The Central Bank of Canada published the results of a study of the popularity of Bitcoin in the country, which was attended by 2,500 Canadians.

The Bitcoin Omnibus Survey was conducted at the peak of the price growth at the end of 2017. Thus, 85% of the Canadian know about Bitcoin; for comparison, at the end of 2016, this figure was 64%. At the same time, the number of users increased from 2.9% to 5%.

Note that in 2016, the main goal (39%) of the acquisition of Bitcoin was to pay for goods. In 2017, more than a half of cryptocurrency users (58%) bought it for investment purposes, and only 10% of holders used it for payments.

The largest aerospace concern Boeing has announced plans to introduce blockchain technology to track drones used for cargo transportation and as an air taxi.

Boeing in cooperation with SparkCognigiton, dealing with artificial intelligence, will develop a blockchain-based platform that can “track the UAV in flight and control air corridors and trails”. The blockchain will be used in next-generation aircrafts, which Boeing is currently developing.

In addition, Boeing will create a subsidiary – NeXt, which will develop unmanned flying taxis and urban infrastructure for such transport.

Recall that at the end of 2017 it became known that Boeing is working on GPS navigation backup system that will use blockchain technologies.

Bank of America (BoA) plans to patent a blockchain-based system for external data verification. The patent application was published on July 17 by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Blockchain is going to be used to track information about resources and confirm transfers. The patent application explains how the system will record information on the blockchain, basing on “aggregated information related to previous transfers of resources, conducted by an enterprise.” Information on the blockchain will be updated with each new transaction activity.

According to Fortune, Bank of America currently has 45 patents related to the blockchain technology. According to the Technical Director of the Bank, these patents allow the company to be “ready”.

At the same time, Bank of America is not enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies at all. In May, representatives of the Bank called bitcoin “alarming”, and earlier, users of Bank’s credit cards had been banned from purchasing cryptocurrencies with them.

Bank of America is not alone in its interest in blockchain. This week, Mastercard presented its patent of a system that allows to make transactions using the so-called “blockchain currencies”.

On July 17, the Japanese company GMO Internet Inc., launched a new Internet banking service. It will use the blockchain technology.

The distributed ledger will be a key technological element of the new service, but in addition to the blockchain, the system will use artificial intelligence and the Internet of things. Work on the project has been carried out since July 2016, and since then the team has managed to attract investors from GMO Internet, GMO Financial Holdings and Aozora Bank. As the company says, the new service in the future can significantly increase the value of the corporation.

It has been reported that both corporate and private clients of GMO will be able to use the new Internet Bank. It is mainly focused on e-Commerce businesses and adapts the main services to them: deposit operations and currency exchange. The service will also offer products of partner companies dealing with securities.

The decision to use blockchain technology in its new product is no coincidence for GMO. Earlier, the company invested in cryptocurrency and blockchain startups, and last year launched its own crypto-exchange GMO Coin. In addition, one of the GMO focus areas is industrial mining: in 2017 the company had opened a farm in Europe, and then engaged in the mining equipment creation. In particular, it has developed 7-nanometer chips. In July, GMO introduced a new mining machine for ASIC bitcoin, built on these chips.

Almost two years after the initial announcement and months of delay this year, the world’s first cryptocurrency exchange owned by the Bank was finally launched in Japan. On Tuesday, the Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings has officially launched its crypto-platform called VCTRADE.

As reported in early June, SBI first announced a limited launch of the exchange for approximately 20,000 registered users.

SBI Holdings is now beginning to accept applications from Japanese users for new accounts. Bank crypto-exchange opens its doors to all Japanese users aged from 20 to 70. Currently, the exchange accepts only retail investors without applications from corporate or institutional investors, which are under consideration.

During the pre-launch last month, VCTRADE initially offered to trade XRP. SBI Holdings is in partnership with Ripple and is studying the application of blockchain and XRP technology in the field of money transfers.

