[Question]

African's are sending #bitcoin peer to peer WITHOUT internet using feature phones 🙌

You can't stop adoption ✊ https://t.co/26REYusCJu
https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1560976662656860173?t=awVePztglx6p0RULBras7g&s=19

Question: I think I must have seen this somewhere but not sure if I had a good look, ( Can't recall ) How can this be ?? Like how can  one carry out such transactions. ?? Guide Any ?!

[The history of VAR]

The history of VAR

Football’s first real brush with technology began at the 2014 World Cup, when goalline-technology was implemented into some of Europe’s biggest leagues. It came four years after the controversy over Frank Lampard's strike for England against Germany being missed by the officials: the goal was not given despite it clearly crossing the line.

Frank Lampard's disallowed World Cup goal was a pivotal moment in the future of technology in footballGero Breloer/AP2010
VAR was used in a major tournament for the first time in 2017 at the FIFA Confederations Cup. In the same year, the Bundesliga and Serie A became the first of the world's major leagues to take the plunge with La Liga and Ligue 1 following suit a year later. The Premier League bowed down to the inevitable and implemented VAR in 2019.

FOOTBALL NOW is a new show that brings to light some of the global game's biggest issues, challenges, and debates.

VAR. Like it or loathe it, it appears to be here to stay. But has it actually made football better or has it added another unnecessary layer of complication to the beautiful game?

COMPLETE Source HERE

Following gas cuts by Russia, the European Union is looking to Nigeria as an alternative to augment its gas needs.

The Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Department of Energy, Matthew Baldwin, said Friday “Europe is in a tight spot in relation to gas following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and instability in our gas market, the threat perhaps to cut off supply altogether.”

Mr Baldwin, who visited Abuja, told journalists that the EU is looking to increase Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) imports from Nigeria to above the current levels.

Nigeria currently supplies 14 per cent of the EU’s gas imports, while 60 per cent of the entire shipments of LNG from Nigeria goes to Europe, he said.

“We want to expand what is currently at 14 per cent share of total LNG.


https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/business-news/544394-european-union-seeks-more-gas-imports-from-nigeria.html?s=09
https://www.nairaland.com/7242241/eu-looks-nigeria-gas-replace?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&s=09

Bad Governance will still be an issue here, not for the Europeans but 4 Nigerians and her citizens. Most Refining Petroleum Companies have been dormant for a while since this year. E.g Port Harcourt/ Eleme Refinary haven't done shit as far as I know.  Talks about it's partnership should commence from August.

[Assumption : The Bitcoin Football Club qualified for the Champions League next season, and you're signed the Manager, Who would you include in your 22 man squad ?]

 Assumption : The Bitcoin Football Club qualified for the Champions League next season, and you're signed the Manager,  Who would you include in your 22 man squad ?

The image above shows how my first team would be like... My Team B would be;
 Ronaldo, Lewandoski, Messi, Thiago, Modric, Ndidi, Cucurella,  Van Dijk, Umapecano, Arnold



https://startingeleven.co.uk/:  Link can be used to create your own team A.

Some reasons to my first team selection.

Goal Keeper; Mendy, I'll be a bit bias here coz he's African.

Defends: J Cancelo and R James are both pacy fullbacks, a little bit agressive and good handler's off and on the ball, as they are both great attacker's and good defender's, modern football deserves this to inject your attacking plans offensively.
Alaba and Rudiger will form a great partnership, one a bit agressive and one a bit cool.

Midfield:  I think my middle Is perfect,
A dribbler,creative player, And a skillful DM. Pedri reminds me of Xavi Hernandez, he drops deep to receive passes. As you'd always find De Bruyne in Space, that's one thing great players do.

Attack: should be very creative, and not selfish I think I like them young and very talented. Haaland should score 40+ goals from my squad lol.

Share your thoughts, and let's keep this fun please.  Correct me if I'm wrong!

Hut 8 Mining opened its third site after the number of bitcoins in its reserves hit 7,000 as the company continues to amp up capacity despite a broad-based crypto turndown.

The Canadian company’s mine in North Bay, Ontario began operating on 15 megawatts (MW) on June 2, adding roughly 400 petahashes per second (PH/s) to Hut 8’s operating capacity.

“We are adding both miners and capacity on site and are working to significantly increase production in the coming weeks and months,” Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton told Blockworks in an email, noting its goal is to ultimately reach 30 MW of power at the North Bay operation.

The executive declined to comment on whether the company plans to open additional facilities.

Hut 8 Mining, which also has two sites in southern Alberta, mined 309 bitcoins in May, bringing its total bitcoins in reserve to 7,078. Its current operating capacity is 2.64 exahashes per second (EH/s).

The latest monthly total was the same as its output in April but below its production of 345 bitcoins in March.

Hut 8 limited its consumption at its Drumheller facility when the price of power spiked, the company said Monday.

“Everything we mine, we keep, and 100% of our stack is unencumbered, meaning that in addition to operating efficiently and taking a very strategic approach to equipment purchases and consistently driving efficiencies in our mines, we have a level of flexibility that sets us apart from our peers,” Leverton said.

The company’s third facility follows its acquisition of wireless connectivity company TerraGo at the end of January for $30 million (CAD), which brought five data centers to Hut 8.

Sue Ennis, the firm’s vice president of investor and corporate development, told Blockworks in March that Hut 8 is looking to set up scalable cloud services that provide an alternative to cloud computing giants such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Switch.

Leverton said the data centers purchase has given Hut 8 Mining a monthly recurring revenue stream from 400 enterprise-grade customers, which she expects will grow by up to 18% this year. The company’s certified repair shop provides further revenue and supply chain advantages, she added.

