain together, we can build end-to-end trust in the messaging world without leaking any extra information.

3.Voting Systems

There will be no need for a trustworthy third party to verify the results if the public blockchain records the votes. As a result, ZKP can make the voting system anonymous as the eligible voters can prove their right to cast a vote without revealing their identity.

4.Authentication systems.

In authentication systems, one party wants to prove its identity to a second party via some secret information like a password but, without letting the second party learn anything. ZKP can help perform this type of information exchange.

5.Checking personal information.

To apply for loans in banks, users have to submit a few certificates and their credit score details which contain confidential information. ZKP can help to share this information without sharing confidential information.

Conclusion

iZero-Knowledge Proofs have enormous ability to place people back in charge of their information by allowing others to confirm properties of the data without exposing the data itself. Therefore, it could be beneficial in various industries, like finance, health care.

To understand how blockchain works in the finance sector, click here.

The post What is Zero-Knowledge Proof? appeared first on Deqode Blog.

How bad is it for the unbanked?

The unbanked population is unable to send payments with anything other than actual cash. A majority of the unbanked population includes migrant workers who work hard to send their money back home. When they have no bank accounts, the only choice they have is to send money via the ancient ‘Hawala’ system, or companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram. The catch here is that a migrant has to pay fee as high as 25% of the amount transferred. Western Union, Ria, and others garner these high fees to have their revenues in excess of $5 billion a year.

In addition, as services transition away from utilizing cash and towards digital systems, the unbanked find themselves unable to participate in the modernization of society.

Blockchain for the unbanked

Removing all the hype – if there is something blockchain can actually do miles better than any other technology – it is cross-border payments.

Sending and receiving money via organizations like Western Union, PayPal, and international bank transfers is:

• Expensive
• Has delays from one to several business days to send
• Requires bank accounts, and a lot of paperwork

Payments with blockchain can be:

• Done within minutes
• Have minimal transaction fees
• Done without creating bank accounts, in a lot of cases

Blockchain can play a huge role in extending financial inclusion to the world’s unbanked. The technology can change how we access finance. Blockchain opens up new ways of being financially independent, which is slowly becoming the norm.

The post Banking on Blockchain, for the Unbanked appeared first on Deqode Blog.

Settling Land Conflicts

Damaged documents, wrong records, and corruption cause conflicts over ownership and keep productive land unused. For instance, after the 2016 hurricane in Haiti so many records were destroyed. This lead to a lot of land being unallocated there. In a lot of countries, the management of land registration is done offline. Hence, is subject to fraud and errors.

Blockchain and smart contracts provide a strong platform to record land titles. Using a decentralized ledger could be a more streamlined and effective way to:

• manage ownership of the land
• help avoid disputes
• Ensure that records are not manipulated or lost.

Data Collection and Due Diligence

Real estate companies need the verification of property details before lease or purchase. But, it is expensive and difficult to do so. According to one of the surveys, real estate markets are slowly improving in transparency. Still, there are many efficiencies to be gained.

By storing all property data such as floor plans or repairment logs in a secure, unalterable place – blockchain can make it much easier for investors to verify real estate details and do their due diligence. The technology could also be used to trace the journey of construction materials from the factory till demolition of parts, and recycling of the same. This would make it easier to track the quality and age of every part.

Investments

Real estate as an asset has a major disadvantage: low liquidity. Even REITs and SPVs that seem liquid don’t offer the same ease of sale of other assets. This is because they lock up funds for a considerable length of time.

Transferring properties on blockchain, converting it into small fractions – and turning it into tokens (tokenization) creates a new path to real estate investing. It can allow owners to sell their stakes in open market without ‘selling’ the property. Tokenization can also remove high barriers of investments for smaller investors. Real estate tokenization based on blockchain can enable fractional ownership of a property, which will increase market participation and unlock newer financing methods.

Project Management

Codifying real estate agreements and putting them on blockchain using smart contracts is not a new concept. There have been several POCs by various organizations for putting agreements of ownership and land transfer on blockchain. However, it is possible for complex real estate processes such as project management to be handled using blockchain.

To understand this, a project can be treated as a long list of transactions between multiple parties. These transactions can represent any type of agreement regarding payments, goals or milestones. So, project transactions could be converted into a series of smart contracts that could be automatically executed once each individual contract is fulfilled. Managing a project like this could make all parties more accountable and create a point of information for everyone involved.

