“Blockchain technology” is a buzzword with little meaning. Here’s what matters.

Article from Peter Van Valkenburgh published via CoinCenter introducing their new whitepaper, "Open Matters - Why Permissionless Blockchains are Essential to the Future of the Internet".

What is Blockchain Technology? A Step-by-Step Guide For Beginners

This article from BlockGeeks gives us decent breakdown of what blockchain is, and shares some examples of how it is currently being used and developed across a variety of markets.

The blockchain is an undeniably ingenious invention – the brainchild of a person or group of people known by the pseudonym,  Satoshi Nakamoto. But since then, it has evolved into something greater and the main question every single person is asking is: What is Blockchain?

Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain

Paper from Christian Catalini of MIT and Joshua S. Gans from University of Toronto

Abstract:
We rely on economic theory to discuss how blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will influence the rate and direction of innovation.

The blockchain revolution: will universities use it, or abuse it?

Article from Martin Hall in Times Higher Education noting how blockchain has the opportunity to revolutionise higher education, but he asks, will it be used as a "force for good".

There is more to blockchain than moving money. It has the potential to transform our lives

Piece from the World Economic Forum that looks at how the coming together of universally available technology, a secure public platform and very low transaction costs will create opportunities across many arenas:

"Blockchain is, essentially, the most secure way we can make exchanges today, allowing you and I to send an asset without using a trusted emissary, creating a global common exchange digital marketplace."

5 blockchain use cases in financial services

Piece from Deloitte:

One of the most discussed topics in the financial services industry today is blockchain technology. We are beginning to understand what a blockchain is, but how can we best use this technology within our business?

Blockcerts — An Open Infrastructure for Academic Credentials on the Blockchain

Article from MIT Media Lab announcing the launch of BlockCerts.

Blockcerts provides a decentralized credentialing system. The Bitcoin blockchain acts as the provider of trust, and credentials are tamper-resistant and verifiable. Blockcerts can be used in the context of academic, professional, and workforce credentialing.

This is probably the first of many blockchain academic credentialing systems, but it's released under on an open source license, so will have some advantages for users. 

Further reading:
What we learned from designing an academic certificates system on the blockchain
Certificates, Reputation, and the Blockchain

What are Appcoins?

Coin Center explain Appcoins, what they are and how they can help crowdfund public goods like the development of open protocols.

Is this the future of financing open technologies?

State of Blockchain Q1 2016: Blockchain Funding Overtakes Bitcoin

Article summarising the CoinDesk’s Q1 2016 State of Blockchain report which includes key trends, data and events from the first quarter of 2016.

They ask "Are we just short distance (1-2 years) away from witnessing the radical, transformative effects of blockchain technology? Or is five to 10 years a more realistic timeframe before blockchain technology fully matures and achieves wide adoption?"

Where Is Current Research on Blockchain Technology? — A Systematic Review

Research which conducted a systematic mapping study with the goal of collecting all relevant research on Blockchain technology.

The objective is to understand the current research topics, challenges and future directions regarding Blockchain technology from the technical perspective.

The results show that focus in over 80% of the papers is on Bitcoin system and less than 20% deals with other Blockchain applications including e.g. smart contracts and licensing.

The majority of research is focusing on revealing and improving limitations of Blockchain from privacy and security perspectives, but many of the proposed solutions lack concrete evaluation on their effectiveness.

Many other Blockchain scalability related challenges including throughput and latency have been left unstudied.

The paper from Yli-Huumo J, Ko D, Choi S, Park S & Smolander K is available under Creative Commons licence from PLOS ONE.

Lessons from one year on the (block)chain gang!

Article from John Palfreyman on IBM Developer Works reflecting on his learning over the past year of working on blackchain.


1] First projects make blockchain real
2] Business networks drive value
3] Choosing a first project is key
4] Permissioned networks are ideal for business
5] Hyperledger project engenders open innovation

Read the full piece here.    

Virtual workshop enables global participants to collaborate and develop innovative blockchain solutions

IEEE and the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) have announced the world’s first Advancing HealthTech for Humanity™ virtual blockchain workshop, designed to enhance participants’ knowledge of blockchain technology and platforms.

The virtual workshop, which launched on 22 September and runs through 21 October 2016, will help demystify blockchain technology and give participants a better understanding of its capabilities, with an improved ability to address key challenges in healthcare today relating to privacy and security.

Participants in the IEEE-SA’s Advancing HealthTech for Humanity ™ virtual blockchain workshop will gain a better understanding of several of the key challenges related to healthcare, develop a base level understanding of blockchain technologies, and receive support to leverage participating blockchain platforms available on the market today. Workshop challenges focus on areas such as patient anonymity, addressing the problem of counterfeit medicines, and patient-driven interoperability. Specific challenges for the first virtual workshop include:

• How can we use blockchain-related technologies to drive patient-driven interoperability?
• Can blockchain technology facilitate incentivization of data sharing between patients and researchers?
• Exploring the use of blockchain technology to secure the drug supply chain against counterfeit medicines
• Can the healthcare blockchain be used as a platform to aggregate the many different data stores patient data may live on? 