Within several weeks VCTRADE also added support for Bitcoin Cash (BCH/JPY) and Bitcoin (BTC/JYP) trading pairs.
The SBI group first announced its intention to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange in October 2016.

October 9, 2018, the Second Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference is taking place in Switzerland, the harbor of European financial technologies.

The event welcomes blockchain project developers, investors, analysts, financiers, specialists in marketing and legal support of business and dedicated to blockchain and cryptocurrency. The first Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland gathered more than 300 participants.

Background, topics and experts

Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference is a series of events held in different countries of the world by Smile-Expo. In 2018 there were over 20 events including the conferences in the Philippines, Australia, India, Thailand, and upcoming events in France, Switzerland, and Malta.
The event in Geneva is a conference and at the same time demo zone where companies will present their products.
Smile-Expo team, an international event company, included in the program the reports of international experts as well as bright representatives of the Swiss blockchain community. In February the speakers of Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland were CERN representatives and the investor listed in Forbes 30 under 30.

Pioneer of Financial technology

Switzerland is a country with highly developed banking industry interested in fintech innovations. The country has its own Crypto Valley, the city of Zug where a functional blockchain ecosystem has been developed and many famous projects are based: Ethereum Foundation, Monetas, Lykke. There are also several business accelerators and HSLU-I university. You can also pay with bitcoins for goods and services or exchange it to fiat in one of three Bitcoin ATMs. At the end of July the first election with the use of eID and blockchain technology is taking place down here.

In 2018 Procivis start up successfully tested and implemented eID into several e-Government services. Now users can file tax declarations, register residence, and use passport services with their smartphones. Blockchain platforms for over-the-counter securities trading launched major financial institutions. According to PwC report over 75% of businesses are going to transfer to blockchain solutions within the next 3 years.

Smile-Expo blockchain conference in Switzerland just like the one in Malta is a great opportunity to meet blockchain and cryptocurrency experts and exchange experience with companies that have already developed and implemented real-life blockchain-based solutions.

The blockchain platform is launched by the company owned by a government agency and a major port operator. The services is developed by the firm’s fully-owned subsidiary GeTS.

Open Trade Blockchain is called the linking element between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations and China. It will be used for trading operations and the access to all the commercial documents within the logistics as well as for development of decentralized apps.

Eugene Wong, the chairman of CrimsonLogic and GeTS, stated that blockchain developments could ?help create greater trust amongst cross-border traders?. CrimsonLogic is a service provider for e-government in Singapore. The main stockholder is IE Singapore, a government agency under the Ministry of Trade. The other 45% belongs to PSA International, which operates ports in South America, Southeast Asia and Europe. GeTS was launched in 2017 and handled over 10 million transactions within a year.

Blockchain start up Provenance got investment from Peter Gabriel, former Genesis frontman, according to press release of the company of July 18. They also named other investors such as Working Group Capital Fund, Digital Currency Group, Merian Ventures and Plug and Play. The total amount of investment remains unknown.

London-based start up Provenance is developing blockchain solutions for food transportation. The funds are going to be use to ?improve customers trusts for food industry?. The company aims to implement the solutions into 1000 food companies by 2025.

We note that in 2016, The Co-op Food in partnership with Provenance began testing the blockchain solution for seafood logistics and full transportation to stores and restaurants.

Last year Provenance got into the top three of Top 50 Blockchain Startups 2017 by CEX.io

Provenance experts also developed Ethereum based app that allows you to track all the way of the product by scanning QR-code.

Using the blockchain platform, auditors no longer have to manually collect and verify data on business’ payments to third parties for several months.

The four world’s largest audit companies — PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY — joined the Association of 20 banks in Taiwan to test the blockchain service for financial analysis of public companies.

Using the platform, auditors will be able to collect external confirmation, analyze data on Taiwanese companies, search for information about hidden assets and real accounts. In addition, within the framework of the platform, consulting will be able to verify the authenticity of company’s financial transactions to other legal entities. In total, the system will reduce this work on authentication of documents from one and a half months to one or two days.