There are still a few barriers to adoption of blockchain technology in real estate. But, it will slowly and significantly improve processes which are paper-based, and inefficient today.

The post Blockchain in Real Estate: The Real Deal appeared first on Deqode Blog.

Blockchain is a pretty handy technology that could work with several novel concepts, such as laying down the foundation of a smart city. But, it’s not a cure-all: one cannot apply it to all the urban issues smart city innovations aim to address. To understand this, let’s dig deeper into blockchain and smart city hype.

We live in strange times. Never before the inhabitants of the planet have witnessed so many changes happening in a small period of time – be it social, technological or economic. With this massive shift in the way we live, new challenges arise for countries, and of course, cities. 

As the world is moving towards smart cities and governments are seeking to incorporate innovations, blockchain can offer a lot. This is a widely known accepted fact: in a recent survey about smart cities, 77% percent of respondents agreed that blockchain could solve city problems that they faced. But here’s the catch: only 15% of residents could convey exactly what this meant. 

The reason behind this is that blockchain is hyped as an ideal technology solution by people – without them having an understanding of exactly what it does, or will do with concepts like smart city.

Blockchain and Smart City

Blockchain will not build infrastructure, or keep rivers clean. But, it can facilitate and optimize urban processes. Blockchain will play a role in the advancement of smart city concept – but it would be a supporting role, rather than a leading one.

The biggest benefit of blockchain for smart cities is related to public administration. As cities grow, the influx of more residents increases pressure on processes that were not exactly built with that demand in mind. This will give rise to areas that would directly or indirectly need blockchain.

Transparency of Records

Firstly, blockchain can make government records more accessible and transparent. Centralizing records has been a problem: it has given rise to maladministration and corruption. This is a huge problem in developing countries. The decentralization of government records could help with creating an open, accessible world.

Facilitation of property buying and selling

Title registries are prone to fraud. They often aren’t updated in a timely fashion. The introduction of blockchain would provide an immutable history of transfers and sales. In turn, this will introduce transparency in a situation where multiple departments work with different versions of the truth.

Cybersecurity of public goods 

Electricity is the bedrock of the modern world. It is pretty much a need for every individual. While it’s true that the government of every country has a number of security measures in place, there is still a singular, central grid in most countries. It is a fact, that any central grid can be hacked.

The distributed nature of the blockchain technology means that there is no single point of failure, which can reduce the possibility of large-scale threats. Also, the data transmitted between parties is encrypted, hence it is not transmitted across open lines. Another benefit is that fraud can be detected easily. Once data is put in the system – it cannot be changed without establishing a consensus of stakeholders.

Finally, one of the central themes of the Smart City concept has been to optimize data to make urban growth more efficient. Blockchain clearly has an important role to play in this. As blockchain systems get more familiar, the applications will expand. This would make the technology as one of the bases – the support system of the next-gen civilization.

The post Blockchain and Smart City: Talk of the Town appeared first on Deqode Blog.

If you frequent crypto forums, you must have come across several questions raised on crypto’s deflationary nature. This article – picking up its points from a famous, anonymous posts on one such forum, examines the same – addressing inflation, deflation in crypto – and fixing the flawed analogy between crypto, and fiat or gold.

Inflation, in the context of modern economics, can be thought of as a way of guaranteeing that the currency does not act as a store of value. This is so that other financial instruments (majorly, bonds) could fill this role instead. Individuals and businesses with a lot of wealth – and who want to preserve it – choose to purchase bonds. Here, what they are technically doing is lending their money. This ideally provides interest – that counteracts the depreciating value of the currency. 

Putting this simply, one of the key reasons behind inflation is to guarantee that lending remains high with the idea that people with excess wealth (or savers) can transfer those savings to people who want to put the money to work. For the economy, this is considered good.

Now, the reason the fiat system needs (government) bonds to act as the store of value, rather than the currency itself, is actually because bonds are the real money in fiat systems, not the currency we use every day.

Our everyday currency represents the liabilities of the banking system, whereas bonds represent the assets of the banking system. Monetary systems never want liabilities to act as stores of value, or even worse for them, to appreciate in value. So, since fiat represents the debt of the banking system, it is in the banking system’s interests that their debts are always decreasing in value.

