Musiccosmos

When Adrian Patten, co-founder of FX blockchain project Cobalt, pitches to banks these days, he chooses his words carefully. In a move that may do much to validate Gartner’s finding this week that blockchain hype cycle is entering the so-called “ trough of disillusionment ,” Patten admitted he rarely brings up the technology, choosing instead to focus on the cost savings Cobalt can bring without the benefit of some of the most popular buzzwords of the last few years. “We try not to mention blockchain or DLT too much in case it complicates matters,” he said. In Patten’s view, many financial firms have taken a “me too” approach with blockchain, exemplified by things like the herd of banks joining the R3 consortium. In addition, most are probably invested in too many proofs-of-concept, he said. “They tend to think, if everybody else is in it, they ought to be in it, just in case a board member asks them what they are doing in blockchain,” he continued. The result is that people hav...

Despite the fact that the overall cryptocurrency market has declined with around 70 percent since January 2018, interest in blockchain-based technology grows stronger. Yet another major company, UPS, demonstrates its serious intentions for implementing DLT in its operations. UPS Boards the Blockchain Bandwagon The shipping giant UPS has filed an application for a patent with the US Patent & Trademark Office. The company seeks legal protection for a system which takes advantage of blockchain-based technology for storing different types of information within a distributed ledger network. The data includes details about the package’s destination, its actual movement, as well as transportation plans and others of the kind. The patent reads: An exemplary method comprises receiving and storing in a distributed ledger service offers for transporting a shipment unit; receiving and storing in a distributed ledger shipment unit data comprising an origin, a destination, and transpor...