Hut 8’s stock price was $2.23 Monday afternoon, down roughly 70% year to date and down nearly 20% in the last five days.


https://blockworks.co/hut-8-mining-opens-third-facility-hits-7000-bitcoins-in-reserves/

Honestly they should be amongst the top miner's if they continue like this, and reach a higher hashrate at the end of the year!
With time, they might likely move Northwest. They're really huge holders of mined Bitcoin.

https://news.bitcoin.com/rbi-official-central-bank-digital-currencies-could-kill-cryptocurrencies/


Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar says central bank digital currencies could “kill whatever little case there could be” for cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and ether.

RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar talked about the potential impact of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and ether, at a webinar organized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), local media reported Friday. By “private cryptocurrencies,” the Indian government and the central bank refer to all non-government-issued cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether.


I know IMF are huge critics of Bitcoin and any country that adopts Bitcoin as a legal tender, they're also involved one way or the other innit . As I don't blame RBI much, only scared of dollarization https://news.bitcoin.com/indias-central-bank-rbi-warns-crypto-could-lead-to-dollarization-of-economy/ which they say are not of them countries interest. Asides that, drug abuse and money laundering has been a norm over there.

IMF are chiefly responsible and Championing the move against Crypto Currencies and Bitcoin all for them selfish interest... But do you see any possibility of Central Bank's Cryptocurrencies killing Bitcoin, Crypto Currencies ?, although China imposed huges bans of any other digital currencies except there's and are doing quite well ( Economy ) correct me if I'm not!

What you think?!

[PRICE / FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS:]

Africa having a population of over 1.4 billion people, surpassing Europe and USA, saw the rapid increase in the usage of p2p  transactions since the Covid pandemic,with countries like, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Togo topping the chart. Despite that(Increase in peer-2-peer, usage of digital currencies) they've had some limitations to the utilization of Bitcoin in Africa which have been a pain in the neck for them citizen's! Some of them are Viz ;



•Price / Financial Limitations.
•Enlightenment.
•Banks and Poor Governmental support.
•Ignorance / Information hoarding.
•Education / Basic amenities.
•Ignorance / Information hoarding.
•Mining of Bitcoin.
•Resistance to Change.


PRICE / FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS:

The average African ( Narrowing down to the average Nigeria ) does not have 15 million spare to buy 1Bitcoin, that's because the average african thinks it's a must to buy 1 Bitcoin not fractions of Bitcoin as they're yet to understand that Bitcoin can be bought in fractions  ( Satoshi's ). The price alone is chasing away investors,that's why you see the shift in focus to alternative coins that have lesser value's.

ENLIGHTENMENT:

Assuming, those teaching friends, buddies and pals about Bitcoin can enlighten them bro's that, Bitcoin can be bought in little fractions of Satoshi's rather than telling them to buy altcoins and altnets that will outperform Bitcoin. The information is out there but not properly encoded to be decoded. Shouldn't pay listening ear to influencers who hype a particular project for profit sake.


BANKS /POOR GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT:

Reasons for merging them both are because, Government controls the bank, so it boggles me to see and hear from folks that banks championed the ban of Bitcoin. Most government in africa care less, as most if not all, are outdated, old standard sniffing scumbags and scavengers who knows few if not nothing about the Benefits of Bitcoin.


EDUCATION / BASIC AMENITIES:

You don't expect folks who've got no good literacy skills to pick up interest for Bitcoin as they'll find it as a very cumbersome load too carry.
Most African countries in Africa can be classified as developing, where in some cases, the poverty rate is about half the the population of a given country.
We've also got electricity and bad networks as one of our challenges and with the income level as per the minimum wage for most africans, those at grass roots are unable to go through like on the pay grade not too think of getting the necessary device to be Crypto enabled.


IGNORANCE / INFORMATION HOARDING:

Like I said , the information might be there but not properly shared or encoded to be decode. Ain't it disheartening when you see and hear people hurdle information about Bitcoin ?
Ignorance plays a key role in the limitation of Bitcoin in africa, as there are hundreds of million People who hasn't heard about Bitcoin.


MINING OF BITCOIN:

Due to weather, and lack of cheap electricity, I think this are another limitations in setting up a Bitcoin mining farm, as getting one down here would cost them huge sum's for Asics, coz they'll thrive in hot ends. Improvisation can be done with the sun for solar energy though.

Some older generations are also over reliant on them local fiat,(Not saying they be scared of new technologies though)as they find it difficult to adapt to change ( older generations )as they find some interface as scam or difficult too keep up with the current trend's. But if Bitcoin can be used in them day to day activities then, then it shouldn't be more hard or complex to utilize.

Will you consider High/ Low transaction fees as a limitation also ? Someone school my ass!

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has extended its relationship with Binance with a five-year deal that names the company as the main global sponsor of the national teams.

The collaboration also sees the blockchain and cryptocurrency platform become the official fan token of AFA and naming of the AFA Professional Soccer League for the aforementioned period of time.

The organisation is regarding the agreement as ‘one of the most important commercial contracts signed by AFA in recent years’, and is Binance’s first sponsorship agreement with a national football team.

Claudio Tapia, President of AFA, commented: “We are very happy to strengthen our relationship with Binance through this important medium-term agreement, which allows us to project actions for five years, work on various projects and establish a work plan that will undoubtedly deliver great results for both parties.

