Blockchain basics on offer at Smartcademy

Source: Unsplash, via Smartcademy. A reference image of Blockchain with cryptocurrency as one of the implementations.

Smartcademy, a Singapore tech educator and digital career transformer, has introduced an Intro to Blockchain course for complete beginners. The month-long course teaches concepts as well as fundamental terms, practical applications of Blockchain in the financial sector, and how Bitcoin works. At the end of the course, individuals will be able to manage the risks and returns of digital financial systems better. 

While many have heard of digital assets like TerraUST and Bitcoin and know that they are risky, both are built on Blockchain which has a lot of potential to improve finance as we know it.

"At its core, Blockchain is a distributed ledger* to which transactions between multiple parties are added to. Different organisations are able to implement their own rules around the reading and updating of this shared ledger, including whether this ledger is publicly accessible and how new transactions are added to it," explained Kai Shin Aw, a Blockchain expert and trainer at Smartcademy.

Aw said one use case for Blockchain is replacing traditional cross-border transactions. He elaborated that cross-border transactions typically go through a few intermediaries such as banks, in a complicated process that lacks transparency.

"Blockchain helps to remove these intermediaries, using automation to verify and secure transactions seamlessly. Transactions are also locked into a shared digital ledger, preventing alteration and providing full accountability to all parties. Essentially, Blockchain increases efficiency and saves cost,” he said.

"There is no restriction on the data that can be held on the ledger as the technology leaves such interpretation to its users. This means that Blockchain technology will be able to value-add in instances where multiparty consensus is required, regardless of the domain. (That is, it significantly improves efficiency in cases where multiple parties have to come to an agreement on the latest data.)"

Use cases of varying risk levels can be built on Blockchain, including a high-risk cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Aw pointed out. "(Bitcoin is) a specific implementation of Blockchain technology for the purposes of publicly transacting value between peers, without the need of middlemen," he said.

Details

Potential trainees can receive up to 90% of Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) funding for Smartcademy’s courses. Singaporeans aged 25 and above can also tap on SkillsFuture credits to offset the remaining amount.

*A distributed ledger is a set of recorded data which is stored in more than one place.

The economic impact of COVID-19

Why Blockchain will be useful in establishing a trusted network.

The World Bank Group has been making sure clients in need are covered during the COVID-19 pandemic. William Zhang, Lead Information Security Architect and Blockchain Specialist, World Bank Group, noted that the economic fallout from COVID-19 has been huge, with global GDP losses at US$4 trillion so far, massive job losses and a lot of business closures.

“It is predicted that the number of people in poverty and extreme poverty will both increase by about 9%,” he said during a webinar session organised by the 10x1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme, titled Leveraging Blockchain Innovations to Cope with the COVID-19 New Normal. The International Financial Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and Ant Financial Services Group, the operator of Alipay, jointly announced the 10x1000 Tech for Inclusion programme in 2018.

So far, the World Bank Group has been increasing funding for clients in need, accelerating project approval processes, working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and developed countries to provide debt relief to the poorest countries in the world, Zhang said. To date, there are some 128 ongoing projects in 566 locations in 89 countries, an US$11 billion commitment.

The group is also continuing to innovate to help countries cope better with the situation. Zhang observed that technology, particularly Blockchain, can be harnessed to build trust in doing business with less physical contact. Blockchain's value is in its immutability, consensus-based model, and transparency, he said, resulting in trusted business networks and faster, cheaper payment solutions.

As every participant has a copy of the immutable ledger of transactions, they “can rely on their own ledger to see how money has been spent and what development outcomes have been achieved,” he explained.

He also shared that cross-border payments are cheaper and faster with Blockchain, and that both sender and receiver can see where the money is at any time.

“(Blockchain will) encourage more world donors to entrust the World Bank with their funds for international developments,” he said.

Zhang shared a number of use cases, including a pharma-based Blockchain token economy where participants are incentivised for desired behaviour with tokens that can be redeemed for goods and services.

