One of largest Japanese trading companies has officially announced the start of a proof-of-concept (PoC) aimed to develop a blockchain traceability system, according to a press release published on Feb. 1. Itochu Corporation, a general trading company and one of the five largest companies in Japan, is developing a blockchain traceability system that will allow buyers and sellers to record the date, time, location and other transaction details on blockchain through a smartphone app. The PoC will use the Indonesian-based firm Pt. Aneka Bumi Pratama’s natural rubber supply chain, a company that processes and produces crumb rubber and is fully …

Chinese non-profit Zhiyuan Hui — reportedly the world’s largest volunteer service platform — has announced its partnership with token economy infrastructure firm EveriToken. The news was announced Jan. 12 in an official EveriToken blog post. As of December 2018, Zhiyuan Hui reportedly serves over 430,000 non-profits, and its 71 million users are reported to have worked over 100 million service hours via its platform. According to the blog post, the United Nations-issued China Volunteer Service Economic Value Measurement Report has valued the platform at over $500 million. In order to manage this astonishing volume of users and service hours, Zhiyuan …

China’s self-regulatory bank organization the China Banking Association (CBA) will launch a blockchain-based platform to improve efficiency across the sector, participants confirmed in a statement Dec. 29. The project, formally dubbed the ‘China Trade Finance Inter-bank Trading Blockchain Platform,’ aims to use blockchain to target trade finance, transactions and other financial services. Multiple guinea pigs have signed up to pilot the platform, among them well-known names such as HSBC, Bank of China and Ping An Bank. “The establishment of this inter-bank platform can be described as extraordinary, opening up barriers between different banks and realizing the interflow of information,” HSBC …

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will reportedly partner with blockchain-based telemedicine and telepsychology firm doc.com to expand free basic healthcare services across Eastern Africa. News of the partnership was shared with Cointelegraph in an email on Dec. 26. In an officially sealed letter signed on Dec. 20 by Amado Philip de Andres, Regional Representative for UNODC’s Regional Office for Eastern Africa (ROEA), de Andres wrote that the organization is “willing to cooperate [...] in a new partnership.” Doc.com is a tech firm that offers blockchain-based 24/7 telemedicine and telepsychology platforms, allowing users to tokenize their personal …

Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin said that the misapplication of blockchain technology in some industries leads to “wasted time” in an interview with business news outlet Quartz published Nov. 26. Speaking at the Devcon4 blockchain conference, the Ethereum cofounder said that although there are a number of companies that try to establish higher standards by using blockchain technology, he does not think the technology is applicable in every industry: “Sometimes it is for marketing hype. Sometimes it is just people who are genuinely excited about blockchains and want the thing they are personally excited about and their job to align more …

The Big Issue, a street newspaper sold by the homeless in the U.K. and other countries, is launching a blockchain-driven platform to promote impact investing, The Financial Times reports Monday, Nov. 18. Three investment companies — UK Standard Life Aberdeen, U.S. Columbia Threadneedle, and AllianceBernstein — will join The Big Issue as founders of the platform dubbed The Big Exchange. According to the FT, it will offer 30 to 40 social and environmental impact funds, and is set to start working within six months. The potential investors will be charged a minor fee to use The Big Exchange. Once registered …

Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio announced a new initiative to create a national, blockchain-based credit bureau. The announcement took place at the 73rd Session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) Thursday, September 27. The president presented the project as being poised to “radically transform” the country’s financial inclusion landscape. The initiative is reportedly the result of a partnership between technology non-profit Kiva, the U.N. Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP). At its center is a distributed ledger (DLT) system, dubbed ‘Kiva Protocol,’ that has been designed to create a secure, national digital identification system for …

Decentralized lending and borrowing platform Celsius Network will manage the Sustainable Development Goals Impact Fund (SDG Impact Fund) within the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals initiative, according to a press release published September 21. The Sustainable Development Goals is an international program focused on bringing a “better and more sustainable future for all.” It addresses global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. The initiative aims to achieve a series of targets by 2030. Per the announcement, the SDG Impact Fund will be launched by financial services firm Fifth Element with the aim …

UN Women — a United Nations entity for gender equality and empowering women — will use blockchain technology for cash transfers in Jordanian refugee camps, according to a UN press release September 18. Per the announcement, UN Women in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) will use blockchain technology for money transactions at Za’atari and Azraq camps. The cumulative population of both camps is over 115,000. Women refugees participating in the UN Women cash for work program will be able to obtain their money directly without the assistance of third parties like banks. The initiative will explore two options, …

The United Nations’ (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres has created a ‘High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation,’ which explicitly puts blockchain technology on the agenda, UN News revealed yesterday, July 12. The panel, said to be “the first of its kind,” will gather 20 eminent figures from industry, civil society and academia to tackle the impact of digital technologies on global economies and societies –– an impact ongoing at “unprecedented scale” and “warp speed,” in Guterres’ words. Representing the new body on behalf of the UN Secretariat, Executive Director and co-chair, Ambassador Amandeep Gill, said: “You cannot look at ‘web 3.0’ without …

The United Nations signed a “memorandum of understanding” with blockchain platform IOTA to explore how the technology can increase efficiency, the two parties confirmed May 22. In a press release about the partnership, which features the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the organization said the focus was on cutting intermediaries using blockchain. “We share a vision where machines, devices, sensors and people connect and communicate to each other - it's the world of 'Industry 4.0.,’” Yoshiyuki Yamamoto, UNOPS’ Special Advisor on Blockchain Technology explained, continuing: “Harnessing technology that allows for these processes to work simultaneously, without the need …