“For several years we have been significantly increasing AFA’s income and adding leading global brands in their fields. This agreement reinforces that strategy and adds an innovative multinational with a vision important for the future, in a new world like cryptocurrencies and fan tokens, where together we can grow and generate new sources of income for AFA and Pro League clubs. We welcome Binance to the AFA family.”


https://insidersport.com/2022/05/06/binance-becomes-main-global-sponsor-of-argentina-national-teams/

This is the fifth they link up with sports, as they are currently sponsor's of Viz;


Paulistao Sicredi in Brazil.
Santos futebol Clube
Having a  deal with Formula one team Alpine.
They accompanied the African Cup of Nations and the European soccer teams Portugal and Italy.

Great for them both ain't it ? Yeah!! Binance should be great benefiters from this deal IMO!

Bentley University, a private university focused on business and located in Waltham, Massachusetts, US, is now accepting cryptos for tuition payments.The university said it is committed “to leading the way in the early adoption of technologies changing the business world”.

In order to do this, the university is partnering with Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, to accept three cryptos as payment: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC).According to the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan American think tank based in Washington DC, more than 41 million Americans have either invested in, traded or used cryptos. That number equates to 16% of the US adult population.  In 2021 Alex Kim, a Bentley student, set up the Bentley Blockchain Association.

Source

https://t.me/Crypto_Bitcoin_Blockchain
https://currency.com/american-university-accepts-cryptos-for-tuition-payments

The move by the American Institution Bentley University in accepting Crypto's for it's tuition payments, would help in creating some level of awareness and hopefully arouse people's desire/ interest to acquire BTC and other Cryptocurrencies cause of it's usefulness.
As the move would pave way for other academic institution's to follow, and it is shown in it's statement, stating it's commitment in leading the way in the adoption of technologies changing the business and in my own opinion the entire world.
This move is key to the slow and early adoption of BTC and other Crypto Currencies.

The city of Fort Worth, Texas, says it will start mining bitcoin on Tuesday, potentially becoming the first US city to do so, city authorities said.

The Texas Blockchain Council, a nonprofit association made up of companies and individuals that work in the blockchain industry, donated three Bitmain s9 bitcoin mining machines to Fort Worth, enabling the city to launch what it calls “a mining pilot program.
Beginning Tuesday afternoon, machines will run 24/7 in the information technology solutions department data center located at Fort Worth City Hall. The machines will be housed on a private network to minimize security risk, city authorities said.

“With blockchain technology and cryptocurrency revolutionizing the financial landscape, we want to transform Fort Worth into a tech-friendly city,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said. “Today, with the support and partnership of [the] Texas Blockchain Council, we’re stepping into that world on a small scale while sending a big message — Fort Worth is where the future begins.”
Texas, with its cheap energy and favorable regulations, has become a hotspot for miners in recent months. Seven large mining companies and 20 smaller ones are currently based in the state, according to data from the Texas Blockchain Council.

“Many politicians in Texas are starting to see the benefits bitcoin mining can bring, be those from tax revenue, job creation, or grid stabilizing.”

This will enhance more local governments to delve into Bitcoin mining, hopefully the bill to ban Crypto Currency mining by New York legislators won't be a drawback. Let's hope for better news ahead.


Source link: https://blockworks.co/fort-worth-becomes-first-city-to-mine-bitcoin/

Power is Power,
Money is also Power.

So, if you're too choose one, what you down for ?
Power or Money ?

A Caribbean island off the northern coast of Honduras has officially recognized Bitcoin as a legal tender.
The move follows the leadof neighboring county El Salvador who sanctioned Bitcoin as a legal tender on September 7.
I see this is a great push for boost of the economic activity and foreign investment through Crypto.
Both the sale of bonds and the ability to use Bitcoin as a legal tender will be "Undergirded by World class anti-money laundering ( AML ) and Know- Your - Customer (KYC) standards to ensure regulatory Compliance.

This indeed a good move for Honduras, due to their low income and low cost of living
Another Big move while waiting for widespread Bitcoin adoption! A good move for another developing country.


https://blockworks.co/bitcoin-now-legal-tender-in-special-economic-zone-of-honduras/

I was pondering on how we'll see a better Voting system in my country (Nigeria) since there's going to be a general elections coming up next year, so I thought if this, since because(Blockchain Technology) of it's highly accurate, Security heightened and transparency can this be use to get the better side if voting systems ?

Not just in my country but around the globe, can this be possible?
But one major drawback to achieving this might be the government's.
Can the Application of Blockchain Technology improve Voting Systems ?

Thoughts!

["curb the rampant shit posting"]

I did have a quick scan at the hall of Fame list and saw my username,although I was pleased/ delighted to be their despite being nervous immediately I saw it by 2:00AM.

I still think it should be implemented and assigned to mostly newbies and j-members like me, but should be strictly Bitcoin related questions, we have got a whole lotta brain's innit the community, their quality post can be transformed for newbies and j member's to answer.

This will help "curb the rampant shit posting" Referring to a statement said by The Pharmacist. Not just that, as it'll help inculcate a lot into user's from scratch, but failing to get a high score shouldn't lead to ban.

This are my honest opinions, Thanks xx

Did started trading classes, feww blocks away from mine some days back, from a close pal and shit has been so stressed filled for the past days damn!
Anyways, I was pretty bored and the above really has nothing to do with trading, I was entrenched in my thoughts how you all trader's make use of your leisure time. As 4 me! Viz;

Sleeping (4-6 hours)
Walking, (Both long and short)
Reading Book's ( Currently reading the 48 laws of power)
Listening to audiobooks and podcasts on Deezer
Going out on chill with Pal's
Exercise/ Soccer drills
Meditation
Watching YouTube videos about trading also.