EVOKE, an online social neworking and gaming platform that was first introduced by the World Bank Group in 2010, offers a similar incentivisation model and now supports Blockchain. Conceived to educate youth about problem-solving and innovating with a positive social impact, the platform incentivises students and teachers with tokens that can be used to redeem rewards such as cellphone minutes and textbooks. Blockchain helps the World Bank Group demonstrate results to donors, Zhang said.

Blockchain is an ideal technology for the era of COVID-19, when the public's health will need to be monitored continuously, Zhang added. Blockchain can manage track-and-trace health data while protecting citizen privacy, he explained.

In the post-COVID era, the consensus is that authorities will require tools to track and trace individuals' health status and their whereabouts, he noted. “Citizen privacy must be respected and in this regard Blockchain-based digital identities (are ideal),” he said.

There would be no central repository of personal data that is subject to data breach, and adoption will increase when people trust that their data is well-managed, he pointed out.

GreenPass from Blockchain company Elastos DMA is one such Blockchain solution. Announced in mid-March 2020, the app can store health status information and location data on a Blockchain so it is immutable and traceable. Such a system would also allow for rewards for good behaviour.

Life will not be as before in the post-COVID era, Zhang further said.

“Digital transformation will be accelerated given that we have all seen the benefits of going digital with meetings, with documents and with the whole business process,” he said.

“People will think twice about either personal or business travel,” elaborated Zhang. “They will think 'why come to the office when a lot of the work can be done at home?'”

He advised business owners to cultivate resilience by tackling single points of failure, and leveraging the 'network effect'. Just as the Internet provides more than one route to a destination, he said businesses should consider implementing business processes that have “many paths, routes, ways to get business done.”

XWallet app to allow users to pay with Ethereum cryptocurrency

MEW, which offers tools providing a safe and user-friendly experience for interacting with all aspects of the Ethereum Blockchain and Pundi X, the Blockchain payments ecosystem connecting cryptocurrencies with the physical world, are enabling millions of users to pay with ETH for goods and services in 30 countries.

The two companies are providing a savings-like account as a new feature on XWallet from PundiX. XWallet is a mobile app available in 30 countries that connects regular digital asset wallets with users' payments ecosystem. Via technology from MEW Connect, which brings the benefits of a hardware wallet to the mobile phone, XWallet users now have a savings account which gives them full access and control of private keys in a secure way. This allows users to make instant payments online or offline via physical stores.

The app is supported within the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions in Australia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the UAE.

Blockchain-based global e-trading platform for physical commodities launched in Singapore

Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) has launched Singapore’s first physical commodity B2B e-trading platform, together with partners Zall Smartcomm, a major B2B player in China; Global eTrade Services (GeTS) Asia, a CrimsonLogic subsidiary, and Singapore Exchange (SGX). Enterprise Singapore also played a role in bringing CIC's partners together.

CIC is a one-stop global trading platform built on Blockchain technology that will provide commodity traders around the world access to a range of services from transaction matching, one-click customs clearance, to supply chain financing and payment term options, as well as greater pooling of resources for both buyers and sellers.

CIC trades in products such as oil and petroleum, chemicals and plastic, as well as ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The CIC platform was trialled in July, and has nearly reached turnover of US$200 million in trade across markets such as China, Australia, India, and Malaysia. Successful transactions include a Chinese silk-related transaction to India, as well as the import of polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVP) materials from the UAE into China.

Powered by Blockchain, the CIC platform boasts of enhanced security across trade-related documents, from Certificates of Origin to commercial invoices. This enhances the transparency and trust between shippers, freight-forwarders and users, while providing a strategic edge to businesses trading on the platform.

Source: CIC. Yu.

Peter Yu, CEO, CIC said the e-trading platform creates greater trading synergies within and beyond ASEAN with China, and the rest of the world as well. "With its strategic location and the opportunity to form an alliance with giants like Zall Smartcom, GeTS and SGX, Singapore was the perfect base to launch this platform,” he said.

