At the Crypto Valley Summit during the World Economic Forum in Davos, ecological sustainability for the future is one of the primary talking points. Even though blockchain is on the fringes of global discussion, several experts see its usage in traceability as one of the key technologies for improving sustainability. Industry’s current applications Supply chain blockchain solutions allow tracking of the entire production chain of certain products. Their usage ensures that consumers and companies always know where a particular product or material comes from. This helps prevent counterfeiting, an issue that is hard to detect given the complexity of global …

The combined valuation of the top 50 blockchain-related firms in the Swiss canton of Zug — known as “Crypto Valley” within the industry — fell by nearly half in 2019. Swiss investment firm CV VC debuted a new report at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22, giving an appraisal of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries in the Crypto Valley during the last year. Per the report, the valuation and subsequent price drop in Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, led to a 40% drop in valuation of the top 50 firms — from …

It’s funny what business leaders can and can’t tell the press. Cointelegraph caught up with Alexander Drummond, co-founder of crypto-enabled payments company GatePay, at the 50th edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week. Drummond was one of several crypto entrepreneurs presenting his company on stage at the CV Labs event on Tuesday. Drummond’s pitch for GatePay goes something like this: retail customers should be able to pay for products with any means of exchange they want, and retail stores should be able to handle it. Offering checkout support for different credit cards and popular cryptocurrencies, GatePay …

The former chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has some new remarks regarding his Digital Dollar initiative, speaking in Davos. On Jan. 22, Ex-CFTC chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo confirmed that the Digital Dollar project will consider the advantages of a United States’ central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to written remarks for a Davos event hosted by industry media outlet The Block. At the event, Giancarlo is scheduled to deliver his first public speech devoted to the blockchain-based Digital Dollar project, first announced last week. Digital Dollar project will develop a framework practical steps to establish …

Ray Dalio, multi-billionaire and founder of investment firm Bridgewater Associates, said investors should not miss out on traditional markets, CNBC reported on Jan. 21. Dalio warned from holding Bitcoin, saying that it’s neither a medium of exchange nor a store of value. Dalio was interviewed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he advised investors to hold a global and diversified portfolio in this market, while increasing their stake in stock markets. While Dalio acknowledged recession concerns, he argued that “cash is trash” due to the government’s ability to print it at will — something he believes they …

Major cryptocurrency exchange OKEx is at the 50th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos this week, promoting blockchain technology as a new motor for the global financial system. Two presentations — delivered by the OKEx Financial Markets Director Lennix Lai on Jan. 21 at the Russia House 2020 and EmTech Investment Meeting 2020 — focused minds on the challenge of extending financial services to the over two billion people worldwide who remain unbanked. “A free, open, permissionless financial system” In his presentation Lai argued that a digital, decentralized financial system underpinned by blockchain and cryptocurrencies can be of mutual …

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of crypto payments firm Circle, projected that in the next two or three years the securitization of assets through tokenization will become much more realistic. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 21, Allaire and Neha Narula, the director of the Digital Currency Initiative in the MIT Media Lab, discussed how tokenization can make liquid assets — assets that can be converted into cash within a short period of time without losing value — more accessible without creating new systemic financial risks. Need for specific standards Both Allaire and Narula began with an explanation …

If mainstream finance does not adopt new technologies, such as those seen in blockchain and crypto, they will fall behind, according to a few experts’ comments at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland. Answering a question on comparing this year’s event to last year’s, Monero’s former lead maintainer Riccardo Spagni noted the same presence of “old school” bank and regulatory personalities. Spagni, also known as Fluffypony, told Cointelegraph in a Jan. 21 interview: “I think by a lot of events like this one and some of the other blockchain events, we’re starting to show them that if they …

It’s the first successful live deployment on the Ethereum mainnet of something called a “scalable Harberger tax contract,” and it might just help save at-risk animals. Cointelegraph attended the CV Labs pitch session in Davos, Switzerland today, an event running alongside the 50th edition of the World Economic Forum. In the basement of the Pöstli Club, crypto entrepreneurs took to the stage to give brief presentations on their current projects. JonJon Clark gave the audience an engaging rundown on his project Wildcards — maybe it’s his charming South African accent, maybe it’s the fact that his company directly connects to …

The annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is about to start. As usual, the forum will gather the world’s political and business elite, and will last from Jan. 21 to 24. Here’s everything there is to know ahead of time on how this meeting will be vital for the crypto and blockchain industry. WEF is modernizing its agenda This year’s theme is “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World,” which could be seen as the WEF’s response to criticism surrounding the annual gatherings in the Alps. Over the past few years, Davos has become a symbol of the widening …

The World Economic Forum (WEF) announced that it released a guide for the evaluation of the benefits of blockchain applications in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on July 16. The document delves into how to apply blockchain technology, providing six recommendations for companies. The first is to take time to understand the technology, set realistic expectations (identifying incentives and accounting for risks), and align to strategic priorities. The report also recommends evaluating whether blockchain or other technologies are the best solution specifying that “blockchain is not a substitute for digitization and should not be treated as such.” Lastly, organizations …

Head of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Sheila Warren, claims that blockchain could be a solution to the worsening trust crisis globally. Warren made her comments during an interview with Cointelegraph on May 31. During the interview, Warren claimed that public trust towards governments, banks, media and institutions, namely in the U.S., is “rapidly eroding.” She then noted that she thinks that blockchain, if used correctly, can be a solution to this problem: “This technology could provide access to information that could enable third parties or other groups to actually come in and conduct …