Would love to see trader's add up some great addition here, would be entertaining to read em all!
Thanks xx

[Blockchain Technology]

The concept of Blockchain technology came into existence from the first Crypto Currency, BTC Bitcoin.
It's a complex,new, privacy high, security heightened,accurate and trustworthy technology, which researchers are working continuously to find a way to apply Blockchain technology in almost every industry and sector.
Since Blockchain Technology is one of the current trend and technology, firm's and organization needs to keep abreast with them.
Blockchain Technology can be applicable in the following ways Viz;

Financial Services
Government
Healthcare
Insurance
Library
Identity
Internet of things
Music.

       

The Blockchain Application (Financial Services)

The 21st century has seen exponential progress in new technologies which have disrupted our daily lives and traditional industries alike. And none have done it quite like Blockchain technology.

Though more people are now more familiar with the concept of cryptocurrency, thanks to the crypto bull run in 2017 (that made a lot of people overnight millionaires), a large portion of people who use or invest in cryptocurrency are not entirely familiar with how blockchain works.

This lack of understanding is what makes certain people see cryptocurrency as a bubble with no real value or use-case in everyday life. In this article, we will examine the concept of blockchain technology, its origin, and how it can be applied in financial services.


Evolution of Blockchain Technology
Although Satoshi Nakamoto popularised the concept of blockchain, the idea was first proposed in 1991 by Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta. These two men set out to create a digital ledger that was secure and safe from unwanted alterations. Their initial plan relied on having a central authority that could be trusted to timestamp this ledger.

Later they realized there lies a lot of risk by depending on a single person or organisation to validate a transaction, as this central body can be compromised. This epiphany led them to the creation of a distributed immutable ledger.

In 1998, the famed cryptographer Nick Szabo designed the framework for a digital currency, which he called Bit Gold. His ideas laid a strong foundation for Bitcoin to develop and flourish more than a decade later. Nick also invented the use of the term "smart contracts."

Based on his academic background in law and computer sciences, he wanted to build an intelligent and self-governing system of contracts that are embedded with the fundamentals of contract law. Still, its execution would be determined by pre-established protocols. Though Bit Gold never saw the light of day, his work later became a precursor to the later development of blockchain technology.

Following Nick's work, Satoshi Nakamoto released a white paper a decade later for the creation of a digital currency which he called Bitcoin, which successfully solves the double-spending problem.

Blockchain Application in Financial Services
Now that we have examined the basic history and concept of blockchain, let's now talk about how blockchain technology can be applied in financial services.

Financial services refer to an array of services provided by firms in the finance sector, which involve record keeping, control, and management of money. These services usually facilitate business transactions that involve two (or more) parties, who may not be in the same geographical location.

One of the primary components of financial service is to provide a secure, accurate, and speedy method of doing transactions. Before the advent of the internet, it took days and sometimes weeks for some of these transactions to complete. But as time progressed, the internet has made these services faster and easier to access by consumers.

Blockchain technology takes the use of the internet to the next level, as we need all computers in the network to connect to the internet for any work to be done. And similarly, blockchain technology is now being used and tested in different aspects of financial services:

1. Remittances
This is one of the major areas where the blockchain shows real potential. By nature, international payments are usually more expensive than local funds transfer because of the intermediaries involved, regulatory checks, the volume of transactions, etc. The use of blockchain technology can help create a trustless system without the need for intermediaries and lower transaction costs.

Currently, some companies are already adopting blockchain technology to improve their remittance services. Examples of blockchain applications for remittances are in the use of the Stellar protocol. The Stellar network counts with a distributed ledger that has its currency, named Stellar Lumens (XLM). Their native token can be used as a bridge currency to facilitate global trades between fiat and cryptocurrency assets.

The diagram below shows a difference between traditional international remittance and remittance on a blockchain platform.



2. ATMs and Mobile Payment
Another way that we have seen blockchain applications infused in financial services is in the use of hybrid ATMs. Though this technology is still in its nascent stage, some companies like MoneyFI have been able to leverage the Octagon speedy deployment of its ATMs to provide access to banking services to the under-banked.

Its use of hybrid ATMS and blockchain technology also provides remittance services using a non-traditional approach. This ensures that transaction fees are low compared to other forms of remittances, and customers can easily convert their cryptocurrency to the local currency of any country, where there is a Bitcoin ATM.



3. IPO and Primary Markets
Through blockchain technology, companies that want to source funds from the primary market can quickly raise capital from the public. And they can do so without incurring huge costs from investment bankers and underwriters.

Using the methodology that tech firms apply in their Initial Coin Offering (ICO), this approach has the potential to displace the current method that public companies use to raise funds from the market. With the use of blockchain technology, companies can directly issue and allocate shares to interested members of the public.

There will be no delays in allocations, and they will quickly be able to know if shares are oversubscribed, compared to the current method that sometimes takes weeks for all participating firms to align their records, and balance their books.

4. Loans
Some companies like SALT Lending (Secured Automated Lending Technology) have already designed blockchain platforms that will aid the processing, completing, and enforcement of personal loans request and contracts. SALT uses the ERC smart contract feature to enforce the execution of these contracts.

To access loans, a user must sign up to the platform, by purchasing a SALT coin-which is the flagship cryptocurrency of this platform. The person may then be able to access loans from a network of lenders in the SALT blockchain. The required collateral for these loans would be the blockchain assets that have been put up by the member.



5. Insurance
A key solution that blockchain offers this sub-sector is the ability to solve the problem of fraud, which is one of the primary operational risks of the insurance business. Due to the transparency of records, insurers can coordinate better, as the distributed ledger ensures that transactions are time-stamped and records are immutable.

One of the companies currently using blockchain technology to improve its business process is Etherisc, a German-based Fintech firm. Etherisc builds decentralized, blockchain-centric applications for different sectors of the insurance industry.