Enterprise Singapore’s Assistant CEO Satvinder Singh added, “Commodity trading remains a critical growth pillar for Singapore’s economy having generated US$1.2 trillion in turnover in 2017, driven by a sustained global economy and demand from Asia. The presence of digital B2B platforms like CIC in Singapore, along with Singapore’s excellent connectivity, supply chain and financing ecosystem, will strengthen Singapore’s position as a global trading hub.”

“CIC is going to be a game-changing platform for Singapore’s commodity trading community. As a shareholder and technology partner of CIC, GeTS and its CALISTA platform orchestrates the key physical and non-physical – such as regulatory and financial – logistics activities on a digital ecosystem, making commodity trading easier, accessible, and predictable,” said Eugene Wong, Chairman of CrimsonLogic and GeTS.

“Importantly, CIC can revolutionise commodity trading by attracting more buyers and sellers globally to come on board, with the potential to lower and even stabilise the cost of commodities.”

CIC has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Marubeni, a leading Japanese integrated trading and investment business conglomerate. The agreement aims to unlock commodities trade opportunities for supply chain finance.

Source: CIC. Supported by Zall, GeTS and SGX in Singapore, the MOU signing was witnessed by Iwasa San, MD, Marubeni ASEAN, and Sharon Chou, CFO, CIC at the official launch of the CIC platform.

Marubeni’s interest to collaborate with Zall Smartcom comes off the back of the company’s plans to provide comprehensive trade financing capabilities to international small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) through more finance channels. The MoU sees Marubeni integrating the CIC to facilitate more payment term options to bridge buyers and sellers globally with greater ease and efficiency. The CIC platform will also help the business to streamline global trade by matching buyers and sellers of commodities, while also providing supply chain financing, faster clearance, and logistics services.

Blockchain-powered settlement network to waive fees for transfers to Singapore in 2017

OKLink, the global settlement platform, has announced the first completely free corridor for remittances. Transfers of up to US$100,000 per month into Singapore will be free for 2017, the compaany said.

OKLink previously charged 0.1% of the amount to make cross-border payments to Singapore, while some companies charge as much as US$5 per transaction.

Jack Liu, Chief Strategy Officer at OKLink, said, “As the world’s largest global settlement network powered by Blockchain, we can conduct cross-border payments faster and at a cheaper rate as more partners join the network. We believe that our initiative will make a revolutionary impact on the global economy, especially for markets with a high degree of overseas workers. There is no better alternative for Singapore today.”

Launched in August 2016, OKLink currently offers payouts to 40 countries across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and already has more than 100 partners on its network. As of December 2016, OKLink had completed over 10,000 transactions via its settlement network.

Interested?

Transfers to Singapore can be made after registering an account. It can take under one business day for the payout to be deposited in the recipient's account.

Acronis introduces Blockchain-backed data protection with Aconis True Image 2017 New Generation

The four key differences that Acronis True Image 2017 New Generation offers: comprehensive backup, Blockchain baased authentication of integrity, protection from ransomware and secure e-signatures.

Acronis, a global hybrid-cloud data protection and storage provider, has announced Acronis True Image 2017 New Generation, which has three new key features over and above the backup capabilities of Acronis True Image:

• Acronis Active Protection — active protection against ransomware attacks on user data
• Acronis Notary — Blockchain-based data certification and verification capabilities and 
• Acronis ASign — an electronic document signing service. 

Mike Chadwick, VP of Engineering and Cloud Operations at Acronis, explained the Acronis advantage at a media briefing.

In the past, data was just something to back up on-premise and restore as required. In today's cloud-based environment, where data can be stored physically at home or at work as well as on various mobile devices and also in the cloud has given rise to the need to always have a copy of the data that can be authenticated and actively protected, Acronis says.

"It's all about owning your data and being able to find your data," said Mike Chadwick, VP of Engineering and Cloud Operations at Acronis.

