blockchain
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The company called Blockchain raises $40 million
Blockchain (the company) just raised a $40 million Series B funding round led by Lakestar. Blockchain has been working on the most popular bitcoin wallet in the world. You can open a wallet on the company’s website or through its mobile apps. GV, Nokota Management, Digital Currency Group and existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mosaic Venture Partners, Prudence Holdings… Read More
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Chat app Kik takes on Facebook with developer ecosystem built on the blockchain
There’s been much talk of ICOs — initial coin offerings — amid the rising value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. Now the industry is about to see its first ‘big name’ move into the space after Kik announced plans to introduce its own cryptocurrency via a token sale. Messaging app Kik is particular popular among teens and young people in… Read More
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PokitDok teams with Intel on healthcare blockchain solution
PokitDok, a healthcare API company, announced today it has teamed with Intel to offer a healthcare blockchain solution it’s calling ‘Dokchain.’ The partnership includes using Intel’s open source Hyperledger Sawtooth as the underlying ledger, and processing blockchain transaction requests at the chip level using Intel chips. This partnership and the broader… Read More
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Crunch Network
What’s keeping cryptocurrencies from mass adoption?
Speculators flocked to Bitcoin and many of the alt-coins in hopes of getting in early and making a big exit, but everyday users haven’t warmed to cryptocurrencies. There are many reasons why, but one of the largest barriers to mainstream adoption is the price volatility of cryptocurrencies. So the question is, why do the prices change so much in the first place? Read More
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Bext360 is using robots and the blockchain to pay coffee farmers fairly
Coffee is the world’s second-most-traded commodity, after petroleum. Some 125 million people make a living growing coffee. Most are smallholders, or small-scale farmers whose families live on less than $2 a day. Now, a Denver-based startup called Bext Holdings Inc. wants to make it easier for these farmers to get a fair price, and get paid instantly, for their beans. Read More
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IBM unveils Blockchain as a Service based on open source Hyperledger Fabric technology
IBM unveiled its “Blockchain as a Service” today, which is based on the open source Hyperledger Fabric, version 1.0 from The Linux Foundation. IBM Blockchain is a public cloud service that customers can use to build secure blockchain networks. The company introduced the idea last year, but this is the first ready-for-primetime implementation built using that… Read More
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Crunch Network
Blockchain technologies entered the trough of disillusionment in 2016, but 2017 will be brighter
The blockchain industry is moving into the Trough of Disillusionment, marked by waning interest “as experiments and implementations fail to deliver.” During this time, many will fail and exit the market, while those that survive will continue to enjoy market success, secure investment dollars and march forward along a path to widespread market adoption. Read More
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Electron is trying to sell a blockchain makeover to the UK’s energy sector
UK startup Electron is hoping to convince the energy sector to buy into the transformative potential of blockchain technology — and, down the line, unlock commercialization opportunities for over the top services running on a decentralized infrastructure platform. Read More
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Crunch Network
How bitcoin protects against geopolitical risk
Importantly, Bitcoin is a global digital currency that is borderless, frictionless and secure. Unlike legacy currencies and payment systems, Bitcoin is immune to capital controls and currency manipulation. It does not limit people’s freedom to move money to where they want it to be and cannot be controlled by governments for their political agenda. Read More
Latest Crunch Report
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Crunch Network
Blockchain is empowering the future of insurance
Every segment of insurance is under competition by entrepreneurs touting new ways to underprice risk, creating new types of premiums and servicing consumers in a tightly regulated on-demand economy. While most startups attempting to gain traction in the insurance market fall under incremental innovation, Blockchain for insurance could be characterized as disruptive. Read More
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Verse banks $8.3M Series A to accelerate its p2p payments play in Europe
Another player in the packed p2p payments space is announcing an $8.3 million Series A funding round today. SF and Barcelona based Verse is gunning to be the Venmo of Europe — given Venmo hasn’t yet shown an inclination to expand its mobile social payments app outside the US. Read More
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Watch all six episodes of the series Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin and the Blockchain
Our latest video series explores the world of bitcoin and the blockchain, and you can now watch all six episodes on YouTube and TechCrunch.com. The series features Nathaniel Popper, a New York Times reporter and the author of the book on which the series is based, along with several bitcoin developers, influencers and scholars tracing the history of bitcoin and analyzing its… Read More
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Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin and the Blockchain episode 6 analyzes the future
The final episode of this six-part series explores the future implications of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. The episode describes the divide between Wall Street’s preferred closed use of the blockchain and Silicon Valley’s vision of an open system. Will the technology ever be integrated into our world’s mainstream economy? Whose vision will prevail, Wall Street or… Read More
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Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin and the Blockchain episode 5 explores the most exciting blockchain innovation
In this episode we catch up with the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, and dive into its implications in the world of cryptocurrency. Ethereum is considered the most exciting innovation using blockchain technology, as its use cases go beyond that of bitcoin and could eventually have more overarching effects on how we run the world. However, after a recent hack of its Decentralized… Read More
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Watch Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin and the Blockchain, episode two
Even more fascinating than the idea of a digital currency are those who dedicate their lives to it. A network of miners all across the world, many of whom are in China, run the system. They not only process every Bitcoin transaction, but they also play a large role in governing the platform, for better or for worse. Episode two looks at where these Bitcoin mines are developing and who is… Read More
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Watch the first episode of our new series Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin and the Blockchain
We have a new series launching this week called Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin and the Blockchain. The six-episode series, produced by Stateless Media, examines the rise of Bitcoin and the tech that allows it to operate. The first episode will answer all your questions about the Bitcoin platform and how it works. Why did futurists want to create a totally digital currency? How would it work? Read More
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Watch the trailer for our new series ‘Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin & The Blockchain’
What is bitcoin? What is the blockchain? How does it work? Who is behind it? Find the answer to all of these questions and more by tuning into the six-episode series Trust Disrupted: Bitcoin & the Blockchain. The series features Nathaniel Popper, a New York Times reporter and the author of the book on which the series is based, along with various bitcoin developers, influencers and… Read More
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Crunch Network
How blockchain will grow beyond bitcoin
Since its advent in 2009, bitcoin’s decentralized, broker-less and secure mechanism to send money across the world has steadily risen in popularity and adoption. Of equal — if not greater — importance is the blockchain, the technology that supports the cryptocurrency, the distributed ledger which enables trustless, peer-to-peer exchange of data. Every day, new companies… Read More
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Rakuten buys struggling bitcoin startup Bitnet to create a ‘blockchain research lab’
Rakuten has confirmed that it has acquired the assets of Bitnet, a bitcoin wallet startup it invested in, which will be used to create a ‘bitcoin lab’ for the Japanese retail giant. Read More
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Blockai’s new tool combines tweeting and claiming copyright
Blockai is supposed to help photographers and artists defend their intellectual property. Now it’s launching a new feature to make that process easier — or at least better-integrated with Twitter. Previously, Blockai users would go to the startup’s website to upload their work, creating a record in a public database (namely, the blockchain) stating that they’re the… Read More
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