They have already developed six different decentralized insurance-related applications, with one of them being a crop insurance app. It will allow farmers to identify their land and crops, as well as keep immutable records of any losses experienced due to weather.

Blockchain technology has come to impact every aspect of our financial services. It is coming to the stage where individuals, who have been indifferent to cryptocurrency, will be persuaded to take advantage of the many benefits that the blockchain technology offers to them.



Blockchain Application: Government.


Understanding the Public Sector
The public sector comprises those areas of the economy that are controlled directly by the Government (whether elected or appointed). One of the core purposes of the Government is to organize society for the common good of all where resources have to be allocated based on welfare needs and not profit motivation.

Planning an efficient and equitable mode of resource allocation is a common problem that the Government often encounters. Most governmental organizations don't have systems that give stringent rules that favour financial discipline. The lack of appropriate structures that will promote accountability stems from the general assumption that government resources belong to no one in particular. Hence, the drive to improve the system in order to eliminate waste is not there.



credits:medium.com

With the introduction of blockchain technology, government agencies, departments, and projects can set up a system that automates administrative processes. This sort of innovation will increase trust and foster a culture of transparency and accountability.

Comparison between Orthodox Government Systems and Blockchain Government Systems
s/n   Traditional systems   Blockchain systems
1   Unnecessary bureaucracy, and resultant delays   Smart contracts eliminate delays, as transactions will be processed anytime a predetermined condition has been met.
2   Lack of transparency   Transparent as all parties in the blockchain can view transaction logs,
3   Waste of resources   Eliminates wastes, as only relevant parties will be required to input information on the block
4   Data privacy is not robust   Data is secure, as it cannot be altered, once entered into a block
5   Slow dissemination of information   Information can be easily disseminated compared to traditional platforms.
How Governments can leverage from Blockchain Application
Governments around the world are using Blockchain application in the following areas:

1. Procurements and government contracts

The current process for procurements and contracts in most government agencies and departments are usually slow and tedious. In addition to this challenge, there is also a lack of adequate transparency in the contract bidding and approval process, thereby creating loopholes for corrupt government officials to manipulate the procurement process to favour their preferred applicant.

The procurement process can be improved by adopting Blockchain technology to automate and streamline the process for contract bidding. One of blockchain's biggest advantages is the immutability of data, which is able to prevent bidders from altering any information that has been entered into the chain.



Credits: Quintagroup

An example of a state that has implemented blockchain solutions in their procurement process is the Seoul district of Yeongdeungpo-gu, South Korea. A blockchain solution was used to assess all bids in the region in 2019. As a result of the success recorded from the implementation of this initiative, the project won the Grand Prize in the "Contest for Anti-Corruption Best Practices" in 2019.

Another government that has applied this technology is the Canadian Government. They announced the creation of an Ethereum blockchain platform that will explore different avenues of efficient organization of government contracts and foster clear direction in the approval process.

2. Elections

The present system of conducting elections into public office is still one of the aspects of government functions that are filled with lots of inconsistencies, manipulations, and distrust. Citizens have little or no faith in the electoral processes of most countries because the existing structure is not transparent enough to show that every valid vote is recorded.

This critical situation has prompted several individuals to suggest an electronic system of voting. Though it would give faster and quicker results, there is still the problem of security, where the central server could be hacked and votes altered and manipulated.



Credits: dev.to

This problem can be solved with the application of blockchain technology, which ensures that there is an end to end visibility, and data is immutable. Each voting unit can upload their results instantly, and once voting is concluded, nothing can be altered.

Sierra Leone is one of the few countries that has successfully implemented blockchain technology to improve their electoral process. The votes were stored on Agora's Blockchain and has been made available for any interested party to review, count and validate.

3. Registry

Have you ever tried to register the title of your land property? If you have, you'd most likely find that the process is neither easy nor straightforward. In addition to the unnecessary paperwork involved in the process, there is still the fear of record falsification. These situations can be avoided if the land registry is done via the blockchain platform.



Credits: coinpedia.com

In April 2016, Georgia's National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) worked together with Bitfuri Group to actualize the registering of landed properties on a blockchain. The Georgian resident begins the process with a title enlistment request through the approved legal official. After that, the authorized officer records the title on the private Exonum blockchain.

The Exonum hash is tied down on the open Bitcoin blockchain. This innovation has brought a 90% decrease in the general land library cost. Land enrollment time also decreased from 3 days to a matter of a couple of minutes.

4. Identity management

At its most fundamental level, identity is a combination of claims about an individual. This typically comprises the first and last name, date of birth, nationality, and some national identifier, such as national identification number, driving permit, and so forth. These kinds of data are managed centrally by the Government on their dedicated servers.

Most people do not have access to a medium by which they can process a valid means of identification. Around 1.1 billion individuals worldwide aren't able to validate claims of their identity. This lack of access leaves a large number of the world's population in a helpless state -- incapable of casting a ballot, claim property, or open a bank account.

With the use of blockchain technology, the Government will be able to solve issues of physical access to data capture centers, stolen identities, and data insecurity. A case study can be seen in the Swiss government utilization of the Ethereum blockchain to give decentralized IDs, known as uPort in the city of Zug. The undertaking was propelled in November 2017 and was restricted to private residential use in its first stage. At the moment, the ID can be used to access other public services, including the casting of votes.

how government can use blockchain applications in identity management

Credits: coinsutra.com

5. National food and drug administration

Ensuring that there is adequate and proper supply of food and drugs is among the fundamental tasks of the Government because food constitutes one of the important human needs. Managing the national supply of food and medicines can be onerous because the supply source is usually diverse and a lot of crucial data are not often captured. Without proper tracking and records, we may not be able to give an appropriate estimate of food and drug supply.