Financial Information Service Co. (FISC) supported by 20 banks was engaged in the development of the platform. It is planned that after tests, the services will be used by at least 1.5 thousand public companies.

Recently, Microsoft and KPMG announced the opening of innovative Blockchain Nodes workshops aimed at the development of blockchain technology.

The fourth largest exchange in the world by securities turnover, in Shanghai, intends to transfer the transaction accounting process to a distributed ledger.

The capitalization of securities traded on the Shanghai stock exchange exceeds $ 5 trillion. The site’s management notes that most people believe that blockchain technology can help increase the transparency of the entire securities trading industry. The official report “The use of blockchain and control over the consequences”, prepared by analysts of the exchange, says that some participants have already begun to partially implement blockchain. It is emphasized that the technology of the distributed ledger will be implemented for accounting and clearing of absolutely any securities transactions, from buying and selling shares and bonds to trading derivatives.

It is noted that not everyone is sure that the blockchain is acceptable in terms of security. To address the issue of the overall development of the blockchain in each country, analysts of the Shanghai exchange believe that it is necessary for the state to centrally work on the spread of this technology, that is, to take practical steps along with development of regulation in this sphere.

China is increasingly “falling in love” with the blockchain — the authorities of the country have registered 41 blockchain patents. Now, they are investing budget funds in the study of this technology. At the same time, Beijing rigidly blocks attempts to conduct ICO and crypto-currency trade in the country.

The South Korean authorities are considering the option of providing tax benefits to promising blockchain startups. Details will be known in a week.

South Korea hosted a meeting of ministers and heads of government bodies responsible for economic policy. Eventually, officials decided to reduce taxes for those companies that develop innovations. But they have not decided yet how much to reduce them.

So far, officials have agreed to simply reduce tax liabilities for those who develop new technologies, especially blockchain. Whether there will be any more significant preferences for the sphere of the distributed ledger – it is not reported.

Now in Korea, everything is quite simple – you can invest 5% of your income in research, and 10% of them should be invested in new technologies (for example, blockchain). And you get a tax discount.

But there is a nuance – startups do not always earn a lot in the beginning. Therefore, they cannot invest in innovation. So, for beginners, the requirements can be additionally reconsider.

It is reported that everything will be known exactly in a week, on July 26. Although most likely the new requirements will begin to work in 2019.

The site will work thanks to the technical capabilities of several organizations.

Malta hosted a solemn ceremony of a “first-ever” blockchain stock exchange start, which became known from the report of the local channel TV Malta. According to received information, two memorandums of understanding between the MSX, a subsidiary company of the Stock Exchange of Malta, and two organizations — Neufund and OKЕx crypto currency exchange. Through its “daughter” classic securities trading platform in this island state intends to work with private investors who are interested in investing in tokens, which are referred to as securities.

Since in terms of technology for the bidding process all the relevant infrastructure is already in place, it is expected that it will start in the near future. OKEx, the second largest crypto-exchange in the world, has the necessary technical means to organize work with crypto-investors. On April 12, OKEx moved its headquarters from China to Malta.

Berlin Neufund is another organization which is involved in this partnership. Through its operator Fifth Force, it offers investors to work on a platform that “supports the launch of any kind of tokens”, as reported in a press release following today’s event. As noted by the head and one of the founders of Neufund Zoe Adamowitz, the goal of the partnership is “to create the world’s first decentralized global platform for trading securities, including tokens, which will meet all the standards set by regulators.”

In addition, it became known that the Stock Exchange of Malta intends to collaborate with Binance in terms of operations with tokens. This is reported by the head of the crypto-currency exchange Chanpen Zhao.
By the way, like OKEx, the headquarters of Binance is also located in Malta. The project that started today has received full support from authorities of Malta, who seek to make the island state a world’s “cryptocurrency hub”.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Petrozavodsk took part in a meeting on forest protection and added-value wood processing.

During the event, he noted that Russia was losing billions of rubles due to illegal cutting of forests. However, according to him, the share of illegal logging decreases from year to year.