Now, taking Bitcoin in contrast: BTC represents the assets of the system, not the liabilities. It is in the interests of the system and its security that the value of its assets is appreciating. When this appreciation occurs, miners expand, liquidity goes up, the ecosystem grows, and the security of the network increases. This, in turn, increases demand for its use.

When you invest in bitcoin, what you are doing is investing in the Bitcoin Network. It is because of your investments that the network continues to grow and mature, just like a company. Something worth noting here is that Bitcoin is effectively the flagship for the entire crypto industry. An investment in bitcoin is equivalent to an investment in the broader crypto economy. The reason so much activity has occurred in this space since 2017 is in large part because of the amount of investment that went into bitcoin.

So it can be conclusively stated that Bitcoin is closer to US Treasuries than to US fiat currency.

When people invest in Treasuries, they are actually investing in the US government – helping it to remain strong and grow. When people invest in bitcoin, they are investing in the Bitcoin Network, helping it to remain secure and grow.

This is where I would want to address the mistakes people make when they talk about Bitcoin. The first mistake people make when talking about bitcoin being deflationary is in mistaking it for a currency like US fiat. But, it is actually closer to US Treasury bonds (which represent the REAL base currency of the US fiat system). There’s a reason behind why US Treasuries act as such great stores of value, and why everyone wants them. It is because the US government is the most powerful institution on the planet. People’s trust in it isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. 

For Bitcoin to compete with the US Treasury bond, it must become equally as trustworthy, and for that to happen it must be seen as a network so essential to the world that everyone knows it isn’t going away anytime soon.

In context of crypto inflation, it goes without saying that bitcoin must also be deflationary. Treasury bonds are valuable and act as the real base money of the world’s economy because they act as stores of value. Bitcoin must do the same. Will bitcoin always fluctuate in value? Obviously. But so do Treasury bonds. And so, just like the value of Treasury bonds determines the fate of the world economy, Bitcoin in such a future scenario would have a similar impact. 

The critical thing to note here is that bitcoin must eventually become the most trusted network in the digital age. Since networks will replace institutions as the centers of trust, in being the most trusted network, bitcoin would effectively become the most trusted source of value.

There are very real problems with Treasury bonds and the design of the fiat system which the crypto-system will slowly replace. But the fundamental premise, that at root money must act as a store of value, is as true today as it ever was. The issue occurs when people don’t realize that bonds represent the foundation of the monetary system.

So, crypto isn’t comparable to fiat currency or even to gold.

The problem with the fiat money analogy is simple. Fiat money does not act as the primary store of value in the modern monetary system. When we talk about inflation being necessary to modern money, people don’t understand that this requires that such money is ultimately backed by a store of value which is effectively deflationary (bonds). Bitcoin is more akin to the bonds which are backing fiat money. So, we need to look towards crypto inflation with that outlook. Also, the gold analogy, while simple, doesn’t exactly work either because gold is strictly a commodity whose utility is not influenced by investment in it. People who talk about Bitcoin as digital gold imagine bitcoin as a kind of commodity. But unlike gold, the more investment into Bitcoin – the more the network evolves and grows.

This new era of cryptocurrencies and crypto inflation introduces a world in which we are no longer forced to use a single currency. Once you have a situation where companies like Facebook have their own currency, then you have a wide-open marketplace of currency and competition. Under such a system, inflation, as it were, becomes a natural part of the system.

The post On Crypto’s Inflation and Deflation: Why Bitcoin is Bitcoin and shouldn’t be compared to fiat or gold appeared first on Deqode Blog.

McKinsey and Company

After drafting the infamous Blockchain’s Occam Problem article which received much flak from the blockchain community for calling the technology relatively complex, expensive, unstable, and unregulated, ‘the Firm,’ seems to have changed its tone. While it is alarming that a company so revered and pro-blockchain hasn’t talked about the tech a lot post-Occam Problem in January, their latest piece on the technology, Blockchain and retail banking: Making the connection highlights ‘several areas where the technology could create value for retail banks.’

