Speaking at Unitize virtual event, Coin Metrics researcher Lucas Nuzzi suggested that one way for exchanges to fight back against the hackers is by renting mining power from online marketplaces. Six confirmations ticking countdown Nuzzi conjectured that an exchange which has been hacked could rent enough hashing power through an online marketplace to force a favorable network reorganization: “So, it is essentially a technique to try and reorg yourself by renting mining power and doing that work where if you’re an exchange and you've been hacked, within those six work confirmations that the network is expecting to be considered final. …

During a Unitize panel on Wednesday, Ali Loveys commented that the biggest challenge in the blockchain space is not the technology itself, but rather whether the business model or values make sense or not. Dr. Ali Loveys, the Chief Privacy Officer at ConsenSys Health, has over 30 years of experience in emerging technology strategy, adoption, and optimization in healthcare. The insight she drew from her work experience was that: “The challenges are always less about the technology than about the business value and the people who are interested in using it or resistant to using it. [...] I don’t come …

In a recent panel, as part of a digital Unitize blockchain conference, ABI chief innovation officer Silvia Attanasio explained why the banking entity chose to go the decentralized blockchain route for Spunta — its blockchain solution built on enterprise blockchain platform Corda. If ABI had not gone the decentralized route, the entity would have needed to locate a centralized party to gather and manage a large amount of data on various fronts, Attanasio said on the July 8 panel, noting ABI's rationale behind choosing a decentralized approach. "It wasn't so easy to identify a single actor that could have run …

One of the July 8 panels from the Asian version of Unitize brought together two key participants in the promotion of blockchain technology in their respective regions. Marloes Pomp, who works as an initiator of blockchain projects with the Dutch government, and Yi Ming Ng, who works for the Tribe Accelerator project in Singapore, compared their organisations approaches to building blockchain ecosystems. Initial reticence, but from different sides Pomp’s journey into the world of blockchain started in 2016 when she was inspired by Dubai’s blockchain strategy presentation. She felt that The Netherlands should consider a similar strategy, but faced initial …

The first two days of Unitize, the virtual conference organized by BlockShow and San Francisco Blockchain Week, have come and gone with speakers from various sectors of the emerging crypto and blockchain space. Developments around central bank digital currencies, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, have taken center stage during the first two days of the event. Crypto and blockchain adoption amid the pandemic The COVID-19 outbreak continues to dominate discourse across the social, political, economic and several other facets of human life. Thus, it was unsurprising to see the novel coronavirus featured in multiple panels …

During yesterday’s Unitize blockchain conference, developer Bruno Škvorc illustrated how a Polkadot-based blockchain can be launched within one hour. When speaking at event on July 7, Škvorc explained in detail how to create a blockchain based on Polkadot’s modular “Substrate” architecture. Furthermore, he illustrated how blockchains built this way can be seamlessly updated without needing to hard fork. Škvorc explained that Substrate-based blockchains can be configured by choosing from many available modules to better suit the needs of who is building them. He also claims that — thanks to being connected to each other — that blockchain’s security is ensured …

Benjamin Soh, founder of blockchain development firm STACS, said that institutional players, not business-to-consumer companies, will drive the mass adoption of financial infrastructure built on blockchain technology. During the Unitize virtual conference, Soh said that if they could bring bank institutions to use the blockchain, millions of bank customers will automatically be a part of the blockchain finance infrastructure without them even knowing. Providing bank customers with a blockchain-based wallet while still using the traditional payment gateways will be the necessary first step towards bringing the efficiencies of distributed ledger technology to the financial system, Soh added. Asia is leading …

Crypto venture capitalist Brock Pierce has revealed his campaign to become the next U.S. president will focus on creating a country where technological innovation is allowed to flourish. Pierce spoke at a Unitize conference fireside chat on July 7. He alluded to the fact that while he’s unlikely to win, the campaign will be a way to highlight the benefits of blockchain. A key theme will be building a better environment for innovators — particularly Millennials and those in Generation Z. “The United States historically has been the capital of innovation, on the front lines of technologies like blockchain. I …

Speaking on a Unitize digital conference panel, Peter Dittus, chief economist for SFB Technologies, said he does see a place for privately-issued stablecoins. "I don't see a great future," Dittus said of stablecoins on the June 7 panel, live streamed by Cointelegraph. Two stablecoin classifications exist Stablecoins exist in two categories — privately issued and CBDCs, according to Dittus. Issued by governments, CBDCs essentially turn paper cash digital, with each coin representing the value of the nation's currency to some degree. Privately issued stablecoins also often hold to the value of various national currencies, although private entities run these assets, …

During a Unitize panel on Monday, Balaji Srinivasan commented that COVID-19 has changed everything — and it could ultimately end up accelerating Blockchain adoption. Srinivasan is known for his numerous roles in the crypto space. He’s an angel investor, entrepreneur, former chief technology officer of Coinbase and a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He believes COVID-19 has made centralized governments more powerful than ever before and feels that government overstepping is causing people to seek new ways to maintain their fundamental rights. He speculates that this is where crypto and blockchain could play a big role in the future, adding: …

International interoperability will become the cornerstone of the CBDC race as it goes forward, according to Douglas Arner, director at Asian Institute of International Financial Law at the University of Hong Kong. Speaking at the Unitize blockchain conference earlier today, Arner argued that the interconnections between different global economic systems will become “one of the biggest challenges — and one of the biggest opportunities” as more countries are becoming involved in CBDC projects across the globe. In Arner’s view, the Chinese financial system already has some predispositions for the cross-border adoption of the upcoming digital yuan project, like the renminbi …

Blockchain gaming may become the next evolution of an industry that is now well into reaching market cycle maturity, according to Outplay Games’ CTO Paul Gadi. In his panel at Unitize, titled “Decentralizing Video Games,” he delivered a presentation on how blockchain can reinvigorate an industry that has fallen into what many consider predatory practices and platform lock in. He identified three ways in which blockchain can help solve issues deriving from industry centralization. Decentralized identity A key step in decentralizing games, according to Gadi, is providing a decentralized identity mechanism. As the gaming industry evolved, publisher platforms became the …