“With more than 5 million people using Acronis True Image; we know how to provide data protection for individuals and families around the world,” explains Serguei Beloussov, co-founder,and CEO of Acronis. “With Acronis Active Protection, Acronis True Image 2017 New Generation is the ultimate solution for protection of data against cyber-attacks and an important addition to any anti-virus software, especially free or embedded antivirus software.”

“Modern cyber threats are changing the way people and organisations approach protecting their valuable data, demanding almost on-the-fly adaptation to ever evolving threats," said Phil Goodwin, Research Director, IDC. "Acronis True Image incorporates interesting leading edge technologies designed to help thwart a range of threats and minimise any potential data loss.”

Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said: “The world is facing a rising and increasingly dangerous tide of ransomware affecting individuals and businesses alike. Of course, ideally you should never pay criminals if your data is encrypted by ransomware; that’s all very well in theory, but when it’s your family photos or business documents encrypted, the idealism can swiftly go out the window. There are many measures that can be taken to avoid the damage from ransomware, but a high-end Internet security suite and a reliable backup disconnected from the system is still essential to ensure business continuity if the worst does still happen. And I welcome Acronis' introduction of backup suited to this trend.”

Designed to provide advanced data protection for consumers, small and medium-sized businesses and small office-home office environments, Acronis True Image outperforms the closest competition by more than two times* and protects data on Windows and Mac computers, iOS and Android mobile devices, and Facebook accounts, with plans to extend social media coverage to Instagram and Pinterest in the future. Data is encrypted with the AES 256 standard, the most advanced AES version, and stored in multiple destinations, including external drives, NAS devices, network shares, and the secure Acronis Cloud.

Acronis True Image New Generation is the first and only backup solution in the market with Active Protection. Researched and developed at the Acronis R&D facility in Singapore, Active Protection detects and prevents ransomware attacks in real-time, automatically recovers all data, and self-protects backups and the backup application.

Acronis Active Protection identifies unusual activity on computers and prevents malicious applications from damaging user data, backups, and backup software. Behavioural heuristics detect and prevent new and known ransomware attacks, making the backup more secure, and reducing a number of times data need to be restored from the backup.

Acronis Notary for Blockchain-based data authentication. Acronis Notary offers certification of the content of any file and verification against modifications against the original content. Unique digital fingerprints are stored in a distributed, immutable database based on Blockchain technology. Blockchain allows users to verify the authenticity of the information at any time. This is especially important for valuable documents such as contracts, medical records, and financial documents.

Acronis ASign for Blockchain-based document certification. Acronis ASign allows multiple parties to execute and certify a document with a secure and publicly auditable digital signature. Users can protect their backed-up documents, which are verified with Acronis Notary and electronically signed – all within the same reliable backup solution.

While e-signatures are legal in various countries, Blockchain-backed documentation is relatively new and does not yet have the same acceptance globally, though it is just a matter of time before the legislation is in place. "It is another another piece of evidence that you can bring (as proof the data has not been tampered with)," said Chadwick.

Other highlights include:

+A touch-friendly interface across all devices

+Additional features for Mac users: Unmounted network-attached storage (NAS) support for source and backup destinations, wireless backup of mobile devices to Mac computers with local data browsing capabilities; and support for Mac OS X Sierra.

+The full mobile backup experience: Besides encryption, file preview and recovery, browsing of all cloud backups from a mobile device.

+Backup and recovery capabilities for Facebook accounts: Browse and recover a Facebook account data to an existing or new account with data encrypted and stored in the Acronis Cloud.

Interested?

Acronis True Image 2017 New Generation is a new premium subscription for the Acronis True Image backup solution and retains the same user interface as Acronis True Image. Upgrade pricing is available for existing Acronis True Image customers.

Acronis True Image 2017 New Generation will be available in single, three- and five-computer offerings, at the price of S$139.99, S$200.99 and S$224.99 respectively. All subscriptions are for a year and include 1 TB of Acronis Cloud Storage.

View the Electronic Transactions Act for Singapore

*Based on internal tests.