In particular, McKinsey is keen on three use-cases:

1. Remittance
2. KYC and Fraud Detection
3. Risk Scoring

However, McKinsey lists four significant issues that need to be solved before Blockchain’s application into retail banking. These issues seem to be generic ones that could be applied to several sectors. The firm also lists solutions for the same:

• Challenge: Blockchain networks are transparent to their members, meaning that there are limitations to anonymity in some scenarios.
• Solution: Several companies are experimenting with “tokenization,” which disguises sensitive data by substituting it with a token that serves as a reference.
• Challenge: Real-time settlement is currently impossible due to the lack of fungibility between crypto-assets and fiat currencies.
• Solution: Stablecoins are one solution, but they will require correspondent banks to make the eventual conversion.
• Challenge: Costs associated with switching from individual to shared systems, questions about accountability, cultural and practical challenges Solution: Banks must create large networks to achieve benefits at scale, requiring data standardization and collaboration, and solve the so-called coopetition paradox.
• Challenge: Customers may choose to restrict access to protect their privacy and security.
• Solution: Financial institutions are likely to need to work hard to bring them on board.

This blockchain report, in conclusion, suggests four points that could help increase adoption:

1. More seamless transition between fiat and digital assets, so that customers do not risk losses as they switch back and forth.
2. Regulation, so that participants have certainty around the status of crypto assets, rules of engagement, and investor protection.
3. Consumer identities should be created on the Blockchain, enabling banks to offer real-time loan decisions based on authenticated ID.
4. There needs to be a strategic watershed. Executives need to believe that the long-term benefits of Blockchain are worth the cost.

Boston Consulting Group

When the most innovative consultancy of the big 3, BCG, published Capturing the Value of Blockchain in April of 2019 – it brought many enterprisey-eyes on the technology. BCG sets the record straight by starting the article off by claiming that investors are continuing to pour record-breaking sums into space. It then goes on to list four primary sources of value that blockchain use cases can deliver:

1. New Business Models
2. Operational Efficiency
3. Risk Mitigation
4. Social Impact

BCG then talks about the determination of models, where it lists ‘Linear’ and ‘Network Effects’ for the same. They explicitly state that while blockchain use cases that deliver network effects have the potential to be true disruptors, it requires the following:

1. Significant financial and technical resources
2. High tolerance for risk
3. The ability to convince a critical mass to join a nascent platform
4. An established POC

BCG lists three most promising use cases for eight specific industries according to the linear, network effects, and their hybrid models – and mentions how the technology is still new, the list of possible avenues to take are wide and the operational and partnership requirements to deliver on any of them are often extensive.

PwC

PwC survey of 600 executives starts with six critical figures:

1. 84% of respondents are actively involved with blockchain
2. 45% believe trust could delay adoption
3. 30% see China as a rising blockchain leader
4. 28% say interoperability of systems is a key for success
5. 52% of companies are in the R&D phase
6. 15% have their projects live

Three critical observations from their blockchain report include:

1. Financial services will be the current and near-term leader of blockchain.
2. Potential in industrial products, energy and utilities, and healthcare.
3. The US is the most advanced territory in developing blockchain today. In three to five years, China will take over.

A majority of their survey then focuses on blockchain’s barrier to adoption:

The beautifully phrased final section, titled ‘Why it’s hard to trust a blockchain’ should be read in its entirety:

Blockchain, by its very definition, should engender trust. However, in reality, companies confront trust issues at nearly every turn. For one, users must build confidence in the technology itself. As with any emerging technology, challenges and doubts exist around blockchain’s reliability, speed, security, and scalability. Also, there are concerns regarding a lack of standardization and the potential lack of interoperability with other blockchains.

Also contributing to the blockchain trust gap is a lack of understanding. Even now, many executives are unclear on what blockchain is and how it is changing all facets of the business. Although the public narrative has moved beyond bitcoin, even the more recent focus and hype around ICOs only hint at the potential impact. Blockchain’s role as a dual-pronged change agent — as a new form of infrastructure and as a new way to digitize assets through tokens, including cryptocurrency — is not easy to explain. Think about other new technologies: users can try on virtual reality goggles or watch a drone take flight. However, blockchain is abstract, technical, and happening behind the scenes.

Another challenge for blockchain is building trust in the network. It is perhaps ironic that a technology meant to bring consensus hits a stumbling block on the early need to design rules and standards. Take payment systems and mechanisms in banking. Though everyone plays by the rules of existing systems today, they don’t necessarily agree on how an alternative blockchain-based model should be designed and operated.

Likewise, there’s a lack of comfort regarding regulation. The majority of regulators are still coming to terms with blockchain and cryptocurrency. Many territories have begun studying and discussing the issues, particularly as they relate to financial services, but the overall regulatory environment remains unsettled.