Through blockchain applications, the government agencies can keep track of essential commodities supply while monitoring their movements. This will make it easy to track cases of contaminated foods and take proactive steps in reducing food shortages.

How governments use blockchain applications in food and drug administration

Credits: world publicity blog

A case study of a government that has implemented blockchain solutions to manage food and drug supply is the FSA or Food Standards Agency of the UK, which started a pilot project in 2018, utilizing blockchain innovation to monitor the meat supply from slaughterhouses.

Even though a lot of countries are yet to recognise cryptocurrencies as an asset class, governments over the world are implementing Blockchain solutions to address the different issues that emanate from the management of public resources.

A huge volume of the academic grant is being delivered to speed up the research into the use of blockchain technology in different aspects of the public sector. We hope that as more success stories are recorded from the impact of blockchain solutions, more people will be inspired to examine the other benefits that are yet to be tapped from the digital currency ecosystem.


[b]The Blockchain Application: Healthcare.


What is Healthcare?[/b]


Healthcare can be defined as all the activities that are involved in maintaining a balanced mental and physical state of being, beginning from the prevention to the treatment of illness and diseases. The healthcare sector engages several professionals in providing health care services to individuals. Therefore, we can classify healthcare based on the mode of access. These are:

1. Primary healthcare: This usually refers to the first point of contact that a person would make in accessing health care services. It includes general practitioners, nurses, licensed and independent physiotherapists, and others.

2. Secondary healthcare: Health conditions that require a more specialized staff for an extended period - such as inpatient services - are grouped under secondary health care. This category includes services rendered by psychiatrists, skilled attendants during childbirth, and more.

3. Tertiary care: Services that fall under this category are patients that are referred by professionals in secondary care. Examples include cancer management, cosmetic surgery, neurosurgery, and others. Tertiary care centre usually focuses on a niche area of medical practice.

The delivery of healthcare services through any of the methods above requires the input of professionals, whose focus is to structure an efficient system of health care delivery. These professionals make up the health care management system.

Why Healthcare Management is Important
Healthcare management refers to all professionals that are responsible for efficient service delivery in the primary, secondary, and tertiary health care sectors. It comprises all the individuals and institutions that ensure that there is an enabling environment for medical/para-medical personnel to carry out the foremost duty of saving and preserving lives.

Sometimes people go to the hospital or medical facility, and all they recognize is the doctor, nurse, or lab scientist that attended to them. They may not understand that there is a structure that makes it possible for these medical staff to focus on their work. Imagine if you visit a hospital, and the doctor is the same person responsible for inputting or checking your records in the system or following you up for payment, etc. That would be a catastrophe!

In the early years of medical practice, the administrative aspect of the medical profession was relegated to unskilled workers, as the doctors supervised their activities. However, as the practice of medicine evolved, it became imperative for doctors/nurses to focus on their jobs.

At the same time, other personnel who are better proficient at administration, focus on that aspect. This development led to the creation of healthcare management as a profession, different from the practice of medicine.

As more people start to use health systems, healthcare administrators, also realized that a better administrative system would only be possible if the right technology is applied. The search for improved ways of managing the health care system leads to the adoption of blockchain technology.

[/[/b]b]How Healthcare Works in Blockchain Technology Application
1. Management of patient records
The current method used by a lot of health providers is structured in a way that accesses to these records are restricted from the patient, and even when available, the data are usually not cohesive enough. This restricted access occurs because the primary provider of the health service often retains data in their system.

With the help of blockchain applications, a patient's data will be stored in a decentralized ledger, making it easy for future medical personnel to quickly access a patient medical history in the nick of time. This speed of accessing records has potential in transforming medical sciences, as the practice of telemedicine can be improved and become more efficient. It would aid collaboration between specialists in different locations, as everybody can easily verify the source of a patient's medical history.

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(photo credit geospatialworld.net)

2. Biomedical research
blockchain applications in biomedical research

Apart from checking a patient's medical history, clinical data can also be effectively used if there are proper tools to manage collaboration. With blockchain technology, health institutions can share data and still maintain primary control.

The decentralised nature of the blockchain platform ensures that each institution can keep full control of their computational resources (while collaborating with other institutions for data sharing and analysis). A good case is how Modelchain adopted a blockchain application to increase the security and robustness of its structure that predicts the chances of certain illnesses occurring across multiple institutions.

Medical institutions can have access to a large number of data that was not possible in a centralized system of data management. Researchers will also have access to a large sample of records, with which they can make predictions based on a collective number of patients' history.

3. Pharmaceuticals supply chain
Beyond using Blockchain to store patient data, blockchain technology can also be deployed in storing other types of healthcare-related data, such as genomic and precision medicine data, clinical trial data, and pharmaceutical supply chain data. Sometimes, there may be a shortage of drug supply in a particular distributors network, because there is no proper documentation of sales trends, that will enable the pharmaceutical company to plan the amount to produce for the market.

This situation can be avoided if blockchain technology is applied in the supply chain process. With the use of blockchain technology, the drug distributors will be able to upload their sales and customer data on the Blockchain, which can easily be accessed by the pharmaceutical companies. This real-time information sharing will aid faster decision making, as they will be able to plan their production batches faster, to meet market demands.

blockchain applications in pharmaceutical supply chain\
(credits:topofblockchain.com)

Another area where blockchain technology can improve pharmaceutical service is in the manufacturing process. Sometimes a patient may get a drug that does not fit manufacturers' intended specifications. This anomaly is possible because the end quality of a medicine can be affected by any of the contact persons involved in the production process, beginning from materials sourcing, to drug administration.