The Prime Minister stressed that it was necessary to find a balance between the use of natural resources and forest conservation policy. He pointed to the best experience of foreign countries in this field. Such experience, according to Medvedev, is the electronic accounting system. The head of government reminded that in Russia the system of EGAIS was being implemented at full speed. It will monitor the movement of goods across the country. The “forest wood accounting system” could also be connected to this system.

Medvedev added that there was no need to create a separate accounting system. He asked the ministries of natural resources and industry to work on this issue.

The ONF Suggestion

Medvedev’s idea of electronic accounting of forest resources has found support in the All-Russian people’s front. The ONF today took the initiative to introduce blockchain technology in the work of the relevant Federal authorities for more accurate accounting of the not yet cut down forest.

According to the ONF experts, blockchain will help to coordinate information of the Unified State Register of Immovable Property with forest and water ones. The fact is that in 2017 the so-called forest amnesty was adopted, which established the priority of Unified State Register of Immovable Property data over the data of the forest register. Information in them often intersect, and most likely not by chance.

The coordinator of the public monitoring center of the All-Russian people’s front (the ONF) on environmental issues and protection of forests Dmitri Mironov in an interview with “Parlamentskaya Gazeta” said that such measure will allow to protect the forest from illegal logging and subsequent development.

With the help of blockchain technology, it is planned to put the majority of forest lands on cadastral registration. Mironov added that with the help of technology it would be possible to closely monitor the obligations of tenants to restore forests after cutting down.

One of the largest American financial holdings JPMorgan Chase & Co intends to patent a new blockchain-system of virtual payment cheque management, backed by real assets or bonds. The application is published on the website of the U.S. patent and trademark Office.

The patent application is called “Virtual cheque management systems and methods supported by assets or bonds in a distributed system”.

It describes a new form of a method based on the public blockchain that manages virtual receipts. Such checks can take the form of tokens.

The document describes virtual depositary receipts or “virtual cheques” as “electronic tokens backed by assets or bonds”.

With the help of the distributed ledger technology, real assets or bonds will be linked to “their virtual representation in a distributed system for the purpose of tracking the ownership or movement of assets”.

Earlier it was reported that JPMorgan had started to study the cryptocurrency sector.

The authorities of the United States need to impose a ban on the purchase of cryptocurrencies and their mining. This statement was made by Congressman Brad Sherman during the hearings Of the Committee on financial services at the House of representatives of the US Congress.

As reported by the American news site Coin Desk, specializing in bitcoin and digital currencies, being a part of the Digital Currency Group, Sherman argues that in the future cryptocurrency, perhaps, can become a form of money, however, now they are used either by rogue states to circumvent the US sanctions, or individuals to evade taxes.
Representatives of the bitcoin community also drew attention to another statement of this Congressman, in which he admitted that the cryptocurrency undermined the strength of the US dollar.

The Congressman’s words caused different reactions in the digital currency market. Thus, bitcoin began to slow down its unstoppable growth, which had begun early this week. By 13:23 Moscow time cryptocurrency № 1 “increased in weight” by 0.68% and was evaluated at 7466.9 dollars. But the Ethereum loses 3.32%, down to $ 464,48.

At the same time, during the hearings in the House of representatives, the former director of the data analysis center of the Heritage Fund, Norbert Michel, noted that the possible use of cryptocurrencies for criminal purposes should not have put a stain on other opportunities of digital currencies.

Mr. Michel also noted that the cryptocurrency wouldn’t not be a replacement for the dollar, as long as the Federal reserve would be relatively successfully cope with its function of the national currency manager.

According to a senior researcher at Cornell University, Edward Prasad, cryptocurrency has all the chances to have a positive impact on the payment system, simplifying transactions and reducing costs.

Recall that in March, the Subcommittee on capital markets, securities and investments of the US house of representatives held hearings with the participation of academic experts and representatives of the crypto-currency industry. Then one of the legislators called cryptocurrencies “a complete absurdity”, facilitating the financing of terrorism and fraudulent startup schemes.