Deloitte

Compared to other studies, Deloitte’s survey (n=1386) is one of the most optimistic blockchain surveys in 2019. Key findings include:

• 53% (2018: 43%) of enterprise respondents cite blockchain as a top-five strategic priority
• 56% (2018: 59%) believe blockchain will disrupt their industry.
• 6% are unsure or don’t see the need to use blockchain.
• The top five blockchain advantages:
  • New business models and value chains (23%)
  • Greater security or lower risk (23%)
  • Higher speed compared to existing systems (17%)
  • Greater transparency (11%)
  • Lower costs (9%)
• The survey respondents were biased towards IT executives (56%)
• 42% of startups cited the main blockchain benefit as new business models and value chains compared to 23% for enterprises
• Additionally, enterprises have a greater belief that blockchain provides greater security (71%) as opposed to 48% of startups
• 86% believe that blockchain technology is broadly scalable and will eventually achieve mainstream adoption
• 43% view the technology as overhyped

• The top five barriers to greater blockchain investment are:
  1. Implementation
  2. Regulatory issues
  3. Potential security threats
  4. Lack of in-house capabilities
  5. Uncertain ROI
• The top five use-cases are:
  1. Technology, media, and communication (26%)
  2. Financial Services (15%)
  3. Manufacturing (12%)
  4. Retail, wholesale and distribution (7%)
  5. Professional services (6%)

KPMG

KPMG surveyed 740 global technology leaders for its 2019 Technology Industry Innovation Survey. Following are their findings in the context of blockchain technology:

• 48% percent of respondents said blockchain would likely or very likely change the way their companies do business within three years
• The rest of the respondents were neutral (24%) or didn’t believe (27%) blockchain will change their company’s business processes within three years
• 41% said it was likely or very likely for technology companies to implement blockchain within the next three years, 31% were neutral and 28% said they wouldn’t, or it’s unlikely
• IoT was the most promising area (27%) for blockchain disruption in the next three years. Trading such as platforms for small businesses came second with 22%. Reducing cyber risk (for instance, using ledger identity authentication), was ranked third with 20%. In fourth place was contracts (18%) including payments, insurance, and blockchain identity
• The top three blockchain adoption challenges:
  • Unproven business cases (24%)
  • Technology complexity (14%)
  • Lack of capital or funding (12%)

teQatlas

TeqAtlas is a blockchain, IoT and AI analysis and research company. We couldn’t establish the proof of credibility of their reports so their findings must be taken with a grain of salt. Four key observations from them include:

• Digital Currency Group dominates in the number of deals, 32 deals ahead of the next two investors combined (Pantera Capital and Blockchain Capital)
• A majority (8 out of the top 10) of the most active blockchain investors are located in the US. More than half of all investors are Venture Capital firms.
• Majority of investors are focused on FinTech blockchain startups
• Financial sector seems to be the fastest way to get investments – it has over 150 deals

The following are the most important charts:

Six Important Takeaways

• Financial Services emerges as the most promising use-case of them all
• Blockchain technology is still in the nascent stage
• Cognitive bias against blockchain technology still exists
• The three biggest hindrances in front of mass adoption seem to be:
  • Co-opetition paradox
  • Regulatory Issues
  • ‘Unproven’ business cases
• New business models (for instance, p2p energy trading) – is something organizations can bet on
• Sentiments seem to be better in the first half of 2019 than its 2018 counterpart

Disclaimer and Fair Use Statement for Blockchain Report 2019

This document contains quotes and statements from different organizations – the use of which may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. This blockchain report is available to explain issues relevant to blockchain or to illustrate the current condition of the blockchain industry. Any bit of information in the blockchain report from McKinsey, BCG, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and Teqatlas – and other organizations named in this document are the properties of the respective companies. This document has no commercial value. The document constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material (referenced and provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law).

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Suggested Reading: https://deqode.com/blog/investing-in-cryptocurrency/

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They have the freedom to sell any amount of their shares whenever they want, and they can do this even with some other online markets. In other words, digitization of real estate using tokens on the blockchain is real estate tokenization.

Benefits of Tokenizing Real Estate

The general benefits of real estate tokenization include

Access additional capital

Real estate owners and developers can offer smaller investment denominations by dividing a property through a blockchain-based system, expanding distribution to a broader and more diverse investor group.