With the use of blockchain technology, we can record every single transaction, starting from the supply of raw materials, to dispensing it to the end consumer. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies will be able to access feedback on time, to aid better planning and research.

4. Clinical trials
The clinical trial process can also benefit from the introduction of blockchain technology. Just like we observed in the pharmaceutical supply chain, sometimes researchers cannot get the right kind of candidates that they need for clinical trials. This challenge makes the research process more tedious, as the correct type of candidate is as important as the clinical trial itself.

Blockchain technology ensures that there is transparency in the whole process, starting from getting the right candidates, to feedback post-drug exposure. Researchers can view records chronologically, and on time. Besides archiving clinical data on the Blockchain, we can also chain together different clinical trial steps via Smart Contracts, so that each step depends on its predecessor.

The diagram below compares the current clinical trial data and clinical trial data stored and accessed on the Blockchain.

clinical trial diagram of blockchain technology use case
(credits:John Stafira Blog)


Blockchain Application: Music

As you would've probably already realised, blockchain technology has wide real-world use cases in many major industries that impacts the lives of millions of people all around the world. So, let us keep this train moving as we look closer into the application of blockchain technology in the music industry.

Brief Look into the Music Industry
Behind every music artiste that you see, there is actually a whole team working behind the scenes to drive and ensure the success of that artiste you see.

It is just like a manufacturing company that has different departments, machines, and processes that focus on one result - the release of a product that meets the expectations of the consumers. In this case, the artiste or the song is the final product, and the listeners are the consumers.

So how does each one of these persons get payment for their contribution to the final product? It's quite a complicated process, which depends on the side of the equation the person is, i.e., demand or supply side.

The demand side, in this case, would mean those teams that interface with the customers. On the other hand, the supply side would be those involved in working with the artistes directly, that is, artiste manager, record labels, and publicist.

The music industry has evolved over the years to create several auxiliary sectors that depend on the success of the parent industry. At the beginning of commercial music production and distribution, the dominant teams were the recording industry, the physical distribution industry, live and touring industry, Artist Management, and Radio/TV broadcasting.

Over the last 30 years, the music industry has expanded its scope to include sectors like the streaming industry, licensing, and sync, and digital music distribution industry. This development shows that the music industry has been evolving with every new technology that presents itself. At the moment, the industry is already incorporating virtual reality as part of its distribution channel.

Challenges of the Current Music Industry
Although the music industry has evolved with every significant technological advancement, there are still substantial challenges that these new technologies have not solved. For instance, after the successful production of a song, the record label or artiste has to make it available to the prospective audience to listen/buy.

Three decades ago, the only channels available were radio, cassette tapes, and CD players. However, with the development of new technologies and internet applications, streaming platforms came on the scene, alongside the traditional distribution channels.


While this may be a piece of positive news, considering that there are now more options that music enthusiasts can use to access the best collections of music, there is the major issue of addressing revenue calculations.

Another recurrent challenge is the issue of managing royalty payments and fees. This is because there are several teams involved in making the release of a song possible. The collaborators of the music project would sign a contract, which will stipulate the revenue sharing formula. With several distribution channels, it can take a long while to aggregate this payment and send it to the respective teams.

According to industry reports, the calculation for royalty payment alone takes about a year to conclude. This delay may seem challenging to understand if one does not take into account that there are more than one type of royalty payments. Also, some music projects may involve a lot of collaborators, partners and investors.

Sound charts highlight six different types of royalty payments, which include streaming royalties, neighbouring rights(and royalties), digital performance royalties, sync licensing fees, public performance royalties, mechanical royalties.

Apart from the delayed payment of royalties, there is also the issue of establishing rights/ownership of songs. We have heard of several instances of prominent artistes taking content from an existing song without the permission of the owner. Consequently, the owner will not receive royalties, except he seeks redress in the court of law.

According to the New York Times July 31, 2019 edition, recording artiste Flame sued Katty Perry for plagiarising the content of his rap song released in 2008.

Now that we have examined some of the issues that are in the music industry let us look at how we can apply blockchain technology to change the status quo.

5 Real-World Use Cases of Blockchain Application in the Music Industry
1. Royalties

The current process of calculating and making payments of royalties in the music business needs to be streamlined. This recommendation becomes necessary because of the value chain that is associated with music production, distribution, and marketing, which usually takes a long time to compute since different players are involved.

For example, when an artist releases a song, apart from the songwriter who may be different from the recording artist, one or two featured artists, a composer etc., the distribution company also gets royalty payments. These parties would get an agreed percentage, which is stated in the contract terms, signed before the production begins. The process of receiving royalty payment could take months or even a year.

However, with blockchain application, the payment of royalties can be made via smart contracts feature, which will eliminate unnecessary third parties that cause delays.

Streaming giant, Spotify acquired Mediachain, a blockchain platform, to improve the speed of royalty payments and improve transparency. Spotify currently has over 1 million artistes on its platform.

2. Music Rights Management

There are several cases of plagiarising in the music industry, including famous artiste copying lines from other unknown artistes, sometimes with the hope that no one would notice it. Some of these artistes may get away with such acts, especially if the original writer did not establish any intellectual right.


Blockchain technology can solve this problem, as a writer can input their information on the chain, showing the time they wrote or composed a song.

Remember that records on the blockchain carry a time-stamp and they are immutable. This timestamp will serve as proof of content creation. 'Ujo' is a blockchain platform that has solved this problem of rights ownership by creating a database of music ownership rights.

3. Decentralised Music Streaming

Music streaming is gaining popularity every day. This is because most streaming platforms are like a one-stop-shop for all kinds of music. Popular platforms like Spotify, Sound Cloud, and Apple Music add over 24,000 songs daily. However, the platforms may not be the best for an independent artist (indie artists) because they may not be able to negotiate the best deals for themselves.