Full story @ BusinessWire.

Blockchain Just Got Much More Powerful

New tech created by Accenture and Stevens computer science professor can edit the blockchain without derailing it.

Stevens computer science professor Giuseppe Ateniese's breakthrough research innovation was to create a new type of blockchain tech that can edit the transaction chain — rewriting or removing information for legal, privacy or other reasons, and marking the change — while still preserving security and continuing the chain without complex additions required.

Read the full story @ Stevens Institute of Technology.

The hype and potential behind blockchain technologies

Recently a very influential technology analyst group released its annual Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. In this report you can find their perspective on where a variety of new-wave technologies are on their journey to mainstream adoption.

If you’re wondering where blockchain technologies appear on that hype cycle, I can tell you that it sits precipitously near the top of the hype cycle peak and right before the drop into the “Trough of Disillusionment”.

 Full story @ IBM developerWorks.

Don't let banks fool you, the blockchain really does have other uses

A summary from The Register of where we are at the moment with Blockchain.

"there is exciting potential for this technology, but perhaps not in the ways most people think. And ultimately, new or old technology, it will all come down to business processes, policy and regulation to define what changes and benefits we will get out of this."

"In terms of a new underlying protocol, that will also depend on consensus and adoption, and to a much greater extent than in the early days of the internet as we are today more cognisant of the enormity of the potential impact of such technologies and thus more committed to trying to get it right."

Blockchain Gets a Push in Shanghai: ‘A Shared Version of the Truth’

Huddle several hundred bankers, regulators and geeks into a hotel and you’ll hear how the technology that underpins the internet currency bitcoin is on the brink of changing how the world tracks money, music, identities and even handbags — as well as predictions that real-world applications might emerge fastest in China.

Read more @ Wall Street Journal .

A Platform for the Next Generation Connected World

Blockchain has been described as email for money and the best known application of the technology is Bitcoin. However, the technology itself has vast number of uses beyond cryptocurrency and it is expected that the market for its applications will be measured in the trillions.

Read the full article @ Tieto 

10 amazing ways Blockchain in assessment could be used in education

Piece from Donald Clark about the possible use of Blockchain in education.

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies eBook

308 page eBook from Princeton University looking to explain the opportunities, the confusion and promote the understanding of the technical side of things.

Download here.

Blockchain is the most disruptive invention since the Internet itself - not just in finance

By now you are sure to have heard of Bitcoin and the blockchain technology. Even so, very few people seem to realize that the blockchain won't just kill banks, brokers and credit card companies.

It will change every transactional process you know. Simply put, blockchain eliminates the need for clearinghouse entities of any kind. And that means a revolution is coming, a fundamental sea change in the way we do business.

How the blockchain is changing money and business | Don Tapscott

Investigating the potential of blockchains

From the Knowledge Media Institute @ The Open University:
"We believe the blockchain technology and smart contracts can also be used in education in many interesting and potentially revolutionary scenarios. On this website you can see some of the ways we see the future of education developing using the blockchain and what we are doing to progress towards our vision."

Beyond Badges: Why Personalized Learning Advocates Need to Care about Blockchain

Tom Vander Ark of Getting Smart has argued that “parent-managed learner profiles” will by key to both enabling and scaling personalization in education. As Tom envisions, these profiles would include all of the elements of traditional school transcripts, supplemented with richer, more nuanced, and actionable information about student learning attainment, achievement, and needs. Critical to this vision is the ability for the student transcript to both be easily portable (and under direct parent/student control) and decentralized (in that traditional education institutions should not completely control or dictate its contents).

Read the full article from Doug Levin @ EdTech Strategies

Blockchain Misconceptions and the Future of Education

Blockchain technology may seem magical, but it is not magic. For every advantage it may offer over traditional approaches to ‘big iron’ centralized, proprietary IT systems, it imposes new requirements on its users.

From Doug Levin @ EdTech Strategies

10 Things To Know about the Future of Blockchain in Education

Piece from Doug Levin on EdTech Strategies
"Given the growing interest in the topic and recent blockchain-related announcements specific to education by organizations such as Sony, MIT Media Lab, and the Holberton School – to say nothing of the visions advanced by BadgeChain, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, and Learning is Earning 2026  – I thought it might spur some interesting dialogue if I took the time to share my current musings on the topic.

To that end (and based on my DC Blockchain Summit experience), here is my current list of the top 10 things to know about the future of blockchain in education."