Lower illiquidity discounts & liquidity premiums

For highly illiquid assets such as real estate, institutional investors have often had an advantage over individuals due to the steep illiquidity discount associated with the majority of commercial real estate investments. 

Enhanced price discovery

Today the real-time pricing information is paper-based, and it stores asymmetrical information by all parties. A digital secondary market for individual real estate properties will enable real-time pricing information.

Improved transparency 

The use of a blockchain-based system enables the programming of rights, restrictions, and data associated with the underlying property into the tokenized digital asset. Everything that has happened in the past is public to anyone who might want to look.

Automated Processing

Smart contracts can automate the wills and rights process.

How to digitize real estate

The digitization of real estate in real estate tokenization includes three steps:

1. Deal structuring
2. Technology selections
3. Token distribution

Deal Structuring

In real estate tokenization, the deal structuring consists of a variety of elements, including jurisdiction, asset type, shareholder types, and applicable regulations.

1. Asset

Assets, simply put, are the specific properties.

2. Legal structure

Digitization of real estate requires a legal cover around the individual properties to securitize and create an investment vehicle.

The most common structures we have seen to-date are:

• Single asset Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – SPV is a separate legal entity created by an organization. As it is a separate legal entity, if the parent company goes bankrupt, the special purpose vehicle can carry its obligations. Tokens represent shares of the SPV.
• Real estate fund – A real estate fund is a type of mutual fund that primarily focuses on investing in securities offered by public real estate companies. Tokens represent ownership shares or units in the fund. 
• Project finance – Tokenization can be used as a new mechanism for raising funds for a project. Depending on deal size, tokens may be made available to retail investors as well as accredited investors.
• Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) – It allows individuals to invest in large-scale, income-producing real estate. Token holders have the same rights to operating income from the REIT that traditional investors have today. REITs are costly to perform; however, they are advantageous in that they are available for retail investors.

3. Shareholder rights

Based on the legal structure, determine if investors have the right to dividends or governance of the entity or property. You may also choose to offer multiple tokens that represent different investment classes. For example, you can create a token that represents preferred equity in a property with a liquidation preference, and another token that represents common equity.

4. Investor types

The legal structure may dictate to which types of investors the deal will be made available. The target investor group will reside in the jurisdiction.

5. Execution regulation

The location of the property or the SPV, the size of the capital raise, and the type and location of investors will be on the applicable execution regulation. It’s important to note that execution regulation may also determine the tax treatment of the tokens as well as solicitation restrictions.

Technology Selection

Secondly, after the finalization of the legal structure for the property, decide the technology.

The three critical decisions would be:

1. Blockchain token – Determine the blockchain platform to build and which has the rights to store tokens. The platform should also allow the owner to transfer those rights to anyone and transfer the complete ownership to someone else in a legal way.

2. KYC / AML Vendor – To determine a KYC vendor that can integrate with the primary platform and the digitized security infrastructure.

3. Primary / Secondary Marketplace – To determine the success of the capital raise and the ability for investors to access liquidity. By this, we can decide the exchange for trading. 

Token Distribution

Thirdly, after the technology decision, the next step is to launch the token and distribute it to investors.

1. Acceptable funds – To determine the options to accept different types of payment methods easily. Stable coins can also be used to purchase real estate.

2. Token launch – A web-app will host the token launch.

3. KYC – In this, the investor will go through the KYC process for verification and linking of their digital wallet.

4. Token Distribution – After the registration of investors, tokens can either be sent directly to investors accounts or list the digitized real estate on a primary issuance platform. After investors make the purchase, they will receive the digitized securities.

Download a free e-book on real estate tokenization by clicking here.

Suggested Reading: How to invest in cryptocurrencies

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Crypto is a volatile space – so, there are a few questions you should ask before investing in cryptocurrency projects. This article provides a quick framework for the same – so that you could verify if a cryptocurrency project is legit and worth investing in.

A lot of people do not understand the fundamentals of investing in new tech. It is too early to act as if we’ve already made correct bets and that nothing can happen to change the path of our favorite project – because what we’re talking about This is not a really a sports team or a passing fad. Crypto is a new asset class that can change our society.

So, there are a few questions you should ask yourself before supporting, or investing in any cryptocurrency project:

1. Does it even solve a problem?

2. How does the technology work? Is their whitepaper really a ‘whitepaper’, or does it just give out token details?

3. How is the dev team? Have they worked on something related to the industry of the cryptocurrency project you’re investing in?