With blockchain-enabled streaming platforms, indie artistes can set up smart contracts that will monetise their work efficiently in a peer-to-peer marketplace without the inputs of intermediaries.

music applications built using blockchain technology

An example of a blockchain application that Indie artistes can use for distribution and monetisation of their work is Voise. The Voise platform enables the artist to upload content, while different users will see the song on display depending on their preferences.

BitSong is another decentralised streaming platform that allows artiste to monetise their songs by attaching it to adverts. The artist and listeners receive a commission payment from the advertiser's fee.

4. Event Sponsorship and Funding

Concerts and events take a lot of planning to make possible, and one of the essential elements required to fulfil these plans is finance. Apart from the big record labels and entertainment companies like Sony Music, Universal Records, and so on, most new practitioners do not have access to a large pool of funds. Hence, they can only promote just a few of their talents at a time.

With the blockchain technology, record labels and indie artistes can use crowdfunding to finance their concert and shows. The concert tickets can be sold via the blockchain platform, and through smart contracts, each investor will receive a percentage of the ticket sold.

blockchain technology used for music and events management

Emusic is a blockchain app that allows fan-to-artiste crowdfunding, in addition to granting artists access to instant royalty payment and rights management.

5. Tokenised Fanbase

Do you know any big-time artiste currently facing financial problems? If you think clearly, you will probably remember one or two famous musicians, with a considerable fanbase that does not correlate with the balance in their bank account.

tokenised fanbase built on blockchain application.

Thanks to blockchain technology, musicians and performing artistes can now monetise their fanbase. Brave, a decentralised browser app, announced that fans can now support their favourite YouTuber using Brave payments.

Conclusion

While we may not be able to exhaust the use case of blockchain applications in the music industry, it is clear that a new order to conduct music business has emerged. Recording artistes are receiving more power to negotiate how much they should earn from the content they create, and fans can quickly get their preferred music without having to sort through the plethora of new songs daily.

With decentralised music apps like AUDIUS, INMUSIK, OMNI, etc. more blockchain firms are coming into the music industry, which will revolutionise the entire music business.


References/links;
https://remitano.network/forum/post/240-the-blockchain-application-series-financial-services?ref=3583037.
https://remitano.network/forum/post/293-the-blockchain-application-series-healthcare?ref=3583037.
https://remitano.network/forum/post/311-blockchain-application-series-internet-of-things?ref=3583037.
https://remitano.network/forum/post/336-the-blockchain-application-series-government?ref=3583037.
https://remitano.network/forum/post/486-blockchain-application-series-identity-management?ref=3583037.
https://remitano.network/forum/post/776-blockchain-application-series-music?ref=3583037.
https://remitano.network/forum/post/362-the-blockchain-application-series-insurance?ref=3583037.

[Lovesmayfamilis Bitcointalk Detective Suchmoon NultidahSatoprincess]

It's Mother's day all over the globe, and I did wished and called mother's I have intimacy with.
I might be wrong doing this, a lot might have negative views about this, but this is from my heart, having known some of the women we have here in the forum by chance  I'd love to say a big applause to all the women here, you all are superb,for your support, advice and growth of newbies, forum mate's, contribution to the forum, community and also for your positive criticisms, bashing, fight against plagiarism, scammers etc.
Join me Y'all as I say a Big Happy Mother's/Women's day to;


Lovesmayfamilis Bitcointalk Detective 
Suchmoon
Nultidah
Satoprincess

xx loads of love.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1327.msg15136#msg15136

Could this be broken down a bit for me please ?
I'll preciate this.

Thanks xx

[Advice]

Bitcoin has gone widespread around the globe, it's impact has touched too many lives but I think if Bitcoin is the future then the children needs to be exposed to the future or at least given a chance to explore and gain knowledge about it.
According to Raphael Schon - Bitcoin has educated more people about money and personal finance than any school.

Imagine the Chinese teaching it's young ones about martial arts from a tender age, the people in united kingdom getting their kids involved in football academy at a much tender age (4+), imagine a kid that learns how to repair a car from 13 and gets to 20, another adult who learnt from the age of 19 to 20 cannot deliver the same quality of performance. Same goes to learning how to drive at 13, by 18 such child can be issued a certificate for that and can be referred to as a pro because of many years of experience.

So I think, it's very okay for every bitcoiner to educate their young ones about Bitcoin.
A kid successfully growing multiple Demo accounts should have enough experience about Bitcoin, funds and how to use em, although losses will occur just like other business but since they're not real funds, they should be competent enough to minimize losses here.

The world needs a whole lot of investment and investors in bitcoin, and having gotten this experience from scratch will be pivotal when they're old enough, I still feel after successfully growing a demo account, every kid good at this should have an investment. just like every other child that goes through an academy would be handed a certificate.

Advice: This is going straight to mostly Africans and African parents, they should push for financial literacy as much as they do for religion,this has lead to too many adults being poor, so it's okay to teach children about Bitcoin and money from kindergartens, this shouldn't be at home because government are big haters of this but at home.

So I think every Bitcoiner should teach and educate the young lads about Bitcoin.

Thanks xx

This ain't the first time they're dealing with stuff's like this, they already dealing with Australian football League, Formula 1.
Joining/ Sponsoring the biggest event/game in football history is a great thing to see as they have been on a rapid increase ever since 2016 having over   10 million customers and over 4000 employees.
They're are also in support of teaching kids about Crypto technology, which i fancy very well!


https://blockworks.co/crypto-com-adds-fifa-world-cup-sponsorship-to-sports-marketing-strategy/