4. Do they have a funding scheme? If yes, of what kind? Is it from venture capital, ICO, institutional investment, or community donation?

5. How are they organized?

6. How is the team’s track record?

7. Do they have any institutional backing?

8. How much competition does it face? Where does it stand in the competitive sphere?

9. How close to ready is it? Is there a POC?

10. What are its plans to create, stimulate, and maintain adoption?

11. Does it have a good media presence?

12. How is its mainstream visibility?

13. How about accessibility and liquidity?

14. What is its growth potential based on current price and supply?

15. Can it survive the regulatory hammer?

Regardless of how strong you feel the cryptocurrency you’re investing in is, these are the things you must know. Займ без отказа. This is because each of these questions is important in determining the value potential and sustainability of your coin. 

On the other end of things, cryptocurrency projects should think about answering these questions for their backers. It is important for an investor to know about the project they’re investing in – and you should definitely work on it. If you need any help with this, drop your email here and we’ll contact you soon.

The post 15 Questions You Should Ask Before Investing in Cryptocurrency appeared first on Deqode Blog.

Esports: The Next Big Play

Esports has emerged as one of the highest potential markets on the planet with a broad audience, aged 16-36. Also, the current esports market has an estimated revenue of $700M with an active audience of nearly 200M. The market has a CAGR of a staggering 33%. At the same time, it is limited to the top 1000 players and about 100 teams, who together hold the biggest share of money in esports: the $300M sponsorships and media rights sales pie, $120M in advertising revenue, $100M of prize money and $40M in player compensations and salaries.

The esports market revenue was $0.5Bn in 2016, $0.7Bn in 2017, $1Bn in 2018 and is projected to grow to $1.5Bn in 2020 with a 33% CAGR.

Blockchain in Esports: Dynamic Duo

Esports has seen a lot of attention from the blockchain community. It is a multi-billion industry that will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years. With an industry that has so many participants, only a small percentage goes back to the players and brands. There isn’t a self-sustaining ecosystem for both of them. The industry has turned into a commercialized one-way street for corporations and payment providers to take advantage of a vast majority of gamers, developers and game publishers. Blockchain could help put an end to these issues.

Not a Messiah

Before moving further, and discussing the use-cases of blockchain in esports, we need to establish that there are a lot of articles on the web who claim that that esports needs blockchain, but that’s clearly not true. Esports will keep growing without the help of blockchain – the industry is already growing 11% year-on-year, with billions of revenue.

So, esports doesn’t need blockchain to grow, but to improve.

Esports: The Lag is Real

Esports industry has huge potential that is presently hampered by two major problems that are discussed below:

1. A tiny percentage of the billions in revenue that the industry generates goes back to the actual players. When it does, it goes to only a few elite gamers. Millions of amateur gamers don’t see any money for their efforts. Streaming or betting on the outcome of matches and tournaments are the best ways to earn money in the gaming industry, and they’re not reliable income streams.

2. Esports industry is highly fragmented. A vast majority of games aren’t cross-platform, so, the user base gets divided into console, PC, and mobile. also, there are games that differ from each other quite drastically. For instance, esports enthusiasts who like Counter-Strike might not care about League of Legends, and vice versa. Each game has its own user base and its own revenue stream. This makes it very difficult for the industry to improve and grow collectively.

Blockchain in Esports: Fast Travel

1. Gamers have to put a lot of trust in the organizers of the esports tournament and are at risk of being defrauded. This could happen to pro gamers as well. Blockchain can eliminate that risk and make esports for casual gamers trustless and much more secure – because there’s no centralized entity pulling strings from behind the curtain. Everything is recorded on the blockchain – and cannot be changed by a third party. The awarding of prizes can be encoded into a smart contract that will automatically pay the winner when the tournament is over.

2. Blockchain will allow Esports to become less fragmented. Using dapps, anyone can create a single universal gaming profile for all games. As a result, this will help with all the relevant stats for all games across all platforms, which can be recorded onto the blockchain, ensuring their authenticity and transparency.

Conclusion

Blockchain in esports will allow the industry to become transparent, more secure, and less fragmented. Also, It will give people a better chance to earn money from gaming. It will speed up esport’s future – where gaming is no longer seen as a pastime, but as a profession instead.

Also Read: Victory Royale: How Blockchain Could Fix Fortnite

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